Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader will visit Washington next month and meet President Trump in the Oval Office, people familiar with the matter said, capping a multiyear effort to restore his international standing with a trip that could lay the groundwork for an eventual deal to establish ties with Israel.
The trip by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who last visited the U.S. in early 2018, is scheduled for Nov. 18 and 19, one of the people said. It would come a month after Trump negotiated a cease-fire to end Israel’s two-year war with Hamas in Gaza.
The US and Saudi Arabia have managed to derail negotiations regarding a landmark deal to cut global shipping emissions, according to a report by the BBC. The deal had already been approved and would have made shipping the world’s first industry to adopt internationally mandated emissions guidelines.
Representatives from more than 100 countries had gathered in London to formally approve the so-called global carbon tax, after nearly ten years of negotiations. However, the US government had been pressuring countries to vote “no” on the measure, threatening tariffs if met with noncompliance.
Saudi Arabia instituted a plan to derail negotiations. The country tabled a motion to adjourn talks for a year, at a time when most countries were set to vote on it. That passed by just a handful of votes, with approving votes coming from both the US and Russia.
This essentially destroys the plan, despite technically being just a delay, as timelines will have to be renegotiated. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared the outcome a “huge win” for Trump.
Even the shipping industry was on-board with the plan, as it offered consistent global standards that don’t currently exist. Industries like certainty. Thomas Kazakos, secretary-general of the International Chamber of Shipping, said that the organization is “disappointed that member states have not been able to agree a way forward at this meeting.” He also said that the “industry needs clarity to be able to make the investments.”
Meanwhile, carbon dioxide levels reached record highs in 2024 and we aren’t doing too much about it. This agreement would’ve forced ship owners to use cleaner fuels beginning in 2028, or face fines. Shipping currently makes up around three percent of global carbon emissions, but that’s expected to rise by anywhere from ten percent to 150 percent by 2050.
Countries are expected to reconvene in April to discuss the plan, but this will likely not feature a vote. It’ll likely be a renegotiation from the ground up.
(Reuters) -Saudi Arabia is discussing a defence deal with the United States which it hopes to seal when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visits the White House next month, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
A senior Trump administration official told the Financial Times there were “discussions about signing something when the crown prince comes, but the details are in flux.”
The FT said the deal in discussion was similar to the recent U.S.-Qatar pact that pledged to treat any armed attack on Qatar as a threat to the United States. The U.S. deal with Qatar came after Israel last month attempted to kill leaders of Hamas with an air strike on Doha.
The U.S. State Department told the FT that defence co-operation with the kingdom was a “strong bedrock of our regional strategy,” but declined to comment on details of the potential deal.
The U.S. State Department, the White House and the Saudi government did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on the FT report.
Saudi Arabia has long sought guarantees similar to the Qatar deal as part of Washington’s efforts to normalise relations between Riyadh and Israel. Last month, Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defence pact with nuclear-armed Pakistan.
(Reporting by Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Stephen Coates)
North Carolina general manager Michael Lombardi walks the sidelines prior to the Tar Heels’ game against UCF on Saturday, September 20, 2025 at Acrisure Bounce House Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
Robert Willett
rwillett@newsobserver.com
CHAPEL HILL
North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi traveled to Saudi Arabia on an “exploratory fundraising trip” ahead of the 2025 season, UNC’s Brandon Faber confirmed to the News & Observer on Thursday night. The visit was at the invite of the hosts and “funded by hosts.”
Dean Stoyer, UNC’s vice chancellor for communications and marketing, told the N&O Thursday night that Lombardi’s trip was “at the request of a Saudi national who is a college football fan, interested in supporting Coach Belichick.”
Stoyer denied earlier reports that Lombardi’s meeting was related to possible investments by the country’s Public Investment Fund to UNC football. He called the reports “inaccurate.”
Saudi Arabia’s PIF is worth $1 trillion and has invested in LIV Golf, as well as various soccer, martial arts, wrestling and racing ventures.
Lombardi, who was hired by North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick last December as part of a dramatic overhaul of the football program, is currently under a three-year contract worth $1.5 million annually — believed to be the highest for a college football general manager, according to multiple reports. It’s one example of the skyrocketing costs of college athletics at North Carolina and across the nation. And, in the revenue sharing era, some colleges and conferences — such as Boise State and the Big Ten — are reportedly exploring new avenues for potential revenue, such as private equity.
Journalist Pablo Torre, the host of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” podcast, first reported on social media Thursday that Lombardi left the team in August “two weeks before the season-opener” to fundraise in Saudi Arabia.
Belichick, the six-time Super Bowl winner with the New England Patriots, made headlines with his move to college football this offseason. Lombardi billed the Tar Heels as the 33rd NFL team under Belichick’s leadership.
North Carolina is 2-3 and has suffered blowout losses to all its Power 4 opponents so far: TCU (48-14), UCF (34-9) and Clemson (38-10). The Tar Heels play Friday night at Cal (4-2) following its second bye week and are still searching for their first ACC win.
This is a developing news story and will be updated.
This story was originally published October 16, 2025 at 9:14 PM.
EA employees involved with the Communications Workers of America union have issued a sternly-worded statement against the of the company by Saudi-backed investors, . The complaints don’t involve , but rather that workers weren’t represented in any negotiations for the $55 billion deal.
The employees worry that any jobs lost as a result of the purchase would “be a choice, not a necessity, made to pad investors’ pockets.” In addition , unionized workers that urges regulators to scrutinize the deal.
“EA is not a struggling company,” the statement reads, going on to note that the company’s success has been driven by workers. “Yet we, the very people who will be jeopardized as a result of this deal, were not represented at all when this buyout was negotiated or discussed.”
The statement calls out the that have impacted the industry in recent years. Unionized staffers note that “every time private equity or billionaire investors take a studio private, workers lose visibility, transparency and power.”
“We are calling on regulators and elected officials to scrutinize this deal and ensure that any path forward protects jobs, preserves creative freedom and keeps decision-making accountable to the workers who make EA successful,” the statement reads. “The value of video games is in their workers. As a unified voice, we, the members of the industry-wide video game workers’ union UVW-CWA, are standing together and refusing to let corporate greed decide the future of our industry.”
Eurogamer reached out to the FTC to inquire about the status of the proposed acquisition but the agency refused to comment on the grounds that it doesn’t speak about “pending mergers or acquisitions.” It’s worth noting that President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is involved with the purchase. The Financial Times that the deal won’t face any real opposition, as “what regulator is going to say no to the president’s son-in-law?”
As previously noted, the proposed deal is valued at $55 billion. This would take the company private for the first time in its 35-year history. Various entities have partnered to make this deal, including the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), Silver Lake and Kushner’s Affinity Partners. US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal have also voiced concerns about this acquisition.
