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  • Ramadan 2024: Find out why Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammad Bin Salman banned iftar in mosques ahead of Ramadan

    The notice, raising issues about cleanliness being compromised when iftar feasts are held inside mosques, directed imam and muezzin to oversee the organisation of these feasts in mosques’ courtyards and charged them with the responsibility to ensure cleanliness soon after the feast concludes.

  • Americans Remain Committed to NATO, Critical of UN

    A 47% plurality of Americans want to see the United States keep its current commitment to NATO, with 20% feeling support for the alliance should increase. Meanwhile, 16% think the U.S. should decrease its NATO commitment, and 12% would prefer that the U.S. withdraw from NATO entirely. Americans' overall support for NATO remains unchanged from the prior reading two years ago just before Russia’s broader-scale invasion of Ukraine and the additions of Finland and Sweden to the alliance. Compared to other similar trends from the 1980s and 1990s, major changes in support for the alliance have occurred among those wanting increased support and those wanting the U.S. to exit the alliance entirely.

  • More than 100 killed while seeking aid in Gaza, overall death toll passes 30,000

    Gaza health authorities said Israeli forces on Thursday shot dead more than 100 Palestinians as they waited for an aid delivery, but Israel blamed the deaths on crowds that surrounded aid trucks, saying victims had been trampled or run over. At least 112 people were killed and more than 280 wounded in the incident near Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said. The loss of civilian lives was the biggest in weeks. Hamas said the incident could jeopardise talks in Qatar aimed at securing a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages it is holding. When asked if he thought it would complicate the talks, U.S. President Joe Biden said: "I know it will."

  • Saudi researchers devise new method of producing microalgae

    Saudi Arabia currently imports most of the raw materials it needs for livestock feed: protein, lipids, and carbohydrates. Replacing even a fraction of those imports with homegrown feed would represent massive savings and a big step toward food security, according to the KAUST team. The difficulty of cultivating algae at scale has prevented its potential as an animal feed raw material from being realized to date. However, scientists working at KAUST’s new Saudi Center for Algal Biotechnology Development and Aquaculture maintain that the Spirulina and Chlorella strains of algae they have developed are adapted to seawater, which makes their algae cultivation method both economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

  • Saudi Arabia wants to be ‘the next Silicon Valley,’ Princess Loulwa says: Video

    Princess Loulwa Al Saud, co-founder and CEO of RiseUp Saudi, says Saudi Arabia focuses on knowledge more than on funding.

  • Saudi Central bank net foreign assets rise by $2 billion in January 2024

    Recent data from the Saudi Central Bank reveals that in January 2024, the bank’s net foreign assets increased by $2.07 billion compared to the previous month. The central bank’s monthly publication states that net external assets rose to SAR1.572 trillion ($419.17 billion) in January, up from SAR1.564 trillion. However, when compared to January 2023, the central bank’s net foreign assets experienced a decline of 4.26 percent, amounting to SAR1.57 trillion.

  • Al-Falih: 450 international investors to establish their regional HQ in Saudi Arabia

    Al-Falih said that during this decade alone, Saudi Arabia will add more than $3 trillion in investments to the economy, and a large share of these investments will be allocated to new economic sectors such as the digital economy, tourism, financial and professional services, healthcare, and agriculture, which are sectors that will provide tremendous opportunities for developing human capital.

  • Saudi-Led Arabs Push Plan for Palestine State as War Rages

    The plan, which builds on the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, is expected to outline the creation of a Palestinian state along the lines of borders that existed prior to the 1967 Six-Day War. It would include measures such as rolling back Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank — one of two main Palestinian territories alongside Gaza — and mechanisms to implement a two-state solution, said the two senior Arab officials.

  • Saudi Arabia Aims for 150k New Jobs in Chemical Plants and Renewable Energy, says Minister

    Saudi Arabia is poised to create 150,000 new jobs in chemical plants and renewable energy facilities with a commitment to achieving 75 percent localization, said a top official. During the Human Capability Initiative in Riyadh, Saudi Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman emphasized that the energy sector has the biggest chance to achieve the target of Saudi workers compared to any other sector. The minister said: “We see somewhere around 150,000 jobs being created, including not only working in chemical plants and with heavy wind or renewable facilities but also we see a lot of jobs are coming through the localization programs. We also are committed to a localization program which is 75 percent.”

  • Mexico’s Pérez Correa González signs agreement with Saudi firm

    Mexico’s Pérez Correa González has entered into a cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabian firm Alsuwaiket & Albusaiyes, looking to target new business opportunities in the food, agribusiness, technology, automotive and tourism sectors through the alliance.