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  • Saudi Arabia to enforce ban on working under direct sunlight

    Authorities in Saudi Arabia will begin enforcing a ban on working under direct sunlight for all private sector establishments from 12 PM to 3 PM, starting Saturday, June 15, 2024, until September 15, 2024. The ban will be implemented by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, in collaboration with the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

  • Saudi Arabia joins BIS- and China-led central bank digital currency project

    Saudi Arabia has joined a China-dominated central bank digital currency cross-border trial, in what could be another step towards less of the world's oil trade being done in U.S. dollars.
    The move, announced by the Bank for International Settlements on Wednesday, will see Saudi's central bank become a "full participant" of Project mBridge, a collaboration launched in 2021 between the central banks of China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.

  • Lebanon’s Dangerous Campaign against Refugees

    Lebanon hosts 1.5 million Syrian refugees. It wants to get rid of most of them. Lebanese sovereignty is important, but so are the country’s humanitarian obligations and Lebanon’s role in regional security. A recent government scheme to deport Syrians in Lebanon who were not registered as refugees with the United Nations—nearly half of the 1.5 million refugees in Lebanon—may be a first step, and it is a potentially dangerous one. Lebanon’s Syrian refugee problem soon could become a regional problem, and neither the Middle East nor its Mediterranean neighbors need another one of those.

  • Saudi Arabia is trying to build the largest linear city ever. It’s a visionary but flawed concept, urban planners say.

    The Spanish architect Arturo Soria is widely credited with designing the first linear city, "La Ciudad Lineal," in 1882 on the outskirts of Madrid. Around forty years later, in 1924, renowned Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier offered another radical alternative with his "Ville Radieuse," a linear, ordered metropolis full of green space.

  • Hezbollah downs Israeli drone over Lebanon with missile

    An Israeli pilotless plane was shot down over Lebanese territory by a surface-to-air missile on Saturday, Israel's military said, and Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the interception.
    In a statement, Hezbollah said it downed a Hermes 900 drone in solidarity with Gaza, where Israel has been waging an almost eight-month-old war against Hamas, another Iranian-backed group.
    Video circulated online appeared to show a plane of a size corresponding to that of a Hermes, aflame and gyring earthward.

  • Saudi Bank Risk Profiles Are Stronger than at Other GCC Lenders

    Fitch’s asset quality and risk profile scores for banks in the region are strongly correlated, as the business models of GCC banks are mainly focused on lending. Credit risks are therefore a major influence on their risk profiles. The weighted-average risk-profile score for Saudi banks is just below ‘bbb+’ and the weighted-average asset quality score is ‘bbb+’. In the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait, both weighted-average scores are two notches lower, at ‘bbb-’.

  • Saudi banks witness 8 percent surge in Q1 earnings, reaching $4.97 billion

    Saudi Arabia’s top 10 listed banks saw  their earnings surge in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024 by 8 percent to reach SAR18.65 billion ($4.97 billion), compared to the same period the previous year. This increase can be attributed to several factors, including an 11 percent growth in lending and a rising interest rate environment that has heightened the cost of credit.

  • US expected to lift ban on sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, FT reports

    The United States is expected to lift a ban on the sale of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, potentially in the coming weeks, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
    Washington has already signaled to Saudi Arabia that it was prepared to lift the ban, the newspaper reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

  • Saudi Arabia’s open banking strategy a game-changer

    In May 2022, the institution, also known as SAMA, went live with its open banking initiative, which has altered the future of financial technology in the Kingdom and the wider region. Open banking is a technological innovation that enables customers to securely share their data with third parties. “Open banking changes the very nature of relationships across the financial ecosystem for Saudi Arabia and for the region as a whole. This is only a good thing,” said Al-Moayed.

  • Saudi FM discusses Gaza, West Bank with Palestinian PM

    Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan on Thursday spoke to Palestinian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed Mustafa by telephone, the Kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said.

    They discussed developments in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and its surrounding areas.