MUST-READS

• Saudi Arabia’s wheat production continues to grow

  Saudi Arabia continues to ramp up its wheat production and is expected to produce 25% more in 2024-25 for a total of 1.5 million tonnes. This is the maximum allowed production quota and may be reduced or increased by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture (MEWA) depending on the underground aquafer and the world wheat supply, the Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture said in a report.

• 2nd phase of Saudization of consulting service professions by 40% comes into force

  The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development announced that the second phase of the Saudization of consulting services professions has come into force on Monday, March 25. The second phase covers 40 percent of professions related to consulting services, notably financial consulting, engineering and architectural consulting, health consulting, and senior management consulting. This move is part of the ministry’s efforts aimed at providing more stimulating and productive job opportunities for male and female citizens in various regions of Saudi Arabia.

• US and Israel both leave key questions unanswered in the Gaza war

  The biggest question of all that remains unanswered is one that Israel has sought to avoid answering with precision and the US has failed for years to define in clear and achievable terms. The Biden administration recently restated the long-term goal of a two-state solution, something Israel’s current government rejects. Military campaigns that fail to define a clear, pragmatic end goal often result in long, costly wars that weaken rather than increase security for those engaged in those wars.

• The Cost of Green Hydrogen Production in Saudi Arabia and Germany: A Model-Based Approach

  With over seventy countries setting net-zero commitments by or around mid-century, low-carbon hydrogen (H₂) is expected to play a pivotal role in the decarbonization of the global economy, especially sectors less dependent on electricity, which are often termed as hard-to-abate industries. Unlike most fossil fuels, H₂doesn’t produce greenhouse gas emissions when burned, instead it yields water.

• Saudi Arabia’s Revealed Comparative Advantage in Non-Oil Exports
  The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) is based on Ricardian trade theory, which postulates that trade flows between countries are determined by their relative productivity differences. The RCA index provides a general indication and a first approximation of a country’s competitive strength in exports. This study examines Saudi Arabia’s global and regional export competitiveness for selected nonoil export products from 2010 to 2020 via/ RCA indices.

• Saudi Arabia’s Rising Scientific Talents Honored with KAUST’s 2024 Ibn Rushd Fellowship

  King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) takes great pride in announcing its distinguished 2024 cohort of Ibn Rushd Fellows: Abrar Aljahani, Abdulrahman Aljurbua, Ahmed Alahmed, and Yara Alshwairikh. These early-career researchers have been chosen for their remarkable scientific achievements and research proposals that resonate with the Kingdom's research and innovation goals. KAUST will provide each recipient with a generous stipend to pursue their cutting-edge postdoctoral research overseas, with the opportunity for annual renewal for up to three years.

• Iran: Meet the ultra-conservative election winners taking over parliament

  Iran's recent parliamentary elections have seen prominent ultra-conservatives secure top positions, marking a significant shift in their favour on the benches of the Islamic Republic's Consultative Assembly. The 1 March elections, the first held since protests swept the nation following the death in police custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022, recorded a turnout of just 41 percent, the lowest figure since the 1979 revolution. With reformists mostly boycotting the ballot and voters abstaining in protest, the principlist Omana coalition, backed by President Ebrahim Raisi, and the Endurance Front, allied with former Islamic Republic Guard Corps (IRGC) commander and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, were the notable contenders.

• From Bad to Worse: Climate Migration in Middle East

  Although climate change’s horrors are global—melting polar ice caps, loss of wildlife habitats, and more frequent, more powerful natural disasters like hurricanes, to name just a few—some regions bear a higher burden than others. This is especially true for forced migration due to climate change, which, for regions like the Middle East, can be particularly destabilizing. Migration will be one of the most adverse impacts of climate change on the region. How regional and global actors act now and what they decide on in the next United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) will determine the trajectory of climate-induced migration in years ahead.

• The Biden Administration Abstains on Ceasefire Vote

  Today’s vote followed a failed US-led resolution from a week earlier. That resolution, vetoed by UNSC permanent members Russia and China, called for the importance of a temporary pause in fighting in Israel’s war on Gaza as well as for the release of hostages and a surge of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians. Reacting to that vote, Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the words “cynical” and “unimaginable” to describe China’s and Russia’s veto. There is quite a bit of irony in Blinken’s assertion, considering that the Biden administration had until very recently avoided the term “ceasefire.”

• Biden, Netanyahu on collision course after Gaza UN vote
  Relations between President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sank to a wartime low on Monday with the U.S. allowing passage of a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations and drawing a sharp rebuke from the Israeli leader.
  Netanyahu abruptly scrapped a visit to Washington this week by a senior delegation to discuss Israel’s threatened offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah after the U.S. abstained in a Security Council vote that demanded an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages held by the Palestinian militants.

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