SUSTG.com / Research

Discover stories, topics, and more about Saudi Arebia faster.

Recent stories from sustg

MUST-READS

  • Hamas says it is investigating possible error over hostage body

    Hamas said on Friday it was investigating a possible error in identifying human remains handed to Israel under a ceasefire deal as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened retaliation for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas. Hamas was due to hand over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons Kfir and Ariel on Thursday, along with the remains of a fourth hostage under the ceasefire deal that has halted fighting in Gaza since last month. Four bodies were delivered and the identities of the Bibas boys and the fourth hostage, Oded Lifshitz, were confirmed. But Israeli specialists said the fourth body was that of an unidentified woman and not Bibas, who was kidnapped along with her sons and her husband, Yarden, during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

  • Arab states scramble to counter Trump’s Gaza ‘Riviera’ plan

    Arab states who were swift to reject President Donald Trump's plan for the U.S. to take control of Gaza and resettle its Palestinians are scrambling to agree on a diplomatic offensive to counter the idea, five sources told Reuters. Trump's plan, announced on February 4 during a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, has infuriated the Palestinians and Arab countries and upended decades of U.S. diplomacy focused on a two-state solution.  But Arab states trying to devise an alternative plan have yet to tackle critical issues like who will foot the bill for Gaza's reconstruction -- estimated by the U.N. at more than $50 billion -- or how the Strip will be governed, according to sources familiar with diplomatic discussions ahead of the meeting. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media. Leaders of Gulf Arab countries plus Egypt and Jordan are due to meet later on Friday in Riyadh for what Saudi Arabia said would be an unofficial meeting within the framework of "close brotherly relations".

  • Tiger Woods joins another White House meeting as PGA Tour moves closer to Saudi deal

    Tiger Woods joined PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and player director Adam Scott in a second White House meeting Thursday with President Donald Trump, another sign the sport is moving rapidly toward ending the division brought on by Saudi-funded LIV Golf. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and the financial muscle behind the rival league, also was part of the meeting. The tour said it would share more details when appropriate, adding: “We are committed to moving as quickly as possible.” “We share a passion for the game and the importance of reunification,” the statement said. “Most importantly, we all want the best players in the world playing together more often and are committed to doing all we can to deliver that outcome for our fans.”

  • Chess: Carlsen wins again as he qualifies for the $1.5m Saudi Esports World Cup

    Magnus Carlsen’s dominance of online chess has continued this week as the world No 1 is in pole position for the concluding stages of the Chessable Masters, the first leg of the annual Champions Tour which the Norwegian has won every year since it was launched in 2020. For 2025, the tour is also a qualifier for the Esports World Cup at Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in July-August, where the chess prize fund will be $1.5m.

  • Trump hails Saudi Arabia at investment event in Miami

    This was the first time a US president has spoken at the Miami event. Elon Musk, who co-heads Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency, was also there. As part of an increasingly high-profile relationship with the United States under President Trump, earlier this week Saudi Arabia hosted talks between the US and Russian foreign ministers aimed at paving the way for a resolution to the Ukraine war. In late January, during the first phone call Trump held with a foreign leader after returning to the White House, the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, pledged $600 billion of trade and investment in the US over Trump’s four-year term.

  • Trump calls Saudi Arabia a ‘special place with special leaders’

    US President Donald Trump thanked Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for hosting talks between Washington and Moscow last week, calling the Kingdom a “special place with special leaders.” Speaking at the opening of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute, Trump said it was “a tremendous honor” to be the first American president to address the FII Institute. The US president singled out Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his efforts in this regard. “But in particular, we have to thank [Crown] Prince Mohammed bin Salman for hosting these historic talks that went very, very well,” Trump said. Launched in 2017, FII brings together investors, policymakers, government officials and international private sector executives from across the globe.

  • Council pressed to act over Saudi ‘sportswashing’

    Human rights campaigners have met Newcastle's council leader to demand stronger action against alleged "sportswashing" by Saudi Arabia. The delegation, including citizens whose family members have been jailed in the Gulf state, sat down with the authority's leader Karen Kilgour. Political leaders have come under pressure over the North East's links to Saudi Arabia since the 2021 takeover of Newcastle United by a consortium led by the nation's Public Investment Fund (PIF). Kilgour said human rights abuses were "completely at odds with the values we hold dearly" in Newcastle but it was for the government to raise concerns. Newcastle United and the Saudi government did not comment.

  • Forever Young Outside, Romantic Warrior Inside for Saudi Cup

    Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), a Group 1 winner at the back end of 2024 in the Tokyo Daishoten and third in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Breeders' Cup Classic, will jump from the widest alley in barrier 14 for Saturday's G1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz Racecourse in Riyadh. Post positions were drawn Wednesday evening at the racecourse. Katie McDonald (ex Mallyon) was assigned the somewhat unenviable task of pulling the post position for Hong Kong Horse of the Year Romantic Warrior (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) and by all accounts, she performed well after electing the three hole. Her husband James McDonald rides the last-out G1 Jebel Hatta hero for trainer Danny Shum.

  • NDMC closes the February 2025 Issuance under the Saudi Arabian Government SAR-denominated Sukuk Program

    The National Debt Management Center announces the closure of February 2025 issuance under the Saudi Arabian Government SAR-denominated Sukuk Program. The Total Amount Allocated was set at SAR 3.071Bn (three billion and seventy-one million Saudi Riyals)

  • Saudi Arabia’s rise as a global diplomacy broker

    Saudi Arabia is solidifying its position as a global and regional diplomatic hub. On Friday, Riyadh will host the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, in addition to Jordan and Egypt, to discuss an Arab plan for the reconstruction of Gaza without displacing its 2.2 million inhabitants. Once approved, the plan will be presented at the meeting of Arab leaders in Cairo at the end of the month. It will become a counterproposal to President Donald Trump’s plan to displace the people of Gaza while taking over the beleaguered enclave and turning it into a regional riviera. So, when Jordan’s King Abdullah met with Trump at the White House last week, his response to Trump’s idea was that Arab leaders had been invited by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose country has rejected any attempt to displace the Palestinians from their land, to work on an Arab plan for the reconstruction of Gaza without the displacement of its people.