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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's national teams who competed in international science and academic contests had tremendous success, winning 107 global awards across 25 events held between September...[via mawhiba.org]
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The Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) has launched the Next Saudi Generation Program to support and develop Saudi talent in motorsports. The program, conducted in...[via spa.gov]
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Speaking in an interview with China Media Group (CMG), Araghchi said that the newly restored Iranian-Saudi ties have a lot of potential that haven’t been...[via alarabiya.net]
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Milan forward Tammy Abraham has hailed the impact of the support in Riyadh as his side booked their place in the Supercoppa Italiana final. The Englishman...[via yahoo.com]
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The Saudi Arabian group SAVOLA has sold all its assets in Iran for 705 million Saudi riyals (approximately $188 million) and is exiting the country. SAVOLA,...[via iranfocus.com]
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Since Ronaldo's arrival in the SPL, the league has grown leaps and bounds. Players like Karim Benzema, Neymar, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, and...[By Apratim Banerjee via si.com]
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The Line 3 (Orange Line) covering Madinah Road would connect the east of Riyadh to its west, and extends from Jeddah Road in the west...[via saudigazette.com]
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On the back of the busiest sporting year Saudi Arabia has ever had, punctuated by news of the nation’s successful 2034 FIFA...[By Mark Lomas via alarabiya.net]
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The State Department approves the possible sale of 20 MK 54 MOD 0 Lightweight Torpedoes to Saudi Arabia for $78.5 million, according...[via alarabiya.net]
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Prince Faisal reiterated the Kingdom’s commitment to supporting Syria’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity while emphasizing efforts to achieve security, stability, and prosperity for the...[via eurasiareview.com]
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The Saudi Ministry of Interior’s Absher Business platform has introduced updated fees for seven services offered to establishments, according to Okaz newspaper. Among the changes,...[via gulfnews.com]
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Rising sea levels driven by the climate crisis will overwhelm many of the world’s biggest oil ports, analysis indicates. Thirteen of the ports with the...[By Damian Carrington via theguardian.com]
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Saudi officials have signed a preliminary deal this week to issue residential mortgage-backed securities, a first for the Gulf. The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC),...[By Valentina Pasquali via agbi.com]
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Government employees were among 145 people arrested in Saudi Arabia over corruption charges last month. The country’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) conducted 1,462 “oversight visits”...[By Gavin Gibbon via agbi.com]
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South Africa’s strong legacy at the Dakar Rally continues in 2025, with more than half of the vehicles at the event in Saudi Arabia being...[via youtube.com]
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Wages for Saudis in the private sector rose by 45 per cent in 2024, as Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development...[By Khitam Al Amir via gulfnews.com]
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Adding another tournament to a busy decade of football events, Saudi Arabia will host the 2026 Gulf Cup. The news was confirmed on the sidelines of...[via insideworldfootball.com]
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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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