saudi arabia, next on great decisions. (enthusiastic music) - [announcer] great decisions is produced by the foreign policy association in association with thomson reuters. funding for great decisions is provided by pricewaterhousecoopers, llp. (soft arabian music) - [narrator] saudi arabia and the us are at odds culturally and ideologically yet for decades, they have been said to enjoy a special relationship based on shared interests. - on 1945, when the late king abdulaziz, the founder of modern saudi arabia met with the late president franklin roosevelt on an american destroyer called the quincy, there was a very strong strategic relationship that developed between the two countries. - there's lots of areas that we have to work together. we had times, have different views and different priorities and we have different values, we understand that but we share a common commitment to a more peaceful region and i think we can work with saudi arabia in order to accomplish that. - the special relationship about the united stat

we also talk about commercial sales opportunities in saudi arabia. but we also hope saudi arabia will partner and invest with us here in the united states as well. objectives of our regular economic dialogues in the region is to promote two-way foreign direct investment. vision 2030's program seeks to transform its public investment fund into a sovereign wealth fund withholdings of hundreds of billions of dollars. we understand the government will aim to hold 50% of its non-aramco assets abroad compared to 90 for -- 95% currently invested in saudi arabia. saudi arabia will find many promising investment opportunities in the united states. that will become more apparent as you further engage with our companies later today. all of you assembled today here and in the kingdom have a friend in the u.s. government to assist you in fostering mutually beneficial economic collaboration. i think our saudi partners for being here today to learn about the opportunities our leading american companies have to offer. i think the u.s. chamber of commerce and the cou

the island in question was given to saudi arabia or at least recognized as belonging to saudi arabia.ptians will see this as a positive step. the politics will show the countries are back on track. tracy: the other big news we saw, the announcement of a new ambassador. part of the overhaul announced last night. how do you see the relationship with the u.s. of all vain? be goodgs going to compared to the obama administration? new think we are seeing a between the country's being established. the relationship with the u.s. out to beo be turned exceptionally positive. we will see a fabulous and dynamic relationship he established. we have seen the announcements of saudi officials. now we are seeing this change, putting in place a dynamic new signal to the importance of the relationship. thank you for stopping by. let's get you what is to come on the program. ceoill be speaking to the business is see how holding up in this part of the world. this is bloomberg. ♪ with xfinity x1... family time is awesome! show me the radio disney music awards. just say it and see it with the x1 voice remot

it's not like saudi arabia. you can't turn it on and turn it off within days or weeks. - [mcnally] many people thought that once it became clear to most people at the end of 2014 that saudi arabia was really going to abdicate the role of swing producer; and you have to remember this is hard for people to accept and believe. but once they did, hopes then shifted to shale oil doing it. shale oil companies are not going to replace opec; and they really couldn't. because remember; shale oil is produced by hundreds of companies who, even if they could agree to cooperate to restrain supply to hold up price, ththey would be taken into. so, it's very different than saudi arabia where the energy minister picks up a phone and gives an order to the state oil company aramco. - [narrator] increased carbon emissions, resulting from the burning of fossil fuels have long term geopolitical repercussions of their own in the form of climate change. - [gerrard] all of those effects will have a crippling effect on many of the econom

all the revamp in saudi arabia is the same.y need to give away a $1 trillion valuation of aramco. if it doesn't, the retail investors will not be interested. these big round numbers are very important at times. >> the other big story in saudi arabia has to be the impact of low oil prices on foreign currency reserves. a lot of people have talked about the impact on the wider market. we used to talk about quantitative tightening. do you still see that is a theme? >> i think in terms of saudi aabia, you are approaching level where liquid reserves are getting near the one-to your basis. other countries will go before that. the saudi rail ports have come from 10% evaluation to 1% devaluation. you see the pipeline of non-oil revenue coming in. that is important to saudi arabia in particular. >> coming up next turkey voting , in a referendum to change the constitution. we talk about the implications for the turkish lira, equities, and bond space. this is bloomberg. ♪ yousef: welcome back to the best of "bloomberg markets: middle east.

