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  • Saudi delegation to visit West Bank this week to meet Palestinian President Abbas

    Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is to meet a Saudi delegation in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official has said. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Jordan, Naif Al Sudairi, who was appointed as non-resident ambassador to the Palestinians, will lead the delegation on the two-day visit, which begins on Tuesday. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the visit was an "important historic milestone for enhancing and developing bilateral ties". The trip comes after officials in Saudi Arabia and Israel confirmed efforts were being made to reach an agreement to establish relations between the two countries.

  • Saudi Arabia citizens willing to ‘pay more’ for sustainable broadband, says study

    The recent Cisco Broadband Survey, which includes 2,000 respondents in Saudi Arabia, has shown a shift in consumer expectations, heralding a profound transformation in the realm of Internet connectivity. Consumers in the kingdom are reevaluating their reliance on the Internet, balancing the quest for speed and dependability with the rapidly increasing imperatives of environmental consciousness and the infiltration of the Internet of Things (IoT) into everyday life, linking devices from smart automobiles to household appliances.

  • UNESCO adds Saudi Uruq Bani Ma’arid Reserve to World Heritage List

    Saudi Arabia's Uruq Bani Ma'arid, a windblown sand desert, became the kingdom's first Natural World Heritage site on Wednesday. The decision was made during the ongoing extended 45th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee held in Riyadh, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Covering an area of 12,765 square kilometers, Uruq Bani Ma'arid is located on the western edge of the Ar Rub' al-Khali, the only major sand desert in tropical Asia and the largest continuous sand sea on Earth.

  • Fatah gives deadline for handover of general’s killers amid fragile truce in Lebanon refugee camp

    A top official with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah group said Sunday that Palestinian and Lebanese officials have given militant Islamic groups in Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp until the end of the month to hand over the accused killers of a Fatah general. A fragile calm has largely prevailed in the Ein el-Hilweh camp since Thursday night after the warring sides reached the latest in a series of cease-fire agreements. It followed a week of intense fighting that killed at least 18 people and wounded and displaced hundreds.

  • Digital banking enhanced in Saudi Arabia thanks to new agreements with Ministry of Investment

    Saudi Arabia can expect a sea change in its digital banking services after the Ministry of Investment signed memorandums of understanding with Al-Rajhi Bank, Alinma Bank, and Banque Saudi Fransi. According to the Saudi Press Agency, the MoUs aim to enhance the role of the digital banking sector and help these institutions provide better services to investors. The agreements will also provide facilities to companies to assist them in enriching the investment journey in a way that works to promote the growth and diversification of the national economy, SPA reported.

  • Saudi Arabia Once Banned Videogames. Now, It Wants to Export Them.

    The Saudi sovereign-wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, owns multibillion-dollar stakes in the companies involved in producing “Pokémon” and other global hits the Saudi clerics once banned, like “Diablo” and “Red Dead Redemption.” The PIF splashed out almost $5 billion for the California videogame publisher Scopely and increased its stakes in Nintendo and Electronic Arts. And the kingdom is dangling high salaries in front of Westerners to come here and help build a local industry almost from scratch. In the most visible sign of the push, Riyadh hosted the world’s largest esports and gaming event in July and August: the Gamers8 conference. In Boulevard Riyadh City, a new development evocative of Times Square, thousands of professional and amateur gamers competed for a record $45 million prize pool organized by the state-backed Saudi Esports Federation—an open embrace of a digital medium long devoured by Saudi youth in private.

  • GCC banks to post stronger profitability on non-oil economic boom

    Banks in the GCC, particularly in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, will record stronger profitability this year on the back of higher net interest margins and lower-cost business models amid booming non-oil economic growth in the region. While credit growth has slowed due to rising interest rates, robust gross domestic product growth in the non-oil sectors of Gulf countries will provide support to lenders in the region, S&P Global Ratings said in a report on Tuesday.

  • Saudis, Taliban Follow Different Paths on Women’s Work, Education

    Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia are known for their Shariah-based legal systems and authoritarian ways of governance. But the two Islamist governments are on divergent paths regarding women's work and education. In the Saudi kingdom, where until a few years ago women were deprived of many social rights and freedoms, the women's employment rate has surged to 37%, according to U.S. and Saudi officials. In the high-tech industry, Saudi women's participation has gone up so much that recently U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney humorously suggested that U.S. tech hub Silicon Valley could take inspiration from Saudi Arabia's efforts to foster female entrepreneurship.

  • Ten dead as clashes resume in Palestinian camp in south Lebanon

    Ten people have been killed and dozens wounded in renewed violence between rival groups in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, with a senior Palestinian official flying in on Monday amid fears the bloodshed could spread. The Ain el-Hilweh camp has been rocked by factional clashes since late July between the Palestinian mainstream movement Fatah and Islamist fighters. The first round left more than a dozen people dead.

  • Bank of America Beefs Up Mideast Business With HSBC, JPMorgan Hires

    Bank of America Corp. hired Abdulaziz Behery to lead its investment bank in Saudi Arabia and bolstered its Middle East equities business amid a continuing surge in regional deal activity. Behery is joining from HSBC Holdings Plc and will also be a managing director at BofA, while former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Bahaa Al Bustami has been named a vice president in equities sales, according to people familiar with the matter.