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  • Israel Isn’t Buying Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Egypt and Jordan’s Postwar Gaza Plan

    Five Arab nations are quietly touting a settlement for postwar Gaza for which they’ve secured the backing of the US. The problem is that the Israelis on whom the agreement depends aren’t buying it. That means the proposal, which its authors are calling the most plausible solution for long-term security in the region, is out of reach for now. Two of the many officials who spoke with Bloomberg are privately asserting that progress toward it won’t be possible so long as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition stays in power.

  • The speed of Jordan Henderson’s disillusionment reflects how great his regret must be

    Saudi Arabia had a proud history as a football nation long before its modern-day rulers began to harness the sport’s potential as part of a national and wider global strategy, but there is a difference between Fabinho playing for Al Ittihad, who attracted an average crowd of 40,453 en route to the league title last season, and Henderson playing in front of sparse crowds for Al Ettifaq.

  • Jordan Henderson set to leave Saudi Arabia after six months and close to Ajax transfer

    Jordan Henderson has reached an agreement with Al Ettifaq to leave the Saudi Pro League club and is close to joining Ajax on a permanent basis. The England international and his current side are in the process of finalising the termination of a three-year contract that he signed last summer, ensuring no transfer fee will be involved in the midfielder’s exit.

  • Jordanian ambitions, Saudi funds: A look at Saudi investments in Jordan

    In addition to investing billions in the domestic economy, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has also made smaller and less eye-catching investments in other countries in its neighborhood. These investments can not only foster knowledge exchanges to help diversify the Saudi economy, but they’re also important tools of economic statecraft as Riyadh strengthens its position around the Red Sea and in the Levant. Jordan, strategically located in both these regions, has historically been a major recipient of Saudi aid, but Saudi Arabia’s new leadership has pared down its aid commitments and instead started experimenting with the role of a deep-pocketed investor.

  • Saudi Arabia, tax and why it is expensive for players like Jordan Henderson to come home

    No income tax is levied on footballers’ salaries in Saudi Arabia, compared to a combined rate of at least 47 per cent of UK income tax and National Insurance contributions for earnings over £125,140 per year in the UK. In the case of Henderson, it has been reported that his salary remains tax free only if he honours the first two years of his contract, with Saudi Arabia otherwise operating a flat income tax rate of 20 per cent.

  • Saudi Arabia, tax and why it is expensive for players like Jordan Henderson to come home

    Last summer, the list of high-profile players leaving some of Europe’s biggest clubs to join the Saudi Pro League seemed to get longer by the day. What started with a multi-million-pound move for Cristiano Ronaldo in December 2022 expanded in the summer of 2023 to tantalising offers for the likes of Karim Benzema from Real Madrid, Roberto Firmino from Liverpool, Sadio Mane from Bayern Munich, Ruben Neves from Wolverhampton Wanderers and Aymeric Laporte from Manchester City.

  • Jordanian army says five killed in battle to stop Syrian drug smugglers

    Jordan's army said on Saturday that five drug and weapons smugglers linked to Iranian militias operating in southern Syria had been killed after infiltrating from Syria.

    The kingdom has promised to respond to what it says is an alarming rise in such incursions, accusing Syria of failing to stem Iranian-run smuggling networks.

    Jordanian officials, like their Western allies, say the operations are controlled by Lebanon's Iranian-backed Hezbollah group and other pro-Iranian militias who control much of southern Syria after supporting President Bashar al-Assad in a civil war that has lasted almost 13 years.

  • Secretary Blinken’s Travel to Türkiye, Greece, Jordan, Qatar, U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Israel, the West Bank, and Egypt

    Throughout his trip, the Secretary will underscore the importance of protecting civilian lives in Israel and the West Bank and Gaza; securing the release of all remaining hostages; our shared commitment to facilitating the increased, sustained delivery of life-saving humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza and the resumption of essential services; and ensuring that Palestinians are not forcibly displaced from Gaza.

  • Saudi Arabia finalizes $250m aid package to Jordan

    Saudi Arabia has completed a $250 million support package to Jordan, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday. The deal, agreed at the Makkah Summit in 2018, was to provide financial aid over a period of five years to help bolster Jordan’s economy. The final installment involved a sum of $38.6 million. Zeina Touqan, minister of planning and international cooperation, expressed her country’s gratitude to Saudi Ambassador to Jordan Nayef Al-Sudairi and the head of the General Department of International Development Cooperation in the Saudi Ministry of Finance, Abdulmohsen Al-Mutawa.

  • Cyprus pushes Gaza corridor idea; leader to visit Egypt, Jordan

    Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides will visit Egypt and Jordan on Tuesday as part of an initiative to establish a humanitarian aid corridor to Israeli-besieged Gaza. Cyprus, the closest European Union member state to the Middle East, has offered to host and operate facilities for sustained aid directly into the Gaza Strip once hostilities between Israel and the Palestinian militant Hamas group cease.