A sharp drop in lending by foreign banks in Saudi Arabia is not likely to stifle credit growth in the world’s top oil exporter as local lenders and government funds have been stepping in, bankers and analysts said. ‘If you look at the fourth quarter of last year, which is the latest data we …
Saudi Arabia’s foreign aid bill is mounting. Egypt Jordan, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen – the Arab spring has elicited a string of pledges of loans and grants from the oil-rich kingdom to its troubled, resource-poor neighbours. Charity is a key tenet of Islam and the kingdom is an established …
The US capital late Saturday night witnessed a colorful ceremony to mark the graduation of the 5th batch of students under King Abdullah Foreign Scholarship Program. More than 6000 Saudi students graduated from various US institutions this year. They included those who attended bachelor’s, …
One of the common features that can be seen in Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon, and perhaps also Syria to a large extent, is that tourism is viewed as a major resource for the national economy. Another common feature of these countries is the fact that they are experiencing tremors, or rather …
The fertile Wadi Hanifah valley running through part of Riyadh was for years a rubbish dump and a public health hazard, but now it’s been transformed into a vast park, with lakes that attract cool breezes. It’s an oasis so large it’s hard to police – making it a place for Saudi citizens to …
The United Nations Security Council on Sunday unanimously condemned the Syrian government for its role in the massacre of at least 108 villagers, with new details emerging from international observers that appeared to prompt rare Russian cooperation in criticizing its ally in Damascus. Enlarge …
The Baghdad meeting got off to a tense and difficult start Wednesday (May 23), after Iran gave a decidedly chilly reception to a proposed international package of inducements for curbing its 20 percent uranium enrichment. However, it was late on the talks’ second day (May 24) when the …
Now at another critical moment in American military history, the faculty here on the commanding bend in the Hudson River is deep in its own existential debate. Narrowly, the argument is whether the counterinsurgency strategy used in Iraq and Afghanistan — the troop-heavy, time-intensive, …
Now, as more than 5,500 Saudis arrested on suspicions of terrorist involvement are making their way through the country’s courts, the government is moving to open five more deradicalization facilities. Designed as halfway houses, the centers are meant to ‘reeducate’ ex-jihadis to help them see …
In a place with almost no common ground left after more than 15 months of Arab Spring-inspired unrest, both sides in the Bahrain meltdown are finding a shared target in the United States. Their gripes are vastly different — protesters claiming the U.S. has ignored them, government backers …
The runoff to become Egypt’s first freely elected president is shaping up as a contest between two of the most powerful and polarizing forces in Egyptian society: political Islam or the leadership of the past. After a wild and fluid two-month campaign by more than a dozen candidates, Mohamed …
With an estimated 15 to 20 per cent growth predicted for the economy hotel industry in 2013, global hotel developers are planning mid-market hotels in Saudi Arabia, said experts at a hotel expansion summit in Riyadh. The fourth annual Kingdom Hotel Expansion Summit concluded today (May 27) …
The Alhamrani Group, a family-owned Saudi conglomerate, is considering the sale of its approximate two-thirds stake in a lubricant business joint venture with Germany’s Fuchs Petrolub, two banking source said. The potential sale of the stake in Alhamrani-Fuchs Petroleum Saudi Arabia Ltd is …
Indebted telecoms operator Zain Saudi said on Sunday it would ask shareholders to approve a multibillion dollar capital restructuring after the market regulator endorsed the plan. If successful, the Saudi affiliate of Kuwait’s Zain will reduce its issued share capital to 4.8 billion Saudi …
New findings from a report by Analysys Mason, commissioned by the GSMA, reveal that if the Saudi government were to release internationally harmonised spectrum in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands, the Kingdom would stand to benefit substantially. Improvements enabled by the release of spectrum …
A Saudi diplomat kidnapped nearly a month ago in Yemen’s south has appealed to King Abdullah to meet Al-Qaeda demands to secure his release, according to a video posted on jihadist Internet forums. ‘I appeal to King Abdullah… and the Saudi government to save me and release me from Al-Qaeda …
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Nayef has left the kingdom for a holiday and medical tests, the state news agency reported on Saturday, in a country where the health of senior royals is keenly watched. “Crown Prince Nayef … went abroad for a personal vacation during which some medical tests have …
Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Maaden) has awarded a $1.5 billion contract to South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. to build an aluminum refinery in the kingdom, a bourse statement said on Sunday. The refinery, to be constructed in the Eastern Province, will have an annual …
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From Canada to Colombia to Brazil, oil and gas production in the Western Hemisphere is booming, with the United States emerging less dependent on supplies from an unstable Middle East. Central to the new energy equation is the United States itself, which has ramped up production and is now …
More Americans will hit the road this holiday weekend than a year ago. And they’ll have a bit more money to spend thanks to lower gas prices. Memorial Day kicks off the summer travel season, and since pump prices never reached $4 or $5 a gallon, as feared, economists says travelers are …
Saudi Arabia has lined up plans to spend an estimated SR690 billion on infrastructure and welfare in 2012, aided by higher oil prices and revenues. However, Al Rajhi Capital said in its Saudi Cement Sector report released Saturday that any dramatic fluctuation in oil prices will impact the …
In the lead-up to today’s negotiations in Baghdad, Iranian officials have labored to insist that they do not need a nuclear agreement with the international community and that their economy can survive more punishment. But one look at the recent gyrations of Iran’s currency suggests …
Today, a glance at headlines around the globe leads one to believe that Islamism is pitted against secularism in the battle for control over the new Arab world. This rise of Islamists clearly stokes fear in the West and leaves many clamoring for the good ol’ days when the good ol’ boys were in …
A consortium led by ACWA Power International (ACWA Power), the Riyadh-based water and power giant of Saudi Arabia, has been announced as preferred bidder to develop the Bokpoort independent power project (IPP) in the Northern Cape, 600km west of Johannesburg….
I had the pleasure of viewing Imax Arabia in 3D and enjoyed the film immensely. It takes one through the different provinces of Saudi Arabia, its history and last but not least, its people. Hamzah even brings the audience in to his own family home in Jeddah. Imax Arabia is now more easily …
<pre>/The daily news is provided as a service of the Saudi-US Trade Group, Washington, DC. Visit www.SUSTG.org for more information and to get a free email subscription to the News/</pre>
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