The news, anew
Business
Global oil stockpiles are "scarily thin" owing to the US-Iran war, Saudi Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser said Monday. "The system is already straining," Nasser told the Energy Intellligence Forum in London. "And with precious little else the world can turn to, the supply resilience cushion is scarily thin," he told the two-day conference attended by leaders from across the energy sector.
News
The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said on Monday that 100 fighter jets had taken part in the first hours of Yemen Dawn, an operation launched by the Yemeni government to retake state institutions and territory controlled by the Houthi militia. It said 324 “high-value” targets had been destroyed since the operation began.
News
Israeli forces began work Monday on the “Sufa 53” line in the southern countryside of Syria’s Quneitra province, within the Syrian buffer zone bordering the occupied Golan Heights, after completing the project in the northern and central sectors and seizing thousands of dunams of farmland. The move comes amid an escalation in Israeli attacks, incursions and violations of Syrian territory in Quneitra and Daraa provinces overlooking the ceasefire line. Such operations have intensified and become almost daily since the fall of the former government in late 2024.
News
Egypt is seeking stronger regional and international efforts to advance a political solution to the war in Sudan, saying an end to the conflict is essential to easing the suffering of the Sudanese people and restoring stability. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reiterated that position during talks with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chairman of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, on the sidelines of the 8th African Union Mid-Year Coordination Meeting.
News
The Israeli army is taking logistical steps to prepare for a prolonged presence in South Lebanon, fortifying positions and improving road networks while expanding scorched areas north of what it calls the “Yellow Line.” Israeli strikes have also extended deeper into Lebanon, reaching Wadi Zibqin in the western sector and the vicinity of Mayfadoun in the east, in what local sources described as an expansion of depopulated areas through gunfire, artillery shelling, airstrikes and drone activity.
Politics
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has warned the Shiite Coordination Framework of the consequences of failing to meet agreed deadlines for bringing weapons under state control, as Washington reaffirmed that its economic partnership with Baghdad was moving forward. Al-Zaidi hosted a meeting of Coordination Framework leaders late Saturday, stressing the need to resolve outstanding issues, including completing the formation of his Cabinet and regulating weapons in a way that strengthens state sovereignty and security in Iraq and the wider region.
News
Ukraine and Germany have signed a $1.5 billion arms deal to help counter a surge in Russian drone attacks, as a solidarity visit by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Sunday coincided with fresh strikes and air-raid sirens in Kyiv. The aid for weapons includes combat drones and supporting Ukraine's battered energy sector, which Russia is targeting to cut off heating and power during the freezing winter months, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his X account.
News
One person was killed in an airstrike targeting a convoy carrying aid supplies in Sudan’s South Kordofan region on Saturday, the World Food Program (WFP) said. Meanwhile, tensions gripped Port Sudan following a horrible murder that shocked the city. In a statement issued on Sunday, the UN agency strongly condemned the aerial attack that hit two contracted trucks carrying WFP food commodities in South Kordofan.
News
A committee of the Makkah Defense Pact between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan will hold talks in Riyadh on Monday. The meeting is expected to bring together the defense and foreign ministers as well as the army chiefs of staff of the three countries. The official Turkish Anadolu Agency, citing sources in the Turkish Foreign Ministry, reported that the Turkish side is scheduled to present its vision during the meeting regarding the institutionalization process of the alliance and future steps.
Science
One sweltering day in Tokyo, Kaoru Morimoto told friends she wasn't sure she could endure another summer in her neighborhood, where tree cover and the crucial shade it provides is dwindling. As Japan experiences ever more frequent extreme heat, tree cover that can help lower temperatures is shrinking rather than growing in Tokyo, bucking a trend among many major world capitals. Morimoto wants that to change. Last year she launched a campaign urging officials to set a canopy cover target, a rare grassroots initiative focused on the issue.
News
Some 5.8 million refugee children were out of school in 2025, the United Nations said Friday, warning that funding cuts threatened to make the situation worse. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, said 44 percent of the world's 13.1 million school-age refugee children were out of school last year. "Education is protection. But it is also a pathway to opportunity and self-reliance," said Barham Salih, the UN high commissioner for refugees, AFP reported.
Culture
The Ministry of Culture is scheduled to launch the Quarter Tone exhibition next Wednesday at Fenaa Alawwal Center, where it will run through November 7. The art exhibition offers a sensory experience exploring the intersection between music and visual art. The Quarter Tone exhibition is an artistic project conceived by artist Naseer Shamma. Its concept uses sawdust and wood remnants generated from the making of the oud to create visual artworks that transform the material from its traditional function into compositions evoking sound, maqam, and rhythm, SPA reported.
News
The second anniversary of the assassinations of former Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine exposed a grim reality facing Hezbollah inside Lebanon. It showed that the group has lost its network of domestic allies, as evidenced by the absence, for the first time in two decades, of figures who had been allied with the group before the 2024 war.
Business
Al-Moammar Information Systems Company (MIS) has received its first work order under its agreement with HUMAIN, with a total value exceeding 148 percent of the company's total revenue for 2025, including value-added tax. In a statement on Saudi Exchange on Sunday, the company said Work Order No. 1, received on October 1, covers the scope of work related to a capacity of 50 megawatts. This was the scope previously announced as part of a project to design and build data centers dedicated to artificial intelligence technologies.
Culture
The King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language (KSGAAL) opened its fifth annual international conference today in Riyadh, convening prominent researchers, linguists, and cultural scholars from Saudi Arabia and abroad for a two-day forum. The conference highlights the pivotal role of the Arabic language in shaping cultural identity, collective memory, and intellectual discourse, while exploring its contributions to civilizational exchange, translation, and intercultural dialogue, SPA reported.
Science
AlUla Manara team, part of the Royal Commission for AlUla, will launch “World Space Week” events tomorrow, running through October 8, with educational and cultural activities on astronomy and space sciences that offer visitors and enthusiasts a range of astronomical experiences. The events will begin with a stargazing evening, and Tuesday will include an event exploring how ancestors used the stars to track changing seasons, SPA reported. Wednesday and Thursday will feature children’s crafts and storytelling activities, along with a family stargazing experience.
Culture
The “qasabat” (watchtowers) stand among houses and farms in several villages of old Aseer Region, bearing witness to an architectural tradition closely linked to residents’ security and daily lives. Depending on their design and function, they monitored roads and village entrances and stored grain and provisions, forming part of the region’s architectural and social heritage. The qasaba, the singular form of qasabat, is one of the architectural forms for which the villages of Aseer are known, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
Business
OPEC+ agreed to keep oil production targets steady for November at a meeting on Sunday, the producer group said, in line with expectations that further output policy adjustments are unlikely until next year. Seven core members of the group comprising the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia made the decision for November in a brief online meeting on Sunday. The core members are Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman.
