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  • PGA Tour Payouts Soar as Saudi-Backed LIV Golf Rains Down Riches

    A decade ago, PGA Tour players came to the desert to jockey for a share of $6.2 million in prize money. Last year, they competed for a cut of $8.2 million. This time around? The pool is $20 million.

  • Israel’s greatest threat in 2023 is ‘breakdown of relations with West’: Report

    Every year, the Institute for National Security Studies releases a report detailing what it deems to be the greatest threat Israel is facing. In previous years the renowned institute, affiliated with Tel Aviv University, has cited Iran, the Syrian war, and Hezbollah's precision missile project.

  • Iran’s crackdown triggers backlash from clerics in Qom, Najaf

    The crackdown on anti-establishment protests in Iran has led prominent Shiite clerics in both Iran and Iraq to call on the Islamic Republic to halt the violence and listen to popular demands. In particular, the execution of individuals detained in connection with the unrest has sparked criticism from high-ranking clergymen in the holy city of Qom, indicating a shift in relations between the seminary and the state.

  • Quadrupling Down on Tabby: Democratizing Fintech BNPL Across MENA

    Backers of tabby since their Series A round in 2020, we have always been confident in the company’s ability to drive adoption of flexible payments for consumers across the MENA region. Hosam and the Tabby team have proven us right by enabling more than 3 million active customers mainly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to pay in installments from over 10,000 merchants including global and regional brands such as SHEIN, H&M, Adidas, IKEA, Noon, and VogaCloset.

  • Middle East states seek to stave off global downturn

    While China and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) fare better than the West in the bank’s score, the overall outlook is glum, or we should say more glum than just six months ago. David Malpass, the World Bank president, said that the coming year will be “particularly devastating” for the poorest countries, including those in the Middle East, burdened by the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as inflation, debt, and energy and food supply disruptions.

  • Saudi Aramco Downstream Strategy Hits Its Stride

    Having restructured its downstream division and axed a number of international and domestic projects since 2020, Saudi Aramco rebooted its downstream expansion strategy this year. The firm exited 2022 with a flurry of agreements for large-scale projects intended to push it towards its 4mn b/d liquids-to-chemicals target.

  • Inside story: Mixed messaging overshadows claimed Iran-Saudi encounter

    Speaking on condition that their names be withheld given the sensitivity of the topic, Arab and Iranian political sources told Amwaj.media that Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart likely exchanged greetings in connection with the gathering, rather than engaged in a substantive private conversation. Of note, among his regional counterparts, the Iranian foreign minister appears to only have separately sat down with Oman’s top diplomat.

  • UK urged not to downgrade Europe and Middle East in strategic rethink

    Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a keynote speech on Monday that "the world’s geopolitical centre of gravity is moving south and east". But Alicia Kearns, who chairs the parliamentary foreign affairs committee, said the phrase "Indo-Pacific tilt" often used by ministers was unhelpful. "The UK is not tilting away from its Euro-Atlantic partners," she said. "A careful balance must be struck between nurturing close ties with old friends and allies, particularly in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and forging newer partnerships elsewhere."

  • Countdown to 2030: Addressing the stubborn obesity challenge in Saudi Arabia

    Overweight and obesity, referring to body mass index (BMI) over 25 and 30, respectively, are a growing global epidemic and one of the key public health challenges today. Most of the world’s population lives in countries where overweight and obesity have a bigger impact on mortality and disability than underweight.

  • Countdown to 2030: Addressing the stubborn obesity challenge in Saudi Arabia

    The rise of overweight and obesity has been particularly alarming in Saudi Arabia—The rate has nearly doubled over the past 50 years. Like in many other Gulf Cooperation Council countries, rapid economic development and urbanization have brought lifestyle changes including decreased physical activity and increased consumption of highly processed foods and beverages. As a result, more than 50 percent of the population in Saudi Arabia today is overweight (Figure 1), and more than 20 percent have obesity.