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QUOTED
“Some people wouldn’t talk to me and other people were absolutely shocked that I would do it. When Christopher Knight wrote that article I felt very pressured and for three days I decided not to do it. I was so depressed and then I said, ‘Wait a minute, I can’t let that kind of [critique] stop me from being part of a historic moment.’”
-Lita Albuquerque, artist, speaking with Artnet News about her decision to participate in Desert X AlUla. 14 art structures were put in place including Albuquerque’s NAJMA which “could be the first time in over 1,000 years that a figurative female sculpture has been displayed in Saudi Arabia.” [artnet.com]
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TOP STORY
American commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE Group, Inc., the largest commercial real estate services company in the world, recently released a graphic-filled and detailed report on Saudi Arabia’s bourgeoning entertainment industry, which it calls a “game changer.” [more]
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TOP STORY
Saudi Arabia continued to take precautionary measures to prevent the arrival and spread of Coronavirus in the Kingdom as King Salman and China’s Xi Jinping spoke by phone today to discuss the outbreak, according to reports. [more]
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TOP STORY
A recently-released report by Jadwa Investment notes that the Kingdom will see a slight increase in inflation in 2020 on expectations of a continued pick-up in non-oil activities and an elevated level of consumer spending. [more]
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TOP STORY
Latest data for the year of 2018 show that emissions in Saudi Arabia have fallen significantly for the first time, down 4.4% or 26 million tons, according to researchers at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center (KAPSARC). [more]
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TOP STORY
OPEC and its allies are “considering cutting their oil output by a further 500,000 barrels per day (bpd)” with eyes on mitigating the impact on oil demand from the coronavirus, Reuters and the WSJ report. [more]
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MORE TOP STORYLINES
Via Marwa Rashad in reuters.com : Saudi Aramco has seen an increase in attempted cyber attacks since the final quarter of 2019, which the company has so far successfully countered, the state oil giant’s chief information security officer told Reuters on Thursday.
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Via Dale Gavlak in voanews.com : “Before there were limitations. Everything was ‘haram,’ ‘haram,’ meaning forbidden. But now men and women have the freedom to become whatever they want. Of course, respect of our community must go hand in hand, so that things don’t go the wrong way,” Saleh said.
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Via Anthony Dipaola in bloomberg.com : The Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf face a budget reckoning and risk squandering their $2 trillion in financial wealth within 15 years as oil demand nears peak levels, according to the International Monetary Fund. Without decisive economic reforms, the richest Middle Eastern states could exhaust their net financial wealth by 2034 as the region becomes a net debtor, the fund projects. Within another decade, their total non-oil wealth would also be exhausted, the IMF said in the report prepared by a team of its Middle East and Central Asia specialists as well as the research department.
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MORE ON THE KINGDOM AND BEYOND
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Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf states have tried to avoid taking a position on America’s geopolitical rivalries in recent years,...[By Summer Said and Stephen Kalin via wsj.com]
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Saudi Arabia is moving closer to a potential deal to acquire a minority stake in a Pakistan mine controlled by Barrick Gold Corp., people with...[By Dinesh Nair, Matthew Martin, and Thomas Biesheuvel via bloomberg.com]
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It’s shaping up to be a banner year for the mobile esports industry, with an unprecedented amount of activity in the space in 2024. The...[via digiday.com]
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Saudi-based ACWA Power recognized as the world’s largest private water desalination company and a frontrunner in energy transition with a focus on green hydrogen, secured...[By Pooja Chandak via solarquarter.com]
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“Those Arab countries are in a very critical situation,” said Oraib Al Rantawi, director of the Al Quds Center for Political Studies, a think...[via nbcnews.com]
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When ancient humans pushed into the Arabian Peninsula, they found a world marked by magma. Swaths of it once erupted from volcanoes, leaving a landscape...[By Robin George Andrews via nytimes.com]
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Alongside further expansion in Saudi Arabia – the largest branded coffee shop market in the Middle East – Barn’s is also expected to...[via worldcoffeeportal.com]
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The total number of workers in the Saudi private sector reached 11.24 million in March 2024, the National Labor Observatory said.
The total number of nationals working in private-sector entities stood...[via argaam.com]
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Oil prices slipped on Friday as Russia said it would need more time before committing to output cuts along with OPEC and other producers amid...[By Noah Browning via reuters.com]
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The United States killed the leader of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen, the White House confirmed on Thursday.
The confirmation came about a week after The...[By Julian E. Barnes via nytimes.com]
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Syrian government troops have retaken parts of the strategic town of Saraqeb in the last rebel-held province, Idlib.
Syrian army units besieged the town for two...[via bbc.com]
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China had been expected to consume 13.7 million bpd of crude in the first three months of 2020, according to Jefferies estimates. That’s second only...[By George Hay via reuters.com]
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Abdul Zahra and many others have high hopes: it was Sistani’s final word that forced outgoing premier Adel Abdul Mahdi to quit amid popular unrest...[By John Davison via reuters.com]
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Over a decade ago, Dubai’s domestic gas production dwindled effectively to zero, leading to total dependence on imports for its large demand and a major...[By Robin Mills via agsiw.org]
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According to their estimates, the cost of the Iraq War to date would be $1,922 billion in current dollars — this figure includes funding appropriated...[By Paulina Cachero via businessinsider.com]
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Not surprisingly, the highest proportion of foreign contract soldiers serve in the Gulf’s three richest states, Qatar, the UAE, and Kuwait, where few young men...[By Zoltan Barany via carnegie-mec.org]
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