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Recent stories from sustg

  • Saudis gear up for new academic year
     

    Saudi students, parents and educators are preparing for the new academic year, which begins September 1st. Shaher al-Jeddawi, programme director at a public school in Jeddah, said introducing English language courses in fourth grade is a major step “towards raising the level of education in general”. “The project this year applies to 4,200 schools out […]

     
  • Saudi banks most profitable in Middle East
     

    Out of the top 50 banks in the Middle East ranked by assets for the period H1 2011, Saudi banks lead the pack “having a good track record of maintaining strong asset quality and adapting adequate lending practices and underwriting standards,” Sheetal Kothari, research analyst, business and financial services practice, Frost & Sullivan, said. The […]

     
  • Beware the Siren Call of Jihad
     

    There’s a full-court press, likely at the instigation of Saudi Arabia’s government, to discourage would-be jihadis from traveling up to Syria. Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that a wide array of authority figures are warning enthusiastic youths of the potential dangers and about how their brothers and cousins fell into traps in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq. Usefully, […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia breaks onto contemporary art scene
     

    Saudi Arabia is making its mark on the global contemporary art scene: works by Middle Eastern artists such as Talal Al Zeid and Mohammed Farea are available at Lam Art Gallery in Riyadh, the Empty Quarter photography gallery in Dubai was founded by the Saudi photographer Princess Reem Al-Faisal, while Message/Messenger, a 2010 installation incorporating […]

     
  • 42 Amazing Photos of Ramadan 2012
     

    Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, will come to a close this weekend with the observation of a festival called Eid al-Fitr. Throughout this ninth month on the Islamic calendar, devout Muslims must abstain from food, drink, and sex from dawn until sunset. The fast, one of the five pillars of Islam, is seen as […]

     
  • For GCC, a Challenge Within Reach: The Gulf Rail Network
     

    Railways have never been the preferred mode of transportation in the Gulf, neither for passengers nor for goods, for geographic reasons and, mostly, due to the affordable prices of fuel for road transportation. But in the next few years, and in order to boost trade, Gulf countries are expected to spend more than $100 billion on rail […]

     
  • As Fasting Ends, the Lessons of Ramadan Linger
     

    Before we began our three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of Ramadan, I came across an article in a Saudi newspaper with a checklist of what makes a successful Ramadan. First on the list: Recognizing that one can change for the better and acquiring patience and strong will. This month my deficiencies have shone […]

     
  • What Islamic Advertising in Saudi Arabia Looks Like
     

    This image of McDonald’s famous Golden Arches — the ne plus ultra of a Western brand — looks jarring in Arabic script. But in the Middle East and parts of Asia, that’s McDonald’s all-American brand.

     
  • Saudis Back Syria Rebels, Mindful of Past
     

    Overcome by the suffering of civilians in warring Syria, a professor in Saudi Arabia’s capital strips off his watch on live television to give as aid. A Saudi bride on her wedding night offers up her entire dowry of $13,000. Parents bring their children to donation centers set up around the Saudi kingdom, watching proudly […]

     
  • Saudi: strongest passenger growth in a decade as market expands
     

    After several years of sagging performance, Saudi Arabia’s aviation market reported its strongest growth in passenger traffic in more than a decade in 2011, even against the background of the Middle East’s regional social unrest. Despite the Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and some of the Gulf states, Saudi Arabian passenger traffic boomed in […]

     

MUST-READS

  • WTA Finals to be held in Saudi Arabia from 2024-2026 with record prize money

    The season-ending WTA Finals will be held in Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh from 2024-2026, the women's tennis body said on Thursday, ending months of speculation and marking the Gulf country's latest foray into the sport.
    Riyadh will host the season finale - which features the top eight singles players and doubles teams - from Nov. 2-9 and replaces last year's hosts Cancun, Mexico.
    The WTA said its agreement with the Saudi Tennis Federation will offer record prize money of $15.25 million this year with further increases in 2025 and 2026.