ATHR is a leading contemporary art gallery co-founded by Mohammed Hafiz and Hamza Serafi with locations in Riyadh, Jeddah and AlUla. Courtesy ATHR gallery
It took Art Basel announcing a new edition in Doha, Qatar, and Sotheby’s recently previewing its first auction in Abu Dhabi at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island for the art world to start paying closer attention to the Gulf art scene and its potential. But while the U.A.E.’s art ecosystem—which includes Dubai’s gallery network and institutional hubs like Sharjah—has long been discussed, far less has been reported about the expanding art scene in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Last February, in the UNESCO-protected historical city of Diriyah, just outside the capital Riyadh, Sotheby’s held its first-ever auction in Saudi Arabia. The cross-category sale featured works by Fernando Botero and Refik Anadol alongside jewels, watches, rare cars, handbags and iconic sports memorabilia, totaling $17.28 million. This was not Sotheby’s first incursion into the Kingdom. The auction house had already staged several charity sales, backed Saudi Arabia’s first Contemporary Art Biennale in 2022, supported last year’s inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, and partnered with the Diriyah Biennale Foundation on the public program for its 2024 edition. Since 2020, the land-art biennial Desert X, conceived in California, has staged a Saudi edition in AlUla, with the next installment scheduled for January 2026—timed so visitors traveling to Art Basel Doha can continue on to Saudi Arabia.
Still, little is known about the day-to-day infrastructure behind these initiatives or the players shaping Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art scene. Observer recently spoke with Mohammed Hafiz, cofounder with Hamza Serafi of ATHR, the Kingdom’s leading contemporary art gallery, to learn more about the current state of the art scene and its evolution, particularly under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030. Since its launch in 2016, the strategic framework has opened the Kingdom to the world and positioned culture as a central force of transformation.
ATHR opened in 2009—well before Vision 2030 created the space to give art and culture a proper boost as the country transitions from an oil-centric economy to a global hub—and now has locations in Riyadh, Jeddah and AlUla. “We started the gallery at a time when the local art scene—and the broader cultural movement around it—was still quite slow,” says Mohammed Hafiz, noting that Saudi Arabia in the 1940s and 1950s had a vibrant artistic movement, with some of the country’s pioneering modernists emerging during that time. In 1958, the Ministry of Knowledge (then the education authority) inaugurated Saudi Arabia’s first formal art exhibition, a symbolic milestone that brought fine art into national consciousness. “For various reasons, that momentum faded over the decades, but when we opened, we wanted to help reignite that energy.”
Mohammed Hafiz, co-founder of ATHR. Photo: Scott Morrish
ATHR’s beginnings were intertwined with “Edge of Arabia,” a traveling exhibition of Saudi contemporary artists that launched in London and toured across Europe and the Middle East. The project became one of the key catalysts for bringing international attention to Saudi contemporary art. The 2008 London exhibition alone drew more than 13,000 visitors before traveling to Venice during the Biennale the following year, and later to Berlin, Istanbul and Dubai.
Afterward, somewhere in 2013, Hafiz expanded the gallery’s work and launched a social initiative called 21,39. “The goal was to produce one major curated exhibition each year and build a whole week of programming around it—panels, talks and events that would bring together local curators, museum directors, collectors, patrons and artists, local and international,” Hafiz explains. The initiative had both private and public components, led by Her Royal Highness Princess Jawaher and a group of patrons, with Hafiz serving as vice chair throughout its run. “It became another important building block in the evolution of Saudi Arabia’s contemporary art ecosystem.”
Vision 2030 marked a watershed moment: under its framework, the Kingdom elevated “culture and arts” as vital pillars of national transformation—no longer ornaments, but key drivers of tourism, soft power, identity and economic growth. “The leadership and the government recognized the importance of culture and the creative industries, not just as forms of expression but as engines of national development,” Hafiz says. As part of that shift, the Ministry of Culture was finally established as a standalone entity—previously it had been folded into the Ministry of Media.
As part of Vision 2030, the Ministry of Culture developed its own strategy, set priorities, and built a network of specialized commissions: the Art Commission, the Culinary Commission, the Museum Commission and others—sixteen in total—each focused on a distinct cultural sector. “This has given us as operators in the art scene many opportunities,” says Hafiz. “It has allowed us to support our artists more effectively, to exhibit their work to a broader local audience, and to engage with an entire new generation of collectors increasingly engaging with contemporary art in Saudi Arabia.”
The Ministry of Culture has become a pivotal force, spearheading initiatives like the Biennale, the Desert X exhibitions, and other major commissions that have transformed the Kingdom’s artistic landscape. These large-scale projects have given artists the chance to realize some of their most ambitious visions and have positioned them at the forefront of Saudi Arabia’s rapidly evolving cultural scene, as Hafiz notes.
Curated by Rania Majinyan, the group show “Afterschool” is on view at ATHR Gallery AlUla through December 30, 2025Photo: Scott Morrish
This rapid evolution underscores the promising trajectory of the Saudi art scene. At the same time, it highlights how ATHR has long operated less as a conventional gallery and more as a cultural platform—a space dedicated to producing and supporting art and culture within the Kingdom while promoting their international reach. “From the start, it was never just about commercial representation. Our space has always operated more like a cultural hub,” Hafiz asserts. “What truly defines us is how we work with artists and engage with the broader artistic community.”
Today, ATHR spans roughly 4,000 square meters across its original venue in Jeddah, its newly opened Riyadh location (ATHR JAX) and a smaller outpost in AlUla—the first contemporary art gallery in the historic city. It has also expanded to include the ATHR Foundation, which focuses on developing emerging artists and alternative art spaces.
Hafiz was a patron and collector before becoming a gallerist. He describes his deep involvement in fostering Saudi Arabia’s art scene as a natural convergence of influences. Though his family wasn’t directly involved in art, they were active in creative industries—fashion retail on one side and publishing on the other. “There was always this dual engagement: the creativity of fashion and the amplification of voices that comes with journalism,” he reflects. “When I encountered art, I realized it merged both worlds—it had the storytelling power of journalism and the expressive creativity of fashion. It was a language that transcended cultures and touched people in a unique way.”
Hafiz began collecting art around 2007, after selling his family business. Soon after, he felt compelled to invest in his country’s cultural potential. “Suddenly, I had the time and resources to explore something new. I thought, why not give this a try—why not build something that could help artists and create a cultural movement? That’s how it all began.”
Cultivating an emerging art scene
ATHR’s diversified ventures now include AKTHR, an art services agency that supports Saudi Arabia’s broader art industry. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience, the team advises and assists a growing community of individuals eager to engage with art and begin collecting.
During the inaugural edition of the Islamic Biennale, ATHR hosted a major rooftop dinner to open their exhibition, welcoming around 2,000 guests—85 percent of them local. What stood out most was the sheer number of young attendees. “The collector base isn’t huge yet, but there’s definitely an appetite—an eagerness to experience, to see, to explore,” Hafiz confirms. “It’s incredibly refreshing to witness.”
