Will not bar Qatar from Arab summit in Riyadh, says Saudi crown prince

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman says Qatar will not be barred from the Arab summit in Riyadh later this month but predicted the standoff with Doha could last a long time.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman's comments were made to local editors during a visit to Egypt this week and published today in the independent Al-Shorouk newspaper.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar in June, accusing the tiny but super-rich Gulf state of supporting militant groups and forging close ties with Shiite Iran.
The prince described Iran, Turkey and militant groups as the "contemporary triangle of evil." He said Saudi Arabia was seeking to end the close relations between Iran on the one hand and Russia and Syria on the other.

Saudi Arabia to invest $64 bn in Western-style entertainment in next decade

Saudi Arabia announced plans today to spend billions on building new venues and flying in Western acts, in a total overhaul of its entertainment sector that would be unthinkable not long ago.

Long known for its ultra-conservative mores, the kingdom has embarked on a wide-ranging programme of social and economic reforms driven by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
At a glitzy press conference in Riyadh, General Entertainment Authority chief Ahmad bin Aqeel al-Khatib told reporters the kingdom is set to invest $64 billion in its entertainment sector over the coming decade.

"We are already building the infrastructure," Khatib said, adding that ground had been broken for an opera house.
"God willing, you will see a real change by 2020," Khatib said, adding that more than 5,000 events were planned for the coming year.

Saudi women no longer need husband or male guardian's consent to start biz

Saudi women will from now on be allowed to open their own businesses without the consents of their male relatives, media reports said on Sunday.

Besides the opening up society Saudi Arabia seeks to achieve, especially integration of women in different walks of life, the decision also comes to meet the requirements of the fast-growing private sector, Xinhua reported.

"Women can now launch their own businesses and benefit from (governmental) e-services without having to prove consent from a guardian," the ministry of commerce and investment said on its website.

The change in policy is also a step forward away from the strict guardianship system imposed on women for decades.

Analysis: Lebanon fears Qatar-like blockade from Saudi could damage economy

Lebanese politicians and bankers believe Saudi Arabia intends to do to their country what it did to Qatar - corral Arab allies into enforcing an economic blockade unless its demands are met.

Unlike Qatar, the world's biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas with a population of just 300,000, Lebanon has neither the natural nor financial resources to ride it out, and people there are worried.

Up to 400,000 Lebanese work in the Gulf region, and remittances flowing back into the country, estimated at between $7-8 billion a year, are a vital source of cash to keep the economy afloat and the heavily-indebted government functioning.

"These are serious threats to the Lebanese economy which is already dire. If they cut the transfer of remittances, that will be a disaster," a senior Lebanese official told Reuters.

Those threats came from Lebanon's former prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, who resigned on November 4 in a shock broadcast from Riyadh that Lebanese political leaders have ascribed to pressure from the Saudis.
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Saudi purge jolts markets; critics see power grab, many say it was overdue

All major Gulf stock markets slid on Tuesday on jitters about Saudi Arabia's sweeping anti-graft purge, a campaign seen by critics as a populist power grab but by ordinary Saudis as an overdue attack on the sleaze of a moneyed ultra-elite.

US President Donald Trump endorsed the crackdown, saying some of those arrested have been "milking" Saudi Arabia for years, but some Western officials expressed unease about the possible reaction in Riyadh's opaque tribal and royal politics.

Authorities detained dozens of top Saudis including billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in a move widely seen as an attempt by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to neuter any opposition to his lightening ascent to the pinnacle of power.

Admirers see it as an assault on the endemic theft of public funds in the world's top oil exporter, an absolute monarchy where the state and the ruling family are intertwined.

"Corruption should have been fought a long time ago because it's corruption that delays society's development," Riyadh resident Hussein al-Dosari told Reuters.

"God willing, everything that happened ... is only the beginning of what is planned," said Faisal bin Ali, adding he wanted to see "correcting mistakes, correcting ministries and correcting any injustices against the general population."
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Saudi prince Mansour bin Moqren killed in helicopter crash amid purge

A Saudi prince was killed on Sunday when a helicopter with several officials on board crashed near the kingdom's southern border with war-torn Yemen, state television said.

The news channel Al-Ekhbariya announced the death of Prince Mansour bin Moqren, the deputy governor of Asir province and son of a former crown prince.

It did not reveal the cause of the crash or the fate of the other officials aboard the aircraft.

News of the crash comes as Saudi Arabia pursues a sweeping purge of the kingdom's upper ranks, with dozens of princes, ministers and a billionaire tycoon arrested as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman cements his hold on power.

ALSO READ: Saudi purge: Senior royal ousted; 11 princes detained in corruption probe

Already viewed as the de facto ruler controlling all the major levers of government, from defence to the economy, Prince Mohammed is widely seen to be stamping out traces of internal dissent before a formal transfer of power from his 81-year-old father King Salman.

The crash also comes after Saudi Arabia on Saturday intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile near Riyadh's international airport after it was fired from Yemen in an escalation of the kingdom's war against Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

The missile attack was the first aimed by the Shiite rebels at the heart of the Saudi capital, underscoring the growing threat posed by the raging conflict in Yemen.

China offers to buy 5% of Saudi Aramco directly: Sources

China is offering to buy up to 5 percent of Saudi Aramco directly, sources said, a move that could give Saudi Arabia the flexibility to consider various options for its plan to float the world's biggest oil producer on the stock market.

Chinese state-owned oil companies PetroChina and Sinopec have written to Saudi Aramco in recent weeks to express an interest in a direct deal, industry sources told Reuters. The companies are part of a state-run consortium including China's sovereign wealth fund, the sources say.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said last year the kingdom was considering listing about 5 percent of Aramco in 2018 in a deal that could raise $100 billion, if the company is valued at about $2 trillion as hoped.

"The Chinese want to secure oil supplies," one of the industry sources said. "They are willing to take the whole 5 percent, or even more, alone."

PetroChina and Sinopec declined to comment.

The initial public offering (IPO) of Saudi Aramco is the centrepiece of an economic reform plan to diversify the Saudi economy beyond oil and it would also provide a welcome boost to the kingdom's budget which has been hit by low oil prices.
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