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  • How Saudi Arabia is leveraging artificial intelligence to tackle land degradation

    The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction defines land degradation as the reduction or loss of land’s biological or economic productivity caused by human-induced activities, including deforestation, overgrazing and unsustainable agricultural practices. Saudi Arabia’s Climate Envoy and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir believes land degradation is driving the displacement of millions and destabilizing entire regions across the globe. “When people cannot grow food, they migrate,” he told delegates at the COP16 summit in Riyadh on Tuesday.

  • Imax Opens First Location With Saudi Arabia’s Muvi, Sets Inaugural Arabic-Language Feature

    Imax and Saudi Arabia’s Muvi Cinemas on Wednesday hosted a grand opening event for the new Imax location at Muvi Mall of Arabia in Jeddah. This is the first Imax location from Saudi’s largest exhibitor. During the event, which was held just ahead of the kickoff of the Red Sea Film Festival, Imax revealed plans to release the first-ever Arabic-language feature in the format, Black Light Films’ action comedy Ambulance. Directed by Colin Teague and starring Ibrahim Hajjaj and Muhammed Al-Qahtani, it will release on April 17, 2025. The film, set against the backdrop of modern-day Riyadh, centers on two paramedics who stumble upon a briefcase containing 2 million riyals. What should be a life-changing moment quickly spirals into their worst nightmare as the duo becomes entangled in a web of kidnapping, blackmail and murder.

  • FIFA urged not to give 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia in report alleging abuses of migrant labor

    FIFA is set to ask members to acclaim Saudi Arabia and the sole candidate to host the 2030 World Cup — Spain, Portugal and Morocco, plus single games in each of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay — without an itemized vote. FIFA has resisted calls from independent rights activists and lawyers calling for greater scrutiny of the Saudi World Cup plan including access for international observers. They say FIFA risks repeating a decade of similar issues that tainted preparations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar despite consistent warnings by groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

  • Saudi Arabia’s network of spending and influence detailed before getting 2034 World Cup from FIFA

    More Saudi commercial deals are expected after the 2034 World Cup decision, either for the 2026 edition being played in North America or the revamped Club World Cup being staged by the United States next year. “It’s very complex — there’s lots of interlinked parts,” Dan Plumley, sports finance expert at Sheffield Hallam University, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Monday. “We are living in a utopia if we think that sport and politics can be separated in the modern world because that’s impossible,” Plumley said. “There is always power, influence and money, which ultimately dictates the direction of travel.”

  • Saudi Arabia and World Bank Group to Establish a Global Knowledge Hub in Riyadh

    The World Bank Group–Saudi Arabia Knowledge Hub (K-Hub) will serve as a platform for knowledge generation and exchange to drive greater development impact for countries. The K-Hub will facilitate inbound and outbound knowledge transfer, collaboration on innovative research, capacity building programs, and evidence-based policy solutions. “Diversifying economies and driving policies that lead to a more competitive and efficient business environment are key to success,” said Ajay Banga, President of the World Bank Group. “The new Knowledge Hub being created by the World Bank Group and Saudi Arabia is a key step forward to scale up and extend the wide reach of global knowledge critical to delivering such impact.”

  • Saudi Arabian golfers privileged to be ‘trailblazers’ for golf in the Kingdom

    Saudi Arabia’s five leading golfers are determined to showcase their quality on home soil when the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers begins tomorrow at Riyadh Golf Club. Othman Almulla is one of a record five Saudi Arabian professionals competing at the event, which takes place in Riyadh for the first time, and three of them were in attendance, alongside global stars such as Abraham Ancer, Tyrrell Hatton and Dustin Johnson, for a launch press conference ahead of the tournament.

  • Saudi Arabia goes on the offensive on climate change

    Saudi Arabia came out fighting on the opening day of the 2024 edition of the Saudi Green Initiative, in response to some strident criticism of the country’s role at the recent Cop29 climate change summit in Baku, Azerbaijan from Western media, backed by environmentalists and mainly European “green” politicians. The shadow of Baku’s Cop29 on climate change still hung in the air in Riyadh. In a rebuttal of accusations that Saudi Arabia had backtracked on climate change commitments, and been obstructive on financial and other measures in Baku, Prince Abdulaziz said that it “follows the rules” in climate change negotiations. It is very difficult to see the SGI forum as greenwashing. It is too well planned, well resourced and well executed. Anyone who visits must be impressed by the Saudi commitment to “green” policies and realise they are an integral part of the Vision 2030 strategy towards economic diversification.

  • Saudi Arabia’s network of spending and influence detailed before getting 2034 World Cup from FIFA

    Saudi Arabia’s growing influence and massive spending in global sports ahead of being confirmed by FIFA as the 2034 World Cup host was detailed on Monday in a report that cited risks to good governance off the field. More than 900 sponsor deals — more than one-third traced to the $925 billion Saudi sovereign wealth fund — and a network of officials with overlapping state, business and sports roles were cited by Play The Game, a publicly funded sports ethics institute in Denmark. The oil-rich kingdom’s investment of tens of billions of dollars in soccer, golf, boxing, tennis, the Esports Olympics and a yet-to-be-built ski resort will get its most coveted prize next week from FIFA, the 2034 World Cup in men’s soccer.

  • Persian onager returns to Saudi Arabia after over a century of absence

    In April 2024, seven Persian onagers were translocated from the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature’s (RSCN) Shaumari Reserve in Jordan to the Reserve, establishing the first wild population in the Kingdom in over a century. The onagers, following their 935-kilometer journey, have adapted well to their new habitat, celebrated by the birth of the first foal in the Reserve — a pivotal milestone in Saudi Arabia’s rewilding efforts.

  • Saudi Arabia opens world’s longest driverless transit system

    The Riyadh Metro began operation on December 1, with the opening of three of its lines (another line is opening in January with two more to follow soon after). It has a total length of 176 km (109 miles) and connects key districts, business centers, and cultural landmarks throughout Saudi Arabia's capital city.With an eventual capacity of 3.6 million daily passengers once fully complete, the train network is expected to reduce road traffic significantly throughout Riyadh and correspondingly reduce CO2 by some 12.5 million tons (roughly 10.8 million tonnes), annually.