MUST-READS

• Saudi Arabia promises more pilgrimage industry work visas

  Saudi Arabia will issue more temporary work visas to those employed in the pilgrimage industry.  A statement by the ministry of human resources said Hajj and umrah work would now be included in its temporary visa programme. A half-year visa will cover the fasting month of Ramadan and the Hajj pilgrimage, which comes around three months later.  The new rules will give the private sector more flexibility to use seasonal labour, the ministry said. The cabinet approved the measures this week.

• Saudi Arabia’s PIF slashes stake in Amazon

  Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has sharply reduced its holdings in Amazon, cutting its stake by nearly 80 percent in the latest quarter. The sovereign wealth fund, which manages more than $700 billion in assets, revealed in its latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week that it now holds less than 350,000 shares, down from over 1.5 million shares in the previous filing in June.  The current position is valued at around $66 million, a significant drop from $296 million.

• Saudi Athletes Will Compete For Prizes Worth Over SR200 Million In 3rd Saudi Games In Riyadh From Thursday

  The Saudi Games is the largest national sporting event in the Kingdom’s history. Participating athletes compete for prizes totaling over SR200 million. Gold medalists will receive SR1 million, silver medalists SR300000, and bronze medalists SR100000. In the youth category, gold medalists will receive SR100000, silver medalists SR50000, and bronze medalists SR25000.

• America’s Strategic Drift in the Middle East: An Assessment of the Biden Administration’s Policy One Year Into the Israel-Hamas War

  In reaction to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Gaza war, the Biden administration articulated a short list of objectives to support its ally, protect civilians, prevent the conflict from spreading, and end the fighting. A year later, the Biden administration has been unable to achieve nearly any of its stated diplomatic and security outcomes. America’s lack of strategic focus and will to take actions aimed at fundamentally shifting the dynamics in the region, a condition that predated the Biden administration, has incentivized regional actors to turn toward violence rather than choose a diplomatic path.

• After Successes, Israel’s Military Is in a ‘Long Game’ With No Clear Outcome

  A survey conducted this week by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University showed that 87 percent of Israel’s Jewish population had high or very high confidence in the military. Only 37 percent expressed such levels of trust in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Initial Israeli euphoria aside, Mr. Orion said the military actions were a “long game” with no clear outcome. After a string of successes for Israel in Lebanon in recent days, he said, the question is, “Then what?”

• King Faisal Specialist Hospital is ‘catalyst for Saudi Arabia’s biotech revolution’

  One of KFSHRC’s most significant achievements is the localization of CAR T-cell therapy production. By producing these life-saving therapies domestically, the hospital has reduced treatment costs by a substantial 80 percent and improved patient access, it said. “Recognizing the importance of a robust biotechnology ecosystem, KFSHRC has partnered with the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) to establish the National Biotechnology Center. This collaboration aims to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and commercialization,” a KFSHRC statement to Arab News said.

• Saudi Arabia’s first female wildlife ranger unit celebrates 5000th patrol at Prince Mohammed bin Salman Royal Reserve

  Andrew Zaloumis, CEO of the Reserve Development Authority, stated that the female ranger team are exploring new horizons one patrol at a time. He emphasized that around the world, women's conservation teams are crucial, and noted that the Reserve has focused on empowering women—who make up 33% of the 183-strong team, well above the global average of less than 11%.

• Saudi Arabia’s non-oil GDP expected to grow 5.5% from 2025 to 2027: Moody’s

  Saudi Arabia’s non-hydrocarbon real gross domestic product is set to grow between 5 and 5.5 percent from 2025 to 2027, driven by increased government spending, a new analysis showed.  In its latest report, US-based credit rating agency Moody’s stated that this growth marks an improvement from the 4.6 percent growth recorded in 2022-2023 and the modest 1.5 percent seen between 2017 and 2019.

• Khamenei says Israel will not defeat Iran as strikes pummel Lebanon
  Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran and its regional allies will not back down, after an Israeli attack on Beirut that is thought to have targeted the heir apparent to the assassinated leader of Tehran-backed Hezbollah. Iran raised the stakes when it fired missiles at Israel on Tuesday, partly in retaliation for Israel's killing of Hezbollah secretary general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, a towering figure who turned the group into a powerful armed and political force with reach across the Middle East.

• Emails show early US concerns over Gaza offensive, risk of Israeli war crimes
  As Israel pounded northern Gaza with air strikes last October and ordered the evacuation of more than a million Palestinians from the area, a senior Pentagon official delivered a blunt warning to the White House. The mass evacuation would be a humanitarian disaster and could violate international law, leading to war crime charges against Israel, Dana Stroul, then the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, wrote in an Oct. 13 email to senior aides to President Joe Biden. Stroul was relaying an assessment by the International Committee of the Red Cross that had left her “chilled to the bone,” she wrote.

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