Saudi Arabia

26 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Saudi official alleged to have issued death threats against UN investigator Agnès Callamard has been named as the Kingdom's very own human rights chief Awwad Al-Awwad. The threats are said to have been made while Callamard was investigating the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Aramco will ensure China's energy security remains its highest priority for the next 50 years and beyond as new and existing energy sources run in parallel for some time, CEO Amin Nasser told the China Development Forum on Sunday, reported Reuters.

22 Mar 2021; MEMO: More than 150,000 Palestinians living in Saudi Arabia have sent a letter to Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to save them from a "slow death" in the kingdom, Aram news network reported yesterday.

The Palestinians submitted the letter to their embassy in the kingdom and called for Abbas to either help solve their outstanding issues or repatriate them to Palestine from where they were displaced.

21 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco is betting on an Asian-led rebound in energy demand this year after it reported a steep slide in net profit for 2020 on Sunday and scaled back its spending plans, reports Reuters.

The COVID-19 pandemic took a heavy toll on the company and its global peers in 2020, but oil prices have rallied this year as economies recover from last year's downturn and after oil producers extended output cuts.

19 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia yesterday condemned Israel's continued settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, while Kuwait called on the United Nations to hold the occupation accountable.

In a speech to the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Saudi's permanent representative Abdulaziz Al-Wasil said: "The seventh item is a major item within the agenda of the Human Rights Council, and the kingdom will never accept the marginalisation of this item."

18 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Saudi Arabian cabinet has approved a privatisation plan as part of the Kingdom's attempt to divide economic sectors between the government and the private sector. The news was issued in a formal cabinet statement.

The scheme includes privatising 100 potential initiatives in various sectors, including ports, education, health, energy, industry, mineral resources, the environment, agriculture, communication, information technology, social development and sports.

16 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabian authorities have arrested at least 241 employees of several ministries as part of an anti-corruption campaign, Anadolu reported.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) said that the employees were arrested over their involvement in corruption, fraud, bribery, forgery and abuse of power.

15 Mar 2021; MEMO: Saudi Arabia yesterday began the implementation of the new kafala "sponsorship" system, which aims to improve the contractual relationship between local employers and foreign workers.

12 Mar 2021; MEMO: A high-ranking Saudi official has denied that Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman was scheduled to meet Benjamin Netanyahu in the UAE yesterday. The denial followed a report by the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (Makan) on Wednesday about Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to the UAE on Thursday.

13 Mar 2021; MEMO: According to Sudanese officials, Saudi Arabia has committed to pay $1.5 billion to Sudan as part of the economic aid package it approved for the country in 2019.

On Thursday, the Sudanese News Agency (SUNA) quoted officials stating: "An amount of $750 million had been deposited in the Sudanese government account," explainingthat: "$500 million of the amount will be allocated to help solve the crisis of wheat, medicine, oil and some other commodities.