in terms of how saudi arabia squares the circle, we will continue seeing saudi arabia drawing down onerves. it does have a large buffer in that respect. they will be drawing down. years, next couple of that will be the trend we see in saudi arabia. we have seen them control their expenditure, but that has not put an end to it. , we dosticking with opec have a growing expectation that we will get an extension of the production agreement. how effective will that be given that the first one has disappointed? >> i think the market may have put too much weight -- yousef: crude oil is down 6% in the first quarter. if you needed a report card, that is the first thing i would point out. >> fair enough. if you look at where oil has come back from and the fact it has held above this 50 mark come that is a good indicator that we have seen oil price expectations managed quite well. it is important we have this extension stay in place because this supply imbalance has been a function of opec production cuts. yousef: let's cross over to egypt and talk about that story. we have the big meeting this

saudi arabia sold their first dollars.ve more from abu dhabi. >> the bonds are coming in at a seven-year and 12 year trench . price guidance tight and 15 basis points. if you look at the order books, that tells you what we need to know about demand. we had $4.5 billion worth of dollars for a $1.5 billion bond. this is a bit of a special case. 's will be saudi arabia first-ever dollar-denominated. it could be a jumbo issuance, as much as $10 billion. that means that the price guidance for the bond so far is 20 basis points wider than comparable issues from last year. our investors are demanding a little bit of a premium for that. one thing i have to point out with the saudis, there is a disclosure saying it will comply risk rules,. another quirk that could end up knocking demand a little bit. so, we know a lot of these bond issuance is we have seen their, a lot of it is to plug deficits. what other benefits are there from these bond sales? >> everybody focuses on the deficit. that is a big issue. marketsa change oracle and

saudi arabia is going through.onservation with government policy driving their responses in different sectors very differently. our response is to become selected in the saudi market and look for sectors that are being government and policy they can unlock their potential. there are areas of the economy that are suffering from lefties and subsidies. that is where will be more vulnerable. shery: as tracy was saying, we are getting earnings and fast across the region. emirates is back. asrates nbd also beating limits -- estimates. what is your sense of the earnings season right now? the earnings season is a challenge right now and he goes to the heart of the matter of the equity market. we are encouraged by the long-term instructor -- structural growth. but short-term, we do see some pressure coming through at these levees get removed as profits begin to get crimped by government policy. we see headwinds on earnings, the economiesms are put on a much more sustainable footing. the evaluation has become more reflective

that is important to saudi arabia in particular. turkey voting and a referendum to change the constitution. the implications for the turkish lira, equities, and bond space. this is bloomberg. ♪ yousef: welcome back to the best of "bloomberg markets: middle east." turkey's referendum to change the constitution to a presidential system, the president made a last push to win support. how would the vote fx markets in the region, and what would it mean for the oem space? the chief investment officer for abu dhabi investment bank. >> there is a general realization that the trump not goingtrade is global. that will put downward pressure on emerging markets in general. having said so, if you look at turkey, take it apart from the will see aext, you lot of adjustments have been made in turkey. if you look at fiscal deficits, current account deficits, growth picked up. on friday because of justified concerns, but the beensh central bank has tightening policy before the referendum. if they do that before the referendum, what would happen after

yousef: what about the credit rating of saudi arabia?g here and 11 months ago they pointed out that a renewed slump in prices would be loosening fiscal policy leading to a rapid drawdown and government assets having a negative impact on saudi arabia's profile. it enoughnough -- is for the agencies to look at this again? john: if saudi arabia has a fiscal deficit this year that is above the 17% that we saw last year, that will create alarms throughout the world and the rating agencies in particular. i am not so worried right now because we have enough debt go intoand they will the international market to raise about $15 billion in additional funding. i am happy because as they reduce the fiscal deficit, the foreign reserves will not be declining as fast. that is a key issue because saudi arabia's currency is attached to the dollar. if they go to the international market, their 50% of debt in gdp to raise in funding, that is $110 billion of additional money that they can depend on in the coming years. dubai coming up, aerospace ubuys out a

