MUST-READS

• Saudi Princess: Inside the Kingdom’s billion dollar project to extend human lifespan

  In an interview with Al Arabiya English, Saudi Princess Dr Haya Bint Khaled Bin Bandar al-Saud, Vice President of Organizational Strategy & Development, said she believes the Foundation’s work will see tangible results in decelerating aging in a matter of years. “We are an organization that’s helping all humanity,” she said, adding that the initiative aims to be the first non-profit to pursue age-related therapeutic breakthroughs. It is committed to funding global scientific discovery, and investing in private companies and entrepreneurs dedicated to advancing aging science.

• Saudi Princess: Inside the Kingdom’s billion dollar project to extend human lifespan

  In an interview with Al Arabiya English, Saudi Princess Dr Haya Bint Khaled Bin Bandar al-Saud, Vice President of Organizational Strategy & Development, said she believes the Foundation’s work will see tangible results in decelerating aging in a matter of years. “We are an organization that’s helping all humanity,” she said, adding that the initiative aims to be the first non-profit to pursue age-related therapeutic breakthroughs. It is committed to funding global scientific discovery, and investing in private companies and entrepreneurs dedicated to advancing aging science.

• US approves $500 million sale of spare parts to Saudi military

  The Biden administration on Thursday approved a major $500 million sale to fund spare and repair parts for Saudi Arabia’s military. The proposed sale, which the State Department notified to Congress on Thursday, would fund components for Saudi Arabia’s existing Abrams and M-60 tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, light armored vehicles and Humvees. The proposal would also fund spare and repair parts for rifles and pistols as well as crew-served weapons systems, such as the kingdom’s TOW anti-tank missile launchers, radar sets, recoilless rifles as well as computer units, radar sets and night vision devices, among other equipment.

• This Spanish city has been restricting cars for 24 years. Here’s what

  Starting with the historic center city and steadily expanding outward, the city removed on-street parking, restricted car access, and widened sidewalks. (Notably, Pontevedra’s transformation began more than a decade before Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo became an urbanist cause célèbre for booting automobiles from the City of Light.) Some of Pontevedra’s car owners balked, but Mayor Fernandez Lores was unmoved. “It’s not my duty as mayor to make sure you have a parking spot,” he said at a 2020 conference. “For me, it’s the same as if you bought a cow, or a refrigerator, and then asked me where you’re going to put them.”

• SparkLabs Saudi Arabia Launches Accelerator Program

  SparkLabs Group with the support of The National Technology Development Program (NTDP) will begin its startup accelerator program on November 1st, 2023. Led by Ivan Grlic, Co-founder and Managing Partner, and Bodin Scepanovic, SparkLabs Saudi Arabia will also launch a new venture capital fund to help develop the startup ecosystem in Riyadh. The four-month mentorship-driven program will provide funding, office space, a structured program and access to a top-tier network of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and executives from Silicon Valley and across the globe.

• Spain Says It’s Analyzing Saudi Telecom Investment in Telefonica

  Spain is analyzing Saudi Telecom Co.’s plan to become Telefonica SA’s largest shareholder, and has legal instruments to protect the country’s strategic interests, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. “The government is analyzing the investment operation thoroughly,” Sanchez said on Friday at an event in Madrid. “We have the adequate instruments to exercise the necessary controls and we will guarantee that at all times national defense and security, understood in a broad sense, will be safeguarded. And we also guarantee that any foreign investment will not exceed the limits that would involve undue influence over strategic companies, or access to critical technologies.”

• Signs US Iran prisoner swap advancing amid gloomy anniversary of death that sparked Iran protests

  Signs Iran prisoner swap could be advancing come as Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi is expected to travel to New York for UN meeting next week & anniversary of death of Mahsa Amini.

• How Saudis quietly built influence at Spain’s Telefonica

  STC is 64% owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the main engine of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Vision 2030 effort to build stakes in a variety of global companies and wean the Saudi economy off its dependence on the oil that made it one of the world's richest nations. STC hopes the ties with Telefonica will help it develop digital cities in Saudi Arabia, importing technological know-how from countries like Spain, according to a person who had advised the company.

• How Saudis quietly built influence at Spain’s Telefonica

  STC had spent months building its 2.1 billion-euro ($2.25 billion) stake, said the people, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The move is a vote of confidence in Telefonica, burdened by billions of dollars in debt while STC gains expertise to modernize Saudi telecoms infrastructure.

• Spain’s La Liga challenges Gulf states’ business model

  The Gulf’s impact on European and world soccer could be determined by the outcome of a complaint to the European Commission by Spain’s top soccer league, La Liga. The complaint asserts alleged Qatari state aid to Qatar-owned Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) distorts European Union markets by paying above market sums for top players. La Liga President Javier Tebas has frequently cited the example of the US$260 million PSG paid for Brazilian player Neymar in 2017 and US$160 million last year to retain Kylian Mbappé. Earlier this month, Neymar transferred to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal for US$100 million.

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