Saudi Arabia Financial News

By Paul Carsten

Investing.com — U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 10.6 million barrels last week, according to a government report on Wednesday that showed a third straight week of such inventory declines as refiners maxed out fuel processing to prepare for this year’s last hurrah in summer travel.

A plane carrying Israelis home from the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles has made an emergency stop in Saudi Arabia before flying back to Tel Aviv

Also Read: ‘Invite to African Union made G20 more inclusive’ The G20, consisting of 19 individual nations (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom, and the United States) along with the European Union, collectively forms a prominent international assembly. As per the central government website on the G20 Summit, the G20 was upgraded to the level of heads of state, and government in the wake of the global economic and financial crisis of 2007, and, in 2009, was designated the “premier forum for international economic cooperation". The G20 Presidency oversees the G20 agenda over a span of one year and takes on the role of hosting the Summit.

A plane carrying Israelis home from the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles has made an emergency stop in Saudi Arabia before flying back to Tel Aviv

Seychelles made an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia before flying back to Tel Aviv on Tuesday, in what Israel praised as a sign of goodwill as Washington works to establish formal relations between the two countries. The Air Seychelles flight carrying 128 passengers was forced to land Monday because of an electrical malfunction. Israel's Foreign Ministry said the passengers spent the night at an airport hotel in Jeddah and were flown back by the airline on an alternate plane. Passengers described a frightening stretch of time as an acrid burnt smell filled the cabin and the pilot came over the intercom to say the plane would be forced to make an emergency stop in Saudi Arabia, a kingdom with which Israel has no air links or diplomatic ties. With dozens trapped on board and the plane idling on the tarmac, tension grew, passengers said, while Israeli officials scrambled to figure out what to do.

BRICS grouping will see it controlling 46 per cent of the world's population and 30 per cent of its economic output, according to a research paper. At the latest BRICS summit in Johannesburg last week, the present members — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — decided to add Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as new members of the grouping. The new members will become part of BRICS effective January 1, 2024. The acronym BRICS was originally coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economists led by Jim O'Neill.

Standard Chartered agreed to sell its global aviation finance leasing business for an initial $700 million in cash to Aircraft Leasing Company, or AviLease. The Asia-focused lender on Tuesday said the consideration could be adjusted depending on the net asset value of the business at completion.

BRICS countries to reach an understanding with China on the issue of cross-border terrorism, said the State Bank of India (SBI) in a new research report. The report stated that there is a need for India and China to increase cooperation on issues like river water (Brahmaputra) data sharing, entry of Indian pharmaceutical companies into China, etc.

Bloomberg News that the leaders “will launch a kind of manifesto calling attention to the need to improve labor relations," that would touch on work environments and pay. Scheduled for September 19, the meeting will follow the addresses of both presidents to the General Assembly.

India is launching a major outreach with key members of the Arab World through G20 to build momentum in strategic partnership and economic linkages. Besides Saudi Arabia, which is a G20 member, leaders of the UAE, Oman and Egypt are expected to attend the G20 Summit as invitees. All four are close strategic partners of India with the Egyptian President attending the Republic Day Parade as the chief guest this year and PM Narendra Modi visiting Cairo in June. Ties with Egypt have received fresh momentum since 2021 with regular defence exchanges.

BRICS countries, which was held in South Africa, received unprecedented international attention. Some commentators even invoked the Bandung conference of 1955, where leaders of India, China, Indonesia, Egypt and Yugoslavia launched the non-aligned movement (NAM). It seemed as though another generation of leaders, this time from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, were building an alternative to the US-dominated global order.

free trade in the belief that it would liberalize China. But Biden maintained much of his predecessor’s tough policies toward Beijing. Tariffs remained in place.

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary, Paul Chan Mo-po has reiterated his support for blockchain technology, calling it the next wave of "breakthrough growth" in the digital technology industry in a recent blog post.