  • Sand creature — like something out of ‘Dune’ — found in Saudi Arabia. See new species

    Along the coast of Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea retreats from the rocky and sandy beaches with the tide, revealing small pools teeming with life. The “lagoon-like” environments are scattered along the shore where land meets water, and in them, tiny creatures crawl up under the rocks and burrow into the sand. Then the rock lifts, and the creepy crawlies are met with the wide eyes of a researcher. One of these researchers is Chloé Fourreau, a PhD student at the University of Ryukyus in Japan. Fourreau is part of a team searching the coastline for the presence of Perinereis, a type of segmented marine ragworm. It wasn’t long before researchers found one — and it’s a new species.

  • Many Iranian options to retaliate against Israel, but all carry risk

    Iran faces a dilemma following an Israeli attack on its embassy in Syria: how to retaliate without sparking a wider conflict that Middle East analysts said Tehran doesn't appear to want.
    Monday's strike, which killed two Iranian generals and five military advisers at Iran's embassy compound in Damascus, comes as Israel accelerates a long-running campaign against Iran and the armed groups it backs. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed revenge.

  • Explainer: Could the Palestinians become a full United Nations member?

    The Palestinian Authority on Tuesday formally asked for renewed consideration by the United Nations Security Council of its 2011 application to become a full member of the world body.
    Palestinian U.N. envoy Riyad Mansour told Reuters on Monday that the aim was for the council to take a decision at an April 18 ministerial meeting on the Middle East, but that a vote had yet to be scheduled.
    Here are details on U.N. membership:

  • Palestinian Mandela? Marwan Barghouti, imprisoned preacher of unity.

    Serving five life sentences after being convicted by an Israeli court for involvement in militant killings in the second intifada, Mr. Barghouti remains the rare – perhaps the only – figure trusted by all Palestinian factions. With his release from Israeli prison demanded by Fatah’s rival, Hamas, and even advocated by a former Israeli spy chief, the mere possibility of Mr. Barghouti’s return to the scene is stirring up Palestinian politics, and hope, at a historic crossroads

  • Israel Unleashed? A Brazen Campaign Against Iranian Targets Could Backfire

    On April 1, Israel launched its latest attack on Iran in the two countries’ ongoing shadow war, with an airstrike that flattened a section of Iran’s embassy complex in Damascus and reportedly killed at least 12 people. Among the dead was Mohammad Reza Zahedi, who headed Iran’s military operations in Syria and Lebanon, where he worked for decades and became a close interlocutor with Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The strike also killed Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi, Zahedi’s deputy, and at least five other officers in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

  • Gaza infrastructure damages estimated at $18.5bn in UN-World Bank report

    The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in the first four months of Israel’s continuing war on Gaza is estimated at about $18.5bn, a new report by the World Bank and the United Nations has found. The report estimated that the damage was equivalent to 97 percent of the combined GDP of the occupied West Bank and Gaza in 2022.

  • ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza

    A new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals that the Israeli army has developed an artificial intelligence-based program known as “Lavender,” unveiled here for the first time. According to six Israeli intelligence officers, who have all served in the army during the current war on the Gaza Strip and had first-hand involvement with the use of AI to generate targets for assassination, Lavender has played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of Palestinians, especially during the early stages of the war. In fact, according to the sources, its influence on the military’s operations was such that they essentially treated the outputs of the AI machine “as if it were a human decision.”

  • Readout of President Joe Biden’s Call with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel

    He made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete, and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering, and the safety of aid workers. He made clear that U.S. policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps. He underscored that an immediate ceasefire is essential to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation and protect innocent civilians, and he urged the Prime Minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home.

  • Iraq Navigates the Mideast Crisis

    As Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani prepares for a pivotal visit to Washington in mid-April, his government is attempting to navigate through multiple currents roiling the region, calls to distance the country from U.S. mentorship, and internal crises that continue to divide Iraq’s Arab leaders from their Kurdish counterparts that run northern Iraq.