During the inaugural edition of the Islamic Biennale, ATHR staged a landmark rooftop dinner that drew nearly 2,000 guests—an impressive 85 percent of whom were local. Courtesy ATHR
ATHR is also investing directly in education and collector development through initiatives like Young Art Collectors. “Through it, we organize talks with established collectors, guide new ones and take them on trips to art fairs and studios,” he explains. “It’s really about helping them develop their knowledge—understanding why they might want to collect, what their vision is and how to engage meaningfully with art.”
One of the country’s most significant recent developments has been in education. Just last week, the Minister of Culture announced a major investment in a new arts and cultural university set to open in Riyadh within the next two or three years. The university is already forming partnerships and affiliations with international institutions across art, music, theater and other creative disciplines.
Hafiz notes that while art programs have previously existed within Saudi universities, there has never been a dedicated art university in the country. “This will be the first institution fully devoted to the creative industries, and that’s a significant milestone.” Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture has also launched a generous scholarship program for Saudis who wish to study art abroad. Once accepted into a pre-approved university, students receive full tuition and living expenses for both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. “It’s a major and truly inspiring initiative.”
At the same time, Hafiz remains focused on cultivating dialogue. “One of our key objectives is building connections and bridges between Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world,” he says. ATHR supports that mission through its residency program, which invites curators, institutional representatives and museum directors to spend time in Saudi Arabia for exploration and study trips. “It’s about creating genuine exchange, fostering understanding, and building lasting relationships that strengthen the dialogue between Saudi Arabia and the global art community.”
Since its inception in Jeddah in 2009, ATHR Gallery has played a pivotal role in shaping the contemporary Saudi art scene. Photo: Scott Morrish
Championing a new wave of Saudi talent
Saudi Arabia today can also claim a new generation of emerging artists, many of whom ATHR is actively promoting on the international stage. In terms of themes defining contemporary Saudi art, Hafiz points to two recurring subjects: religion and society. “Religion remains an integral part of our identity, so artists often reflect on it—sometimes by commenting on the past and its challenges, and sometimes by envisioning the future and its possibilities,” he explains. “Then, there’s the social dimension, especially around women’s rights. Many female artists are exploring questions related to gender, representation and the transformations we’re experiencing today.” Notably, much of this work carries an optimistic tone—acknowledging progress, engaging thoughtfully with the country’s ongoing social shifts and reflecting a shared hope for the kind of future that Vision 2030 is shaping.
From there, the conversation naturally turned to censorship and artistic freedom, as the country continues to face international criticism over its suppression of free speech—including death sentences—and the systemic exploitation of migrant laborers. Some critics argue that the official promotion of art functions as a “cultural façade” strategy: amplifying an image of openness and modernization while maintaining tight control over which narratives are permitted.
Hafiz acknowledges that censorship is a complex issue, noting that what may be considered sensitive or unacceptable in the West may not be in Saudi Arabia—and vice versa. “Every society has its own parameters,” and what is deemed permissible or taboo is shaped by local religious, social and cultural frameworks, which often differ from Western norms. “What I find encouraging is that Saudi artists have become very mature and intelligent in how they approach complex subjects,” Hafiz adds, pointing to the growing use of symbolic, metaphorical, and conceptual strategies. By embracing ambiguity, layering and coded imagery, Saudi artists invite multiple interpretations while making their work more resilient to censorship. “They know how to address issues creatively—how to make a point, leave room for interpretation, and allow the audience to engage with the work—while still remaining respectful of local culture and values.”
ATHR will soon bring Saudi artists to the forefront of the international scene, with booths at both Frieze London and Art Basel Paris this October. Each presentation will focus on Saudi female artists and challenge lingering stereotypes about the Kingdom—especially those tied to female oppression—while highlighting its evolution and future ambitions.
ATHR, in fact, does not treat art fairs as purely commercial platforms but as arenas for dialogue, exchange and shifting perspectives, as Hafiz clarifies. “Of course, when sales happen, that’s great—we love that—but the real goal is to create a long-lasting impact. We’re here for the long haul,” he says. “We don’t want to appear for two or three years and then disappear. We want to build trust, connection, and respect—staying consistent with our values and strategy, returning every year and building on what we’ve started. So far, that approach has worked well for us.”
At the same time, Hafiz points to a growing international appetite for Saudi artists. “We’ve always had international collectors acquiring works from us and following our artists,” he says, noting that while Saudi artists may not yet be fully mainstream, many have begun gaining global visibility.
A work in Zahrah Alghamdi’s solo show “Between Memory and Matter” at ATHR’s Riyadh Gallery. Photo: AzizJan
This recognition extends well beyond ATHR’s roster. “If you look across the scene, you’ll find Saudi artists represented by major international galleries—Maha Malluh with Krinzinger Gallery, Mohammed AlFaraj with Athr and CAMEL, Ahmed Mater with Galleria Continua, Arwa Al Neami with Sabrina Amrani in Madrid and Dana Awartani with Lisson Gallery. These artists are already positioned within international gallery rosters that don’t look at geography as a limitation, and that’s a really encouraging sign for the future.” Hafiz also mentions names such as Mohammed Al-Sanea, Dana Awartani, and Manal Al-Dowayan, all of whom have exhibited in museums abroad and are widely collected internationally.
At Frieze London, the gallery is presenting a two-artist booth featuring Daniah Alsaleh and Basmah Felemban, both exploring Saudi Arabia’s natural and cultural landscapes as sites in flux—continuously reshaped by the movement of people, ecologies and stories. Drawing on her research in the ancient Nabataean city of AlUla, Alsaleh incorporates mineral fragments to build a layered chronology and geology, weaving natural and human histories through material and memory. While Alsaleh looks to the past and the country’s heritage, Felemban looks forward—reimagining the landscape as an informational system. Her futuristic approach envisions new terrains and proposes multimedia, multidisciplinary ways of navigating the environment through fragments of language and data.
The following week, at Paris’s Grand Palais, ATHR will return to Art Basel with a three-artist, female-led presentation featuring Sarah Abu Abdallah, Hayfa Algwaiz and Lulua Alyahya. Through distinct styles—ranging from suspended, symbolic compositions to conceptual reflections—these artists explore how images can mirror and translate the complex, layered experiences of Saudi women today. Approaching these perspectives from sociopolitical, anthropological, and emotional angles, their work challenges stereotypes and prejudices while offering international audiences a rare glimpse into Saudi Arabia’s evolving contemporary art landscape—studio-based, globally networked and deeply rooted in local nuance and culture.
Lulua Alyahya, Untitled, 2025. Courtesy ATHR
Challenges and opportunities
Despite its many promising elements, Saudi Arabia’s art ecosystem remains in a formative stage and continues to face several key challenges. One of the most pressing is the limited number of galleries operating at ATHR’s level, as well as the lack of other spaces capable of supporting both emerging artistic talent and an expanding audience for contemporary art.
