Dara Khosrowshahi scrambles after saying Saudi Arabia’s murder of dissident was a ‘mistake’ similar to self-driving car accident
Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of Uber, has attempted to limit the damage after calling the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi “a mistake” similar to a fatal accident that occurred during tests of his company’s self-driving car.
Related: The Killing in the Consulate by Jonathan Rugman review – a dark fable of unaccountable power
Continue reading...State-owned Saudi oil giant said it will provide the final offer price on 5 December
Bidding for shares in the world’s most profitable company will start in one week, it has been announced. Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil giant, said it plans to provide the final offer price, precise number and percentage of shares on 5 December.
Its prospectus, released on Saturday night, showed profits of $68.2bn (£53.3bn) for the first six months of this financial year, but did not include any indication of the value the Saudi government hopes to achieve.
Continue reading...Company workers reportedly obtained personal account information of critics of the government in Saudi Arabia
Two former Twitter employees have been charged with spying after they reportedly obtained personal account information for critics of the government of Saudi Arabia.
A complaint unsealed on Wednesday in US district court in San Francisco detailed a coordinated effort by Saudi officials to recruit employees at the social media giant to look up the private data of thousands of Twitter accounts.
Continue reading...Deal aims to create cohesive government capable of challenging Houthi forces
Yemen’s UN-recognised government has signed a Saudi Arabian-brokered power sharing agreement with separatists in the south of the countryafter months of fighting in the area.
The deal aims to create a new, cohesive government capable of challenging the Iranian-backed Houthi forces that control the capital, Sana’a, and the north.
Continue reading...Relaxation of social laws has belied repression since murder of Jamal Khashoggi, says report
Activists, clerics and other perceived critics of the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, continue to be arbitrarily detained more than a year after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a report has said.
Bin Salman has overseen the relaxing of a number of the kingdom’s restrictive social laws since assuming a leadership position in the Saudi government four years ago, most recently allowing women over 21 to obtain passports and travel abroad without the permission of a male guardian.
Continue reading...Arab and Asian visitors were on a bus when it collided with another heavy vehicle
Thirty-five foreign tourists were killed and four others injured when a bus collided with another heavy vehicle near the Muslim holy city of Medina, Saudi state media said on Thursday.
The accident on Wednesday involved a collision between “a private chartered bus ... with a heavy vehicle (loader)“ near the western Saudi Arabian city, a spokesman for Medina police said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.
Continue reading...Eight green groups send letter to express concern over planned market float
Environmental groups have warned the banks linked to Saudi Aramco’s planned market float that they risk financing the destruction of the planet by supporting the public listing of the world’s biggest oil producer.
The eight green groups, including Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth, warned that the world’s largest IPO would be “the biggest single infusion of capital into the fossil fuel industry” since global governments signed the Paris climate accord in 2015.
Continue reading...With the US gone, the implications of their departure is beginning to sink in across the Middle East
The moment that changed the Middle East arrived with a sudden silence. Just before 7pm on Sunday, the internet was cut across north-eastern Syria where, for half an hour, the Kurds of the region had been digesting a news flash. The Syrian government was returning to two towns, Manbij and Kobane. The implication quickly sunk in.
The regional capital, Qamishli, soon emptied; streets that had bustled with minibuses and shoppers became eerie and still. With the internet down phones were no help and nor were officials who had vanished along with the traffic. Air seemed to be suddenly vacuumed from the city, and the few people still around knew exactly what it meant: this was the moment power changed hands. It was a time to be scared.
Continue reading...Owner says in statement that two blasts onboard Sabiti were “probably caused by missile strikes”
An explosion damaged an Iranian oil tanker traveling through the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia on Friday, causing oil to leak into the Red Sea, Iranian media and the tanker’s owner have reported.
The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said in a statement that the hull of the Sabiti was hit by two separate explosions about 60 miles off the Saudi coast.
Continue reading...Kingdom relaxes rules as it turns to tourism to bolster economy for post-oil era
Saudi Arabia has announced it is to allow unmarried foreign couples to rent hotel rooms together as the ultra-conservative kingdom begins offering tourist visas for the first time.
The tourism authority said in a statement on Twitter on Sunday that Saudi women travelling alone would also be able to check into a hotel by presenting valid ID. In the past, couples wanting to stay in a hotel had to prove they were married.
