MUST-READS

• Saudi inflation rises to 1.6% in January

  Saudi Arabia’s inflation accelerated to 1.6% last January compared to December 2023, according to recent data by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). The cost-of-living index for January rose to 110.44 points, according to the base year 2018, from 108.75 points in the same month a year earlier. Inflation is measured by the percentage change in the cost of living between the current period and the corresponding period of the previous year. The increase or decline in inflation is measured compared to the previous month.

• Iraq and Saudi Arabia discuss oil market co-operation

  Iraq and Saudi Arabia – Opec’s largest crude producers – need to align their views to maintain stability in the oil market, Iraq’s Prime Minister said on Wednesday. Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, who met Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman in Baghdad, said he welcomed the entry of the kingdom’s companies into Iraq and discussed expanding economic co-operation, according to a report by the Iraqi News Agency. “Iraq welcomes the entry of Saudi companies into the Iraqi market, in which there are many great investment opportunities today," Mr Al Sudani said.

• ‘I want to be the best’: Hattan Alsaif, the Saudi woman making MMA history

  In late January, Hattan Alsaif became the first female fighter from Saudi Arabia to sign up with a major global mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, the Professional Fighters League (PFL). Alsaif, 22, won gold at the 2023 International Federation of Muaythai Associations World Championships, where she was awarded Breakthrough Female Athlete. Last year she also took first place at the World Combat Games and the Saudi Games.

• Saudi Arabia is poised to establish more smart industrial zones

  The first edition of the Global Smart City Forum 2024 concluded in Riyadh on Tuesday with a revelation that Saudi Arabia is poised to create more smart industrial zones. The two-day forum saw several deliberations focusing on the future of smart cities and the challenges facing their infrastructure. The forum stressed the importance of integrating smart energy solutions for a sustainable future. It was revealed in the forum that the smart industrial zones would have great opportunities for the future in the fields of manufacturing and mining.

• Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, official says

  Iran will reciprocate if its ships are seized, the legal adviser to Iran's President told state media on Thursday, in response to a statement by the United States Department of Justice. This month, the Department of Justice issued a statement announcing the seizure of more than 500,000 barrels of Iranian fuel to clamp down on the "Revolutionary Guards' financing network". "If an Iranian ship is seized, we will reciprocate and the legal way is not closed in this regard," legal adviser Mohammad Dehghan said, adding that he was not able to confirm whether U.S. authorities had seized an Iranian vessel.

• Israel raids main Gaza hospital as Rafah concerns grow

  Israeli forces said on Thursday they had raided the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza, as video posted online showed chaos, shouting and the sound of shooting in darkened corridors that were filled with dust and smoke. Israeli military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari described the raid on Nasser Hospital as "precise and limited" and said it was based on credible information that Hamas was hiding in the facility, had kept hostages there and that bodies of hostages may still be there.

• Saudi Arabia’s Neom and MDLBeast create an ‘ultra-modern’ beach club

  Neom and Saudi music entertainment company MDLBeast have teamed up to create an "ultra-modern" beach club on the $500 billion megaproject's luxury island, Sindalah. The Sindalah Beach Club, located on the shores of the Red Sea, promises year-round experiences inspired by music and culture. MDLBeast, which is behind the annual Soundstorm festival, will curate the music scene at Sindalah, promising to bring in world-famous musicians, artists and DJs, as well as cutting-edge audio and visual installations. "Sindalah is bringing a new model for luxury travel and living powered by innovation and sustainability," said Antoni Vives, chief urban planning and islands officer at Neom. "MDLBeast will reimagine the typical beach club experience into a tech-enhanced journey."

• A wealthy Saudi family is buying up failing Children’s Place

  Mithaq’s reported holdings of public stocks, valued at about $200 million by S&P Capital IQ, are an eclectic mix: a British litigation-finance firm, an Israeli data-intelligence firm, a Chinese tour-guide company, an Australian goat-milk producer, an advertising-technology company that just delisted from Nasdaq.

• Little progress seen in Cairo hostage talks, Israel downplays interest in deal

  Israel continues to downplay interest in a potential hostage release deal and extended truce in Gaza, a day after CIA chief Bill Burns attended talks in Cairo on the matter with the Egyptians, Qataris and Israelis that apparently made little progress.

• How the Houthis mined commercial intelligence to sabotage global trade

  The Houthis' use of publicly available ship navigation data and other information that can be obtained with paid subscriptions on maritime intelligence sites is an unprecedented case of an Iran-backed group deploying open-source information widely accessible in the West against the US and its allies. “The Houthis have shown that with a computer and internet access, and maybe the help of a VPN, just how much data is available in the maritime space,” Corey Ranslem, chief executive of maritime risk advisory and security company Dryad Global, told Middle East Eye. The Houthis, once a mountain rebel group, whom one US lawmaker derided as “goat herders”, have catapulted to global prominence for their audacious maritime drone and missile attacks, which they say are on behalf of besieged Palestinians in Gaza.

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