Still, Hafiz notes that the traditional concept of a gallery is itself under scrutiny. “Artists today can sell directly through online platforms—straight from their studios, through Artsy, or other direct-to-collector channels,” he explains. “In that kind of environment, the traditional role of the gallery—as a representative who works closely with artists to develop their careers, secure institutional participation, and place works in collections—becomes harder to sustain.” A few new galleries have opened in recent years, which Hafiz sees as a positive development, but he emphasizes that the collector base still needs time and effort to mature.
At the same time, Hafiz sees plenty of opportunity. Because Saudi Arabia’s art scene is still taking shape, there is room to experiment with new models—approaches that don’t rely on inherited frameworks. “We’re living in a time when every concept of museum or gallery is in question,” he says. “When you have a legacy, it’s very difficult and challenging to change the way you’ve been doing things. But when you build something new with a contemporary concept and a forward-looking strategy, you’re not held back by that weight—and that gives Saudi Arabia so much potential.”
It may take time to build, but once the foundation is solid, momentum can accelerate quickly—especially in a region where Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E. and Qatar are all deeply invested in the arts. Each serves as a major patron, moving in concert to elevate and strengthen the regional art scene and help position it as a new global hub. Hafiz describes Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Saudi Arabia as complementary forces. “We’re all supporting each other and working together to build a complete ecosystem. It’s like Europe or the U.S.—you have art fairs and museums spread across different cities. That diversity is healthy. The more activity there is, the better for everyone.”
You Ask, We Answer, an installation by Sarah Abu Abdallah at ATHR Jeddah in 2024. Courtesy ATHR
Veteran comedian Bill Burr unleashed on critics of his recent trip to Saudi Arabia, saying he doesn’t “give a f—” what anyone thinks about his appearance at a comedy festival in Riyadh.
The outspoken comic made the remarks during a special live recording of “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” on Sunday, responding to backlash over performing in the kingdom amid concerns about human rights and free expression.
“I really don’t give a f—, and if it affects my career, I’ve been to LAX enough in my life, I’ll f—ing sit home for a little bit,” Burr said.
Comedian Bill Burr during an interview on “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” in New York City on March 18, 2025.(Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images)
“I will actually tell you LAX is slightly sadder than Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Burr’s remarks came after he and approximately 50 other comedians traveled to the Middle East to appear at the Riyadh Comedy Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The festival, organized under Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, was promoted as part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 cultural reforms, though critics contend such events are meant to gloss over the country’s human rights record.
An installation showcasing the Riyadh Comedy Festival is pictured at Boulevard City in the Hittin neighborhood of Riyadh on October 6, 2025. (Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images)
At one point, however, Burr insisted the festival served as a sign of forward progress in the region.
“The general consensus is, ‘How dare you go to that place and make those oppressed people laugh, you f—ing piece of s—. I can’t believe you went to that place. I can’t find it on a map, and this bot said I was upset about it, so now I am,” he quipped.
People walk past an installation showcasing the Riyadh Comedy Festival at Boulevard City in the Hittin neighborhood of Riyadh on October 6, 2025.(Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images))
“It’s one thing to wear clothes made by sweatshop labor. It’s quite another to go to the factory and make them laugh. I can’t believe how much anger I had about this issue after it went viral.”
“All of these sanctimonious c—s out there… who don’t really sincerely give a s—,” he added at another point, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Burr likened human rights violations in Saudi Arabia to current events occurring inside the U.S., particularly drawing on immigration raids conducted under the Trump administration.
“We’re f—ing grabbing moms and dads and sticking them in a van for making illegally made f—ing tacos to go to Alligator Alcatraz,” he said.
“It’s f—ing insane and, someday, they’re going to be out of brown people to put in those vans, they’re still gonna have the vans, so you shouldn’t be feeling comfortable about it. Thinking that you’re not going to be in it.”
Taylor Penley is an associate editor with Fox News.
But while Madden gets much of the attention in the United States, EA’s real heavyweight is the soccer game EA FC. (The game was formerly known as FIFA, before EA’s partnership with the FIFA organization ended in 2022.) FC is notorious for minting money through a game-within-the-game called Ultimate Team, where players can spend endless amounts of money for packs of digital “cards” that represent individual soccer players. The players in those packs are random, as are their stats, which gives Ultimate Team players a slot machine-like compulsion. They want to acquire cards of their favorite players, but also the best version of their favorite players, because winning games will get a player even more cards. It’s ingenious, terribly extractive, and almost every major sports game on the market has a feature like this now—but FChas long been the most profitable of them all.
All of these assets make EA an appealing blue-chip acquisition for private equity investment, especially since, as the Financial Times reports, those investors believe that the company’s operating costs can be lowered significantly with the use of AI. (A claim no one in the games industry has managed to deliver on just yet.) EA’s sports games also dovetail nicely with both the Crown Prince’s real-world soccer efforts and his nation’s continued gaming investments, which seek to further entangle the nation with the global economy and ultimately lure jobs to Riyadh.
The irony here is that the video game industry, like so many corners of entertainment and culture, is in trouble. Traditional games have struggled in the wake of “games as a service” like Roblox and Fortnite, which let users play for free but charge fees for subscriptions and in-game merchandise, with exclusive merch sold during limited-time brand collaboration events. Old-fashioned games are expensive to make and can take years to produce; they are a high-risk industry where all parties involved are uniquely vulnerable, and in dire need of the sort of cash Saudi investors have been happy to spend in nearly every field.
On September 28, Saudi Arabia announced its latest endeavor: the Saudi Film Fund’s rebrand as Riviera Content, with new investments totalling $32.5 million Saudi riyal (about $8.7 million USD). Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures were both named as collaborators in the fund. It’s a smaller data point than the EA purchase, but these announcements are all of a piece, and all examples of money spent for the same purpose. The goal here seems to be for Saudi Arabia to be as inescapable as the oil that gave the nation its wealth to begin with—to have a hand in everything you see on a screen or in an arena, to put its dollars into things you can’t live without. So that, by extension, you can’t live without Saudi Arabia—and whatever Saudi Arabia chooses to do with its power.
In a somewhat surprising team up, Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund are joining together to buy video game giant Electronic Arts for a staggering $55 billion.
EA announced today that it has agreed to be taken private by a group of investors that includes Kushner’s private-equity firm Affinity Partners, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and investment firm Silver Lake. The group plans to pay stockholders $210 a share in cash.
The deal comes as the gaming industry has seen younger gamers gravitate more toward mobile and free-to-play hits like Fortnite and Roblox, rather than the pricey, franchise-driven blockbusters EA is known for. Founded in 1982 by ex-Apple exec Trip Hawkins, EA has built mega-series like sports franchises FIFA and Madden NFL, as well as the iconic life simulator The Sims. Battlefield 6, the next installment in the company’s military first-person shooter series, drops next month.
