US President Donald Trump told his staff “we have our partner” after his first meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, former US deputy national security adviser Dina Habib Powell said in her first remarks since leaving the White House.
Ms Powell, speaking on Tuesday at the Saudi-US CEO Forum 2018 in New York, recounted the early thaw between Washington and Riyadh. When Mr Trump was elected in November of 2016, one of his first priorities was to tackle the terrorist threat and “we had to engage quickly and meaningfully in the region”, she said.
Prince Mohammed, then deputy crown prince, “reached out [to the US administration] and built strong relations with Jared [Kushner] and others”, with both sides pushing ahead on what could be achieved, Ms Powell said.
The March 2017 lunch with Mr Trump strengthened the partnership. Following the lunch, Mr Trump told staff “I think we have our partner”, noting that the Saudi counter-radicalism and reform agendas helped build the rapport. The US and Saudi discussions continued, leading to the president’s first foreign visit to Riyadh in May.
“A year ago no one would have believed that ISIL would be defeated,” said Ms Powell, who left the White House in early 2018.
She credited Mr Trump, who was willing let the US military do its job, and the Saudi crown prince, who saw the terrorist threat. Ms Powell also called Iran “the largest state sponsor of terrorism” and stressed the need to counter the problem.
As for the Saudi economy, Ms Powell said she saw the urgency in implementing Vision 2030 and that there was “one choice” in reforming and revamping the economy.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross spoke on the same panel as Ms Powell on Tuesday. Mr Ross said plans for Saudi Arabia's economy “could be more transformative geopolitically” than “when we stood with the Kingdom in 1938 as they developed hydrocarbon”.
He mentioned plans to build mega-city NEOM as one example of the transformation. Egypt committed more than 1,000 square kilometres (386 square miles) of land in the southern Sinai Peninsula to the planned mega-city and business zone unveiled by Saudi Arabia last October. The territory along the Red Sea is part of a joint fund announced by the two countries during a visit to Cairo by the Saudi crown prince in February.
The panel also featured Saudi’s Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih and Minister of Commerce Majid Al Qasabi. They discussed legal and financial reforms in Saudi Arabia to enhance business and investment.
Meanwhile, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was expected to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres later on Tuesday to discuss the war in Yemen and Monday’s Houthis’ attack.
Mr Gutteres who visited Saudi Arabia in 2017, strongly condemned the attack and called for "restraint amid mounting tensions”.
Saudi Arabia's Washington ambassador Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said Iran should be held accountable. “The only way to prevent further conflict in the region is to hold Iran accountable for its violations of all international laws. Friends and enemies are watching for the world’s reaction; it will shape the behaviour of countries in region on the long term,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
The Saudi crown prince also met with investors and business executives in New York including Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, a major investor in Vision 2030. Prince Mohammed is expected to be in New York until Friday before heading to Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston.
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
Honeymoonish
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How the bonus system works
The two riders are among several riders in the UAE to receive the top payment of £10,000 under the Thank You Fund of £16 million (Dh80m), which was announced in conjunction with Deliveroo's £8 billion (Dh40bn) stock market listing earlier this year.
The £10,000 (Dh50,000) payment is made to those riders who have completed the highest number of orders in each market.
There are also riders who will receive payments of £1,000 (Dh5,000) and £500 (Dh2,500).
All riders who have worked with Deliveroo for at least one year and completed 2,000 orders will receive £200 (Dh1,000), the company said when it announced the scheme.
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
Kanye%20West
%3Cp%3EYe%20%E2%80%94%20the%20rapper%20formerly%20known%20as%20Kanye%20West%20%E2%80%94%20has%20seen%20his%20net%20worth%20fall%20to%20%24400%20million%20in%20recent%20weeks.%20That%E2%80%99s%20a%20precipitous%20drop%20from%20Bloomberg%E2%80%99s%20estimates%20of%20%246.8%20billion%20at%20the%20end%20of%202021.%3Cbr%3EYe%E2%80%99s%20wealth%20plunged%20after%20business%20partners%2C%20including%20Adidas%2C%20severed%20ties%20with%20him%20on%20the%20back%20of%20anti-Semitic%20remarks%20earlier%20this%20year.%3Cbr%3EWest%E2%80%99s%20present%20net%20worth%20derives%20from%20cash%2C%20his%20music%2C%20real%20estate%20and%20a%20stake%20in%20former%20wife%20Kim%20Kardashian%E2%80%99s%20shapewear%20firm%2C%20Skims.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Most sought after workplace benefits in the UAE
- Flexible work arrangements
- Pension support
- Mental well-being assistance
- Insurance coverage for optical, dental, alternative medicine, cancer screening
- Financial well-being incentives
Test series fixtures
(All matches start at 2pm UAE)
1st Test Lord's, London from Thursday to Monday
2nd Test Nottingham from July 14-18
3rd Test The Oval, London from July 27-31
4th Test Manchester from August 4-8
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Ordinary Virtues: Moral Order in a Divided World by Michael Ignatieff
Harvard University Press
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Mamo Year it started: 2019 Founders: Imad Gharazeddine, Asim Janjua Based: Dubai, UAE Number of employees: 28 Sector: Financial services Investment: $9.5m Funding stage: Pre-Series A Investors: Global Ventures, GFC, 4DX Ventures, AlRajhi Partners, Olive Tree Capital, and prominent Silicon Valley investors. Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Samaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
