MUST-READS

• Motorists in Saudi Arabia offered new fine reduction scheme

  The Saudi interior ministry announced a new scheme on Thursday that would allow motorist in the Kingdom to reduce their outstanding fines by 50 percent. The rule will allow motorists a six month window starting on April 18 to make use of the grace policy. The decision comes “in implementation of the directives of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman,” the ministry said.

  It urged drivers to adhere to the traffic laws and not commit violations.

• A blinking red light for Israel in American politics

  President Joe Biden and his top deputies said they would consider changing their policy towards Israel unless more consideration was given towards the humanitarian crisis its military was producing. A top Biden ally in the Senate argued that aid could be conditioned should Israel follow through on its threat to invade Rafah. Even former President Donald Trump went public with his belief that Israel was losing the PR battle and needed to end the conflict soon.

• Chinese Car Exports Continue to Soar as EV Share Grows

  Chinese EVs continuing to make inroads around the world is reflected in the country's car export figures which have been soaring post-pandemic. The export of cars from China increased from around 1 million to 2 million between 2020 and 2021 to much media attention and has since continued to climb even more dramatically. In 2023, it reached almost 5 million, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

• Opinion: The Problem Isn’t Just Netanyahu. It’s Israeli Society.

  Israel has been so sacrosanct in America for so long that the idea that a hawkish Democrat like Schumer would call for regime change in Israel is extraordinary. But the Senate leader’s stance is fairly mainstream among Israelis. There’s consensus—even within his own party—that elections should be held early. It seems like conventional wisdom in Israel that Netanyahu is dragging out the war for his own political survival, since he knows the moment it comes to a halt, Israelis will focus even more resolutely on investigating the failures of Oct. 7 and pushing for early elections to vote him out of office.

• Biden to Netanyahu: Protect civilians in Gaza or US policy will change
  President Joe Biden threatened on Thursday to condition support for Israel's offensive in Gaza on it taking concrete steps to protect aid workers and civilians, seeking for the first time to leverage U.S. aid to influence Israeli military behavior.
  Biden's warning, relayed in a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, followed a deadly Israeli attack on World Central Kitchen aid workers that spurred new calls from Biden's fellow Democrats to place conditions on U.S. aid to Israel. Israel said the attack was a mistake.
  • Reuters - Biden ultimatum to Netanyahu: protect Gaza civilians, or else
• 18th Saudi Relief Plane Arrives in Poland to Deliver Aid to Ukrainian People

  The 18th Saudi relief flight operated by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) arrived today at the Polish Rzeszow Airport near the Ukrainian border. It will cross the border into Ukraine, carrying 51 tons of relief aid, including electric generators and appliances. The aid reflects the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s unwavering commitment to supporting needy people and those affected by crises and difficulties worldwide.

• Netanyahu says Israel acting against Iran, will defend itself
  Israel braced on Thursday for the possibility of a retaliatory attack after its suspected killing of Iranian generals in Damascus this week, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country would harm "whoever harms us or plans to harm us."
  His comments came after Israel's armed forces - stretched by nearly six months of war in the Gaza Strip and on the Lebanese front - announced they were suspending leave for all combat units, a day after they said they were mobilising more troops for air defence units.

• McDonald’s buys all of its Israeli franchise restaurants amid damage from Middle East turmoil

  McDonald’s will buy every one of its 225 franchise restaurants in Israel, it announced Thursday, just weeks after saying that the Israel-Hamas war was hurting its business.

  The fast food giant said it had struck an agreement with Israeli franchise Alonyal to buy the firm’s McDonald’s (MCD) franchise restaurants in the country.

  Omri Padan, CEO and owner of Alonyal, said in a statement: “For more than 30 years, Alonyal Limited has been proud to bring the Golden Arches to Israel and serve our communities.” Alonyal employs more than 5,000 people across its McDonald’s restaurants in the country.

• New book reveals Ottoman origins of refugee resettlement in Middle East

  The book, which started as an award-winning doctoral dissertation at Stanford, examines how the Ottoman government resettled Circassian, Chechen, Dagestani and other refugees and how the resettlement led to more than 1,000 new villages. Most of these villages still exist today, including Amman — the largest city in the Levant — established in 1878 by Circassian refugees.

• Rolls-Royce puts Middle East at center of five-year drive to quadruple profits

  With next-generation technology rolling out, the head of Rolls-Royce's operations in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (Meta) has said the markets of Middle East will be crucial in the company's overall plan of quadrupling profits by 2027.

  John Kelly, president of Meta at Rolls-Royce, told The National the “confluence of key market opportunities with phenomenal growth opportunities across all of our divisions” will be key to reaching its profit-swelling goal.

  Last year, Rolls-Royce chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic outlined his plan to quadruple profits over five years by improving the performance of its jet engines and bearing down on costs.

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