MUST-READS

• Humans and their livestock have sheltered in this Saudi Arabian cave for 10,000 years

  A first-of-its-kind study in northwestern Saudi Arabia suggests that humans and their livestock have been using a cave for shelter sporadically for up to 10,000 years. The finding¹ offers insight into the region’s history and ecology. In the past decade, satellite data and fossil finds have suggested that the Arabian Peninsula was not always an arid desert. Periods when the region contained lakes and lush greenery might have drawn people and animals there from Africa, according to the study’s authors.

• Grab the popcorn: Cinema Nights is back

  Film enthusiasts, you’ll be happy to know the star-studded Red Sea International Film Festival has partnered with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation to bring the popular cinematic event to our capital’s doorstep –yes we’re talking about Saudi Cinema Nights. Inching its way towards becoming a hotspot for the film industry, with stunning locations like the Red Sea and UNESCO World Heritage sites like Turaif and Al Balad, it’s an obvious pick.

• Saudi Arabia now hiring female domestic workers from 33 countries
  The number of countries from which female domestic workers can now be recruited in Saudi Arabia has surged to 33 after several countries have recently been added to the hire list in the kingdom, thus expanding options for employers.
  The latest additions included Ethiopia, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Gambia.

• Saudi Arabia’s air transport sector sees 26 percent passenger growth, exceeding 112 million in 2023

  The air transport sector in Saudi Arabia achieved in 2023 remarkable growth, as announced by the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA). Passenger traffic reached a record-breaking 112 million, reflecting a significant 26 percent increase compared to 2022 and exceeding pre-pandemic levels (2019) by more than 8 percent. This robust performance underscores the successful recovery of the transportation sector from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Sand to Sky Episode 1: Inside the exciting future of Saudi Arabia’s Diriyah
  The first episode of Sand to Sky puts the spotlight on the City of Earth’s experiential development journey

• $410 billion in investments propel Saudi Arabia’s mining sector growth

  Saudi Arabia’s mining sector is undergoing a significant transformation and is gearing up to become one of the key pillars of economic diversification efforts outlined in Vision 2030. The latest report from the National Industrial and Mining Information Center reveals that Saudi Arabia issued 152 industrial licenses in January alone, bringing the total number of operating and under-construction factories in the Kingdom to 11,672. These factories represent a combined investment of SAR1.539 trillion ($410.4 billion).

  • HSI - Saudi Arabia's mining boom promises $2.5 trillion economic windfall
• Saudi Arabia plans to tap Islamic bond market to raise funding for Neom

  Saudi Arabia is looking to raise over a billion dollars for the Neom megacity project from the sale of Islamic bonds, following reports that ambitions for the desert project have been scaled back. Neom is looking into a plan to raise as much as $1.3 billion from Islamic bonds, or sukuk, as it looks to shore up funding for the $1.5 trillion megacity project, according to a Bloomberg report.

• Saudi Arabia’s private sector workers grow to 11.2M in March

  The total number of workers in the Saudi private sector reached 11.24 million in March 2024, the National Labor Observatory said.   The total number of nationals working in private-sector entities stood at 2.37 million in the same month, of which male and female workers accounted for 1.39 million and 975,700, respectively. Meanwhile, the number of expats working in the private sector reached 8.87 million.

• Saudi Arabia’s Barn’s reaches 700 stores ahead of planned global expansion

  Alongside further expansion in Saudi Arabia – the largest branded coffee shop market in the Middle East – Barn’s is also expected to open its first international store this year. In December 2023, a Barn’s official told World Coffee Portal that the chain would make its overseas debut in Bahrain during the first quarter of 2024.

• This Lava Tube in Saudi Arabia Has Been a Human Refuge for 7,000 Years

  When ancient humans pushed into the Arabian Peninsula, they found a world marked by magma. Swaths of it once erupted from volcanoes, leaving a landscape of craters and frozen lava flows. Many of these seemingly otherworldly volcanic fields are adorned with archaeological remains — from small dwellings to colossal animal-corralling structures called kites — that date back millenniums. Little is known about the identities and lives of those humans. But a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One has revealed that their occupation of this volcanic realm extended underground. Archaeologists at a site in northwestern Saudi Arabia have excavated a lava tube — the naturally hollowed-out subterranean remnant of a lava flow.

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