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QUOTED
“Savvy, wholly owned by Saudia Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), agreed to buy mobile game maker Scopely for $4.9 billion last April, the same month the Monopoly title was released. Since then, the online iteration of the famous board game has grossed $2 billion in revenue. Now, Scopely will form the “tip of the spear” for Savvy’s investment strategy. Savvy announced in 2022 that it had $38 billion in funding to help turn the oil-dependent nation into a hub for the video-game industry. The company has since invested $8.3 billion.” Cecilia D’Anastasio and Christine Burke, Saudi Arabia’s Savvy Games to Invest More in Mobile After ‘Monopoly Go’ [Bloomberg]
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TOP STORY
The EU will now allow citizens from Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bahrain to apply for five-year Schengen visas. This marks a significant step forward in strengthening people-to-people relations between the EU and the GCC.
[more]
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MORE TOP STORYLINES
Via Adam Lucente in al-monitor.com: The institute noted that three largest spenders in the region — Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey — all increased military spending last year. Saudi Arabia was the fifth largest spender in the world, with spending increasing 4.3% from the year prior to $75.8 billion in 2023. However, Saudi military spending from the 2014 through 2023 decreased by 18% compared to the previous decade.
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in alarabiya.net:
Saudi Arabia is pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza and the entry of more aid into the territory amid Israel’s war on Hamas, the Kingdom’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Faisal bin Farhan said in an interview with Al Arabiya.
An agreement between Hamas and Israel must include those two factors, he said.
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Via Jon B. Alterman and Lily McElwee in csis.org: The world’s challenges are increasingly complex. Borders could not stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine demonstrated that the kinds of national wars that characterized the 20th century were still relevant. Ideology has faded, and the states of the Global South have grown larger and wealthier. They now expect a larger share of the global pie. While cooperation has become more necessary, the world has entered an era of increased national contestation.
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MORE ON THE KINGDOM AND BEYOND
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Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), co-chair of the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, is raising concerns over Saudi Arabia’s intention to pursue...[By Laura Kelly via thehill.com]
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The hub currently offers a rigorous multi-track training program accredited and exclusive to Accenture employees covering various areas such as security, cloud, data & AI,...[via timesaerospace.aero]
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Saudi Arabia's drive to attract expats and boost its real estate market could be turbocharged by a largely untapped demographic in the global south: rich...[By Sean Mathews via middleeasteye.net]
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“Under that option, the US and Saudi Arabia would sign agreements on a bilateral defense pact, US help in the building of a Saudi civil nuclear energy industry, and...[via thecradle.co]
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Various reforms have been implemented to enhance the business climate, create jobs, and invite investment into the country. Under this initiative,...[By Yusra Asif via alarabiya.net]
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The 30 April bid deadline for nuclear technology providers to submit bids for a contract to build Saudi Arabia’s Duwaiheen nuclear power plant project has passed without...[By Jennifer Aguinaldo via meed.com]
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Saudi Arabia and Israel are America’s two most important Middle East allies, and the Biden administration is deeply involved with both today, trying...[By Thomas L. Friedman via nytimes.com]
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The move is intended to lure business from international financial centers like Hong Kong and Singapore and particularly nearby Dubai. And bankers...[By Nicolas Parasie via bloomberg.com]
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To secure the 67 votes in the US Senate to become a binding treaty, as Riyadh insists, it almost certainly needs Saudi...[By Henry Meyer via bloomberg.com]
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Israel's apparent strike on Iran after days of vacillation was small...[By Samia Nakhoul, Parisa Hafezi and James Mackenzie via reuters.com]
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Israel bombarded northern Gaza overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in weeks, panicking residents and flattening...[By Nidal Al-Mughrabi via reuters.com]
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The recent surge of settler terrorism and violence in the occupied West Bank is the inevitable culmination of years of policy decisions. Over the past...[By Falastine Saleh via middleeasteye.net]
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The same day Iran launched its first ever direct attack...[By Parisa Hafezi via reuters.com]
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While details remain unclear, Israel is suspected of having targeted military sites in central Iran and early warning facilities in Syria. The Iranians were informed...[By Ali Hashem and Mohammad Ali Shabani via amwaj.media]
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On Jan. 11, 2024, Britain and the US initiated airstrikes in Yemen with the stated goal to degrade the capabilities of the Ansarullah movement—better...[By Ibrahim Jalal via amwaj.media]
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It is difficult to exaggerate the extent to which Arabs blame the United States for this war. They can see that only U.S. weapons sales...[By Marc Lynch via foreignaffairs.com]
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A massive explosion at a base used by Iraqi security forces, including the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), has raised questions over culpability. The blast has...[via amwaj.media]
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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. has opened a location in Kuwait, marking its first restaurant in the Middle East and the first time Chipotle has entered...[By James Rogers via marketwatch.com]
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Readers seeking odds on Russia’s trajectory should consult the betting markets. What Western officials and other decision-makers need to do, instead, is to consider a...[via foreignaffairs.com]
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