Category Archives: Saudi Arabia

Thursday briefing: Vice took millions from Saudi Arabia – but has its deal backfired?

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In today’s newsletter: As the upstart media company faces bankruptcy, it has developed strong ties with the country, leaving some to question what compromises companies are willing to make to do business

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It’s hard to put into words the transformation that Saudi Arabia has undergone in the past six years.

Mohammed bin Salman, commonly referred to as MBS, was appointed the crown prince in 2017 and is now the de facto ruler of the kingdom. There have been notable reforms under his new regime. Women are allowed to drive; the guardian system – under which men have legal powers over women – has been relaxed; and cinemas reopened after 35 years.

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US senator warns top Saudi over refusal to testify on PGA golf deal

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Richard Blumenthal to consider ‘other legal methods’ to compel Yasir al-Rumayyan to speak to Senate oversight committee

A senior US lawmaker has challenged a Saudi Arabian official’s refusal to voluntarily testify before a Senate committee investigating the kingdom’s controversial golf deal with the PGA Tour, saying officials should be prepared to be subject to American laws and oversight if they invest in the US.

Richard Blumenthal, a Democratic senator from Connecticut who serves as chairman of the Senate’s permanent subcommittee on investigations, also said he would consider “other legal methods” to force Yasir al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), to testify if he continued to refuse.

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Vice blocked news stories that could offend Saudi Arabia, insiders say

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Exclusive: Media company recently signed lucrative deal with Saudi government-controlled MBC Group

Vice has repeatedly blocked news stories that could offend the Saudi government, leaving its reporters unsure if they are still able to report freely on the kingdom’s human rights abuses, sources have said.

The media company recently signed a lucrative partnership deal with the MBC Group, a media company controlled by the Saudi government, to establish a joint venture in the Middle Eastern country. Of the 29 jobs currently advertised on Vice’s careers page, 20 are based in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyadh.

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Arrest of Saudi scholar and influencer another sign of social media crackdown

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Detention of public health expert Mohammed Alhajji surprised many observers as he was seen as apolitical

A prominent Saudi scholar and Snapchat influencer has been arrested by Saudi authorities in what experts said was evidence of the kingdom’s extreme crackdown on social media users.

The arrest of Mohammed Alhajji, a public health expert who completed his dissertation in the US, follows the disappearance and recent arrests of other prominent influencers for “crimes” that include the perceived criticism of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and support for women’s rights.

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Tony Blair Institute continued taking money from Saudi Arabia after Khashoggi murder

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Blair defends continuing partnership with kingdom despite ‘anxieties’ after 2018 assassination of journalist

Tony Blair’s institute has continued to advise and receive money from the government of Saudi Arabia since the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, it has emerged.

The Sunday Times reported the former prime minister’s organisation is involved in a multimillion-pound partnership helping with a modernisation drive in the country led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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China has its own reasons for being at Ukraine peace talks in Saudi Arabia

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Gathering in Jeddah offers Beijing chance to placate global south and limit damage with west over Russia relations

When the Chinese envoy Li Hui arrived in Saudi Arabia, to join international talks on a peace deal for Ukraine this week, it was a pointed contrast with Beijing’s decision to skip a similar forum in Copenhagen in June.

At the summit, which excluded Russia, Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy promoted his vision for ending the war to a large gathering of countries from the global south.

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Saudis ask to join UK, Italy and Japan’s joint air combat programme

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UK-backed move could help spread cost of developing fighter jet and drones, but may prove controversial

Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.

Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.

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Saudi Aramco’s quarterly profits drop nearly 40% but it still rakes in $30bn

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Decline in crude oil prices and less refining income trims revenues inflated in 2022 by Russian invasion of Ukraine

The world’s biggest oil firm, Saudi Aramco, has announced a near-40% fall in profits after a decline in crude oil prices and weakening margins in refining and chemicals.

The company, which is 90% owned by the Saudi state, said in a statement to the market that profits were $30.1bn for the months of April to June, down 38% from $48.4bn in the second quarter of last year.

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China ‘backs further Ukraine peace talks’ after Saudi Arabia summit

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Senior officials from about 40 countries met in Jeddah in attempt to draft key principles on ending war

China is said to be in support of a third round of talks to find a framework for peace in Ukraine after a meeting of senior officials from about 40 countries in Saudi Arabia over the weekend.

The two-day summit in Jeddah was the second of its kind, after a similar forum in Copenhagen earlier this summer, and aims to draft key principles on how to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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Talks begin in Saudi Arabia on how to end Russia-Ukraine war

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Kyiv seeks support of publicly neutral countries as China sends envoy and Moscow says it will ‘keep an eye’ on meeting

Talks have started in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Ukraine and its allies hope this weekend’s meeting of national security advisers and other senior officials from about 40 countries – but not Russia – will reach agreement on principles of how to end the conflict.

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Top US adviser to attend Saudi talks in bid to attract support for Ukraine plan

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Ukraine and allies seek to draw countries such as Brazil and India off the fence and back Kyiv’s proposals for ‘just and durable peace’

Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, is expected to attend a meeting in Saudi Arabia this weekend at which Ukraine and its allies will try to persuade countries from the global south to back Kyiv’s proposals for ending the war.

According to officials involved in planning for the meeting, it is primarily aimed at drawing neutral countries such as Brazil and India off the fence in their approach to the Russian invasion.

