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  • Saudi banks most profitable in Middle East
     

    Out of the top 50 banks in the Middle East ranked by assets for the period H1 2011, Saudi banks lead the pack “having a good track record of maintaining strong asset quality and adapting adequate lending practices and underwriting standards,” Sheetal Kothari, research analyst, business and financial services practice, Frost & Sullivan, said. The […]

     
  • Beware the Siren Call of Jihad
     

    There’s a full-court press, likely at the instigation of Saudi Arabia’s government, to discourage would-be jihadis from traveling up to Syria. Saudi Gazette/Okaz report that a wide array of authority figures are warning enthusiastic youths of the potential dangers and about how their brothers and cousins fell into traps in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Iraq. Usefully, […]

     
  • Saudi Arabia breaks onto contemporary art scene
     

    Saudi Arabia is making its mark on the global contemporary art scene: works by Middle Eastern artists such as Talal Al Zeid and Mohammed Farea are available at Lam Art Gallery in Riyadh, the Empty Quarter photography gallery in Dubai was founded by the Saudi photographer Princess Reem Al-Faisal, while Message/Messenger, a 2010 installation incorporating […]

     
  • 42 Amazing Photos of Ramadan 2012
     

    Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, will come to a close this weekend with the observation of a festival called Eid al-Fitr. Throughout this ninth month on the Islamic calendar, devout Muslims must abstain from food, drink, and sex from dawn until sunset. The fast, one of the five pillars of Islam, is seen as […]

     
  • For GCC, a Challenge Within Reach: The Gulf Rail Network
     

    Railways have never been the preferred mode of transportation in the Gulf, neither for passengers nor for goods, for geographic reasons and, mostly, due to the affordable prices of fuel for road transportation. But in the next few years, and in order to boost trade, Gulf countries are expected to spend more than $100 billion on rail […]

     
  • As Fasting Ends, the Lessons of Ramadan Linger
     

    Before we began our three-day Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of Ramadan, I came across an article in a Saudi newspaper with a checklist of what makes a successful Ramadan. First on the list: Recognizing that one can change for the better and acquiring patience and strong will. This month my deficiencies have shone […]

     
  • What Islamic Advertising in Saudi Arabia Looks Like
     

    This image of McDonald’s famous Golden Arches — the ne plus ultra of a Western brand — looks jarring in Arabic script. But in the Middle East and parts of Asia, that’s McDonald’s all-American brand.

     
  • Saudis Back Syria Rebels, Mindful of Past
     

    Overcome by the suffering of civilians in warring Syria, a professor in Saudi Arabia’s capital strips off his watch on live television to give as aid. A Saudi bride on her wedding night offers up her entire dowry of $13,000. Parents bring their children to donation centers set up around the Saudi kingdom, watching proudly […]

     
  • Saudi: strongest passenger growth in a decade as market expands
     

    After several years of sagging performance, Saudi Arabia’s aviation market reported its strongest growth in passenger traffic in more than a decade in 2011, even against the background of the Middle East’s regional social unrest. Despite the Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and some of the Gulf states, Saudi Arabian passenger traffic boomed in […]

     
  • Seasonality and the Saudi Stock Market
     

    A recently released note by Jadwa Investment discusses the effect that seasonal trends have on the Saudi economy, noting that while all economies have seasonal trends, “for Saudi Arabia these trends are more pronounced than for most other global economies…The slowdown in activity in the third quarter due to the long hot summer is a key driver […]

     

MUST-READS

  • Fake Signals and American Insurance: How a Dark Fleet Moves Russian Oil

    For years, ships wanting to hide their whereabouts have resorted to turning off the transponders all large vessels use to signal their location. But the tankers tracked by The Times go beyond this, using cutting-edge spoofing technology to make it appear they’re in one location when they’re really somewhere else. During at least 13 voyages, the three tankers pretended to be sailing west of Japan. In reality, they were at terminals in Russia and shipping oil to China.

