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  • Saudi’s sports M&A splurge will get smarter

    It would be easier to make an impact on smaller, faster-growing ones instead. Take women’s soccer. England’s top clubs generated about $60 million of revenue in the 2022-2023 season, a 50% year-on-year increase, according to Deloitte, opens new tab, which estimates that total sales will near $90 million in the current sporting year. Continued growth will be underpinned by a new UK TV rights deal, opens new tab with Sky, which kicks in next season and represents a ninefold increase according to the Guardian. Pouring money into a club, or the league, would provide much-needed investment, assuming PIF could convince someone to take the cash. Saudi is ranked 126 out of 146 on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, opens new tab. The drawback is that these sports are too small to move the needle. But that might be a feature, not a bug, since PIF is trying to shrink its foreign investments anyway – down to 18%-20% of the total from 30%. In that context, it arguably makes sense to focus on smaller-ticket markets with higher growth hopes, rather than continuing to throw resources at mature sports that are already swimming in cash.

  • UK-Saudi Partnership: Advancing Clean Hydrogen and Sustainable Energy Growth

    The United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia have reaffirmed their commitment to advancing sustainability, with a strong emphasis on clean hydrogen technologies, as part of a broader effort to deepen their economic partnership. During an official visit by UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to Saudi Arabia, both nations outlined an ambitious agenda aimed at achieving sustainable growth and addressing global challenges.

  • Assad’s departure surprised Biden, US leaders. Now America must step up and seize the moment

    For nearly 14 years, Bashar al-Assad's regime pursued a maniacal campaign of brutality against its own people, in order to suppress opposition through terror and mass killing. Beginning very early on, Assad’s military and security apparatus embraced what they called an "Assad or we burn the country" approach – but in truth, it was more Assad and we burn the country. From 2012 to 2016, 82,000 barrel bombs were dropped indiscriminately on urban areas of Syria, and nearly 340 verified chemical weapons attacks directed at civilian communities. Sunni Muslim villages were attacked and their entire population massacred, often with hammers and axes for terrifying effect.

  • Guggenheim considers Saudi headquarters

    US-based Guggenheim Partners Investment Management — which manages $335 billion in assets — is considering establishing a regional headquarters in Saudi Arabia, Anne Walsh, the firm’s Chief Investment Officer, told Semafor. Guggenheim has an office in Dubai, and Walsh said the firm is looking to expand in the Gulf. While Guggenheim primarily invests in the US, it is eyeing infrastructure opportunities in the region, she said.

  • Saudi Arabia, EU Hold Roundtable Discussion to Enhance Trade Partnership

    The Saudi General Authority of Foreign Trade (GAFT) hosted a roundtable with EU here, from December 9 to 10. Chaired by GAFT's Deputy Governor for International Relations Abdulaziz Alsakran and head of the Trade and Economic Affairs Department at the EU Delegation to Saudi Arabia Dr. Thomas Jorgensen, the meeting gathers representatives of various Saudi public and private entities. It aims to strengthen the trade partnership between Saudi Arabia and the EU, one of the Kingdom's major trading partners, and secure a marked increase in the volume of trade between the two sides. Discussions are slated to focus on common challenges and ways to tackle them, enhanced cooperation in trade and investment, and better global economic partnership.

  • The Domestic and Regional Impact of the Political Earthquake in Syria

    In a mere week, the map of Syria has undergone a shocking redrafting: not the cartographic map of straight lines and known cities but the geostrategic map of control, contestation, and military outcomes. The regime of ruthless autocrat Bashar al-Assad has collapsed after just a few days in political intensive care. The distracted and depleted Russian and Iranian regimes proved strikingly unable to provide the urgent, regime-saving intervention once again required, as when they jointly intervened in the fall of 2015 to save Assad from precisely this kind of scenario. A massive political earthquake struck Syria, reordering everything in ways that everyone, even its principal authors, are still struggling to comprehend and much of which has yet to play out. While other rebel groups, including the Syrian National Army, have a closer proxy relationship with Turkey, HTS in its current incarnation has been shaped significantly by Turkey’s handiwork. Ankara has used support, guidance, and the other strings and sticks of influence to shape the group (crucially including helping HTS clean up its image) and try to exert some control over it.

  • With Assad gone, new era starts in Syria as the world watches

    Damascus stirred back to life on Monday at the start of a hopeful but uncertain era after rebels seized the capital and President Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, following 13 years of civil war and more than 50 years of his family's brutal rule. Heavy traffic returned to the streets and people ventured out after a nighttime curfew, but most shops remained shut. Rebels milled about in the centre. Firdous Omar, from Idlib in the northwest, among fighters in central Umayyad Square, said he had been battling the Assad government since 2011 and was now looking forward to laying down his weapon and returning to his job as a farmer.

  • How Saudi Arabia is leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle land degradation

    The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction defines land degradation as the reduction or loss of land’s biological or economic productivity caused by human-induced activities, including deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable agricultural practices. Saudi Arabia’s Climate Envoy and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir believes land degradation is driving the displacement of millions and destabilizing entire regions across the globe. “When people cannot grow food, they migrate,” he told delegates at the COP16 summit in Riyadh on Tuesday.

  • France and Saudi Arabia partner on SAF development

    A new collaboration to develop sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) production in Saudi Arabia has been announced during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the Kingdom. The agreement involves Aramco, TotalEnergies, and the Saudi Investment Recycling Company (SIRC), a major player in transforming organic waste into sustainable products. The agreement, signed in the presence of Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, will see the three partners assess plans for a production facility utilising residues from the circular economy, such as used cooking oil and animal fats. The announcement reflects deepening cooperation between France and Saudi Arabia in advancing energy innovation and sustainability in aviation, particularly as SAF gains traction as a critical part of global decarbonisation efforts.

  • Macron announces France-Saudi partnership to co-host conference on creating Palestinian state

    French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday, December 3, that he and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, would co-chair a conference on the establishment of a Palestinian state in June. "We have decided to co-chair a conference for the two states in June next year," Macron said, referring to Israel and a potential Palestinian state. "In the coming months, together we will multiply and combine our diplomatic initiatives to bring everyone along this path," he added.