Continue reading...The UK government’s continued loyalty to Saudi Arabia is causing its ‘rigorous and robust’ arms export control regime to descend into tatters
Wednesday marked the anniversary of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Outrage at his death at the time served as a trigger for public reckoning over US and UK support for Saudi Arabia and its involvement in the war in Yemen.
At that point, the war was three and a half years old, notable for airstrike attacks on civilians and a blockade that has pushed millions into famine – violations of international law, some of which that may amount to war crimes. The murder of a prominent western-friendly journalist seemed to be the final straw.
Continue reading...Reputation of the Saudi Crown Prince may never recover after the assassination a year ago
In a region largely inured to savagery, the murder of Jamal Khashoggi a year ago has left an extraordinary impact. Rarely in modern history has the death of one man been so consequential.
When the dissident and writer walked into his country’s consulate in Istanbul on 2 October last year, Saudi Arabia was enjoying a moment in the global spotlight. Its ambitious leader had embarked on an extensive reform programme that was starting to overcome doubters.
Continue reading...Fighting in the south between separatists and government forces points to why peace is even more elusive
Every soldier in the Yemeni city of Aden is on edge. The main checkpoint on the coastal road has two large holes in the roof from mortar shells and the beach has been dug up into berms to slow the advance of any hostile vehicles.
The problem is that the 25 men milling around their posts are not sure what their enemy looks like. In the recent fighting which saw the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) eject from the city troops loyal to the exiled Yemeni president – their former allies – al-Qaida took advantage of the chaos, putting on STC uniforms to ambush the soldiers here.
Continue reading...Yemen militant group says it captured further 2,000 troops in operation in Saudi Arabia
Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have killed 500 Saudi soldiers, captured a further 2,000 and seized a convoy of Saudi military vehicles.
The extraordinary claims at a press conference on Sunday, involving still photographs and inconclusive videos of captured soldiers, many not in uniform, could not be corroborated, and there was no independent confirmation from Saudi Arabia.
Continue reading...State TV offers few details on death of Maj Gen Abdulaziz al-Fagham in ‘personal dispute’
A prominent bodyguard to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been shot and killed in what authorities described as a personal dispute, according to state TV, offering few details on an incident that has shocked the kingdom.
There were tributes on social media for Maj Gen Abdulaziz al-Fagham, with many including images of the bodyguard at work. One picture showed him bending down to apparently help tie the shoes of the king, the 83-year-old ruler of the oil-rich kingdom.
Continue reading...Kingdom eyes holidaymakers as part of plan to diversify economy away from oil
Saudi Arabia will begin offering visas on Saturday for the first time to non-religious tourists, days after the country was criticised at the UN for its grim human rights record.
The kingdom – which has imprisoned and tortured women’s rights activists, carries out regular public executions, and was responsible for the high-profile murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Kashoggi – has said it is opening up to holidaymakers as part of a push to diversify its economy away from oil.
Continue reading...EU warns it may have no choice if Iran takes further steps away from deal
The European Union has privately warned Iran that it will be forced to start withdrawing from the nuclear deal in November if Tehran goes ahead with its threat to take new steps away from the deal.
Iran has already taken three separate calibrated steps away from the deal, and has warned it will take a fourth in November unless the US lifts economic sanctions.
Continue reading...Saudi minister says military response to attack on oil facilities still being considered
Saudi Arabia has said that US patience with Iran is not inexhaustible and warned that military options are still being considered following the attack on the Aramco oil facilities earlier this month.
The Saudi foreign affairs minister, Adel al-Jubeir, also said the UN-commissioned report into the origins of the attack will be available fairly soon, and described the EU’s Monday statement ascribing responsibility to Iran as “very significant”.
Continue reading...Statement read out at UN human rights council meeting denounces alleged use of torture and unlawful detentions
Saudi Arabia’s human rights record has been heavily censured by two dozen largely western countries who took aim at its worsening record for alleged use of torture, unlawful detentions and unfair trials of critics, including female activists and journalists.
The joint statement, which was read out at a meeting of the UN’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, represents the second time in six months that the body has criticised the kingdom, following a similar statement in March.
Continue reading...En route to the UN general assembly in New York, prime minister raises possibility that the British military could become involved
The UK now believes Iran was responsible for a major attack earlier this month on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, Boris Johnson has said, also raising the possibility that the British military could become involved in helping secure the Saudis against future aggression.
Speaking to reporters on his plane en route to the UN general assembly (UNGA) in New York, the prime minister said there was “a very high degree of probability” that Iran was behind the drone and missile attack two major oil installation on 14 September.
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