MUST-READS

• Top US officials in Damascus to meet new Syrian rulers, State Department says

  Top diplomats from the Biden administration are in Damascus on Friday to meet new Syrian authorities led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a State Department spokesperson said, the first in-person and official meeting between Washington and Syria's de-facto new rulers. The State Department's top Middle East diplomat, Barbara Leaf, Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and newly appointed Senior Adviser Daniel Rubinstein, who is now tasked with leading the Department's Syria engagement, are the first U.S. diplomats to travel to Damascus since Syria's opposition militias overthrew oppressive President Bashar al-Assad. The visit comes as Western governments are gradually opening channels to HTS and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and start debating whether or not to remove the terrorist designation on the group. The U.S. delegation's travel follows contacts with France and Britain in recent days.

• Lawsuit alleges U.S. failed to evacuate Palestinian Americans trapped in Gaza
  Nine Palestinian Americans sued the U.S. government on Thursday, alleging that it had failed to rescue them or members of their families who were trapped in Gaza where Israel's war has killed tens of thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis. The lawsuit accuses the State Department of discriminating against Americans of Palestinian origin by abandoning them in a war zone and not making the same effort that it would to promptly evacuate and protect Americans of different origins in similar situations.

• Turkey’s central bank expected to start cutting rates next week: Reuters poll
  Turkey's central bank is expected to start a cycle of interest rate cuts next week after eight months of steady policy, according to a Reuters poll on Thursday. Fourteen of 17 poll respondents forecast that the bank would cut its policy rate next Thursday, according to the poll. Three respondents expect the central bank to keep rates on hold until the first quarter. While most expected that the easing cycle will be launched this month, economists differed over the size of the first cut.

• Women Driving in Saudi Arabia: Female Perceptions Five Years after Lifting of the Ban

  Survey findings suggest most women agree that there has been vast improvement, but they insist that the battle for equality is far from over. Indeed, there has been some resistance to the reforms among those who see the changes as pandering to the West. Overall, though, the survey findings suggest that the majority of women in Saudi Arabia want more rights, more women in leadership roles, more safety that they do not feel they have under the male guardianship system, and to be viewed as equal to their male counterparts.

• Biggest Retail Footprint At Sea Opens On Saudi Arabian Cruise Ship

  Saudi Arabia’s first cruise line has set a new retail benchmark by launching a ship with more than 17,250 square feet (1,603 square meters) of shopping space on board. This is claimed by retail concessionaire Gebr. Heinemann to be a new record in the global cruise sector. The vessel will also be the first to offer a fully fledged web store. Cruise Saudi’s new ship is the 1,099-foot-long Aroya, boasting 1,678 cabins and carrying up to 3,362 passengers. In terms of length it is only slightly shorter than Royal Caribbean International’s Icon- and Oasis-class ships which are the biggest at sea and have roughly double Aroya’s capacity (at 6,700 to 7,600 passengers).

   

• Gulf Cooperation Council: Pursuing Visions Amid Geopolitical Turbulence: Economic Prospects and Policy Challenges for the GCC Countries
  The Gulf Cooperation Council countries have successfully weathered recent turbulence in the Middle East, and their economic prospects remain favorable. Nonhydrocarbon activity has been strong amid reform implementation, although overall growth has decelerated due to cuts in oil production. The growth outlook is positive, as the envisaged easing of oil production cuts and natural gas expansion spur the recovery in the hydrocarbon sector, while the nonhydrocarbon economy continues to expand. External buffers remain comfortable despite current account balances having narrowed. Risks around the outlook are broadly balanced in the near term. More challenging medium-term risks, especially in the context of geoeconomic fragmentation and climate change, call for action on policy priorities to continue to strengthen the private sector and to diversify the economy.

• Saudi Crude Oil Exports Jumped to Three-Month High in October

  Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports rose to a three-month high in October, the latest data from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative (JODI) showed on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude oil exporter, shipped 5.92 million bpd of crude to customers in October, up by 174,000 bpd compared to September. This was the highest average export volume from Saudi Arabia for three months, according to the JODI database which compiles self-reported figures from individual countries.

• Carbon dioxide utilization in the desalination sector in Saudi Arabia: An opportunity for achieving negative emissions

  Recent work has characterized the Kingdom’s geological carbon dioxide (CO2) potential as around 445 gigatons (Gt), but to date, there has been no detailed analysis of the CO2 utilization potential in the Kingdom. Current research at KAPSARC aims to review existing and emerging CO2 utilization routes relevant to Saudi Arabia. This paper focuses on evaluating the untapped potential for CO2 utilization in the Kingdom’s desalination sector and explores the potential of this sector to become a carbon sink, thus contributing to carbon dioxide removal (CDR).

• Saudi rights progress ‘irreversible’ due to youth popularity, says EU official

  Much of Saudi Arabia’s progress is “irreversible” due to its popularity among young people, an EU human rights emissary has told Arab News. Olof Skoog, EU special representative for human rights, sat down with Arab News to discuss the progress made by the Kingdom, ahead of the 4th EU-KSA Human Rights Dialogue that took place in Riyadh on Tuesday. Regarding the changes in recent years, Skoog said: “I see them very much as genuine reforms. Saudi Arabia (has) a very youthful population. The country is quickly modernizing, in a way, more attuned to what happens around the world, and the young people are very much onto that.”

• 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia: What to expect

  In Saudi Arabia's bid report, they detail that the weather in June and July in major cities like Riyadh and Jeddah would be between 32 and 38 degrees Celsius (89.6 and 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit ) — conditions that are not conducive to playing. Temperatures in the country are at their mildest between October and April, which poses a challenge to organizers. Furthermore, tournament organizers will also have to consider Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting and prayer taking place from mid-November to mid-December in 2034. With the global player's union FIFPro currently going after FIFA because of an overloaded playing calendar, football's world governing body will have to manage the complicated European playing schedule, especially with the reformed Champions League format now including games in January.

• 10 of 63018 results<< 1 … 136 137 138 … 6,302 >>