EA CEO Andrew Wilson, who will stay on after the sale, tried to calm nerves about the coming shake-up.
In a memo to staff, Wilson called the agreement one of the largest investments ever made in the entertainment industry.
“Our new partners bring deep experience across sports, gaming, and entertainment. They are committed with conviction to EA – they believe in our people, our leadership, and the long-term vision we are now building together,” Wilson wrote.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund already owns nearly 10% of EA, a stake it’s rolling into the new deal. The fund has been on a gaming buying spree in recent years. In 2021, it launched Savvy Games Group to manage a planned $38 billion push into the industry. Savvy has since acquired companies like Scopely, the studio behind Monopoly Go. And then earlier this year, Scopely itself bought the gaming division of Niantic, the makers of Pokemon Go.
These moves could hint at where the new owners want to steer EA. By taking the company private, they can make big changes without considering quarterly market reactions.
The deal is slated to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, at which point EA would be removed from public trading.
Shareholders and regulators still need to sign off, though regulatory approval may be easier in a business-friendly Trump administration—especially with the president’s son-in-law among the investors.
“Electronic Arts is an extraordinary company with a world-class management team and a bold vision for the future. I’ve admired their ability to create iconic, lasting experiences, and as someone who grew up playing their games – and now enjoys them with his kids – I couldn’t be more excited about what’s ahead,” Kushner said in a press release.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump will host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday, with the U.S. president pushing a Gaza peace proposal after a slew of Western leaders embraced Palestinian statehood in defiance of American and Israeli opposition.
In Netanyahu’s fourth visit since Trump returned to office in January, the right-wing Israeli leader will be looking to shore up his country’s most important relationship as it faces growing international isolation nearly two years into its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
He can expect a warm welcome compared to the chilly reception he received when he spoke on Friday before the U.N. General Assembly where many delegates walked out in protest.
Netanyahu went on to deliver a blistering attack on what he called a “disgraceful decision” over the past week by Britain, France, Canada, Australia and several other countries to recognize Palestinian statehood, a major diplomatic shift by top U.S. allies.
They said such action was needed to preserve the prospect for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and help bring the war to a close.
Trump, who had criticized the recognition moves as a prize to Hamas, told Reuters on Sunday he hopes to get Netanyahu’s agreement on a framework to end the war in the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining hostages held by Hamas.
“We’re getting a very good response because Bibi wants to make the deal too,” Trump said in a telephone interview, using Netanyahu’s nickname. “Everybody wants to make the deal.”
He credited leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Jordan and Egypt for their assistance and said the deal aims to go beyond Gaza to a broader Middle East peace.
“It’s called peace in the Middle East, more than Gaza. Gaza is a part of it. But it’s peace in the Middle East,” he said.
Asked whether there is now an agreed deal for peace in Gaza, a senior Israeli official said “it’s too early to tell.” The official added that Netanyahu would give Israel’s response to the proposal when he meets Trump on Monday.
Netanyahu is under mounting pressure from the hostages’ families and, according to public opinion polls, a war-weary Israeli public.
A 21-point peace plan had been circulated to a string of Arab and Muslim countries on the U.N. sidelines last week.
It calls for the release of all hostages, living and dead, no further Israeli attacks on Qatar and a new dialogue between Israel and Palestinians for “peaceful coexistence,” a White House official said on condition of anonymity. Israel angered the Qataris and drew criticism from Trump for an airstrike against Hamas leaders in Doha on September 9.
Previous U.S.-backed ceasefire efforts have fallen apart due to a failure to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas and Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is completely dismantled.
GAZA WAR TAKES CENTER-STAGE
The White House meeting follows an annual gathering of world leaders in New York in which the Gaza war took center-stage and Israel was often the target. Netanyahu responded that the world leaders recognizing Palestinian independence were sending the message that “murdering Jews pays off.”
The most far-right government in Israeli history has ruled out acceptance of a Palestinian state as it presses on with its fight against Hamas following the militants’ October 7, 2023, rampage in Israel. Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s military response has killed more than 65,000 people in Gaza, according to local health officials, leaving much of the territory in ruins, a humanitarian crisis deepening and hunger spreading.
The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in the Gaza war. Israel rejects the court’s jurisdiction and denies committing war crimes.
While Trump and Netanyahu have mostly been in sync and the U.S. continues to be Israel’s main arms supplier, Monday’s discussions have the potential for tensions to surface.
Some of Netanyahu’s hardline ministers have said the government should respond to growing recognition of Palestinian statehood by formally extending Israeli sovereignty over all or parts of the occupied West Bank to snuff out hopes for Palestinian independence.
On Thursday, however, Trump said he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, which the Palestinians want for their state, along with Gaza and East Jerusalem.
Analysts say Israeli annexation of the West Bank could unravel the landmark Abraham Accords, a signature foreign policy achievement brokered by Trump’s first administration in which several Arab countries forged diplomatic ties with Israel.
(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland, writing by Matt Spetalnick, Editing by Humeyra Pamuk and Diane Craft)
Electronic Arts is close to reaching a $50 billion deal that will turn it into a privately held company, according to The Wall Street Journal. The video game company filed for an IPO way back in 1990 and has been public ever since, but now a group of investors are in talks with the company to take it private. Those investors reportedly include private equity firm Silver Lake, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, whose largest source of funding is also Saudi’s PIF.
It’s worth noting that EA’s shares are already tied to major financial organizations, even though it’s publicly traded, with Saudi’s PIF owning almost 10 percent of the company. As Reuters notes, analysts believe Saudi is interested in buying out EA due to its annual release of popular sports titles, including Madden and NHL, which makes for predictable earnings.
Saudi has made several major investments in the video gaming industry overall as part of its efforts to prepare for a post-oil economy. In addition to its investment in EA, it also purchased stakes in Take-Two Interactive, Activision Blizzard, Nintendo and the Embracer Group. In March, Pokémon Go maker Niantic sold its gaming division to a Saudi-owned company, as well. Unlike PIF and Kushner’s Affinity Partners, Silver Lake doesn’t have a huge stake in EA at the moment and doesn’t have notable gaming investments other than its stake in Unity.
Bloomberg and The Financial Times report that the company could announce the buyout as soon as next week, but details could change since nothing has been finalized yet. If the $50 billion deal does push through, it’ll become the biggest leveraged buyout of all time.
The Israeli was transferred to a local hospital for medical treatment, according to N12.
A FlyDubai flight carrying about 80 Israelis had to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday due to one of the passengers suffering from a stroke, according to local media.
The flight was initially scheduled to land at Ben-Gurion Airport at 5:45 p.m. after departing from Dubai International Airport in the UAE at 4:17 p.m. Instead, it landed in Riyadh at 5:45 p.m.
