Author: Editorial Team
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia emerged as one among the world’s top 10 countries for private AI investment, according to the latest World Bank report. The World Bank Group’s World Development Report 2026, titled “The Promise of Artificial Intelligence,” highlighted Saudi Arabia’s growing position in the global AI landscape. “The Kingdom has become an attractive destination for AI talent and a model for government data integration,” the report pointed out. This international recognition reflects the support and empowerment of the Kingdom’s leadership through an integrated national approach established by Saudi Vision 2030 to build an economy driven by data, compute, and…
Farouk El Hamzawi, Head of Enterprise, OpenAI MENA. UAE becomes one of three global locations, alongside the United States and Europe, where OpenAI supports local inference residency. Dubai — OpenAI officially announces the availability of Inference Residency in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for eligible customers using the API, ChatGPT Enterprise and ChatGPT Edu. UAE Inference Residency helps enterprises, public-sector institutions and education providers adopt AI while aligning with local compliance, governance and operational needs. This launch establishes the UAE as one of the only three locations worldwide – alongside the United States and Europe – where OpenAI supports inference…
barq and Riyadh Air have signed a strategic agreement to develop a comprehensive payment technology solution for the airline. The long-term partnership will support Riyadh Air’s commercial operations through an integrated, secure, and scalable payments ecosystem. Under the agreement, barq will support Riyadh Air in developing payment capabilities across the full payment lifecycle. This will help enhance the guest experience while strengthening regulatory compliance, fraud prevention, and operational efficiency. The partnership positions barq as Riyadh Air’s strategic payment technology partner. The two companies will work together on implementation, integration, and ongoing platform enhancement to improve transaction success rates and provide…
JEDDAH — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman sent cables of congratulations to Dr. András Baka on the occasion of his election and swearing-in as president of Hungary. In the separate cables, the King and the Crown Prince expressed their sincere congratulations and best wishes for success to the president, and further progress and prosperity to the friendly people of Hungary. Andras Baka, a former head of the Supreme Court, took oath as the president in a ceremony held at the Hungarian parliament on Tuesday after the parliament elected…
A controversial study analysing excess deaths during the Covid pandemic, which was widely criticised for lending credence to vaccine scepticism, has been retracted, the British journal’s publisher announced Wednesday. The study, published in the journal BMJ Public Health in 2024, was retracted “on the grounds of misinformation on causes of death and limited original work conducted by the authors”, the BMJ Group said in a statement. The study suggested that the number of excess deaths in the West remained abnormally high even after the peak of the Covid-19 crisis had passed. Stay up to date with the latest news. Follow…
RIYADH — The number of passenger transport app trips in Saudi Arabia exceeded 38.3 million in the second quarter of 2026, up 20 percent from the same quarter of 2025, according to the Transport General Authority (TGA). The TGA said that the growth reflects the increasing role of passenger transport apps in supporting urban mobility and providing flexible and safe transport solutions. These services enhance quality of life and improve mobility efficiency across Saudi cities. The apps offer advanced, safe, and highly efficient transport services through diverse mobility options that facilitate access to destinations and improve service quality for users.…
RIYADH — The value of weekly sales through point-of-sale (POS) transactions, from August 2 to 8, reached SR14.6 billion, compared to SR16.31 billion in the previous week, according to the weekly report issued on Wednesday by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). Consumer spending through POS transactions in the Kingdom last week was concentrated in the food and beverage sector, amounting to SR2.28 billion across 58.41 million transactions. This was followed by the restaurants and cafes sector, with spending reaching SR1.9 billion across 61.23 million transactions. The number of POS transactions executed last week decreased by approximately 5.1 percent to 253.42…
As 60% of manufacturers race toward full digitalisation, cyber risk is increasingly manifesting as a business risk, according to a new report by Kaspersky and VDC Strategy. This means cybersecurity is not merely a compliance function, it is a cornerstone of production assurance, safeguarding uptime, quality, and operational continuity. Manufacturers are modernising to deliver safer, more consistent and more cost-effective production and digitalisation is moving fast: just 9% of organisations describe themselves as fully digital today, but 60% expect to get there within two years, according to the joint report by Kaspersky and VDC ‘Cyber Resilience, Built for Manufacturing’. That…
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet session held today in Jeddah. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques expressed his gratitude and appreciation to His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister; President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; and Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for their successful and blessed efforts in convening the Makkah Al-Mukarramah Summit for Joint Defence, which reaffirmed the deep-rooted historical ties among the three countries and their shared commitment to strengthening the bonds of brotherhood and Islamic solidarity…
As investment into femtech surges, more women in the GCC region are using smart devices to track their menstrual cycles and fertility. “Women are actively looking for tools that help them better understand their bodies and make informed decisions about their health,” said Dr. Ami Bhatt, Chief Medical Officer at wearable health tracker company Whoop. She said that according to the company’s data, menstruation is the second-most frequently logged behaviour among users in the GCC — one of the highest rates of menstrual logging globally. The surge in demand coincides with a broader boom in femtech investment. The sector attracted…