MUST-READS

• Netanyahu says Israel will end Gaza ceasefire if hostages not returned on Saturday
  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday the ceasefire in Gaza would end and the military would resume fighting Hamas until it was defeated if the Palestinian militant group did not release hostages by midday Saturday. Following Netanyahu's ultimatum, Hamas issued a statement renewing its commitment to the ceasefire and accusing Israel of jeopardizing the ceasefire. The Israeli announcement came after Netanyahu met with several key ministers, including defence, foreign affairs and national security, who he said gave the ultimatum their full support.

• Ten million Indians take holy dip on key day of Kumbh Mela festival
  More than 10 million devout Hindus seeking absolution from their sins took a dip in holy waters in northern India during a span of four hours on Wednesday, authorities said, as they braced for millions more to swarm the site of the Kumbh Mela. Authorities stepped up the numbers of police officers and put air ambulances on standby in the city of Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh state on one of the holiest days of the Hindu festival, considered the world's largest gathering of humanity.  "There are more people in this city in one day than the population of many countries, and the numbers are swelling by the minute," Prashant Kumar, the state's chief of police, told Reuters. The numbers arriving had pushed infrastructure arrangements to the brink, making delays and traffic jams inevitable, he added. Media said vehicles were backed up for hundreds of kilometers from the edges of the city.

• Saudi Arabia launches ferocious state media attack on Netanyahu

  Saudi anger has been thrust into the open as Riyadh is expected to face pressure from US President Donald Trump to normalise relations with Israel. Like other Arab states, Riyadh has also been rattled by Trump’s insistence that Palestinians should be forced out of Gaza. Saudi Arabia was closing in on a three-way deal with the Biden administration before Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack. The kingdom would have agreed to formal diplomatic relations with Israel in return for a US defence pact and assistance with a nuclear programme.  The war in Gaza shook up those plans. Riyadh never took normalisation off the table, but has escalated its condemnation of Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza and has hardened its position, insisting Israel would need to take irreversible steps towards a two-state solution. In September, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman went further, telling the consultative Shura Council that the kingdom would not recognise Israel without the establishment of an independent Palestinian state including Gaza and the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital.

• Saudi fintech RasMal closes $4.8 million pre-Series A

  RasMal, the first cap table management and investment governance platform in the MENA region, closes its Pre-Series A investment round led by Syndicate Element Holding Group (SHG), a leading investment firm, with a total value of $4.8 million (18 million SAR) during LEAP 2025 in Riyadh. This investment aims to introduce new tools and services to streamline fundraising processes and equity transfers, aligning with Saudi Vision 2030 to build a technology-driven financial ecosystem.

• Google Cloud and Accenture launch Generative AI Center of Excellence in Saudi Arabia

  Google Cloud and Accenture are extending their pan-global Generative AI collaboration into the Saudi market, launching their latest Center of Excellence in the Kingdom’s capital city. First launched late 2023 in the US, the Generative AI Center of Excellence of Accenture and Google Cloud provides businesses with the industry expertise, technical knowledge, and product resources to build and scale applications using Google Cloud’s generative AI portfolio and accelerate time-to-value. Fast forward to today, and Accenture and Google Cloud have setup over a dozen such Generative AI Center of Excellences, including in New York, London, Bengaluru, and Sydney. Now, Saudi Arabia has been unveiled as the next location (and first in the Middle East), with the initiative set to provide a major boost to the Kingdom’s generative AI scene.

• ‘Saudi is the best!’: Why are TikTok mumfluencers lauding desert megacity?

  "If you have children, Saudi Arabia is the best place," Aida McPherson, an Azerbaijani born in London, told her almost 60,000 followers as she filmed her daughter in traditional Saudi dress on a shopping trip. Around a dozen expat mothers have posted similar glowing accounts of the far-from-finished NEOM project in the desert championed by the kingdom's de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, despite concerns about continued rights violations in the country and alleged abuse of migrant building workers. But "influencer mums" -- often English-speaking and dressed in Western clothes -- rave about how "magnificent" everything is in NEOM, right down to the delicious food.

• Salesforce pledges $500 million investments in Saudi Arabia

  Salesforce today announced plans to invest $500 million in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, building on its commitment to innovation and economic growth in the region. The investment also aims to spur workforce development through AI skilling and expand Salesforce's local partner ecosystem to support local businesses. The announcement, made today at LEAP 2025, follows the company's Davos pledge to expand its presence in Saudi Arabia with new regional headquarters in Riyadh. The increasing adoption of Agentforce, Salesforce's digital labor platform, by businesses in the region underscores the growing demand for AI-driven solutions and reinforces Salesforce's commitment to this technology in the Kingdom.

• Trump’s Gaza Comments Aren’t Receiving a Warm Welcome in the Middle East
  Over the past few weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated comments about plans for Gaza’s future have sparked rare unity in the Middle East. Leaders have worked together to build a unified Arab position rejecting any attempt to displace Palestinians from Gaza. Below, three experts on Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia discuss the domestic and regional impacts of Trump’s statements. Although gauging Saudi public opinion directly is difficult, well-positioned commentators clearly feel free to reiterate (and even celebrate) the Kingdom’s rhetorical support for a Palestinian state. Prince Turki Al Faisal, pointedly wearing a keffiyah, appeared on CNN to criticize what he termed a “mad ethnic cleansing plan.”

• IBM watsonx to Support AI Initiative in Saudi Arabia: Stock to Gain?

  International Business Machines Corporation IBM recently announced that it has joined forces with Lenovo to support and accelerate the development of generative-AI infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Lenovo, a global technology juggernaut, boasts an extensive portfolio of AI-enabled, AI-optimized products that include smartphones, PCs, workstations and infrastructures, like servers, storage, high-performance computing and software-defined infrastructure. IBM is the leader in the AI space and its robust portfolio of watsonx AI products expedites the impact of generative AI in critical workflows to boost productivity.

• Inaugural Olympic Esports Games to be held in 2027 in Saudi Arabia
  The first Olympic Esports Games will be held in two years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday, as part of a 12-year-deal with the country signed last year. The IOC has been looking into Esports for several years, forming a dedicated commission to find opportunities to tap into a younger generation involved with gaming. With its traditional audience base gradually ageing, the governing body is trying to connect with a younger generation of potential Olympics fans. In 2021, it developed the Olympic virtual series, a pilot venture in Esports before signing the deal with Saudi Arabia last year for hosting the Olympic Esports Games.

• 10 of 63018 results<< 1 … 53 54 55 … 6,302 >>