you look at a bank in saudi arabia compared to others, it is a different story.recovery and the other is a short of liquidity, which banks will be the out performers in this space? jaap meijer: selection has been focused on liquidity. those who can keep funding are going to benefit much more from rising rates. -- are being reset upwards. if you can -- those banks will benefit. also, these banks are best positioned to ride through the cycle because they have been more prudent than other lending partners, because they could afford it. there has also -- they have been more selective in lending, so for example, one bank which was down yesterday because of the u.s., is best positioned for the rising rates. it has already affected the valuation already. shery: are you concerned about fiscal headwinds? to a loss,: compared i was worried about the outlook for the region, but looking at oil prices where we are now, we will probably have an extension of the oil deal. the question is how much u.s. shal will be pumpede out of the ground. yousef: that is it for us. a busy wee

this is bloomberg. ♪ raised saudi arabia has $9 billion.t is one billion more than initially planned. the proceeds go toward plugging the shortfall. the chief economist and founder of arabia lawrence. great to have you on the program. demands.e it seems the geopolitical risk around this part of the world and all of the uncertainty on the trunk and russia. none of that is stopping the appetite. >> globally there is growing demand for islamic finance from its. this particular instrument from saudi arabia, worth more than four times what was subscribed. that is not at all a surprise to me. appetite was huge for this instrument. no surprise at all, really. follow-up, to the your reaction to the pricing and do you expect even more? would this be enough for now? has a program for that that is likely to continue. it is not clear exactly when the next issue will be. kingdom will continue to issue that for the time being. the fact that oil prices is where they are more its they certainly can handle it. low ando remains very in the low double digits.

deals in saudink arabia and qatar.he philippines are looking to establish a banking presence in the region. day innews 24 hours a more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. yousef: let's get back to one of our top stories. egypt has declared a state of emergency after two bombings killed more than 40 people on sunday. presidency see says the measures -- president sisi says the measures are to protect the country. who we are doing this only to protect our country. yousef: the attacks on the christian minority are the biggest since the president was elected in 2014. story.et more on this this is a major setback for this government and it comes in a few months from the last attack. ask,: we might as well what is the president aiming to , appearing a minimum firm. analysts say that there is little that can be achieved on the ground. nai withhis tried in sa little success. defeating it takes several years. the thread is whether this is a or-off outside of sinai whether we will see more attacks like this. that would indicat

saudi arabia is very happy that the position trump is taking.ng critical of during the obama administration, they thought they were left alone by the obama administration. they feel much more, lt with commonalitych more trump.00 -- with even if the u.s. decides that a want to add new sanctions, the sanctions that were listed are international sanctions. they have the support of the russians, the chinese -- they might not have that now. yousef: coming up, earnings season in whole swing. how things are going so far. this is bloomberg. yousef: welcome back, several regional banks reported earnings over the week you we sport -- we spoke to someone saying analysts are too gloomy. >> i think of overall, the outlook were overly gloomy. particularly because deposit margins are now improving on a sequence all -- sequential basis. you saw the international bond issue leaving a key element here. at the same time provisions seem to be peaking. you definitely see them coming and lower than expected area -- expected. a couple of them have already gone through

saudi arabia has some of the most restrict gender laws in the world.men are not allowed to drive and may not travel without being accompanied by a male guardian or a husband. it appeared that former new zealand prime minister helen clark defended the vote him as saying in a tweet that it's important to support those in the country who are working for change for women. things are changing, but slowly. donald trump's attitude towards women came under scrutiny today in berlin, where the u.s. president's daughter ivanka sought to defend his policies, but she certainly didn't get an easy ride at this for him for female business leaders that was chaired by german chancellor angela merkel and attended by imf chief christine lagarde. take a listen. >> he's been a tremendous champion of supporting families and enabling them to thrive in the new reality. absurdly heard the criticism from the media and that has been perpetuated, but i know from personal experience, and i think the thousands of women who have worked with and for my father for decades when he was i

