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  • Saudi Presents Investigation into Coalition Bombings in Yemen
     

    An investigative committee examining charges that the Saudi-led coalition fighting against Houthi rebels in Yemen has caused civilian casualties largely defended their actions, Reuters reports. According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the coalition’s investigative committee is independent and composed of representatives from six countries, all members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in addition to […]

     
  • Reuters Poll: Non-Oil Business Activity Slows in Gulf as Governments Tighten Spending
     

    A recently released Reuters poll of economists finds that non-oil business activity is slowing in the Gulf because of government austerity measures, causing some to revise their economic forecasts down for the region. In 2015, growth in the GCC “began to lose steam as governments reduced spending to limit big budget deficits caused by cheap oil,” […]

     
  • Aramco Names Ibrahim Al Buainain as Chief Executive of Its Trading Arm
     

    Saudi Aramco has named Ibrahim Al-Buainain as chief executive of its trading arm, the company said on Tuesday, as Al-Buainain’s star continues to rise within the ranks of the energy giant. Ibrahim Al-Buainain’s promotion to CEO of Saudi Aramco Trading takes effect this month. In November 2014, Aramco named Al Buainain as head of Saudi […]

     
  • Flare Up on Saudi Border with Yemen as Saudi Shoots Down Missile
     

    The Saudi-led military coalition said Sunday that it shot down a ballistic missile fired at the Kingdom from Yemen, according to reports. The missile targeting the southern city of Najran was intercepted at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, a statement carried on the official Saudi Press Agency says. On the same day, Saudi-led airstrikes hit hideouts of the […]

     
  • New Saudi Fund Created by Apicorp and Bahri Seeks to Create Biggest Tanker Fleet
     

    A venture between Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation (Apicorp) and National Shipping Co. of Saudi Arabia (Bahri) “will create the world’s largest fleet of oil tankers and support the kingdom’s plan to boost crude exports,” according to a report in Bloomberg, which cited comments from Dr. Khalid al-Falih. The venture will create a $1.5 billion fund […]

     
  • ‘Saudi Arabia is among our closest counterterrorism partners’ CIA Chief Brennan Says
     

    Director of the CIA John Brennan said that Saudi Arabia is “among our closest counterterrorism partners” at an event at the Brookings Institution yesterday. Brennan pointed to the enemies that both the United States and Saudi Arabia share, including the Islamic State and al-Qaeda terrorists. “The Saudi government and leadership today has inherited a history whereby there […]

     
  • Aging Population, Pension System May Pressure Saudi Fiscal Policy, S&P Says
     

    Saudi Arabia’s population could put greater pressure on the Kingdom’s fiscal policy and increase government debt as it ages over the next three decades, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has warned. Saudi Arabia’s population is disproportionately young now, with over 70% of all Saudis under 30 years old. But even the smaller percentage of the population […]

     
  • Millions Worldwide Celebrate Eid Al-Fitr, End of the holy month of Ramadan
     

    Millions of Muslims worldwide celebrated the festival at the end of the holy month of Ramadan on Wednesday as the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival began. Eid al-Fitr festival traditionally means family gatherings and the exchange of gifts and a feast after a month of fasting from dawn until dusk. Despite two deadly terrorist attacks in […]

     
  • ‘Very Good News’ for Saudi Real Estate as Kingdom Gets Boost in Transparency Ranking, Citing Chambers of Commerce
     

    JLL and LaSalle Investment Management’s 2016 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) has increased Saudi Arabia’s standing to “Semi-Transparent” after recent efforts by the Chambers of Commerce in Saudi Arabia. “The formation of real estate committees in the Chambers of Commerce has highlighted the issue of low transparency in the market and encouraged more action […]

     
  • First Ever Direct Crude to Chemicals Plant “One Step Closer” for Aramco, SABIC
     

    State-owned Saudi oil giant Aramco and diversified chemicals company SABIC are “one step closer” to being the first ever to use crude oil directly, rather than using refined products such as naphtha or ethane gas as feedstock, to create chemicals, according to reports and announcements by the companies on Saudi Arabia’s stock exchange. The achievement […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Key Amendments to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Labour Law Announced

    The Council of Ministers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) recently approved a number of amendments to the KSA Labour Law, which will come into effect six months from publication in the KSA Legal Gazette. The amendments to the Labour Law reference revisions to the Implementing Regulations, which also have yet to be published. This LawFlash considers how the key amendments will impact employers and employees once they come into force.

