Saudi Arabia

The UK-based King's College Hospital will open in Jeddah and by the end of 2023; it will count 150 beds in the first phase and increase to 250 beds later, and be featured with a fully equipped emergency department, single rooms and VIP suites

The Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources and Energy have teamed up with the Non-Oil Revenues Development Center to grant industrial licences to facilities operating in the renewable energy and power plant sectors

African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal have announced their support for the country's bid to host Expo 2030, which was submitted last year

Having gradually opened up opportunities for women, who were not allowed to drive until 2018, a job advert to recruit 30 female train drivers, who will also receive a year's training, has attracted 28.000 applicants

Given the country's long and rich coffee tradition, 2022 has been designated as 'The Year of Saudi Coffee'; according to internal reports, the country plans to plant 1,2 million coffee trees by 2025

The country has regsitered one of the highest adoption curves of contactless payments in the world over the past three years, with the overall share of contactless payments reaching 95% during the period

Interactive screens in six languages have been installed to facilitate visitors' access to the ritual sites; the initiative of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques is part of the plan to improve the orientation system

The three-week-long Saudi Design Festival is part of a move towards city-wide activation that will put design at the centre; it was founded by Basma Bouzo, who says she took the challenges of the pandemic and used them as an opportunity to ground them

Light shows illuminated the facades of 58 palaces in the archaeological village of Dhee Ayn in Baha to celebrate the addition of Arabic calligraphy to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list

Riyadh Season 2021, which opened on 20 October with its wide offer of entertainment, recorded over six million visits, with more open access areas continued to receive people every day

The Jafurah $100bn plan has been allocated; the country will thus become the largest shale gas producer outside the US

The 3rd Red Sea Film Festival kicks off today in the Jeddah Old Town district: film enthusiasts have received accreditation for the inaugural in-person edition of the most anticipated film event of the year after two years of virtual events

The country decided to set an age limit for pilgrims and permits to perform Umrah for overseas Muslims are limited to those aged 18-50; they must also be fully vaccinated with vaccines recognized in the country to obtain an electronic entry visa