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QUOTED
“She had a driver, whose name was Gamar, and he drove her around everywhere, and he knew every single detail about her life… she realized that he knew basically everything about her life, and she barely knew anything about his.” Ahd Kamel‘s, Saudi director whose directorial debut “My Driver and I” is premiering at the Red Sea Film Festival, ‘My Driver and I’ Reveals Saudi Arabia’s 1980s, ’90s Social Fabric and Director Ahd Kamel’s ‘Soul,’ Say Lead Actors [Variety]
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TOP STORY
Apple Store online will now be available in summer 2025 and Apple will begin opening the first of several flagship Apple Store locations in Saudi Arabia in 2026.
[more]
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MORE TOP STORYLINES
Via William Roebuck and Hussein Ibish in agsiw.org: 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.
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Via Arthur Scott-Geddes in telegraph.co: They plan to plant seven-and-a-half million trees across the city and build numerous new parks and green spaces including one four times the size of Hyde Park. A new irrigation system using treated wastewater is being developed, and the building code is being rewritten taking inspiration from traditional local architecture to make new homes more energy efficient. Much is riding on the project’s success – making Riyadh a more appealing place to live to tempt in expats and foreign investment is a cornerstone of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s efforts to overhaul the country’s image and diversify the economy away from oil. And with millions of people suffering from extreme heat in cities around the world – increasingly relying on environmentally disastrous air conditioning – the lessons Saudi Arabia learns could be vital to averting the worst effects of climate change in the coming decades.
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Via Tim Dams in screendaily.com: In the years that followed Saudi Arabia’s reopening of cinemas in 2018, the country boasted arguably the most exciting and dynamic box-office market in the world. A cinema-building spree rapidly grew the country’s screen count to its current level of around 612. This helped Saudi leapfrog to the top of the Middle East market — the country accounts for an impressive 42% of region’s box office this year. In global terms, it is now the 15th biggest box-office market in the world, capable of delivering healthy returns for the right kind of film. Success stories include 2024 action thriller Bad Boys: Ride Or Die starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence — the fourth entry in Sony Pictures Entertainment’s franchise is not only the biggest film of the year in Saudi but the biggest ever in the territory, with a healthy $23.5m at the box office.
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MORE ON THE KINGDOM AND BEYOND
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Saudi Arabia has finalised an arrangement for securing a shariah-compliant revolving credit facility worth $2.5 billion, the...[By Enas Alashray and Ahmed Tolba via reuters.com]
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Dakar Rally drivers and riders recount Stage 2 of the event, where competitors took two days to traverse nearly 1000 km....[via youtube.com]
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Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund plans to raise $7 billion from its first murabaha credit facility, as the fund diversifies its funding...[By Aarti Nagraj via thenationalnews.com]
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Saudi Arabia raised $12 billion from global debt markets in a three-part bond sale, attracting strong investor...[By Rachna Uppal and Enas Alashray via reuters.com]
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Saudi Arabia’s Interior Ministry confirmed that the provisions of the “Use of Security Surveillance Cameras” law prohibit the transfer or publication of security surveillance camera...[via arabnews.com]
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Among the venues announced Tuesday for the 24-team regional competition were the 70,000-capacity King Fahd Sports City Stadium and King Saud University Stadium, both in...[via france24.com]
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That the Gulf’s various sovereign wealth funds have become some of the most dominant players in global dealmaking has rarely been in...[By Matthew Martin via bloomberg.com]
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Saudi Arabia’s water sector witnessed significant shifts in 2023, with a 31 percent increase in desalinated seawater production, now comprising 50 percent of the country’s...[via azernews.az]
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Saudi Arabia will need estimated funding of SAR139 billion ($37.02 billion) in 2025 to cover the potential budget deficit. Finance minister Mohammed Al Jadaan has approved...[By Pramod Kumar via agbi.com]
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Saudi Coffee Company has launched its second annual Saudi Sip of Excellence Competition in partnership with the global nonprofit Alliance for Coffee Excellence. Designed...[By April Hawksworth via gcrmag.com]
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Saudi Arabia, one of the largest bond issuers in emerging markets last year, has started 2025 with a funding spree as the country fuels its...[By Abeer Abu Omar and Matthew Martin via yahoo.com]
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Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport and Riyadh King Khalid International Airport each posted record passenger traffic in 2024, reflecting the continuing strong performance of aviation...[By Dermot Davitt via moodiedavittreport.com]
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The world’s top crude oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has raised the price of its crude loading for Asia in February by more than expected...[By Tsvetana Paraskova via oilprice.com]
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The Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) and the Saudi Standards, Metrology and Quality Organization (SASO) have announced that the first mandatory phase of the...[By Aayushya Ranjan via techafricanews.com]
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In a move that has both bemused and intrigued the global beverage industry, Saudi Arabia has launched Milaf Cola, a fizzy drink made from dates....[via youtube.com]
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WWE, in partnership with The General Entertainment Authority (GEA), on behalf of HE Turki Alalshikh, announced that the 39th annual Royal Rumble will be held in January...[via wwe.com]
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Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken spoke today with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. The Secretary reaffirmed U.S. support for...[via state.gov]
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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted dozens of precision airstrikes targeting known ISIS camps and operatives in central Syria, Dec. 8. The strikes against the ISIS...[via centcom.mil]
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Israel pounded Syrian army bases on Tuesday in strikes it says aim to keep weapons from falling...[By Maya Gebeily and Timour Azhari via reuters.com]
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The lightning victory of Hayʼat Tahrir al-Sham in its stunningly successful offensive to unseat the more than 50-year-old Assad family-led Baathist dictatorship in Syria...[By Hussein Ibish via msnbc.com]
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Almost exactly seven years ago, President Vladimir Putin stood with Russian troops at their air base in Syria and proudly declared...[via apnews.com]
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At long last, Syrians are free of Assad regime rule. After 54 years, the iron grip that Hafez and then Bashar had built based upon fear...[By Charles Lister, Paul Salem, Fatemeh Aman, Meliha Benli Altunışık, Paul Scham, Brian Katulis via mei.edu]
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Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust - all of...[By Maayan Lubell via reuters.com]
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