Saudi Arabia Financial News

Bank of America has teamed with FIFA for a second time

India on Tuesday said that adequate financing holds the key to achieving the objectives of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). During a ministerial dialogue on finance at the 16th UN conference to combat desertification in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav also shared that India has already restored 22.5 million hectares of degraded land against the target of 26 million hectares by 2030. The minister said adequate financing holds the «key to achieving the objectives of the UNCCD» and that the World Drought Atlas released on Monday could serve as a guide for increasing mobilization of financial resources. Yadav also highlighted government initiatives like the Green Credit Programme, which involves identifying and restoring degraded land with financial support from industries.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Saudi Arabia’s unprecedented attempt to diversify from an oil economy to something more sustainable seems to be churning along nicely. The female labour participation rate has nearly doubled to 36% from 2016, the year Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman laid out his Vision 2030.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Indian Premier League (IPL) triennial auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 24-25 November had as much game strategy as you see on the cricket field. When the dust settled, 10 teams emerged with strengths as well as weaknesses, setting up a well-contested IPL 2025.

Subramanian Sarma, Member of the Board, L&T, says there are currently two to three key themes: a) Ongoing development of traditional fossil fuels, particularly oil and gas; b)collective efforts to enhance green initiatives and reduce carbon footprints, including opportunities in blue and green ammonia, renewable energy, and gas-to-power projects; c)exploration of monetizing and increasing value through petrochemical facilities. Each theme offers significant opportunities, with current prospects estimated between $10 billion and $12 billion. L&T will need to monitor these developments in the coming quarters. Sarma says they are also looking at gas to power opportunities in the Middle East. They have a bit of a preferred status there with one of the main developers with whom we have been working, and so something might unfold. All in all, that business is looking much more buoyant. At least for the next two-three years, he sees a good momentum. How are things looking up because we were just talking with the management of KEC and he pointed out how the power transmission orders and the other EPC orders seem to be picking up in that region. Is that something you are witnessing as well – increased expenditure when it comes to public infrastructure as well as the entire energy space in the Middle East? Subramanian Sarma: Yes, it is very consistent with what the KEC management has said.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru assembled a strong side in the IPL 2025 auction held on Sunday and Monday at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The franchise had retained star batter Virat Kohli for Rs 21 crore, Rajat Patidar for Rs 11 crore and uncapped pacer Yash Dayal for Rs 5 crore. They also made a few big buys in the auction, including Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood for Rs 12.5 crore, England's Liam Livingtone and Phil Salt for Rs 8.75 crore and Rs 11.50 crores. However, it was the Indian wicket-keeper batter Jitesh Sharma who was the biggest gainer. The franchise shelled out Rs 11 crore on the finisher. He got a salary hike of 5,500 per cent — which is an IPL record by some distance. The amount he will receive in the 2025 season is 55 times more than his previous IPL salary of Rs 20 lakh. He was picked up for his base price by PBKS in the IPL 2022 mega auction and then retained him for the same price for the next two seasons.

Scott O'Neil is set to become the next CEO of Saudi-funded LIV Golf

Gaza, triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel in October last year, and later pulled in Hezbollah too. The ceasefire does not extend to Gaza, where Israel’s military continues to fight Hamas as there is no progress on the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas. Yet, the ceasefire is a definite turning point in the conflict and raises hope for final resolution. The ceasefire comes as a good news for India not just because India has trade and business interests in the Middle East which will be harmed if a wider war breaks out, but also because a highly ambitious project, which was deferred due to the conflict, can be back on track. The most consequential announcement at last year's G20 Summit in Delhi was the commitment to build a rail-and-port network that will connect India to the Middle-East and the Middle-East to Europe and the US. It has been named the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC). Though no leader from the participating countries mentioned China, it is an obvious alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that aims to connect the whole world to China through shipping, rail and road networks.

A last round of negotiations on a legally binding treaty to address the global scourge of plastic pollution has opened in Busan, South Korea

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. China’s industrial overcapacity became an issue of global concern even before the election of Donald Trump. Now his threat to place tariffs of 60% or more on Chinese exports will elevate the issue even further.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) co-owner Juhi Chawla was represented by a ‘mystery girl’, her daughter Jahnavi Mehta at the IPL Auction 2025, held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Jahnavi's appearance quickly became a trending topic on social media, with fans curious about her identity. Dressed in a white T-shirt and a dark velvet jacket, Jahnavi joined senior KKR team members as they participated in the bidding process. Her presence caught the attention of viewers, sparking widespread interest online. Many shared her pictures and videos, questioning who the young woman was.

Haj Suvidha App 2.0 with the new version introducing key features such as air travel details, a navigation system with Mina maps, and medical history and health advisories for Indian pilgrims going on Haj. The application was launched by Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju after he inaugurated the Conference of Chairpersons of State and UT Haj Committees in the presence of Minister of State for Minority Affairs, George Kurian and Chairman of the Haj Committee of India Abdullahkutti, among others. In his address, Rijiju noted that the Haj pilgrimage is the largest logistical operation undertaken annually by the government of India beyond its borders.

