3:13 - The census in Saudi Arabia is starting to reveal interesting data points on Saudi Arabia’s population. Saudi Arabia’s population reached 34 million people in 2021, according to a recent report by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health and published in the Saudi Gazette, at an annual growth rate of 9.3%. Saudi Arabia’s population has grown 16.8% during the past ten years in which data are available and published by the Ministry (2012-2021).
12:18 - Riyadh Season details are here, and it’s going to be a big one. Lucien’s one big thing is the expanded third edition of Riyadh Season, which will kick off on October 21st 2022 under the slogan “Beyond Imagination” with an international show by Cirque du Soleil, the General Authority for Entertainment has announced. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA), Turki Al-Sheikh, announced details of the season at a launch event on Wednesday.
Al-Sheikh said that the new season would consist of 15 areas, including the Boulevard World, which would display restaurants, markets and arts from several regions around the world, including America, France, Greece, India, China, Spain, and Japan, Morocco, Mexico, in addition to the Italian city of Venice, Asharq Alawsat reports. The Boulevard World will also include the world’s largest artificial lake, allowing visitors to enjoy riding submarines for the first time in Riyadh.
21:41 - Colby Connelly, Senior Analyst at Energy Intelligence and non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, Joins The 966 to talk about the recent decision by OPEC+ to slash production targets, causing an uproar in the United States. “It is unfortunate that many of the nuances impacting the decision have been overlooked…allegations that Riyadh is openly siding with Moscow have been vastly overblown,” Connelly writes in MEI. The 966 asks about the technical side of the production cuts and what’s to come in the months ahead.
54:27 - Yallah! 6 top storylines to get you up to date headed into the weekend:
•Women no longer required to bring male guardian to Hajj and Umrah
Saudi Arabia has made the historic decision to allow women to attend the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages without a "mahram" or male guardian. Speaking at the Saudi embassy in Cairo, Tawfiq Al Rabiah, Saudi Arabia's Minister of Hajj and Umrah, said: "A woman can come to the kingdom to perform Umrah without a mahram." The announcement ends a decades-long rule imposed by Saudi Arabia, although exemptions have been given to females attending the Hajj or Umrah pilgrimage with large groups of other women.
•Netflix Unveils Upcoming Arab Films & Series
Netflix has previewed a selection of upcoming films and shows aimed at the Arab world and hailing from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, and Jordan. The global platform has been steadily making inroads into the Middle East and North Africa since 2015, in the face of fierce competition from local players such as MBC’s Shahid VIP and Starzplay. The new productions, mainly due to launch in 2023, include Saudi Arabian feature Alkhallat+, a satirical suspense film based on the hit online show Alkhallat, which was first released in 2017 and received more than 1.5 billion views across YouTube and social media.
•Saudi Arabia’s industrial production rises by 16.8% in August
Saudi Arabia’s Industrial Production Index increased by 16.8 percent in August compared to the same period a year ago, according to the latest General Authority for Statistics report. The growth in IPI was primarily driven by high production in the three subsectors — mining and quarrying, manufacturing, and electricity and gas supplies, official data showed. The growth of the IPI turned positive in May 2021, and it has been growing continuously since then. This comes after negative trends witnessed during 2019 and 2020 due to the impacts of the pandemic.
•Venture capital funding for Mena start-ups hits $2.3bn and is on track to beat 2021 total
Venture capital funding for start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa rose 20 per cent annually to more than $2.3 billion in the first three quarters of 2022, putting it on track to potentially surpass the total investments attracted in 2021, a study carried out by Magnitt has found. Funding reached $512 million in the third quarter, which was the lowest since the first quarter of 2021, the data intelligence company said in its quarterly update, citing global economic and geopolitical factors. That, however, put total funding in 2022 at more than 80 per cent of the 2021 level, leaving the industry with a full quarter to match or even surpass last year's total of about $2.8bn.
•Saudi Arabia leaps ahead in World University Rankings 2023
Times Higher Education released the results of its World University Rankings 2023, which showed the UK’s University of Oxford retaining its top spot for the seventh consecutive year. King Abdulaziz University has risen from 190 in 2022 to a joint-101 spot in the 2023 table, making it the highest ranked university in the Middle East and achieving the best ranking ever by a Middle Eastern university in this table. “Not only has King Abdulaziz University risen dramatically to move within a whisker of the world top 100 to lead the entire Mena region, but other leading institutions have also made strong progress and Saudi Arabia’s overall representation in the World Rankings has increased — from 15 universities ranked last year, to 21 this year.
•Saudi Health plans 100 partnership projects worth $13bn
Saudi Arabia has announced a major plan to involve the private sector in 100 health projects over the next 5 years, resulting in $13 billion investment opportunities. The initiatives announced by Saudi Health for public-private partnership, including the operation of two new medical cities, a project to provide 900 beds for medical rehabilitation and long-term care services, as well as restructuring 200 primary care centers, and providing air medical evacuation services, said Health Minister Fahd Al Jalajil.