KINGDOM TOWER JEDDAH

World’s Tallest Building Set for Saudi Arabia Delayed Again After Binladen Group Turmoil, Now Expected in 2019

Kingdom Tower Jeddah
Saudi Arabia's under-construction Kingdom Tower Jeddah, set to be the world's tallest building when finished, has been delayed until 2019, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said at the building's construction site yesterday.

Saudi Arabia

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Saudi Investment

Saudis Boost U.S. Ties With $40 Billion Investment

The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund is set to announce plans to deploy as much as $40 billion into U.S. infrastructure, according to people familiar with...

 

Trump's First Foreign Trip

Analysis: President Trump’s Trip to Saudi Arabia

A lot will ride on how President Trump personally interacts with the senior members of the royal family and other Saudi leaders during his visit,...

 

Vision 2030

Commentary: Saudi Arabia’s road to 2030

Instead of devising a new formula of direct subsidies or cash handouts, putting more money back into the pockets of government workers seemed the simplest...

 

Saudi Aramco Downstream

Saudi Aramco’s shifting strategy

We expect a gradual shift into new areas of business including petrochemicals under the larger aspiration of diversifying Saudi Aramco's overall portfolio in becoming a...

 

Saudi Stock Market

Saudi Arabia prepared to ease foreign caps in MSCI index push

Saudi Arabia is prepared to ease regulations limiting foreign investment in the country’s stock market ahead of the much-anticipated Saudi Aramco initial public offering next...

 

Women Driving

Saudi woman defies driving ban, saving man’s life

In Saudi Arabia, where women are banned from driving cars, a female university student has heroically driven a bus driver to safety after he suffered...

 

THAAD

Congress OK with Saudi missile defense sale amid warming Israel-Gulf ties

Many arms sales to the Middle East are required to go through a complex process to ensure that Israel preserves what is known as its Qualitative...

 

Saudi Aramco

Saudi Aramco close to choosing partner for project management JV

Oil giant Saudi Aramco is close to selecting a partner for a joint venture it plans to set up to oversee government-related infrastructure projects in...

 

Banking and Finance

JPMorgan to add bankers in Saudi Arabia to reflect market growth

JPMorgan will increase the number of bankers it has in Saudi Arabia to around 80 by the end of the year to capitalise on the increase...

 

Home Delivery

Making grocery deliveries is hard on Saudi startups

Plenty of Saudi startups are trying to enter the online grocery shopping and delivery market, but they face many diverse challenges....

 

Saudi-Iran

Perspective: Is the Diplomatic Tide Shifting in the Rivalry Between Saudi Arabia and Iran?

n the contest between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a defining rivalry in the greater Middle East, the tables have turned on the diplomatic front. Until...

 

Saudi Drone

IN PICTURES: Saudi Arabia unveils new strategic drone program ‘Saqr 1’

It can fly for a range of more than 2,500 kilometers with the ability to carry missiles and guided bombs with laser system and launch...

 

SEC

Saudi Electricity in market for US$1bn loan

SEC had initially considered the bond market but decided to tap the loan market instead after bankers decided that changes to the electricity sector as...

 

Jeddah Skyscraper

World’s tallest building delayed to 2019: Saudi prince

The completion date for the world's tallest tower has been pushed back to 2019, a Saudi Arabian billionaire said on Thursday (May 11), almost six...

 

Saudi +

Regional and related topics

U.S.-Turkey

U.S. tells Turkey it supports Ankara’s fight against PKK

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis voiced strong support for Turkey's fight against PKK militants after talks with Turkey's prime minister on Thursday, as Ankara fumes...

 

Soccer in Syria

How the Syrian government brought soccer into campaign of oppression

Backed by FIFA's tacit support, Bashar al-Assad's government in Syria has woven soccer into its grisly campaign of oppression, tearing apart a generation of players....

 

MENA Tech

Is The Middle East Well Placed For A Tech Boom?

Traditionally considered an oil-producing region, the Middle East (GULF) is slowly coming into the global limelight for its investments in the technology sector. The region...

 

Trans-Middle East Rail Line

Trans-Middle East rail line could aid economic ties

The “land bridge” would mean a striking reduction in travel distances: The overland rail connection between Haifa and Dammam in Saudi Arabia would be 1,763...

 

Oil and Gas

Beyond Crisis in Oil and Gas: Seven Performance Drivers

For two years running, the oil and gas sector has experienced hardship and a fight for survival not seen in decades. And while the havoc...

 

UAE Missile Sale

US approves $2bn missile sale to UAE

The US State Department has approved the possible sale of 160 missiles to the United Arab Emirates for an estimated $2bn, the Pentagon said on...

 

Diplomacy

Breaking Rank, U.S. Ambassador in Middle East Says News From Home ‘Increasingly Difficult’

In a particularly undiplomatic step for a foreign envoy, the U.S. ambassador to Qatar on Wednesday appeared to criticize President Donald Trump’s decision to fire...

