The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

  • Saudi minister pledges full probe into Khashoggi killing

    Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Tuesday the kingdom was committed to a thorough and complete investigation to obtain the truth behind the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

    Saudi Arabia had sent a team to Turkey for a joint investigation and “uncovered evidence of a murder” in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, the minister told a news conference in Indonesia during a state visit.

    “We expressed commitment to see to it that the investigation is thorough and complete and the truth is revealed and those responsible will be held to account.

    “We will see to it that procedures and mechanisms are put in place to ensure that something like this can never happen again,” al-Jubeir said at the joint news conference with his Indonesian counterpart.

    Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi government, disappeared after he entered the consulate in Istanbul on October 2, to obtain documents for his marriage.

    Saudi Arabia initially denied knowledge of his fate before saying he had been killed in a fight in the consulate, an explanation that has drawn international skepticism.

    Read Also: Iran arrests groups planning attacks on pilgrims – Minister

    Foreign Minister al-Jubeir said 18 people had been detained and six senior government officials had already been dismissed as a result of the investigation.

    On Monday, al-Jubeir met Indonesian President Joko Widodo who called for a “transparent and thorough” investigation of the killing.

    U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler on Sunday.

    Trump said on Monday that he was still not satisfied with what he has heard from Saudi Arabia about the killing of journalist Khashoggi in Turkey, but did not want to lose investment from Riyadh.

    He had told reporters on Monday that he has teams in Saudi Arabia and Turkey working on the case and would know more about it after they returned to Washington on Monday night or Tuesday.

    Central Intelligence Agency Director Gina Haspel was traveling to Turkey on Monday to work on the Khashoggi investigation, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

    “I am not satisfied with what I’ve heard,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I don’t want to lose all that investment that’s been made in our country. But we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

    He later told U.S.A. Today that he believed the death was a “plot gone awry.”

    Trump has expressed reluctance to punish the Saudis economically, citing the kingdom’s multi-billion-dollar purchases of U.S. military equipment and investments in U.S. companies.

    Saudi state media said that Prince Mohammed met with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Riyadh and discussed “the importance of the Saudi-U.S. strategic partnership.

    Mnuchin’s spokesman said on Twitter the two discussed the Khashoggi investigation as well as Iran sanctions and Saudi economic issues.

    In another development, Turkey Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday that Turkey had not yet shared any information with any country from its probe into the killing of Khashoggi.

    Cavusoglu made the comment in a televised interview with the state-run Anadolu news agency; hours before President Tayyip Erdogan was due to reveal what he has said were details in the case.

    He said that Turkey is ready to cooperate with any international investigation into Khashoggi’s killing.

    Authorities have been investigating Khashoggi’s disappearance after he entered the consulate on Oct. 2. After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia at the weekend said the journalist had been killed at the consulate.

    Erdogan has said that he would share the information of the investigation in a speech on Tuesday.

    Saudi Arabia brushed off a Western boycott over Khashoggi case as it prepared to launch an investment conference on Tuesday that has been overshadowed by the withdrawal of dozens of top business and government leaders.

    Hundreds of bankers and company executives are still expected to join officials at a palatial Riyadh hotel for the Future Investment Initiative.

    The initiative is an annual event designed to help attract billions of dollars of foreign capital as part of reforms to end Saudi dependence on oil exports.

    The 2017 inaugural conference drew the global business elite, earning it the informal title “Davos in the Desert”.

    However, the 2018 event has been marred by the pullout of more than two dozen high-level speakers following an international outcry over Khashoggi’s killing.

  • Saudi govt to ensure gender equal salaries – Crown Prince

    The authorities of Saudi Arabia are working on legislation that will equalize women’s salaries with men’s salaries, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said.

    “We are working on an initiative, which we will launch in the near future, to introduce regulations ensuring equal pay for men and women,” the crown prince said in an interview with the CBS broadcaster.

    According to bin Salman, these measures will increase the proportion of working women from 22 per cent currently.

    The crown prince admitted that women in his country do not yet have full rights, but noted that he considers women and men equal.

    The change in the social status of women is part of the Vision 2030 strategy of the Saudi Arabian authorities.

    Earlier in March, the Kingdom allowed women to serve in the armed forces. A total of 140 positions were opened, and 107,000 applied to those positions.

    Read Also:  Saudi Arabia to end discrimination against women

    In addition, women were allowed to work in restaurants, and in prosecution.

    In 2017, Saudi authorities lifted a ban on driving cars for women.

    Permission will come into force in June this year.

    Women were also allowed to attend public entertainment events.

    The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed a series of major changes that touched the country’s economy, social and political spheres, since King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud took the throne in 2015.

    A significant role in the reform process in the country belongs to Mohammed bin Salman, who was appointed as Crown Prince in June 2017.

    NAN

     

  • Oil hits highest levels since 2015 amid tightening markets, Saudi purge

    Oil hits highest levels since 2015 amid tightening markets, Saudi purge

    Oil prices hit their highest levels early on Monday as markets tightened, while Saudi Arabia’s crown prince cemented his power over the weekend through an anti-corruption crackdown that included high profile arrests.

    Brent futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, hit 62.44 dollars per barrel early on Monday, their highest level for years now.

    U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude hit $56.00 per barrel in early trading, also the highest for many months now.

    Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s designated future king, has tightened his grip on power through an anti-corruption purge by arresting royals, ministers and investors.

    The arrest includes prominent business Billionaire, Alwaleed bin Talal, and the Head of the National Guard, Prince Miteb bin Abdullah.

    “This consolidates the reforming process underway, part of which is a desire to drive the price of oil higher,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at futures brokerage AxiTrader.

    Bin Salman’s reforms include a plan to list parts of giant state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco next year.

    Meanwhile, a higher price is seen as beneficial for the market capitalisation of the future listed company.

    In oil fundamentals, traders said that there were ongoing signs of tightening market conditions.

    U.S. energy companies cut eight oil rigs last week, to 729, in the biggest reduction since May 2016.

    The decline in U.S. drilling activity comes as the Organisation of the Petroleum-Exporting-Countries-(OPEC) and non-OPEC group led by Russia have pledged to hold back about 1.8 million barrels per day.

    The pact to withhold supplies runs to March 2018, but there is growing consensus to extend the deal.

    While supplies are tightening, analysts say demand remains strong.

    “Synchronous global economic growth and new supply disruptions are creating the most constructive oil price environment since 2014,” Barclays bank said.

  • Saudi Arabia: Women can now drive, as Govt overturns historic ban

    Saudi Arabia: Women can now drive, as Govt overturns historic ban

    • Pushes for more women in the workfore, platforms for youths

    The Government of Saudi Arabia will from next June allow women to drive.

    This was contained in a statement by the state media on Tuesday, making the country,the last country to allow women drive.

    This decision which effectively risks riling religious conservatives and comes as part of the government’s major reform drive, conceived by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    “The royal decree will implement the provisions of traffic regulations, including the issuance of driving licences for men and women alike,” the Saudi Press Agency said.

    It added that authorities are aiming to have the necessary arrangements in place by June 2018.A saudi woman seen driving

    As news of the decision,filtered out, scores of people of both sexes, took to the street, dancing and generally celebrating the announcement.

    Also as part of the reforms,Women would also be allowed into sports stadium, to watch a musical concert, thus creating plans in tandem with its “Vision 2030” plan for social and economic reform.

    The country has more than half the country aged under 25, thus making Prince Mohammed, the architect of Vision 2030, provide platforms of entertainment options for the youth and promoting more women in the workforce.

     

    Culled from i24news