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US-Saudi talks amid reports of far-reaching diplomatic plan for Middle East

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But Jeddah’s demands for brokering an Israeli-Palestinian respite are reportedly a ‘non-starter’ and a ‘sucker’s bet’

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, has held talks with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, in Jeddah, in what was reported to be part of a bid for an ambitious and far-reaching diplomatic breakthrough in the region.

The White House said Sullivan and the prince discussed on Thursday “initiatives to advance a common vision for a more peaceful, secure, prosperous and stable Middle East region interconnected with the world”.

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Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s $6bn spend on ‘sportswashing’

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Exclusive: Billions deployed since early 2021 in a move critics say is an attempt to distract from human rights record

Saudi Arabia has spent at least $6.3bn (£4.9bn) in sports deals since early 2021, more than quadruple the previous amount spent over a six-year period, in what critics have labelled an effort to distract from its human rights record.

Saudi Arabia has deployed billions from its Public Investment Fund over the last two-and-a-half years according to analysis by the Guardian, spending on sports at a scale that has completely changed professional golf and transformed the international transfer market for football.

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‘An ideal tool for a repressive regime’: Snapchat’s Saudi ties questioned

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Critics say social media app – partly owned by a Saudi investor – pushes pro-crown prince hype while critical voices are punished

Saudi Arabia appears to be exploiting the US messaging app Snapchat to promote the image of its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, while also imposing draconian sentences on influencers who use the platform to post even mild criticism of the future king.

The California-based company, which last year agreed to a “collaboration” with the Saudi culture ministry, has more than 20 million users in the kingdom – including an estimated 90% of 13-to-34-year-olds – and the crown prince has met personally with some of the platform’s biggest “Snapchatters” for informal talks about current events, according to people familiar with the encounters.

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UK invites Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit

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Saudi heir’s official visit would be first since he was accused of being behind killing of Jamal Khashoggi

The Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been invited to the UK on an official visit in late autumn, the first such visit by the heir to the Saudi throne since he was accused of masterminding the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist and dissident.

Numerous UK ministers have been to Saudi Arabia in the interim, and senior Saudi ministers have also come to the UK, including the foreign minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.

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Mother of Cheshire boy, 7, kidnapped by father says Saudi lawyers ‘too scared’ to help

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Exclusive: Ranem Elkhalidi meeting Foreign Office officials this week as she continues fight to bring her son home

A woman whose seven-year-old son was kidnapped by his father and taken to Saudi Arabia has said lawyers in the country are too afraid to get involved with her case, as she prepares for a meeting with the Foreign Office this week.

Ranem Elkhalidi has vowed to keep fighting for the safe return of her Cheshire-born son Ibrahim, who was taken from his primary school six months ago by her estranged husband, Hamzah Faraj, a Saudi national, in breach of a court order.

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Thousands suffer heat stress on hajj pilgrimage as temperatures reach 48C

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People struggling in the swelter was a common sight, especially after day-long outdoor prayers at Mount Arafat

More than 2,000 people suffered heat stress during the hajj pilgrimage, Saudi officials said on Thursday, after temperatures soared to 48C (118F).

Over 1.8 million Muslim worshippers performed the days-long hajj, mostly held outdoors at the height of the Saudi desert summer. Many elderly were among the pilgrims after a Covid-era maximum age limit was scrapped.

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Saudi leader trying to avoid ‘pariah’ status with LIV-PGA merger, says rights group

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Mohammed bin Salman said to look to repair his reputation after 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul

The proposed merger between the Saudi-backed LIV Tour and the American PGA Tour marks the latest maneuver by Riyadh in its campaign to repair its reputation and head off the sort of blacklisting that occurred after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent advocate for democracy in the Middle East told the Guardian.

“This is a merger in name only. This is really about the Saudi government throwing a premium at PGA Tour that they obviously found too overwhelmingly tempting to resist,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn).

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Urgent action needed to protect ‘dying’ Kenyan domestic workers in Gulf, say rights groups

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Deaths and alleged abuse of Kenyan women in Saudi Arabia fuels demands for Nairobi to act on human rights

Rights groups have expressed concern that not enough has been done to address the alleged mistreatment of domestic workers in Gulf states, such as Saudi Arabia, after the Kenyan government moved to secure work opportunities abroad for its citizens.

“This is a matter of grave public interest,” said John Mwariri, a lawyer at Kituo cha Sheria, a legal aid organisation. “Many of our Kenyan citizens have been abused and are dying there. There is an urgent need for protections.”

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Yemen peace talks must accept country is divided in two, says southern leader

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Exclusive: Maj Gen Aidarus al-Zoubaidi says a Houthi-run north and STC-led south is the new reality

The leader seen as integral to solving Yemen’s nine-year civil war has said the west has to accept a new reality in which Yemen’s north is controlled by the Houthis and the south is run by his separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC).

In a Guardian interview, Maj Gen Aidarus al-Zoubaidi, the president of the STC and vice-president of the UN-recognised government of Yemen, said the planned talks on the country’s future had to be reconfigured to meet that new reality, including by putting the issue of a separate southern state at the foreground of discussions. The talks are largely under the control of Saudi Arabia, which wants to find a way to extricate itself from a war that is estimated to have caused more than 250,000 deaths.

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