  • Qatar prime minister, Taliban chief hold secret Afghan talks

    The Qatari prime minister held secret talks with the supreme leader of the Taliban this month on resolving tension with the international community, a source briefed on the meeting said, signaling a new willingness by Afghanistan's rulers to discuss ways to end their isolation. The May 12 meeting in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar between Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Haibatullah Akhunzada is the first the reclusive Taliban chief is known to have held with a foreign leader.

  • MENA faces $994bn infrastructure funding gap between 2016 and 2040: report  

    The Middle East and North Africa region is confronting the largest infrastructure funding gap in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, estimated to be about $993.9 billion between 2016 and 2040, according to the ICD-Refinitiv OIC Infrastructure Outlook 2023 report. The infrastructure funding gap is the difference between the funds required to develop and maintain infrastructure projects and the available financial resources to meet those needs. The study noted that the region faced a funding gap of $684.9 billion in the infrastructure development of roads, $110.8 billion in water, $47.3 billion in rail, $33.6 billion in ports and $24.7 million in airports during the 25 years.

  • Saudi project dismantles 875 Houthi mines in Yemen within one week

    Saudi Arabia’s Masam project dismantled 875 mines, planted by the Houthi militia across Yemen, in the last week of May. Overseen by the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), a specialist team removed 11 anti-personnel mines, 165 anti-tank mines, 686 unexploded ammunition, and 13 explosive devices, reported Saudi Press Agency (SPA). In Aden, the team dismantled three anti-personnel mines, 11 anti-tank mines, 519 unexploded ammunition, and seven explosive devices.

  • Saudi Investment Enclaves Take Shape With Top Steelmaker’s Entry

    China’s Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. will commit 15 billion riyals ($4 billion) to build a plant for steel plate manufacturing in a new economic zone in Ras Al-Khair on the kingdom’s eastern coast, according to an announcement made at an event in Riyadh on Monday. Domestic names such as Himmah, which is establishing an auto-parts export hub catering to Africa and the Middle East, will drive capital into some of the other special areas that authorities are setting up across the country and which already attracted the likes of Lucid Group Inc. as anchor investors.

  • ‘Saudi Towards Space’: Travelers will have their passports stamped with new commemorative seal

    A new seal with the theme of "Saudi Arabia Toward Space" has been launched to decorate the passports of travelers upon their departure from the Kingdom's airports The seal was launched by the Ministry of Interior, represented by the Directorate General of Passports (Jawazat) in cooperation with the Saudi Space Commission. The seal will be available to be stamped on the travelers' passports at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam,

  • Amid Omani visit, Iran’s messaging points to transactionalism with west | Amwaj.media

    Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has praised Iran’s conservative-dominated parliament for having passed a bill in 2020 that obliges the expansion of the country’s nuclear program. When the legislation was adopted, moderate then-president Hassan Rouhani (2013-21) slammed it as “detrimental to diplomatic efforts” to revive the 2015 nuclear accord.

  • Commentary: The Saudi Gambit in Washington

    As an example of Saudi Arabia’s new approach, the Israeli press is reporting that Riyadh is setting tough conditions—reportedly supported by Washington—to allow direct flights to carry Israeli pilgrims to the Hajj. These conditions apparently include transferring certain powers in the West Bank from the Israeli military to the Palestinian Authority forces, and giving the PA forces security-related authority at the Temple Mount and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City.

  • 10 European countries call on Israel to halt demolition of Palestinian homes – Middle East Monitor

    Ten European countries have called on Israel to halt its policy of home demolitions and confiscation of Palestinian properties in the occupied West Bank, reports Anadolu Agency. The call came in a joint statement issued by the consulates general of Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland and the Office of the European Union Representative to the West Bank and Gaza.

  • Saudi Arabia megaprojects: 15 massive developments in the making

    Saudi Arabia has announced several ambitious plans to launch a wave of megaprojects that are set to transform the country into a global economic powerhouse, as reported by Arabian Business.