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  • How NEOM’s The Line aims to achieve harmony between urban development and preservation of nature in Saudi Arabia

    Different from tall buildings, the concept layers public parks and pedestrian areas, schools, homes and places for work. The narrow design is intended to reduce the man-made footprint on the landscape and promote greater efficiency. The city will feature a high-speed rail link with an end-to-end transit time of just 20 minutes. The ideal climate within the structure, all year round, will ensure that residents can enjoy the surrounding nature while walking around. Residents will also have access to all facilities in The Line within a five-minute walk.

  • Port Explosion Investigation Saps Lebanese Trust in Courts

    Nearly two years have passed since one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history tore through central Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020, killing 218 and leaving 300,000 homeless. The improper storage of 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate and the resulting catastrophe is symptomatic of decades of state failure and neglect, but the Beirut Criminal Court's inability to hold anyone accountable for the disaster is threatening to aggravate this tragedy.

  • Saudi Central Bank transforms connectivity between banks and government agencies

    As per the Saudi news agency, the program named “Tanfeeth” is part of SAMA’s strategic objective to upgrade its IT infrastructure and optimise administrative processes including speed, quality, and integration with financial institutions operating in Saudi Arabia in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

  • Exclusive: US and Taliban make progress on Afghan reserves, but big gaps remain

    Significant differences between the sides remain, however, according to two of the sources, including the Taliban's refusal to replace the bank's top political appointees, one of whom is under U.S. sanctions as are several of the movement's leaders.

  • How Saudi National Bank took the Twitter Spotlight during Ramadan

    For its first Ramadan campaign since the merger of NCB and Samba Financial Group, the newly created Saudi National Bank (@snbalahli) was looking to connect with an engaged and receptive audience. It seized the opportunity to promote its Ramadan offers in the feed – taking advantage of the full suite of Twitter solutions.

  • World Bank to fund $100 million in food insecurity aid to Sudan through WFP

    The World Bank has agreed to provide the U.N.'s World Food Programme with $100 million for an “emergency safety net project” to address food insecurity in Sudan, it said in a statement on Thursday. The programme, whose funding comes from the European Union, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia and several other Western nations, aims to provide 2 million Sudanese with cash transfers and food.

  • The Taliban Detained Me for Doing My Job. I Can Never Go Back.

    Foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi, who spent years living in New Zealand, called me a “white supremacist colonialist” and threatened me with violence by reminding me of a 2016 Taliban attack on a local television station after it carried a false report and refused to retract it. “We are proud of that,” Balkhi said. I told him that innocent people had been killed in the suicide attack on a bus taking employees home. “And we are proud of that,” he said. I told him a friend of mine was among the dead. “And we are proud of that,” he repeated.

  • Saudi, UAE Banking Sectors Face Contrasting Liquidity Dynamics

    We expect higher oil prices and rising interest rates to lead to strengthening profitability for Saudi and UAE banks in 2022–2023. We calculate that a 200bp increase in interest rates would boost Fitch-rated Saudi banks’ operating profit by 14%, and their operating profit/risk-weighted assets ratio (our core profitability metric) by 50bp, on average, based on the banks’ 2021 interest-rate sensitivities. For Fitch-rated UAE banks, the respective figures are 11% and 40bp.

  • Saudi, UAE Banking Sectors Face Contrasting Liquidity Dynamics

    The Saudi and UAE banking sectors face contrasting liquidity dynamics, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. We expect Saudi banks’ funding costs will ease due to SAR50 billion of liquidity injections from the Central Bank of Saudi Arabia in June 2022, with more likely to follow to support strong loan growth. UAE liquidity conditions are more supportive, helped by modest loan growth. The contrast in liquidity conditions is illustrated by the sector loan-to-deposit ratios, with the Saudi ratio at its highest level for at least 15 years and the UAE ratio at its lowest level for more than a decade.

  • Can the Taliban’s Hassib Habibi Save Afghanistan’s Economy?

    In many ways, Habibi is the embodiment of the paradox of today’s Afghanistan, once again run by the Taliban after 20 years of U.S. efforts and occupation. By all accounts, Habibi would fit in at any hip Kabul cafe where his peers quote the Canadian rapper Drake, UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and tech bro Elon Musk. But he also speaks at length about being called to jihad and his Islamic duty to protect his nation against an infidel occupier.