  • Saudi fund’s prudence pivot is only half complete

    The fund’s 2023 annual report, opens new tab, released on Monday, showed that assets under management rose almost a third last year to $766 billion, with 76% of the total haul invested at home compared with 68% in 2022 and 51% in 2021. The local proportion is probably even higher now, after Saudi transferred 8% of state oil giant Aramco to the PIF earlier this year, helping to swell the fund’s assets to $925 billion.

  • Saudi King Salman chairs cabinet meeting, state news agency says

    Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, state media said, for the first time since a royal decree issued by him on Aug. 8 allowing the cabinet to convene in the absence of the king, crown prince or both. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman chaired the Aug. 13 cabinet session.
    The 88-year-old king of the world's biggest oil exporter, a major U.S. ally in the Middle East, received medical care for lung inflammation in May. Prince Mohammed later postponed an official visit to Japan due to the king's health.

  • Michelle Nunn: The Challenges of Gaza’s Humanitarian Crisis

    If you are a humanitarian, one way to describe it is that humanitarians are not used to having a kind of wall around the place where they're trying to bring relief, right? Of course, there’s humanitarian access issues in Syria and Yemen, but there is literally a corridor with a very small entry point in which only a small amount of aid can enter. Sometimes you can't get through your tent, or sometimes you can't get through your walkie-talkies, or all manner of things that are considered at different points to be “dual usage.” In other words, people are fearful that they will be utilized for terror. This is a particularly difficult gauntlet for humanitarians to grapple with.

  • A $2 Trillion Reckoning Looms as Ports Become Pawns in Geopolitics

    Now, both old and new gateways for seaborne commerce⁠— responsible for handling 80% of the world’s $25 trillion in annual merchandise trade⁠—are economic fortresses in the great-power struggles of a multipolar world. Meantime, they’re having to undergo costly and painstaking conversions to digital technologies, automation and green energy with a price tag estimated at €200 billion ($216 billion) a year in new investment, for a total of €2 trillion over the next decade.

  • Saudi 2036 Olympics ambitions: long race full of major hurdles

    If Saudi Arabia bags the second largest sport mega event in the world, attention will turn to a separate prospective bid for the 2036 Olympics. As such, it can reasonably be assumed that the government delegation’s July 31 visit to Paris also featured efforts to sway the International Olympic Committee (IOC) into agreeing that the Gulf giant is the best place to hold the games in 12 years.

  • Saudi Arabia calls on businesses to submit tax returns or face fines

    The Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) has called on businesses subject to Value Added Tax (VAT), whose annual supplies of goods and services exceed SR40m ($10.7m), to submit their tax returns for July no later than August 31.

  • Israel says it bombed Hezbollah arms depots in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley

    The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it bombed Hezbollah weapons storage facilities in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley overnight, its latest strike on arms depots in a major stronghold of the powerful Iranian-backed militia. The air attack came hours after Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said that "attacking munitions warehouses in Lebanon is preparation for anything that might happen". Hezbollah said it had retaliated for the strike on the Bekaa region by firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli military logistics site in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

  • Blinken wraps up Mideast trip with Gaza deal still elusive

    U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought during a whirlwind trip to the Middle East to inject urgency into efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire deal, but departed the region on Tuesday with an agreement between Israel and Hamas still elusive. Blinken and mediators from Egypt and Qatar have pinned their hopes on a U.S. "bridging proposal" aimed at narrowing the gaps between the two sides in the 10-month-old war, after negotiations last week paused without a breakthrough.

  • What has happened to Saudi Pro League’s big spending?

    "It has been a relatively quiet summer across global football," Simon Chadwick, professor of sport and geopolitical economy at Skema Business School in Paris, told BBC Sport. Chadwick attributes it to "a combination of harsh economic conditions, the late finishing of continental national team tournaments, and clubs across various territories trying to navigate local financial regulations".