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An oil tanker is being loaded at Saudi Aramco's Ras Tanura oil refinery and oil terminal in Saudi Arabia May 21, 2018.

REUTERS

Hard Numbers: OPEC+ further expands oil output, Ukraine attacks drone corruption, UK releases gonorrhoea vaccine, & More

547,000: OPEC Plus, the eight-member oil cartel de facto led by Saudi Arabia, announced on Sunday it would increase oil production by 547,000 barrels a day, the latest in a series of increases that first started in April. In response, oil prices dropped more than 2% on Monday.

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Syrian Minister of Economy Dr. Nidal Al-Shaar (left) meets with Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih (right) during an official visit in Damascus, Syria, on July 23, 2025.

Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto

What We’re Watching: Saudi invests in Syria rebuild, Ukraine and Russia seek cash, Thai-Cambodia border battle escalates

Saudi seeks a piece of the Syrian pie

Saudi Arabia has pledged to invest $6 billion to rebuild the war-torn Syrian economy, an amount that represents roughly 30% of Syria’s 2023 GDP. Still, the investment is just a tiny fraction of the estimated $400 billion in reconstruction funds that Syria needs. We’re watching to see if the Saudi move spurs other regional powers to take the plunge too – either as partners or rivals to Saudi influence. Meanwhile, Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa must try to keep a lid on sectarian violence and deal with ongoing attacks from a wary Israel. (Read more here.)

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- YouTube

The Trump admin can do more to help Sudan, says Sen. Warner

In this clip from GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, Senator Mark Warner explains why he’s taken on Sudan’s brutal civil war as a personal and political priority—and why the US, under both Joe Biden and Donald Trump, has failed to act. “More people die every day in Sudan than in Gaza and Ukraine combined,” Warner says, calling the conflict a humanitarian catastrophe hiding in plain sight.

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Men are seen on a farm in Makurdi, Benue, Nigeria November 29, 2018.

REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

HARD NUMBERS: Attack in northern Nigeria, Toilet stolen from Churchill’s home, and more…

100: At least 100 people were killed in an attack on a village by armed cattle herders in the north of Nigeria. The region has long been plagued by overlapping ethnic and sectarian tensions, as well as land use conflicts between nomadic herders and settled farmers.

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Saudi Arabia's oil price problem

In the first quarter of 2025, Saudi Arabia reported a budget deficit of $15.7 billion—the highest figure since 2021. A big part of the reason is that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is investing substantial financial resources in Vision 2030, a sweeping, decade-old development initiative designed to diversify the nation’s economy away from hydrocarbons.

However, with slumping oil prices and even higher spending, Saudi Arabia may have to scale back some of its more ambitious investment plans. In April, reports surfaced that the kingdom was drastically cutting its plans for Neom—a $1.5 trillion infrastructure project aimed at constructing a utopian megacity in the desert.

Here’s a look at how global oil prices have stacked up against Saudi Arabia’s fiscal breakeven price—the level needed to balance the state budget—since 2008.

Muslim pilgrims perform the dawn prayer around the Kaaba, Islam s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque complex in Mecca.

Saudi Press Agency APA Images Mecca

Hard Numbers: Saudi Arabia does crowd control for Hajj, US sanctions ICC judges, escaped Thai elephant behaves very well, and more

269,678: With the Hajj – the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca – now under way, the Saudi government has barred more than 269,678 people from entering the country without permits. With over 1.5 million people expected to make their way to Mecca this week, the Saudi Arabia is cracking down in order to control crowd sizes.

9: A wild elephant escaped from the Khao Yai National Park in Thailand and stormed into a nearby grocery store, where he calmly munched on nine packets of sweet treats like rice crackers, dried bananas, and sandwiches, all while leaving minimal damage and taking a snack to go. Bulls in china shops could learn a thing or two.

81: Today marks the 81st anniversary of the D-Day landings, when nearly 160,000 Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy to liberate France from Nazi Germany. The day marked a critical turning point in World War Two, and is known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history.

4: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against 4 International Criminal Court judges on Thursday, in retaliation for what he said was the “illegitimate” targeting of the US and Israel with war crimes accusations. “The ICC is politicized,” Rubio said. “The United States will take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our sovereignty, that of Israel, and any other US ally.”

- YouTube

Trump’s Middle East playbook: Business first, diplomacy later

Ian Bremmer unpacks the significance of AI, defense partnerships, ongoing Iran negotiations, and the potential lifting of Syria sanctions. He also looks at how Trump’s personal rapport with Middle Eastern leaders, absence from Israel, and business ties are shaping US foreign policy. What does this approach signal about Trump’s priorities abroad—and how might it affect America’s global relationships?

Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and US President, Donald Trump, meet with the Syrian president Ahmad Al-Sharaa

REUTERS

Trump pledged to lift Syria sanctions, can Damascus seize the moment?

When US President Donald Trump promised to lift sanctions on Syria this week, the streets of Damascus erupted in celebration.

“It was a huge, huge day for Syrians,” says Ibrahim al-Assil, a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C., who is from the Syrian capital.

“Many people, my relatives and friends in Damascus, they are saying the same thing: ‘this is the second biggest day in my life after the fall of the regime!’”

For a country battered by more than a decade of war and mass emigration, Trump’s announcement has flung open a window of opportunity that few thought possible as recently as December. That was when current president Ahmed al-Sharaa, a one-time Al-Qaeda member, led a coalition of militias that overthrew the Assad dictatorship.

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