moving on to the arab news, theresa may visiting saudi arabia.tant links in terms of business. yes, this paper is taking the storyline that she is there to discuss business and trade and lots of positive things. of course, she has also faced lots of criticism due to the fact that saudi arabia's human rights record, especially during this conflict in yemen, needs examining as well. theresa may herself is taking this stance that seems pretty logical to me, which is, look, on the same gauge this country i cannot do anything about it. -- country i cannot do anything about it. —— unless i engage this country. sol it. —— unless i engage this country. so i will address the business and trade issues, but i will also talk about these human rights issues. trade issues, but i will also talk about these human rights issuesm isa about these human rights issuesm is a very fine line for her or any western leader to try to walk. at the end of the day, investment from the end of the day, investment from the middle east, whether it be from qatar saudi arabia or wh

the bulk of the pain is falling on saudi arabia. >> saudi arabia needs to lead it's because they are player in the field. they can flex a lot more than anybody else. what has changed was that in 2014, shale comes in and takes the money and everyone else cheap. now it has changed. we cut and stabilize the price, we can give away our bonds, we can give away aramco bonds. they definitely have the will. non-opecers is does and opec have the will outside of saudi arabia? you can feel a little bit of panic even though the oil price is stable around $50. tracy: you mentioned saudi aramco, we had news they were looking to sell their first sukuk. how much does the saudi aramco story play into the opec story? >> i think it is massive. if there was not saudi aramco coming to the market, i don't think they would be as eager to cut or stabilize oil prices. it is a positive view of prices coming down to support. ofmco is basically the core the saudi reformations strategy. it was an interesting hybrid sukuk. a a're using aramco as hybrid sukuk to drag investors to saudi to move the societal reforma

♪ yousef: theresa may flies to saudi arabia.he london stock exchange wants her to lobby for a role in aramco's appeal. trump prepares for a difficult talk with the president of china. billion dollar order from iran, a major test for u.s. relations. >> and washington has worries about westinghouse. officials don't want the reactor builder to go to china. yousef: it is a 4:00 a.m. in london, this is "bloomberg markets: middle east." >> it is midday in hong kong. we are seeing some markets in the red. take a look at the go function. although markets are in the red, we have some strong players. with forceming back from its today holiday. yuanouth korean won -- declining. we're seeing a pretty good session or strength for price on time. the taiwan dollar continues to rise. the japanese yen has climbed for four days against the dollar. we are seeing copper following 8/10 of 1%. keep an eye on jp morgan and goldman sachs. that is the picture in asia in trading. what do you have for us? yousef: as part of the world, a two-hour delay on

capping the oil saudi arabia will go up and down as need be.hey are very committed to that price banning. there is no realistic scenario to the sink prices. there is no realistic scenario for the prices to spike. if it goes above 60, demand will die. you have to keep it within this and. first half of the year, second half of the year. former advisor to the iranian prime minister. preview good, a abu dhabi state investment fund in malaysia struggling one npd may have finally reached an agreement. >> you are watching bloomberg. i'm yousef gamal el-din in dubai. >> the demand for change in france. the independent centrist emmanuel macron to go most 23.8% of the vote. pen took marine le 21.5%. analysts say that emmanuel macron will win the election. talk to us about the results and have the french are taking the outcome. >> the independent emmanuel macron, first time for office, taking a clear the last night according to the final numbers from the interior ministry. emmanuel macron, 26% of the votes and marine le pen, 21.5% of the votes. mainstream

