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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

The Saudi prince who owns a double-decker "flying palace" and recently raised his bet on Citigroup lost $4 billion in the past year, according to a published report Sunday, showing that even the ultra-rich are getting pinched by the global financial crisis.

The pain is relative, of course. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal remains the world's richest Arab with a net worth of about $17 billion as of Dec. 2, Dubai-based magazine Arabian Business reported in its annual ranking. That is nearly twice as much as the second-richest on the list, but a considerable drop from the $21 billion the magazine said the prince was worth a year ago.

Arabian Business said it based its figure on a direct review of the prince's holdings and a face-to-face meeting with the man who's been dubbed "the Arabian Warren Buffett."

An official at Kingdom Holding Co., Alwaleed's investment company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Alwaleed last month announced he would raise his stake in ailing banking giant Citi to 5 percent from less than 4 percent. The move has failed to significantly boost the bank's share price.

The Saudi royal's controlling stake in Kingdom Holding, which invests in well-known companies such as computer maker Apple Inc. and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., accounts for nearly $8 billion of his wealth, the magazine said.

Alwaleed also owns Middle East media company Rotana Holding, and controls more than $3 billion worth of real estate, including a 124 acre personal resort complete with a private zoo.

And then there's the Airbus A380 "superjumbo" jet Alwaleed bought and had outfitted for his personal use. It's valued at $330 million -- a little less than the price tag for his other two jetliners combined.

No. 2 on the list with $9.6 billion is Nasser al-Kharafi, a Kuwaiti businessman who holds the Middle East franchise for chains such as KFC, Hardee's and Pizza Hut. He's also the largest shareholder of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc.

Another prominent name on the list: the Bin Laden family, which makes its money in the construction business. Arabian Business puts the net worth of the clan, which has tried to distance itself from its most notorious member, at $7.2 billion -- good for seventh place.

Altogether, the magazine said the world's 50 richest Arabs lost a combined $25 billion amid the global meltdown, much of it since the end of summer like investors elsewhere.

"The surprise is how much money everyone has lost," Anil Bhoyrul, editorial director of Arabian Business publisher ITP Executive Publishing Ltd., said in an interview. "The list we published is a lot different than the list we originally put together only a few months ago."

PARIS, Oct. 7 -- European finance ministers on Tuesday more than doubled the guarantee on bank deposits to 50,000 Euros ($68,000) to help restore confidence in the continent's shaken banking system, even as ripples from the ongoing crisis claimed another casualty in Iceland and pummeled banking stocks in London.

Meeting in Luxembourg amid calls for a more coordinated response to the crisis, the ministers failed to come to terms on any broader proposals beyond raising the deposit guarantee from the current 20,000 Euros ($27,000).

The ministers, representing the 15 countries that use the Euro, said in a statement that they would continue monitoring the situation and coordinate their individual responses. The EU nations "all commit to take all necessary measures to enhance the soundness and stability of our banking system and to protect the deposits of individual savers," the statement said, the Associated Press reported from Luxembourg.

The increase in deposit insurance across the Eurozone replaces a patchwork of guarantees that emerged after Ireland acted unilaterally last week, creating a sense of confusion surrounding Europe's country-by-country response to the crisis.

There have been calls for even more significant action on the part of the Eurozone countries, but some nations -- most notably Germany -- have been hesitant to join in a common response.

As the ministers met, the crisis continued to ripple through the financial sector both inside and outside of the Eurozone.

Iceland nationalized Landsbanki, the nation's second largest bank, pegged its plummeting currency to the Euro, and announced it was negotiating with Russia for a loan. Prime Minister Geir Haarde was quoted by the BBC as saying the steps were needed to avoid "national bankruptcy."

In Moscow, officials announced they would make an additional $36 billion available to bolster Russian banks after a previous bailout efforts proved unable to restore confidence in the country's economy.

Media reports in London, meanwhile, indicated that the government was preparing an emergency plan to invest nearly 45 billion pounds ($80 billion) of public funds into several large banks -- news that sent U.K. bank shares tumbling.

The EU action followed one of the worst days ever on world stock markets amid fears that government responses to the global financial crisis, including the U.S. bailout and inconsistent moves by European leaders, would not be sufficient to prevent a worldwide recession.

The day opened with heavy losses in Asia and the Middle East, followed by record losses in Europe and sharp drops in Latin America before the closing bell finally sounded to end another dismal day on Wall Street.

Central banks continued to pump billions of dollars into money markets in hopes of unlocking seized-up credit markets. The Bank of England will inject an additional 40 billion pounds, equivalent to about $70 billion, on Tuesday, according to Alistair Darling, Britain's chancellor of the exchequer, or finance minister.