MUST-READS

• Abu Dhabi International Book Fair Expands Access to Literature

  From April 29 to May 5, thousands of people filled the vast halls of Abu Dhabi’s largest conference center to attend the 33rd annual Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. While the event itself was founded in 1981, the scale and impact of the fair have grown tremendously. In 2020, for example, the fair took place over two days at a small cultural center on Saadiyat Island, an artificial island home to the United Arab Emirates’ Cultural District. Three years later, the fair had grown into a weeklong vibrant and expansive festival, providing a platform for more than 1,350 exhibitors from 90 countries – almost 150 more than the 2023 fair and including 12 additional countries. More than 230,000 visitors enjoyed free access to a wide variety of talks, book signings, and exhibitions. At the fair’s conclusion, more than 160,000 books were sold.

• Will Iran’s new president pursue dialogue with the west?

  Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian has beaten hardliner Saeed Jalili in the Iranian presidential race. The July 5 runoff drew some six million more voters than the first round of polling on June 28, pushing up turnout to just under 50%. While President-elect Pezeshkian will begin receiving calls and hold discussions with foreign counterparts from July 8, he will not be sworn in before the parliament until early August. This has not, however, stopped Iranian veteran diplomats from immediately backing any effort by Pezeshkian to engage the west and revive the 2015 nuclear deal.

• Riyadh among top 15 fastest-growing cities: Report

  Riyadh has emerged as one of the top 15 fastest-growing cities by 2033, according to the Savills Growth Hubs Index. The report, part of Savills’ global thought leadership programme Impacts, highlights Riyadh as the only non-Asian city in the top 15 list. The city’s growth potential is linked to a projected 26 percent population increase, expected to reach 9.2 million from the current 5.9 million over the next decade.

• 2024 could be world’s hottest year as June breaks records
  Last month was the hottest June on record, the EU's climate change monitoring service said on Monday, continuing a streak of exceptional temperatures that some scientists said puts 2024 on track to be the world's hottest recorded year. Every month since June 2023 - 13 months in a row - has ranked as the planet's hottest since records began, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin.

• Netanyahu: Gaza deal must let Israel resume fighting until war goals met
  Any Gaza ceasefire deal must allow Israel to resume fighting until its objectives are met, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday, as talks over a U.S. plan aimed at ending the nine-month-old war were expected to restart. Five days after Hamas accepted a key part of the plan, two officials from the Palestinian militant group said the group was awaiting Israel's response to its latest proposal.

• DARPA wants to use AI to find new rare minerals

  Secure access to rare Earth minerals is a critical national security issue, as the entire United States' economy is highly dependent on minerals—and the majority of them discovered so far are in China. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has partnered with a company called HyperSpectral that applies artificial intelligence to spectroscopic data, which could be key to using satellites or drones to find minerals that would be difficult to detect otherwise.

• New Google collaboration advances AI research in Saudi Arabia

  Google announced $100,000 in seed research grants to AI researchers at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology ( KAUST) faculty in Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) to advance research in multilingual, multimodal machine learning, specifically in the use of generative and large language models (LLMs). The researchers will advance research in topics including health, cross-cultural language understanding, sustainability, privacy and education.

• Saudi border guards seize over a ton of qat

  The General Administration of the Mujahideen and Border Guard patrols successfully thwarted multiple smuggling attempts in Jazan and the Asir Region, seizing a total of 1,222 kg of qat. Patrols in Jazan thwarted the smuggling of 507 kg of qat, and the confiscated items were transferred to the appropriate authorities after initial regulatory procedures. Security regiments in the Asir Region also intercepted 240 kg of qat in the Al-Farsha Governorate. In the Al-Raboah sector of the Asir Region, Border Guards arrested 11 Ethiopians attempting to smuggle 275 kg of qat.

• Saudi banks post $1.95 billion in aggregate profits for May 2024, reaching 14-month high

  The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) reported that these profits are before zakat and taxes. Cumulatively, banks recorded a total profit of SAR34.78 billion ($9.27 billion) in the first five months of 2024, compared to SAR31.12 billion in the same period last year.

• “Saudi consumers are developing a more sophisticated palate”

  Clients (brands) are demanding more effective marketing strategies in the face of a booming domestic market. The  ever-increasing number of homegrown brands is pushing the boundaries, forcing established players to up their game. This translates to a growing need for data-driven campaigns and innovative experiences that deliver measurable results. The government’s own digital transformation efforts have set a high bar, raising client expectations across industries.

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