Investing.com-- Oil prices rose slightly in early Asian trade on Monday as focus turned to economic readings from the world’s largest oil importer due this week, with U.S. oil futures within sight of the key $80 a barrel level. 

digital economy, trade and food security. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, who was also present, said the UN, formed in 1945, must be reformed to reflect modern power realities. The big one was the expansion of Brics to include six new members, who will join the organization next year.

the future of BRICS-Plus. The Johannesburg summit of BRICS leaders, which ended on 23 August 2023, agreed to induct six new members: the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia. Along with the existing five members—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—the expanded grouping of 11 members now presents an interesting alchemy of geo-political and geo-economic interests.

Indian Air Force (IAF) contingent departed for Egypt on Sunday to participate in BRIGHT STAR-23 — a biennial multilateral tri-service exercise scheduled to be held at Cairo (West) Air Base — from August 27- September 16. Notably, this is the first time that IAF is participating in BRIGHT STAR-23 which will also see the participation of contingents from the United States of America, Saudi Arabia, Greece and Qatar, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement today. The IAF contingent will consist of five MiG-29, two IL-78, two C-130 and two C-17 aircraft. Personnel from the IAF's Garud Special Forces, as well as those from the Numbers 28, 77, 78 and 81 Squadrons will be participating in the exercise, the statement said. The IAF transport aircraft will also provide airlift to approximately 150 personnel from the Indian Army. The objective of the exercise is to practice planning and execution of joint operations.

G20 summit, close to 3,500 rooms across big and small hotels in Delhi and Gurgaon have been booked, reported TOI. To cater to the needs of the leaders, over 10,000 hospitality professionals have been instructed to be present across 30 prominent hotels across central and south Delhi, Aerocity and Gurgaon. Delhi Police, Ministry of External Affairs and other embassies have already started security drills almost two months ago, according to TOI quoting a Hyatt Regency Hotel spokesperson. Hotel Arrangements for World Leaders Several luxury hotels across Delhi and other nearby locations have been selected to host the leaders. US President Joe Biden is expected to stay at ITC Maurya while Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to be hosted by Taj Palace. Other hotels such as Shangri La's Eros expected to have UK PM Rishi Sunak and German delegation, The Imperial may host the Australian PM and Indonesian delegation, Taj Mahal to have UAE delegation; Leela Palace expects Saudi Arabia delegation, The Lalit to have Canadian and Japanese delegations, The Claridges expects French president Emmanuel Macron and The Oberoi will host Russian delegation. During the stay, several preparations are in place to give the world leaders a taste of the Indian culture. «Indian musicians, especially the ones good at playing dhol, tabla, sitar, sarod and shehnai, are being signed up for welcoming the guests and also for playing soft music through the day in lobby,» explained a hotel manager. Another hotel's representative explained that from 'organising a traditional Indian welcome with a popular local music or dance performance and signature Indian welcome drinks to stocking the rooms with specially curated amenities, such as Indian coffee, teas,

Women’s tennis was luckier. It had a King. It is 50 years since women’s tennis scored its first victory in pay equality. In 1973, the US Open became the first Grand Slam to announce equal prize money for men and women. In 1968, Billie Jean King had won the first Open era Wimbledon women’s title and received £750 for it while her ‘counterpart’ Rod Laver took home £2,000. In 1970, she and eight other US women players broke away from the US tennis tour over equal pay demand. They created Virginia Slims Invitational circuit. But things didn’t change. In 1972, the US Open men’s singles champion Ilie Nastase received $25,000. The women’s winner, King, got $10,000. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) was launched in 1973 and King threatened to boycott the US Open until the pay was equalised. And it was!

Brent oil prices in July were up 14 per cent on the previous month, the biggest monthly increase since January 2022. Prices in August are trending about 3 per cent lower on the previous month as China demand worries weigh. China has also been drawing on record inventories amassed earlier this year as higher oil prices drive refiners in the world's biggest oil importer to scale back purchases, according to analysts quoted in the report.