 

Nikki Haley

View From Washington: Priority Threats in the Middle East

According to U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, “the incredibly destructive nature of Iranian and Hezbollah activities throughout the Middle East” should become the...

 

Hezbollah

Hezbollah says future war would be on Israeli territory

Lebanese Hezbollah said on Thursday that any future conflict between the Shi'ite group and Israel could take place inside Israeli territory, as tensions rise between...

 

U.S.-Iran

Perspective: Fragile power balance in Middle East is under threat

Yet there is a real worry that nothing the US does will deter Iran from pursuing its regional ambitions. Tehran insists, furthermore, that but for...

 

Israel

Leading Hamas official says no softened stance toward Israel

One of Hamas's most senior officials said on Wednesday a document published by the Islamist Palestinian group last week was not a substitute for its...

 

Tech in the Middle East

Tech in the Middle East with Chris Shroeder: Audio

In today’s episode, Chris talks to Carl Mungazi about what he has seen throughout his travels in the Middle East. He discusses the successes and...

 

Anti-ISIS Campaign

US Special Forces Are Secretly Training Syrian Rebels And Fighting Alongside Them

US Special Forces are deployed in southern Syria as part of an operation to train and assist Syrian rebels fighting ISIS, according to rebel leaders...

 

Islam in Asia

In India, Islamic ‘triple talaq’ instant divorces face supreme court test

Now the practice, which is banned in much of the Islamic world, faces a test in India — home to the world’s third-largest group of Muslims...

 

Syria

Turkey threatens military action against U.S.-allied Syrian Kurdish fighters

Turkey has threatened to step up military action against Syrian Kurdish fighters allied with the United States in response to the Trump administration’s decision to...

 

Iran Elections

Rouhani calls rivals violent extremists

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani launched a scathing attack on his conservative election rivals Monday, saying their era of “violence and extremism” was over....

 

War in Yemen

CSIS Report: The War in Yemen: Hard Choices in a Hard War

Some two years of fighting have reached a near stalemate in which the Houthi-Saleh faction controls the capital and much of the populated northwest, and...

 

Emirates Group

Emirates Profit Down 70% on Oil-Hit Economies, Terror Impact

Emirates Group, the biggest long-haul airline, posted its first decline in annual profit for five years as the low oil price weighed on Persian Gulf...

 

China in the Region

China’s Big Play for Middle East Oil

China's Middle East energy footprint has been expanding. In February, it made a deal for a stake in Abu Dhabi’s onshore oil. In March, Saudi...

 

Blockchain

Blockchain gains momentum in the Middle East

Blockchain is gathering momentum in the Middle East, as banks and government agencies in the region overcome their initial suspicions and embark on projects using...

 

Six-Day War

How the Six-Day War Changed the Middle East

Egypt's disorganization and Jordan's outdated weaponry made it possible for Israel to dominate the battlefield....

 

Social Media

Social Media Alone Won’t Improve Women’s Rights in the Middle East

It’s true that Facebook and Twitter are positive platforms for discussing social and political issues in the Middle East. Currently, in Egypt, a country of...

 

Libya

Libya Civil War: U.S.-Made Airplanes Deployed by UAE

The planes offer fresh evidence of a clandestine proxy war in Libya, in which Egypt, the U.A.E., and Russia are siding with Haftar in a...

 

Afghanistan

Rumored US troop increase in Afghanistan draws praise, worry on Capitol Hill

Reports of a proposed significant increase in the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan brought praise from critics of the drawdown of forces in the...

 

Refugee Crisis

245 Feared Dead in Mediterranean Shipwrecks

The U.N. Refugee Agency says up to 245 migrants are missing and feared dead following shipwrecks in the Mediterranean over weekend....

 

Special Operations Forces

U.S. Special Operations Forces’ Changing Mission in the Middle East

Special operations forces offer policymakers flexible, effective, and discreet ways to deal with the region’s complex conflicts, but many worry that overreliance on SOF could...

 

U.S.-Turkey

U.S. decision to arm Syrian Kurds threatens Turkey – foreign minister

The angry reply came a week before President Tayyip Erdogan is due in Washington for his first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, who approved...

 

Saudi-Iran

A Pakistani General Steps Into the Middle of the Iran-Saudi Firestorm

Islamabad would love to keep its distance from Riyadh’s looming showdown with Tehran. But now, having backed away from Yemen, it’s sent a top general...

 

Iran

Presidential hopefuls spar over economy as Trump turns screws on Iran

Staged or not, the slogans echoed the battle-cries of the broader election campaign, where Rouhani's rivals have focused on his handling of an economy threatened...

 

Anti-ISIS Campaign

Aboard the Battleship Leading the War on ISIS

Navigating the Persian Gulf is nothing compared to navigating the hostile warships that patrol it....

 

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