regional ones as well, saudi arabia and united arab emirates.e have not seen any specifics in terms of those discussions. what can they consider a win in his talks with trump? samuel: -- appears we have some technical difficulties we will try to patch that up again. you can get a roundup on the story. you could get your day going on today's edition of "daybreak." bloom cert -- bloomberg subscribers going on bloomberg mobile. you can customize your setting to get news on the industry and the assets you care about her we still have plenty more to get through. shery: we will bring you the rba's of march decision in 20 minutes. you can also get announcements from the chief economist. will talk about the slow start to the second quarter for the uae equities. when the momentum will pick up. , butve the big merger first abu dhabi. we have abu dhabi national energy to talk about. this is bloomberg. ♪ shery: this is "bloomberg markets: middle east." i am shery ahn in hong kong. yousef: i am yousef camilla dean in dubai. the sword for a second day and are

citigroup is back in saudi arabia after a 13 year absence.ave received a license capital markets and research services. let's ring in bloomberg's tracy alloway. -- let's bring in bloomberg's tracy alloway. this return was not entirely unexpected, was it? cy: that is exactly right. we saw city laying the groundwork for this license earlier this month when it announced that carmen would become the ceo for its saudi unit. she was widely expected to be the one task with expanding citigroup's new presence in the saudi arabian market. of course, this all comes hot on the heels of saudi arabia opening itself up to foreign investors. ipo in the saudi aramco the works, that could be the biggest ipo on record. we have things like bond sales. we saw saudi arabia selling a mega $17.5 billion worth of bonds back in october. we have msg i coming up. lots of people competing in that market. city is coming to it slightly late. they already have competitors with investment banking licensors including hsbc a. yousef: giving the interest we are seeing in saudi

there are christians who live in saudi arabia...asic law. whether legally — i'll tell you what. there are areas of saudi arabia, particularly around mecca, which christians are not allowed to enter. i understand this. they have their excuses, i don't like them. but they don't have any law that says, for example, injeddah, a muslim can own land, a christian cannot own land. in israel, i'm sure you know that 93% of the land is owned by the state, and land laws allow land agencies to develop and sell land tojews only. so you talk about 20% of the population who are non—jewish? fine, but they are not allowed to buy land in israel, except the lands that stayed with them after israel was established. and many of the lands... let's not get... you mentioned also political parties. do you know that it is unlawful in israel to establish a political party that questions the nature of the state as a jewish state? so basically you are telling the non—jewish citizens of israel, you can vote, but once you are elected, you cannot question your subo

indeed, the female lawrence of arabia.lawrence of arabia because of the epic tribute. gertrude bell never really had hers, and this documentary is as epic as it gets. there is a werner herzog film out at the moment in which nicole kidman stars as gertrude bell, but this is the more fitting tribute. it's done entirely through this letters that she left through her correspondence from the desert. she was the most powerful women in the british empire. at the end of world war i, the borders of arabia, mesopotamia as it was known, are being drawn. the borders of iraq. she was very much involved in that with winston churchill, riding into the desert, a redoubtable british colonial figure, intrepid explorer, part spy, part stateswoman, part antiquarian. and very much a woman in two mens' worlds, the british empire and the desert. in the arab world, she learned farsi, she understood everything. brilliantly played by tilda swinton, who's just the sort of bony, eccentric figure that you expect to be playing her. what is well done in

yousef: what about the credit rating of saudi arabia?than a month ago, movies pointed out that loosening fiscal consolidation -- moody's pointed out that a more rapid drawdown would have a negative impact on saudi arabia's credit file. is this adjustment enough to warrant the credit rating agencies to look at this again? >> the key is that of saudi arabia this year as a fiscal deficit that is excessively above the 17% we saw last year, that will create a lot of alarms throughout the world and rating agencies in particular. right now not so worried because they have enough debt cushion and they will go into the international market to raise $15 billion-$20 billion in additional funding. i'm happy that as they reduce the fiscal deficit, that foreign reserves are not going to be declining as fast. that is the key issue here because saudi arabia's currency is pegged to the dollar. if they go to the international market, the have about 18% of debt to gdp to raise in funding. that's about $110 billion of additional money they can depend on in

