MUST-READS

• Hezbollah introduces new weapons and tactics against Israel as war in Gaza drags on

  Hezbollah has regularly fired missiles across the border with Israel over the past seven months, but the one on Thursday appears to have been the first successful missile airstrike it has launched from within Israeli airspace. The group has stepped up its attacks on Israel in recent weeks, particularly since the Israeli incursion into the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. It has struck deeper inside Israel and introduced new and more advanced weaponry.

• Ranked: The World’s 50 Largest Private Equity Firms

  In 2023, private equity firms controlled $8.2 trillion in assets globally according to McKinsey & Company, a figure that has rapidly expanded since the industry first emerged 40 years ago. As large investors such as pension funds and insurance companies increasingly look to private markets, these alternative asset managers have seen their assets grow by more than twofold in the last five years.

• This 256 km highway in Saudi Arabia is world’s longest road without a bend

  Saudi Arabia's Highway 10 has emerged as the world's longest straight road, surpassing Australia's Eyre Highway, according to the Guinness World Records. This achievement marks a significant milestone in transportation infrastructure, offering travellers an unparalleled journey across vast distances with unobstructed views. This 256-kilometre (159-mile) asphalt stretch cuts through the vast Rub Al-Khali desert, also known as the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world, without any bends left or right, or any appreciable gradient up or down.

• Saudi experts on urban heritage give lectures in Paris

  Experts on urban heritage from Saudi Arabia are giving a series of lectures on the topic at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization offices in Paris. Organized by the Saudi Heritage Commission, the program of four lectures explores some of the initiatives developed by the organization and the wider strategies on urban heritage in the Kingdom, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The first lecture delved into material and intangible methods for preserving urban heritage, while the second looked at the development of traditional architecture in Al-Ahsa.

• Commentary: Religious tolerance is at the core of the Gulf’s strategic thinking

  It has become fashionable for many modern secularists to demonise religion as being a major barrier to peace. When they learn someone is devout, it often wrongly conjures up images of extreme confessional intolerance, such as the Spanish Inquisition torturing suspected heretics based on flimsy evidence. It is perhaps not a surprise, then, that the significant role religion plays in daily life in Gulf countries – including the political and legal systems – occasionally draws antipathy and hysterically negative media coverage in the West.

• U.S. military completes temporary pier off Gaza; deliveries to start within days

  The U.S. Army has completed a temporary pier on a Gazan beach; trucks should begin hauling away the first 500 tons of aid for civilians within days, with thousands more tons in the pipeline, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

• San Remo: The Middle East’s Most Important Treaty You Never Heard Of

  A year and half after the end of World War I, the victorious Allied Powers convened at a villa in northern Italy to decide the fate of the defeated Ottoman Empire and redraw the map of the Middle East, which had been part of that empire. The result of this conference was The Treaty of San Remo which was signed on April 24, 1920.

• Opinion: The Gaza Crisis Pushes Washington and Riyadh Closer

  Riyadh wants to conclude defense agreements and to advance regional peacemaking, but when it comes to Netanyahu’s government, it has no peace partner. On the contrary, Saudi Arabia must contend with an Israeli leader who has promised to launch an offensive into Rafah, creating the potential for a regional explosion that Iran will exploit. Can Saudi leaders secure and justify some kind of defense agreement with the United States without signaling that they have not turned their back on the Palestinians?

• Zain invests $427mn to expand 5G, digital services in Saudi Arabia

  Saudi telco Zain KSA announced plans to invest a total of SAR1.6 billion ($427 million) to expand its 5G network and digital services ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, local press reported. The operator said it will expand its current 5G network coverage to 122 cities across the country.

• The Future of EV Charging: Spotlight on the UAE and Saudi Arabia

  KSA has also made several high-profile investments through its sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (“PIF”). In 2023, PIF and Saudi Electricity Company established a 75%/25% owned joint venture, the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Company (“EVIQ”). EVIQ intends to install 5,000+ fast chargers by 2030 in over 1,000 locations across KSA. It also aims to promote private sector participation in the development of this network and support the localisation of research, development, and manufacturing of technologically advanced materials.

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