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  • Sotheby’s Reveals Linup For Saudi Auction

    Titled “Origins“, the two-day evening auction will open on February 8th. It will occur at the historic town of Diriyah, a UNESCO heritage site – though the exact location hasn’t been shared. Over 100 works would be sold in the auction. Before it, between February 1st and 8th, the works would be on public display at both enclosed spaces and open sites around Diriyah.  The artworks include works by Picasso and Warhol. There would be installations like one by James Turrell (est. $120k -$180k) and Sidle by Antony Gormley (est. 700k -$800k). Sotheby’s is also paying special focus to surrealist art. These include L’État de veille by Rene Magritte (est. $1 million -$1.5 million) and La Légende égyptienne by Paul Delvaux (est. 700k).

  • Trump’s Middle East envoy is considering a visit to the Gaza Strip amid ceasefire deal

    President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is considering a visit to the war-torn Gaza Strip as part of his efforts to keep a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on track, according to a transition official with direct knowledge of the ceasefire process. Underscoring just how fragile the president-elect’s team believes the ceasefire deal that’s set to go into effect on Sunday is, Witkoff also plans to be a near-constant presence in the region over the coming weeks and months to troubleshoot flare-ups on the ground that he believes could unravel the agreement and halt the release of hostages held by Hamas at any moment, the official said.

  • LIV Golf announces multiyear media rights deal with Fox Sports

    LIV Golf announced a multiyear media rights agreement with Fox Sports to broadcast the pro golf tour to U.S. viewers, starting in February. The tour’s 14-tournament season will air on Fox, FS1 and other Fox networks, and will also stream on the Fox Sports and LIV Golf+ apps. The LIV Golf League features 13 teams of four golfers each, including two-time major champions Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. The news comes a day after the Saudi-financed sports organization named Scott O’Neil, the former CEO of Merlin Entertainments and Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, as its new CEO. He replaces Greg Norman, the tour’s first commissioner and CEO, who will remain informally involved with LIV. LIV Golf was previously broadcasted on the Nexstar Media Group-operated CW Network. The upstart golf league struggled to bring in big audiences on The CW.

  • LIV Golf seeks ‘new heights’ with FOX Sports deal

    LIV Golf and FOX Sports have entered into a multi-year media rights partnership to broadcast LIV Golf tournaments across the US. Starting in February, the deal ensures all three days of LIV Golf events will be aired on FOX networks, with over half the season’s schedule featured on FOX or FS1. Additional rounds will be shown on FS2, FOX Business Network, and the FOX Sports App. Altogether, nearly 210 hours of competition will be broadcast live on FOX Sports platforms and the LIV Golf+ app. The broadcasts will retain LIV Golf’s unique production style, including an in-house team, advanced drone footage, statistics-focused graphics, and fast-paced coverage to deliver almost double the number of shots per hour compared to traditional golf broadcasts.

  • Saudi economy expected to grow 3.3% in 2025: IMF

    Saudi Arabia’s economy is expected to grow by 3.3% and 4.1% in 2025 and 2026, respectively, a new report released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) showed. The fund raised the 2025 growth forecasts from 4.6% previously in October due to extending the OPEC+ output reduction agreement. The IMF cut its growth forecast for the Middle East and North Africa this year, largely reflecting lower expectations for Saudi Arabia's economic growth to 1.3% in 2025, compared to previous estimates.

  • Mining sector faces challenges to secure critical minerals: Expert

    The global mining sector is facing major challenges in securing critical minerals that are required for energy transition. Saudi Arabia has strong potential to become a global hub in this field, Peter Bryant, Board Chair of Clareo, told Argaam on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum. The challenges encompass various technical, commercial, and social aspects, including technical challenges such as low-quality ores, increasing mining depths, high water and energy consumption in operations, and complexities in waste management. He noted that commercial challenges include a lack of investments, emphasizing that the world requires $1 trillion in investments to meet the demand for metals by 2030, while current investments range only between $20 billion and $30 billion annually.

  • Saudi boxing powerbroker lowering PPV prices amid efforts to combat piracy, grow sport

    Saudi Arabian power broker Turki Alalshikh is working to lower PPV prices around boxing to bring in more buyers and combat piracy, and promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s a supporter of the move. There’s long been a debate within boxing about whether the price of PPVs has gotten too exorbitant, with fights in the U.S. often being being priced around $80 in recent years. But as Alalshikh has become the de facto most powerful person in boxing over the last year, he’s looked into making PPV units more affordable. He appears to be following through on his plan, as multiple fights in recent months have had a PPV price between $20-60 in the U.S. Alalshikh is aligned with DAZN, which is reportedly in advanced talks to receive a major investment from Saudi Arabia’s SURJ Sports Investment Co.

  • Saudi Minister of Finance Participates in 2025 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting

    His Excellency the Saudi Minister of Finance, Mr. Mohammed Aljadaan, will participate as a member of the Saudi delegation at the 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, scheduled to be held January 20-24, 2025 in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland under the theme "Collaboration for the Intelligent Age". During the 2025 WEF Annual Meeting, Minister Aljadaan will participate in several sessions to discuss various topics including new approaches to measuring growth, ways to drive action through international forums, challenges facing emerging economies, MENA region's economic growth, economic diversification's impact on sustainability, GCC's role in global economic growth, as well as Saudi Arabia's economic transformation.

  • Saudi Arabia unveils digital services for Hajj pilgrims

    The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) have signed a memorandum of cooperation to harness smart products for pilgrims and build a knowledge base to exchange best practices in modern technologies. Under this agreement, both parties are committed to spreading awareness in the field of data and artificial intelligence through camps, workshops, seminars, and conferences. Training programs will be held for employees of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in data and artificial intelligence.

  • Diplomacy Is All Hamas Has Left in the Arsenal

    A major concession for Hamas was to accept that many of its key cadres will now stay indefinitely in Israeli prisons. In any case, the militant Islamist group is no longer the same organization that launched the October 7, 2023, massacre. Its battalions have been smashed; all that is left is a ragtag insurgency capable only of hit-and-run tactics. The group’s arsenal is greatly depleted; its fighters have fallen back on improvised explosive devices assembled from unexploded Israeli ordinance. The top tier of Hamas’s military leadership has been eliminated, leaving two relatively inexperienced and junior commanders—Ezz al-Din Hadad in the north and Mohamed Sinwar, younger brother of the October 7 attack’s mastermind, Yahya Sinwar, in the south.