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The plane received exceptional permission to land in Riyadh to treat the passenger. The Israeli was transferred to a local hospital for medical treatment, according to N12. The passengers spent about an hour on Saudi soil and then took off again for Israel, the report said.
Passengers seen at the Ben-Gurion Airport train station, August 17, 2025 (credit: FLASH90/CHAIM GOLDBERG)
Similar incidents
A similar incident happened just over two years ago when an Air Seychelles flight carrying 128 Israelis made an emergency landing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, due to a technical issue.
American stand-up comedian Tim Dillon says he has been dropped from the bill of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Comedy Festival because of remarks he made about the country’s alleged use of forced labor.
Dillon was one of many high-profile American comedians set to perform at what organizers have promised will be the “world’s largest comedy festival,” in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, starting on Friday.
Among the other big names set to perform are Bill Burr, Dave Chapelle and Kevin Hart.
In an episode of his podcast The Tim Dillon Show released online on Sept. 20, the comedian said he had been “fired” from the festival because of jokes he had previously made referencing the alleged use of forced labor in the conservative Islamic kingdom.
Comedian Tim Dillon revealed on his podcast that he had been dropped from the roster of comedians performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival
Tim Dillon/Youtube
“They heard what you said about them having slaves,” Dillon recalled his manager telling him in a previous conversation, in the podcast. “They didn’t like that.”
“I addressed it in a funny way, and they fired me,” he said. “I certainly wasn’t gonna show up in your country and insult the people that are paying me the money.”
The remarks referenced were part of a previous podcast episode, aired on Aug. 30, in which Dillon repeatedly joked about alleged slavery in Saudi Arabia, and his decision to accept a reported payment of $375,000 for his performance at the Riyadh festival.
CBS News has not been able to independently verify that figure, and representatives of Dillon have not responded to requests for comment on his contract with the Saudi government-run festival, or his apparent removal from it.
Publicists for Bill Burr, Mark Normand, Kevin Hart, Sebastian Maniscalco, Dave Chapelle, Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Tom Segura, Andrew Schulz and Jim Jeffries — all of whom are on the bill for the festival — have also not responded to previous CBS News requests for comment.
A screengrab from the website for the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia shows some of the Western comedians set to perform at the event, which is scheduled for Sept. 26 through Oct. 9, 2025.
Riyadh Comedy Festival
The comedy festival will be the latest in a string of major sporting and cultural events in Saudi Arabia, which critics say are part of a concerted effort to deflect attention from human rights issues in the kingdom.
One of the most high-profile examples was in 2021, with the launch of LIV Golf, a golf league that saw seasoned professionals defect from the famed PGA Tour in exchange for highly profitable contracts.
Joey Shea, a researcher for the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch organization alleged to CBS News the comedy festival was a “deliberate effort to whitewash the country’s human rights record and deflect from the egregious abuses that continue to happen inside of the country.”
Shea told CBS News the Western comedians should use their platform to draw attention to Saudi Arabia’s poor human rights record, and avoid being “complicit in covering up the abuses of a repressive regime.”
CBS News asked Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment on HRW’s assertions, but has not received a response.
BEIRUT — For years, Persian Gulf nations staked their defense on one thing above all: A U.S.-supplied security umbrella, paid for with tens of billions of their petrodollars and agreements that allowed the U.S. to dot the Middle East with some of its largest military facilities.
The thinking was that being users of U.S. weaponry and having a U.S. military presence was a virtual guarantee of protection if enemies came to call.
That thinking was upended on Tuesday, when Israel, arguably the U.S.’s top ally, dispatched warplanes and hurled 10 missiles at Hamas’ political office compound in the Qatari capital Doha.
The attack, which targeted the Palestinian group’s senior negotiation team as it was discussing a ceasefire proposal from President Trump, killed five Hamas members and a Qatari security officer. Hamas denies any of its senior leadership was killed.
But whether the targeting succeeded is irrelevant to Gulf leaders pondering the effectiveness of decades-old security arrangements with the U.S.
“The message to the region appears to be, ‘If you think close ties with and major military support for Washington provides protection… think again,’ ” said Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute.
“They’re all vulnerable to attack by larger and more powerful neighbors, and they expect a commitment that helping the U.S. militarily comes with a certain degree of protection. It clearly doesn’t,” he said.
This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC taken on Wednesday shows damage after an Israeli strike targeted a compound that hosted Hamas’ political leadership in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.
(Planet Labs PBC via Associated Press)
Qatari officials were apoplectic after the strike, calling it cowardly and a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
Especially galling to Qatar — which houses the Al Udeid Air Base, the largest American military installation in the region — is that it allowed Hamas officials to openly live in a well-appointed district of its capital at Washington’s request, just as it had with the Taliban during the group’s negotiations to end America’s war in Afghanistan.
“Everything about that meeting [with Hamas] is very well known for the Israelis and for the Americans. It’s not something we’re hiding,” said Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
“I have no words to express how enraged we are from such an action [by Israel]. This is state terror,” he said.
Other Gulf leaders — even those harboring lingering reservations about Qatar and its regional policies — presented a united front on Qatar’s behalf.
Saudi Arabia called the strike a “brutal aggression” and said the kingdom would “stand with Qatar without limit.” Bahrain expressed its “full solidarity.”
Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates, traveled to Doha the next day to meet the Qatari emir — a surprise given how assiduously the UAE has worked to improve ties with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords, the Trump-brokered agreements that saw a number of Arab and Gulf nations normalize relations with Israel in 2020.
“The Gulf states view an external attack on one member as an attack on all,” said Yasmine Farouk, the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Project director at the International Crisis Group.
Farouk added that trust in the U.S. was already diminished in recent years when Washington failed to defend or respond to attacks on Saudi Arabia in 2019 and the UAE in 2022 by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Qatar, which suffered through an Iranian missile assault on Al Udeid in June, now has the dubious honor of having its territory become a proxy battleground for both sides of the larger U.S.-Iran conflict.
This week’s strike also represents a setback for the anti-Iran coalition the U.S. has worked to forge with its Arab allies and Israel. But the feeling among many in the Gulf is that Israel is just as belligerent and destabilizing an actor as Iran.
“Israel has misinterpreted the willingness of Gulf countries to normalize relations with it as an acknowledgment of its dominance in the region,” Farouq said.
“The Gulf states do not want to live in a region dominated by either Israel or Iran,” she added. “They reject that kind of behavior, rather than rejecting a specific country.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the immediate motive for the strike was Hamas claiming responsibility for the killing of six Israelis by Palestinian gunmen in Jerusalem earlier this week. He insisted the operation was planned and conducted entirely by Israel.
At the same time, the more than 1,000-mile distance between Israel and Qatar means Israeli warplanes flew over multiple Arab countries, almost all of them with U.S. bases presumably able to detect incoming aircraft. (The U.S. has 19 bases across the region.) The building the Israelis struck is less than 20 miles away from Al Udeid.
