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  • Jordan condemns Netanyahu’s ‘incendiary calls’ for establishing Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia

    Jordan condemned on Sunday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statements about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia, deeming them “incendiary calls” and a “violation of international law”, Anadolu news agency reported. “The Israeli government continues its provocative policies and statements that undermine the sovereignty of nations and the principles of international law,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sufian al-Qudah said in a statement. He stressed Jordan’s “absolute rejection of these provocative statements, which reflect an exclusionary and inciting ideology hostile to peace and contribute to further escalation in the region.”

  • Arab states slam Netanyahu over suggestion to move Palestinians to Saudi Arabia

    Arab governments have slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks that a Palestinian state should be established in Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza – suggested earlier this week that Palestinians should be moved to Saudi Arabia which has "a lot of land," calling a Palestinian state a "security threat" to Israel. Riyadh quickly rebuffed the Israeli leader's comments in a foreign ministry statement, reiterating that normalisation with Israel would only be possible if an independent Palestinian state was established. Netanyahu and his far-right government have outright rejected a Palestinian state, which many Palestinians want to see include the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital. The comments came amid Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week, where he appeared alongside US President Donald Trump, who unveiled a controversial plan to "take over" Gaza and displace millions of Palestinians

  • Saudi’s Red Palace hotel hits 60% construction milestone, says Boutique Group CEO

    Saudi Arabia’s Boutique Group is ahead of schedule on its flagship Red Palace hotel project, with construction more than 60 per cent complete as the ultra-luxury hospitality company prepares to set new service standards in the Kingdom. The Public Investment Fund-owned company is targeting completion slightly earlier than its planned April 2026 opening date, according to Chief Executive Officer Christoph Mares. The project, which will transform one of Riyadh’s historic landmarks into an ultra-luxury hotel, will boast what the company claims will be the highest staff-to-guest ratio in global luxury hospitality.

  • Saudi’s BRKZ closes $17M Series A for its construction tech platform

    Construction procurement is highly fragmented, manual, and opaque, forcing contractors to juggle multiple suppliers, endure lengthy negotiations, and deal with delayed payments. In Saudi Arabia, where trillion-dollar infrastructure and real estate projects are underway, these inefficiencies are even more pronounced.

  • Be remembered as the peacemaker, Saudi prince tells Trump

    A letter to Donald J. Trump from Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, a Saudi prince and former government official who served as the head of Saudi Arabia's General Intelligence Presidency from 1979 to 2001. He is a grandson of Saudi's founder King Abdulaziz and son of King Faisal. He is the chairman of the King Faisal Foundation's Centre for Research and Islamic Studies.

  • UN accused of censoring criticism of Saudi Arabia at flagship internet conference

    The UN removed criticism of the Saudi government from the official transcript of a key UN conference and threatened to eject a Saudi researcher from the gathering held in Riyadh in December, Human Rights Watch has said. The organisation described the fallout from the UN Internet Governance Forum (UN IGF) as “the latest example” of a repressive government hosting a major UN conference which saw civil society representatives censored and intimidated. Deborah Brown, HRW’s deputy technology, rights and investigations director, said: "The UN and its member states should put an end to a climate of intimidation and censorship toward diplomats, journalists, human rights advocates, and other civil society representatives at UN conferences." "Restricting participants’ ability to speak freely about internet policy issues, including issues relevant in the host country, undermines the IGF’s purpose," she said.

  • Influencers’ role in helping Saudi Arabia end the scourge of smoking

    A recent forecast by Euromonitor International suggests that cigarette consumption in Saudi Arabia will hold steady this year. The research firm also predicts that the market for vapes, heated tobacco, and smokeless tobacco is about to explode, quintupling in size by 2028.[1] Given that up to one in three young Saudi adults is thought to use e-cigarettes, this comes as no surprise. In short, smoking remains stubbornly popular in the Kingdom, as does vaping among young adults. Bending the curve will require the adoption and skillful deployment of social media influencer techniques that better align with how our youth absorb information.  The good news is that any such effort can – and should – build on the laudable stop-smoking efforts ongoing in the Kingdom. Since launching its first anti-smoking campaign in the early 2000s, the Kingdom has banned smoking in public places, imposed a 100% duty on cigarettes, and set up more than 1,000 smoking cessation clinics across the country.[2] Last year, the Public Investment Fund launched Badael, which sells Saudi-made nicotine pouches and is developing other tobacco alternatives for smokers. These policies, among many others, have been overwhelmingly successful.

  • The Trump Effect: The Potential Impact of the U.S. President on the Saudi Economy

    Any increase in policy interest rates in the United States would make borrowing more expensive at a time when the Saudi public sector is continuing to borrow heavily to fund the ambitious Vision 2030 projects. Also, higher interest rates would raise borrowing costs for individuals and businesses, potentially slowing private consumption and investment, although these links are hard to identify empirically in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Last, in a higher interest rate environment, the dollar, to which the Saudi riyal is pegged, may continue to strengthen, hurting the competitiveness of emerging Saudi sectors, such as tourism.

  • Analysis Of 2025 Saudi Budget

    On November 26, 2024, The Saudi Council of Ministers, headed by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, approved the state's general budget for the year 2025 this evening and issued a decision regarding it. As it was expected by many economists the 2025 Saudi budget projected a deficit of $27 billion. Public expenditures expected to be at $243 billion, While public revenue projected at $316 billion. For the year ending 2024 budget, the authorities estimated revenue at $328 billion, and spending at $359 billion, with a deficit of $31 billion. The authorities projected capital spending at $49 billion for 2025, which constitutes about 14% of total projected public spending. Oil revenue for the current year (2024) is estimated to be $202 billion, while non-oil revenue is expected to jump to $126 billion, which represents 38% of 2024 revenue as the result of the government aim of diversifying its source of revenue and not only depend on oil export revenue.

  • Saudi Arabia’s population crosses 35mln, with non-Saudis constituting 44.4%

    Saudi Arabia's population reached 35.3 million until the middle of the year 2024, according to the latest estimates of the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT). Saudi citizens constitute 55.6 percent of the total population while non-Saudis represent 44.4 percent. There has been an annual increase of 1.6 million in the number of people, with a growth rate of 4.7 percent during the period until mid-2024, compared to mid-2023. The annual growth rate stood at 4.6 percent compared to the base period in May 2022. The authority report stated that the total population of Saudis exceeded 19.6 million by mid-2024, with an annual growth rate of two percent, compared to 19.3 million in mid-2023, while the population of non-Saudis reached nearly 15.7 million by the middle of last year, compared to 14.5 million people until mid-2023.