here injordan, next stop saudi arabia.we can maintain our security and support the security of areas like the gulf region. but as britain looks to make new deals further afield, closer to home questions over what would happen if the uk and eu failed to reach a brext trading agreement. do you think that leaving with no deal...? backbench mps have released a report warning of the risks, and called on the government to work out how much "no deal" would cost. without the government setting out what mitigating steps it would put in place, the assertion that no deal is better than a bad deal is, in the words of the report, "unsubstantiated". select committees are meant to hold the government to account. they are made up of mps from across the political spectrum. in the case of the brexit committee, they are also made up of pro—leave and pro—remain mps. this report didn't have the full support of all its members, some of whom said it was too pessimistic about brexit. and critics say a committee report without the full backing of

it will be saudi arabia's first ever dollar-denominated.s some toxic to wind up being a jumbo issuance as much as $10 billion. that combines means the price guidance is about 20 basis points wider than comparable issues from last year. investors demanding a little bit of a premium for that. one more thing i have to point out on the saudi's, because it is interesting. there is a disclosure in the perspective saying it will comply with new u.s. risk retention rules for securitization. another court that might end up knocking demand a little bit. david: hi, tracy. we know a lot of these bond issuance we have seen there. a lot of it is a plug deficit, budget deficit. what other benefits are there from these? everyone focuses on the deficit, one that is a big issue. it is important to remember that this is a sea change for golf market in a number of ways. one of them is that the big buyers of domestic on sales used to be the local banks. now we have a bit of a liquidity watch happening in the region. foreign -- gulf governments do not want to st

the next stop is saudi arabia.at makes for a far less co mforta ble that makes for a far less comfortable relationship. as mrs may heads tonight to saudi arabia, a senior saudi general has defended his country's actions in the brutal conflict in yemen. major—general ahmed al—asiri told the bbc that lessons had been learned, where civilian casualties had been inflicted. the fighting in yemen has claimed more than 10,000, and displaced more than three million people. in march 2015, a saudi—led coalition, supported by the us and the uk, intervened against houthi rebels, who were backed by iran. the prolonged fighting has led to a humanitarian crisis. the saudi general was speaking to our correspondent nawal al maghafi, who's travelled widely in yemen during the war, she sent this report. these are the faces of yemen's star thing children. an aerial and naval blockade imposed by the saudi coalition under who the rebels slowing down the distribution of aid has meant the hungry here have seen no relief. all five cranes h

arabia, it's a top u.s.gure, right. thanks for watching, i can see you back here tomorrow night. if you can't watch live, set your dvr and make sure you follow me at twitter at greta is the handle. i put a lot of pictures on instagram. if you know about sam son from liberia, go check my facebook page. you won't believe the difference, it's amazing. "hardball" with chris matthews starts right now. >>> 100 days of donald trump. let's play hardball. >> by traditional standards he's got zip to show for it. you can wiggle out of it and say it's sick and delegate my homework. we' we're standard here that goes back to franklin w. roosevelt and early streak of accomplishment. >> the only thing we have

saudi arabia, it seemed like trump would be an improvement for u.s. saudi relations.we had trump state and it interview he thought saudi arabia was not treating the u.s. fairly and the u.s. was losing a lot of money when it comes to defending the kingdom. how do you see that playing out? >> to be honest, we don't come up a lot on political stuff. is still important for business. >> it is definitely important. there are a lot of u.s. businesses that are coming to saudi arabia. the group just got their banking license. i wouldn't play out that story that much. i think saudi will still be important for the u.s. comes toen it challenges posed by the trump administration the what do you the major issue? >> the major issues for the gulf region i think are focusing on the domestic stories. not so much what is happening globally. what president trump does on tax reform, what happens on the output is going to be important, are key.l reforms on saudi arabia, the focus should be on the saudi vision 2030 and what the government plans to do to diversify the economy. we saw a rollb