Trump said he learned about the attack shortly before it began and instructed members of his administration to “immediately” inform the Qataris. But Al Thani said the call from the U.S. came 10 minutes after the planes lobbed their missiles on Doha.
In May, when Trump visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, they feted him with grandiose events heavy on the pomp and circumstance and pledged trillions of dollars for investments in the U.S. The expectation was that this would buy some leverage, but Trump is reported to have done little more than scold Netanyahu over Tuesday’s strike, even while stopping short of condemning his actions. (Also in May, Qatar donated a luxury Boeing 747 aircraft for Trump to use as Air Force One.)
The conclusion for Gulf countries expecting U.S. protection from all threats, said Abdulaziz Al-Anjeri, founder of the Kuwait-based think tank Reconnaissance Research, is that some threats are more equal than others.
“U.S. security assistance is effective against Iran or its allied armed factions, but it does not extend to Israel,” he said, adding that historical alliances with the Gulf don’t carry the same weight for Trump as they may have in the past.
The issue, said Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University, is that there’s little specificity as to what a U.S. security umbrella actually entails.
“America’s No.1 ally is now striking another American partner, and all they got from Trump is that they ‘felt badly.’ That it happened this way is not in America’s favor,” Al-Saif said.
He added that Gulf nations, especially Saudi Arabia, have been pushing for more formal — and well-defined — defense pacts, but that the relationship with the U.S. needed to reflect recent changes. “You’re here as a security guarantor,” he said of the U.S. “We cannot be cash dispensers if we feel that our basic security is not guaranteed.”
Sony recently ended one of its more bizarre pandemic-era side-quests by selling its majority stake in the fighting game event Evo. One of the biggest esports events of the year is now co-owned by talent management company RTS and India-based NODWIN Gaming. That seemed mostly fine, until now.
Yesterday Qiddiya Gaming, which is backed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF). announced it was taking full ownership of RTS, making it the second-biggest stakeholder for Evo. Chief strategy officer Muhannad Aldawood called it “a strategic step that will further strengthen our esports business and unlock new opportunities across the broader gaming ecosystem.”
He added, “most importantly, this will enable Qiddiya to keep fueling the continued growth of Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s largest fighting game event since 1996, with unlimited potentials.”
The move puts the premier event for Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and other fighting games squarely in the crosshairs of Saudi Arabia’s ongoing efforts to “sportswash” its abysmal human rights reputation and the fact that it’s still ruled by a literal monarch in the year 2025. Other notable attempts include things like merging with the PGA Tour, partnering with WWE, and paying Christiano Ronaldo $700 million to play soccer in Riyadh.
There have also been big shifts into gaming as well. This has included investing billions across everything from Nintendo and Capcom to Electronic Arts and Nexon Gaming. Earlier this year, it bought Pokémon Go and other Niantic-developed mobile games for a whopping $3.5 billion. It even bought all of King of Fighters and Metal Slug publisher SNK Corporation, taking the company private and seemingly forcing the developers to put Ronaldo in this year’s Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves.
But the push has been even more apparent in competitive gaming. It purchased major global tournament organizer ESL FACEIT in 2022, and snagged a 30 percent stake in Chinese esports company Hero Esports in 2023. And it just wrapped up the 2025 Esports World Cup, an attempt to astroturf a new major competitive gaming event into existence through massive prize pools never before seen, even in the esports bubble years of the late 2010s.
While some communities have boycotted the event, others have been happy to lean on the publicity and money at a time when pro gaming is struggling. A documentary promoting the 2025 EWC was released on Amazon earlier this year, but the version streaming in Saudi Arabia stripped out players talking about LGTBQ+ issues and concerns.
“We are disappointed to learn, upon your request for comment, that the Saudi broadcast of Esports World Cup: Level Up has been altered to remove images of our Pride jersey, as well as important parts of our Co-CEO Steve Arhancet’s story as a gay man in esports,” Team Liquid, which fields players in League of Legends, Overwatch 2, Apex Legends, and more, wrote at the time.
Saudi Arabia’s investment fund is still only a minority investor in Evo, and it’s unclear how the change in ownership will impact the event moving forward. At the very least, it’s hard to see Saudi Arabia not being added to the list of countries that currently host annual Evo tournaments. How pro players respond also remains to be seen.
Fighting games have always been unique within esports. With a legacy that dates back to the early arcade days and communities built on local, grassroots connections rather than corporate branding exercises, Evo has always had a special place within competitive gaming. It’s now one that will have to confront the moral calculus of co-owners currently accused, among other things, of a recent surge in extra-judicial executions.
A federal judge in New York denied a motion by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to dismiss a lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims who are seeking to hold the Middle Eastern country responsible for potentially providing support to the hijackers, allowing the suit to proceed.
The ruling is the latest in a long-running lawsuit seeking to hold the Saudi government liable for al Qaeda’s attacks, a case that has been described by lawyers for the plaintiffs as a “labyrinth.”
Saudi Arabia had the suit temporarily dismissed in 2015, before the dismissal was overturned by a federal appeals court. While the appeal was pending in 2016, Congress enacted a law known as the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, which allowed victims of terror attacks to sue foreign governments and individuals if they provided material support to the attackers. It also gave U.S. courts jurisdiction over potential lawsuits filed over injuries and deaths in attacks on U.S. soil.
Allegations that members of the Saudi government had links to some of the Sept. 11 hijackers have circulated for years. The claims have drawn vehement denials from Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East. Most theories have centered on two of the 19 hijackers: Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, who were on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon.
More than a year before the hijackings, al-Midhar and al-Hazmi settled in Los Angeles, where a Saudi man named Omar al-Bayoumi helped them find an apartment. A 2004 report by the 9/11 Commission said that Bayoumi met the two hijackers by chance at a restaurant.
But the families of some victims and their attorneys have alleged that Bayoumi had deeper connections to Saudi Arabia, citing federal reportsdeclassified in recent years that allege he had “extensive ties” with the Gulf monarchy’s government and was accused of serving as a Saudi intelligence officer. The FBI has also investigated whether the two hijackers got assistance from Fahad al-Thumairy, an accredited Saudi diplomat and imam at a Los Angeles mosque. The 9/11 Commission found no evidence that Thumairy helped the hijackers.
Last year, a “60 Minutes” report revealed new evidence about Bayoumi, including a video of him filming the entrances of the U.S. Capitol and pointing out its location relative to the Washington Monument, at some points referencing a “plan.” Investigators have long believed the Capitol may have been the intended target of Flight 93, which crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers overtook the hijackers.
Decades ago, investigators also found a notebook in Bayoumi’s home that seemed to show a drawing of a plane and a mathematical equation that could be used to calculate the rate of descent to a target.
Many of those allegations were raised by attorneys for the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. Lawyers for the Saudi government have repeatedly pushed for all claims against the country to be dismissed, including in October 2023. A Manhattan judge rejected that request Thursday.