Cybersecurity experts from NordVPN have developed a straightforward four-step test to determine if your smartphone is eavesdropping on your conversations, reported Daily Mail. The test begins by selecting a unique topic that you have never searched for or discussed near your device. According to Daily Mail, after choosing the topic, you should have multiple conversations about it while avoiding any related searches or interactions on your phone. Over the following days, you will monitor your social media ads to see if any related content appears. In their own experiments, NordVPN found that participants received targeted ads shortly after discussing topics they had never previously searched for which actually suggested that their devices may have been listening, asserted Daily Mail. For instance, one participant who discussed Saudi Arabia began seeing hotel ads for the country just days later.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BAKU, Azerbaijan—A few dozen miles from the United Nations climate conference here, a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates recently opened the region’s largest solar-power park. Nearby, a Saudi state-backed company is building a large wind farm.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Indian Premier League (IPL) laid out a level playing field through player auctions from the very outset in 2008. Every team has a fixed purse, ensuring that the richest franchises cannot dominate the league simply by buying the best players.

Agar traders feel that industry will be transact business to the tune of a whopping Rs.50,000 crore annually once international trade centre comes up in Assam. MJI Perfumes, Assam's first make in perfume from agar, has attracted hordes of visitors at the Assam Pavilion in the ongoing 43rd India International Trade Fair (IITF) at the Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. One of the highlights of the Assam Pavilion, the stall selling Agar and its derivatives has evoked a very good response from the residents of Delhi-NCR. The man who is on mission agar is none other than Dr.Jehirul Islam. Dr Islam returned to Assam from Saudi Arabia in 2008 and plunged headlong into deep research in agarwood farming. Called ‘liquid gold’ for its high commercial value, as its oil is used for making perfumes that are loved by the people in the Middle East and the Arab world, he discovered the disease in this indigenous plant and also pioneered the legalisation of its trade.

Ricky Ponting is disappointed over the clash between the IPL 2025 mega auction and the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. He labelled the scheduling as «the worst possible case scenario». The clash has forced Ponting, former Australian coach Justin Langer and other key personalities like Australia bowling coach Daniel Vettori to prioritise their IPL commitments over the crucial series-opener. The IPL auction is scheduled for November 24 and 25 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It will have Ponting (head coach of Punjab Kings), Langer (coach of Lucknow Super Giants), and Vettori (coach of Sunrisers Hyderabad) absent from significant portions of the Perth Test. Ponting and Langer will do the commentary for Channel 7 on the first day of the first Test before flying to Jeddah.

Ecommerce logistics startup Locad said on Wednesday it has raised $9 million as it aims to expand in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the fourth quarter. While the company did not disclose the valuation at which the fundraising was made, a source familiar with the matter said it was around $60 million. The pre-series B funding round was co-led by Global Ventures and existing investor Reefknot Investments. Sumitomo Equity Ventures and other existing investors such as Antler Elevate, Febe Ventures and JG Summit also participated.

Saudi Arabia's arid climate challenges mirror those faced by regions like Rajasthan, presenting a unique opportunity for collaboration and knowledge sharing, a Saudi minister official said on Monday. Dr Osama Faqeeha, Deputy Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture, and Advisor to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP16 Presidency, made the remarks days ahead of the COP16 meeting to be held in Riyadh from December 2 to 13 under the theme — 'Our Land. Our Future'. «Successful initiatives like the Ghandivan project in Jaipur, which has transformed a barren wasteland into a thriving ecosystem through community-driven efforts, offer valuable insights that can be adapted across different regions,» he said, adding that Saudi Arabia is leveraging water conservation practices and pursuing ambitious rural development programs. «We are focused on raising awareness of the impact of land degradation, drought, and desertification. The scale of our challenge is stark: globally, we lose land equivalent to four football fields every second, amounting to 100 million hectares annually,» Faqeeha said.

BEIJING — Chinese gaming giant Tencent is betting on a rise in female players worldwide for its mobile game Honor of Kings, which rolled out to the U.S. and other countries in June.

BAKU: As ministers take over at the climate talks in the Azerbaijani capital, all eyes are on Rio, where the leaders of the G20 are meeting. The first week of the UN climate summit closed with the scheduled assembly late on Saturday night that lasted a little over three hours, ending at around half hour past midnight. The divergences among countries on important issues, such as finance and the path forward on the outcomes of last year's global stock take, and the absence of trust became apparent as countries took the floor to air their views. On some issues such as loss and damage and adaptation, and mitigation work programme the absence of trust and compromise among countries was such that «Rule 16» was invoked. Rule 16 refers to a provision which is used when countries can't even agree to produce an outcome that puts on record the discussions and divergent views. As a result, countries will have to begin their discussions all over again when they meet in Bonn in the summer. The lack of trust most evident on the issue of how countries propose to address and implement the decisions on emission reduction and energy transition agreed to in Dubai and the lack of any real progress on making available climate finance to developing countries.