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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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US President Donald Trump is welcomed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025.

REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Dollar diplomacy: Finance is the focus as Trump heads to the Gulf

In his first diplomatic overseas trip since returning to office, Donald Trump is embarking on a four-day tour through a trio of Gulf states with the goal of bringing home over $1 trillion in deals and investment pledges – and a free $400 million plane for good measure.

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- YouTube

Trump’s inaction on wrongful deportation may spark constitutional crisis

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

If the US won't work to return a wrongly deported man to El Salvador despite a Supreme Court ruling, are we headed towards a constitutional crisis?

It certainly appears that way, and I think this is the constitutional crisis that the Trump administration would love to have. Because wrongfully deporting someone without evidence who is in the country illegally and therefore guilty of a misdemeanor, but sending them to a max security prison, which the Supreme Court says you shouldn't do, but now is in another country. Very few Americans are sympathetic to the case of this person. And indeed, Trump won on the basis in part of being sick and tired of allowing illegal immigrants to spend enormous amounts of time in the United States without recourse.

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President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, on March 19, 2025.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Ukraine talks continue in Saudi Arabia after Trump envoy praises Putin

Ukrainian negotiators met with US officials in Saudi Arabia Sunday, but a full ceasefire in the region remains elusive. The “technical” discussions focused on a maritime ceasefire to allow shipments of grain and materials through the Black Sea, with the Russian delegation having separate discussions about the same “low-level” issues with US officials on Monday.
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President Donald Trump looks on as military strikes are launched against Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis over the group's attacks against Red Sea shipping, at an unspecified location in this handout image released March 15, 2025.

White House/Handout via REUTERS

​US strikes Houthi strongholds, seeks to keep shipping lanes open

The United States launched widespread strikes on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on Saturday, killing 53 people and injuring 98 as it targeted military sites and a power station in the rebel group’s southwest stronghold. The attacks were the largest US military operation since President Donald Trump returned to office.

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