“It pains us that the arrival of the month of Ramadan this year coincides with the ongoing attacks endured by our brothers in Palestine, and we stress the need for the international community to assume its responsibilities to stop these brutal crimes and provide safe humanitarian and relief corridors,” the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted King Salman as saying on Sunday.
Saudi King urges international community to halt ‘brutal crimes’ against Palestinians [Al-Arabiya]
“Every year, before sunset, we would sit at a high spot in the village with serene views of clear skies, waiting for the sighting of the crescent moon. We watched the gradual descent of the sun before sunset. These changing colors had magnificent effects that we admired and later described to our mothers at home.” Abdul Jaber bin Jaber Ahmad Al-Sheikh, who is almost 100 years old, Elderly Saudi family members recall beloved tradition of sighting crescent moon [Arab News]
“Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has called on all Muslims in the Kingdom to look for the Ramadan crescent moon on Sunday evening. Sunday, March 10, 2024, corresponds to Shaban 29, 1445 in the Islamic calendar. If the Ramadan crescent moon is sighted on Sunday evening, then Ramadan will begin on Monday, March 11. If not, the holy month will start on Tuesday, March 12. The Supreme Court has asked that anyone who sees the Ramadan crescent with their naked eyes or through binoculars notify the court nearest to their location and record their testimony there.” Saudi Supreme Court calls on Muslims to look out for Ramadan crescent [Arab News]
“The crisis around Gaza has re-emphasized Egypt’s geopolitical leverage.” Bilal Bassiouni, head of Middle East and North Africa forecasting for consulting firm Pangea-Risk, Multi-Billion Gulf Power Play Focuses on Egypt as Mideast War Rages [Bloomberg]
“This agreement significantly elevates Baseball United’s standing and footprint within the region, and, just as importantly, enables us to work at the grassroots level to help grow the game in the Middle East’s largest country. We will also now expand our BU franchises into Saudi Arabia, building local fanbases in Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam, and helping to inspire more young people to fall in love with the game.” Kash Shaikh, chairman, CEO, and co-founder of Baseball United, Baseball United signs historic partnership to bring game to Saudi Arabia, [The National]
“Now it is clear how strategic of a choice it was to normalise relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran. They have basically shown that they are not each other’s enemy, even if suspicion will always be there… The relationship has been reframed.”
Saudi analyst Aziz Alghashian, ‘Reframed’ Iran ties shield Saudi in Gaza war: analysts [The New Arab]
“Saudi Arabia has moved purposefully over the past 18 months to dramatically increase the number of programmes, level of support and funding available to AI entrepreneurs and startups. New programmes and initiatives are being introduced at multiple points in the ecosystem, from research universities, to government departments, to government and private sector funds, to specialist programmes run by global startup ecosystems. In creating GAIA, the Kingdom became the first mover in creating an accelerator for GenAI startups and is already funding more GenAI startups than any other programme in the region.”
Carrington Malin, Saudi backs GAIA with $1 billion [Middle East AI News]
“Between 2018 and January 2024, Preqin data shows that the number of Saudi Arabia-based fund managers increased by 213%, or from 47 to 147.”
Saudi Arabian private capital increasingly focused on domestic growth in 2024 and beyond [Yahoo]
“The U.S. is set to begin airdropping humanitarian aid to Gaza in the coming days to help bring relief to Palestinians caught in the crossfire of the conflict with Israel, President Biden said Friday. The plan to drop relief supplies into Gaza signals a U.S. recognition that the current efforts to address the humanitarian crisis haven’t been sufficient, U.S. officials said. The announcement came one day after a series of events involving a convoy of aid trucks led to the deaths of Palestinian civilians, in what U.S. officials said pointed to the growing desperation inside Gaza.” U.S. to Deliver Aid to Gaza Through Military Airdrops [Wall Street Journal]
“A total of 195 countries and 15 territories were analyzed on their levels of access to political rights and civil liberties, before being categorized as either “free”, “partly free” or “not free”. While democracy has been in decline for nearly two decades, the global landscape has improved since the report was first published 51 years ago. Back then, 44 out of 148 countries were counted as “free”, versus 83 out of 195 today.”
Worldwide Decline of Freedom Outweighs Improvements [statista]
