Saudi Arabia

March 26, 2025 8:11 PM

Tesla to launch in Saudi Arabia as Musk and the kingdom mend relations

Tesla will start sales in Saudi Arabia next month, the electric carmaker said on its website, signalling CEO Elon Musk and the kingdom have healed a rift that dates back to the billionaire's short-lived bid in 2018 to take the company private. Tesla trades in other Middle Eastern countries, but not in Saudi Arabia, the Gulf region's largest market. The dispute started when Musk tweeted in 2018 he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private after meeting Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, th...

March 11, 2025 9:31 AM

Rubio says US could resume aid to Ukraine

Secretary of the State Marco Rubio has said the Trump administration could resume aid and intelligence support to Ukraine if the war-torn country's leaders commit to a peace process at a crucial meeting of senior officials of the two countries in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. Rubio told reporters after landing Monday in Jeddah for the talks that the aid was suspended “because we felt the Ukrainians were not committed” to ending the three-year-war triggered by the Russian invasion in 2022, The Wa...

March 11, 2025 9:20 AM

Saudi Arabia to host talks between US and Ukraine to address conflict with Russia

Saudi Arabia is set to host high-level talks on Tuesday, bringing together the United States and Ukraine to discuss the ongoing conflict with Russia. The talks, scheduled to take place in Jeddah, come after a heated exchange during President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the White House on February 28, 2025, which strained relations between the two nations. While Riyadh may seem like an unconventional venue for such critical discussions, Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of Crown Prince Moha...

March 10, 2025 5:16 PM

Zelenskiy heads to Saudi Arabia ahead of crunch US talks

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travels to Saudi Arabia to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, ahead of talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials on ending the war with Russia at an increasingly precarious moment for Kyiv. The United States, once Ukraine's main ally, has upended its wartime policies in its stated pursuit of a rapid end to the fighting, engaging directly with Moscow while cutting off military assistance and intelligence sharing for Kyiv. Zelenskiy is expected to mee...

March 7, 2025 6:33 PM

Saudis welcome chance to host US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah next week

Saudi Arabia welcomed on Friday the chance to host a meeting between the U.S. and Ukraine next week, its foreign ministry said, adding that the kingdom would continue to do its utmost to help end the Ukraine-Russia war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday he would travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday for a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman ahead of talks later in the week with U.S. officials. A brief Saudi Foreign Ministry statement said the U.S.-Ukrainian ta...

February 20, 2025 9:31 PM

India and Saudi Arabia forge New Media Partnership as Waves 2025 Summit approaches

A high-level Indian delegation has concluded a landmark series of strategic meetings in Saudi Arabia, strengthening bilateral media partnerships and generating momentum for India's upcoming World Audio-Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES 2025). Led by Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju and Prasar Bharati CEO Gaurav Dwivedi, the delegation met with key Saudi media leaders during the "Future of Media" Exhibition (FOMEX) in Riyadh. During their visit, the team toured exhibitio...

February 17, 2025 4:12 PM

Putin sends Russia’s top diplomat and Kremlin adviser to meet Trump officials in Saudi Arabia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent his foreign minister and a senior Kremlin adviser to meet U.S. officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss restoring relations and possible talks to end the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump said after a call with Putin on Wednesday that they would begin talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine immediately, and that they had also discussed the Middle East, energy, the U.S. dollar and Artificial Intelligence. U....

February 17, 2025 10:08 AM

Ukraine, Europe will be part of ‘real’ peace talks, says Rubio, as US weighs Putin’s motives

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday said Ukraine and Europe would be part of any "real negotiations" to end Moscow's war, signaling that U.S. talks with Russia this week were a chance to see how serious Russian President Vladimir Putin is about peace. America's top diplomat played down European concerns of being cut out of the initial talks between Russia and the United States set to take place in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. In an interview with CBS, Rubio said a negotiation pro...

February 18, 2025 5:54 PM

US, Russia to meet in Saudi Arabia over Ukraine war

U.S. and Russian officials met on Tuesday in Riyadh for their first talks on ending the war in Ukraine, as Kyiv and its European allies watched anxiously from the sidelines and Moscow raised a new demand that NATO formally disavow a membership promise it made to Ukraine in 2008. The talks in the Saudi capital underscored the rapid pace of U.S. efforts to halt the conflict, less than a month after President Donald Trump took office and six days after he spoke by phone to Russian President Vladim...

February 11, 2025 4:19 PM

Inaugural Olympic Esports Games to be held in 2027 in Saudi Arabia

The first Olympic Esports Games will be held in two years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday, as part of a 12-year-deal with the country signed last year. The IOC has been looking into Esports for several years, forming a dedicated commission to find opportunities to tap into a younger generation involved with gaming. With its traditional audience base gradually ageing, the governing body is trying to connect with a younger generation of potential Olym...