SAUDIBRIT Daily News – Excerpts from International Media Reports
/Provided as a service from the Saudi-US Trade Group, Washington, DC/
[Links to full articles were active on the date posted here]
10.27.2010 EDITION
SAGIA Offers $500bn Investment Bonanza: ARAB NEWS
Faiz Al-Mazrouei | 10/26/10
“Saudi Arabia offers new investment opportunities worth $500 billion in energy, transport and industrial projects, Amr Al-Dabbagh, governor of the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority, (SAGIA) announced here on Tuesday.”
Saudi Border With Yemen Is Still Inviting for Al Qaeda: NEW YORK TIMES
Robert F. Worth | 10/26/10
“The five Yemeni men, all of them rail-thin, clutched their knees as they sat staring across the sand at the narrow road, which separates the Arab world’s poorest country from its richest…”
Saudis Interested in Russian Nuclear Power: MOSCOW TIMES
Bloomberg | 10/26/10
“The Cabinet authorized the head of the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy to sign a draft accord, it said. The countries plan to cooperate in the ‘peaceful uses of nuclear energy,’ it said.”
Interview With Robert Lacey: SUSRIS
The SUSRIS interview with Robert Lacey is now available on our Features page.
20 Pct Drop in Saudi Religious Police’s Operations: ASHARQ ALAWSAT
Turki Al-Saheil | 10/26/10
“The General Presidency of the Saudi Arabian Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice [CPVPV], in a report presented before the Shura Council yesterday, acknowledged that its operations were down 20 percent from last year. This was as a result of the CPVPV’s fear of the consequences of negative media reports on its operations.”
Saudi Bourse Operator Tadawul Expects IPOs to Continue in 2011: BLOOMBERG
Zahra Hankir | 10/26/10
“The Saudi stock exchange operator Tadawul expects initial public offerings to continue in 2011, General Manager Abdullah al-Suweilmy said today.” REALTED: “Saudi Arabia plans to open further the biggest Arab bourse to foreign investors but will do so only in gradual steps for fear of letting in ‘hot’ speculative money, the head of the Kingdom’s financial regulator told Reuters,” Asma Al Sharif (Arab News) reports.
For Saudis, U.S. Arms Deal Is A Challenge: UPI
10/26/10
Right now, Saudi Arabia already has “more top-line equipment than they can effectively use, such as an air force with more aircraft than it has front-line pilots or commanders able to deploy them in combat.”
Hajj – For The Rich Only?: THE MEDIA LINE
David E. Miller | 10/26/10
High prices make the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina less than affordable for the masses.
The Obama Administration is “floating the idea of a deal on borders for a future Palestinian state as the first step to a more comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian agreement, as it adopts a more conciliatory stance towards the Israeli government,” Daniel Dombey (Financial Times) reports. RELATED: UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry warned Israel on Tuesday that “The United Nations Security Council could support the Palestinian’s unilateral bid for statehood if Israel does not renew its freeze on new settlement construction,” Tovah Lazaroff (Jerusalem Post) reports.
After it was revealed that Afghan President Hamid Karzai receives “bags of cash” from Iran, Ali Gharib (LobeLog) writes, “most analysts seem to agree that the ‘bags of cash’ pseudo-scandal only reinforces the notion that Iran and the U.S. share an interest in a stable Afghanistan, or at worst, that the cash handed over pales in comparison to what the U.S. throws around with Karzai unlikely to be beholden to Iranian demands.” RELATED: In an interview, Karzai, when asked if the money is actually cash in a bag, said that it was “all the same” as getting money in any other way. RELATED: Juan Cole (Informed Comment) writes “The revelation that Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai receives millions in influence peddling payments from Iran is full of ironies. It demonstrates that the US and Iran are de facto allies in Afghanistan (in fact both of them are deeply opposed to the Taliban and their backers among hard line cells of the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence).”
The United States “is increasingly alarmed by unrest in Lebanon, whose own fragile peace is being threatened by militant opponents of a politically charged investigation into the killing in 2005 of a former Lebanese leader,” Mark Landler (NYT) reports. RELATED: A chance for Saudi Arabia and Iran to work together in Lebanon? Zvi Bar’el (Haaretz) writes that “Iran and Saudi Arabia are working together to divide up their sphere of influence in Lebanon and Iraq.”
Tariq Aziz, former spokesman for Saddam Hussein, was sentenced to death this week. “It is not hard to detect a whiff of revenge in the Iraqi Supreme Court’s decision to sentence Tariq Aziz, one of President Saddam Hussein’s most loyal supporters, to death,” John Simpson (BBC) writes.
Energy security is seen as a key risk for growth and development in the Middle East/North Africa region, according to a study from the World Economic Forum, the MENAFN reports.
According to senior U.S. officials, the Obama administration is “pushing to revive a failed deal for Iran to send some of its nuclear stockpile overseas in exchange for assistance with peaceful nuclear technology,” Jay Solomon (WSJ) reports.
Osama Bin Laden seems to have “found his man” to replace him, writes Sami Yousafzai (Newsweek). That man is Ilyas Kashmiri, 46, who “has the experience, the connections, and a determination to attack the West—including the United States—that make him the most dangerous Qaeda operative to emerge in years.”
/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 Review./
