MUST-READS

• Labor
  New ‘fairer’ Saudization rules come into force

  The Ministry of Labor has begun implementing its new Saudization monitoring rules that consider a citizen part of a company immediately and not after 13 weeks, which is aimed at protecting both parties.

• Saudis Abroad
  Saudis abroad ‘seen as cash machines’

  This image may seem too familiar to many Saudis who travel to other countries: People abroad automatically assume they are wealthy tourists and bombard them with unreasonable prices and offers. While some citizens complain that the image of “cash machines”, otherwise known as “Saudi cash” is leading them to have financial difficulties, experts says Saudis are also contributing to spread this view about them.

• Extremism
  Kingdom sparing no effort in fight against extremism, terrorism: Saudi King

  King Salman also addressed how acts committed by global terror groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Al-Qaeda affiliate the Al-Nusra Front were affecting relations between Muslims and other peoples from across the globe. He said such groups had “given an excuse to those already against Islam and who seek to harm it    to vilify our upright and rightly guided faith whose followers number 1.5 billion people around the world and who are now associated with this mindless faction which has no relation to Islam in any way.”

• MERS
  U.N. experts warn of ‘critical knowledge gaps’ on Saudi MERS virus

  Saudi Arabia has not done enough to investigate and control a deadly new MERS virus that has killed hundreds of people there and remains in many ways a mystery, United Nations health experts said on Monday. Cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) are surging again, but Saudi health officials and scientists appear unable to explain where the infections start and how they spread, the UN experts said.

• Mobily
  Saudi’s Mobily says chairman quits, appoints replacement

  Mobily has appointed Suliman bin Abdulrahman al-Gwaiz as chairman, effective Feb. 23. Gwaiz is also chairman of Banque Saudi Fransi and governor of state-owned fund the General Organization for Social Insurance, the statement said. The telecom operator reported a surprise fourth-quarter loss of 2.28 billion riyals ($607.9 million), while in November it also cut its profits for 2013 and the first half of 2014 by a combined 1.43 billion riyals.

• Saudi Oil Policy
  Saudi Arabia taking market share fight downstream, gaining ‘growing captive market’ in Asia

  Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s most influential producer, is revamping its strategy as it abandons its role of swing producer in global markets and rethinking its spare capacity, says Barclays Capital. “The kingdom [Saudi Arabia] is increasing the level of refined products it exports to the market, relative to crude oil,” said Miswin Mahesh, analyst at Barclays Capital.

• Dubai Skyscraper Fire
  Huge blaze damages Dubai skyscraper

  Hundreds of panicked residents fled one of the tallest towers in Dubai early Saturday as a huge fire engulfed the skyscraper, causing extensive damage to its luxury flats.

  • Washington Post - How the story of two fires reveals the UAE’s great inequities
• Saudi IPO Activity
  Saudi Alhokair Close to Hiring Morgan Stanley, BofA for Mall IPO

  At $2 billion, the Arabian Centres IPO would surpass the $1.6 billion raised last September by Dubai’s Emaar Malls, which operates the world’s largest shopping center by area.

• U.S. - ISIS
  For the First Time, Americans Support US Ground Troops Against ISIS

  The group’s confounding brutality (see The Atlantic’s March cover story for more about that) has also made a profound impression on the American public,gradually turning a seemingly war-weary country in favor not only of airstrikes against the group, but also, according to a new CBS News poll, the deployment of ground troops. “For the first time, a majority of Americans (57 percent) favor the U.S. sending ground troops into Iraq and Syria to fight ISIS,” CBS reported.

  • The Atlantic - Is ISIS's Social-Media Power Exaggerated?
  • Washington Post - Pentagon chief says he is satisfied by U.S. campaign against Islamic State
  • BBC News - Islamic State 'abducts dozens of Christians in Syria'
  • AP - Heavy clashes between Kurds and IS in northeastern Syria
  • Defense One - SecDef: The Strategy Against the Islamic State Is Working
• Investor Attitudes
  Saudi investors remain optimistic amid oil volatility

  While oil prices have won support in recent weeks on a decline in operating US oil rigs and as energy giants cut investment, markets-watchers say volatility is likely to continue for some time.

• 10 of 60900 results<< 1 … 5,836 5,837 5,838 … 6,090 >>