“Plaintiffs have managed to provide this Court with reasonable evidence as to the roles played by Bayoumi, Thumairy, and KSA, in assisting the hijackers. KSA did not proffer sufficient evidence to the contrary,” U.S. District Judge in the Southern District of New York George Daniels wrote in an order Thursday. “Although KSA attempts to offer seemingly innocent explanations or context, they are either self-contradictory or not strong enough to overcome the inference that KSA had employed Bayoumi and Thumairy to assist the hijackers.”
Daniels wrote that while the families and attorneys representing Saudi Arabia disagree on Bayoumi’s motive, it is “undisputed” that Bayoumi assisted in finding the hijackers’ apartments, and signed a lease with them as a guarantor. Daniels said it is also “undisputed” that a notepad page “with an airplane drawing, notes, and numbers” was found in Bayoumi’s home.
Attorneys representing Saudi Arabia, Daniels wrote, argued that “Bayoumi’s encounters with the hijackers were coincidences,” and he was “simply being good-natured” when he provided assistance to the hijackers. The lawyers, Daniels said, claimed the airplane drawing “was unrelated to the 9/11 Attacks” and “likely related to Bayoumi’s son’s high school [assignments].”
“These are all either conclusory attorney speculations not grounded in facts, or self-serving denials or excuses from Bayoumi himself that do not withstand scrutiny,” Daniels wrote.
“We welcome the court’s thorough and well-reasoned decision and look forward to moving the case forward to trial,” Sean P. Carter, an attorney representing the families, said in a statement.
Kreindler & Kreindler LLP, another law firm representing Sept. 11 victims’ families, said the ruling “ensures that the plaintiffs may continue their long pursuit of truth and justice,” and “paves the way for these critical issues to be fully examined at trial.”
The Justice Department and the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Companies with AI chatbots love to highlight their capability as translators, but they still default to English, both in function and in the information they are trained on. With that in mind, Humain, an AI company in Saudi Arabia, has now launched an Arabic-native chatbot.
The bot, called Humain Chat, runs on the Allam large language model, according to Bloomberg, which the company claims was trained on “one of the largest Arabic datasets ever assembled” and is the “world’s most advanced Arabic-first AI model.” The company says that it is not only fluent in the Arabic language, but also in “Islamic culture, values and heritage.” (If you have religious concerns about using Humain Chat, consult your local Imam.) The chatbot, which will be made available as an app, will first be available only in Saudi Arabia and currently supports bilingual conversations in Arabic and English, supporting dialects including Egyptian and Lebanese. The plan is for the app to roll out across the Middle East and eventually go global, with the goal of serving the nearly 500 million Arabic-speaking people across the world.
Humain took on Allam and the chatbot project after it was started by the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority, a government agency and tech regulator. For that reason, Bloomberg raises the possibility that Humain Chat may comply with censorship requests of the Saudi government and restrict the kind of information made available to users.
But we also should probably start explicitly framing American AI tools this way, too. Within its support documents, OpenAI explicitly states that ChatGPT is “skewed towards Western views.” Hell, you can watch Elon Musk try to fine-tune the ideology of xAI’s Grok in real time as he responds to Twitter users who think the chatbot is too woke—an effort that, at one point, led to Grok referring to itself as “MechaHitler.”
There’s certainly a difference between corporate and government control (though, increasingly, it’s worth asking if there actually is that big of a difference), but earlier this year, the Trump administration set out plans to regulate the kinds of things large language models are allowed to output if the companies that make them want federal contracts. That includes requirements to “reject radical climate dogma” and be free from “ideological biases” like “diversity, equity, and inclusion.” It’s not force, but it is coercion—and given that OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google have all given their chatbots to the government for basically nothing, it seems like they are more than happy to be coerced.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 29, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah is the official government entity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia responsible for regulating and overseeing the Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages. Its mandate includes organizing pilgrimage operations, ensuring the safety and well-being of pilgrims, and enforcing relevant policies. This announcement clarifies the Ministry’s position on the mandatory requirement of Hajj permits for domestic pilgrims and Hajj visas for international visitors in order to ensure an orderly and secure pilgrimage experience.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has affirmed that the performance of Hajj rituals will only be permissible through adherence to the necessary regulations and laws, specifically by obtaining a Hajj permit for domestic pilgrims and a Hajj visa for pilgrims from abroad.
The Ministry indicated that this requirement aims to foster a culture of compliance with regulations, which will, in turn, facilitate the Hajj rituals with ease and tranquility. This is being achieved in collaboration with the embassies of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, media offices, and Hajj and Umrah offices in various countries worldwide to ensure comprehensive and effective outreach.
Through its continuous efforts, the Ministry seeks to guarantee the smooth, safe, and easy performance of the Hajj pilgrimage by organizing pilgrim numbers, efficiently implementing field plans, and improving the quality of services provided to pilgrims. This contributes to enhancing the Hajj experience and achieving pilgrim satisfaction through strict adherence to the necessary permits.
Donald Trump has never been shy about proclaiminghisaffectionfor various dictators and right-wing authoritarians. One individual he has consistently praised since his time in office? Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whom the ex-president dubbed a “great guy” in a recent interview, despite the minor manner of that whole bone-saw-murder business.
Appearing on Saudi state-owned TV network Al Arabiya, Trump said that while the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the United States is “fine right now,” when he was president, “it was great with capital letters. G-R-E-A-T, great.” (Yes, he actually spelled it out.) Trump added that he has “so much respect for the king, so much respect for Mohammed, who is doing great. I mean, he’s really a visionary. He’s done things that nobody else would have even thought about.” Later in the interview, he declared MBS a “great guy” who is “respected all over the world.”
Just so it’s clear, the man Trump claims is a “great guy” and “respected all over the world” is the same person who, according to the CIA, approved the 2018 assassination of US resident and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi, which involved luring Khashoggi to the consulate in Istanbul, murdering him, and dismembering him via bone saw. (The Saudi government has long claimed MBS had nothing to do with the grisly murder, a claim that the UN does not believe either.)
In 2020, Bob Woodwardrevealed in his book Rage that the then president had bragged about protecting MBS following Khashoggi’s assassination. According to Woodward, after being informed that “The people at the [Washington] Post are upset about the Khashoggi killing,” Trump responded: “I saved his ass. I was able to get Congress to leave him alone. I was able to get them to stop.”
Why the continued praise? We’ll give you two guesses but you’ll probably only need one. Per The Hill:
Earlier this year, the Trump Organization announced it would be building a Trump Tower building in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The building is the Trump Organization’s first development in the country and is in partnership with a Saudi-owned developer.
The Saudi government also cut a $2 billion check for former first son-in-law Jared Kushner’s investment fund in 2022; earlier this year, Kushner called MBS “a visionary leader” who has “done a lot of things that have made the world a better place.”