she was the most powerful women in the british empire, the end of world war i — the borders of arabiabeing drawn. she was very much involved in that with winston churchill, riding into the desert, a redoubtable british colonial figure, intrepid explorer, part spy, part stateswoman, part antiquarian. in the arab world, she learned farsi, she understood everything. magnificently played by tilda swinton, what you would expect. what is well done in the documentary directed by two women, they resurrected these letters, finding brilliant archive footage from baghdad and damascus, all of that stuff we see we see on the screen now. the sphinx is an apt figure as gertrude bell stares out. there's footage now from the region which is war—torn and ravaged, war was always something in that sand, but there is an elegance to it, a kind of colonial innocence in that footage which is beautiful. it really summons up a lost time, gertrude bell's voice rings out as a lost voice of the british empire. let's move onto their finest. british film crew attempting to build morale during the second world war.

saudi arabia made headlines after announcing it would issue its first global islamic bond. well, the oil-exporting country managed to raise $9 billion with it. the issue is designed to ease pressure on foreign reserves. according to sharia law, interest payments are un- islamic, so the companies paying profit, not interest, by offering property investment. saudi arabia needs the money urgently as the drop in the oil price has taken a toll on the kingdom's finances. reporter: these saudi women are hard at work at a garment factory. until recently, this would have been a rare sight. most business owners prefer to employ migrant workers. but not anymore. the government wants more and more women to join the workforce. the change may be slow, but it is already making itself felt throughout the country. it is part of the country 's attempt to future proof the saudi economy. saudi arabia's oil reserves will not last forever, the country wants to cap its dependence on the commodity. state-owned companies could soon be privatized. the international energy agency is betting demand fo

we'll have to see if saudi arabia commits to london. shery: let's now turn to syria.ks crossed a lot of red lines. how big of a shift in tone is this for president trump from when he was just a private citizen? what does this mean for what is to come with syria? could these comments befall by action? it is a complete shift in his thinking. as a private citizen in 2013, he urged the united states government to stay out of syria. he is now being presented with the same dilemma that obama faced, which is you either commit to military action, or you do nothing. you accept the fact that assad will stay and assad's forces have been gaining since russia intervened on their side. --is a very difficult choice it is a very tough decision for trump to make. once you come out and say the red lines have been crossed, you then have to do something or you do nothing and when you make those threats in the future it does not mean anything. in 2013, lavrov came out and said it syria committed to destroying all of its stocks, we could find a way to move on, that is what they did. lily t

is reinforcing saudi arabia's resistance to iran's mischief here. the backdrop to all of this and the question is how much the u.s. government under this administration is going to push our allies or the u.s. allies, saudi arabia, on issues when it pertains to human rights in that country? a number of different issues ongoing, certainly in relationship with the united states and saudi arabia as it plays throughout the region throughout the middle east. >> jon: interesting times they are at the state department where you are, thank you. >> law enforcement and definitely think you to the people around the country that called in again, almost 400 tips on this that we had to follow up on. that just shows the vigilance of the people in this country. >> jenna: it was one tip that led to the end of all this. cleveland police chief on the nationwide manhunt for the facebook killer that ended in pennsylvania went steve stephens shot and killed himself yesterday after a brief pursuit. the tip that led police to stevens came from a sharp eyed mcdonald's worker

saudi arabia is a long-time u.s. ally when it comes to fighting isis, intervention with the problems that's going on there in yemen on its southern border and, of course, when it comes to koupberring aggression from iran. saudi arabia's long time nemesis, sandra. >> sandra: rich, this is following sour relations between the saudis and the obama administration? >> reporter: right. in particular when it came to issues of human rights in saudi arabia and very much so when it comes to the iran nuclear deal. it was struck in 2015 between the obama administration, other countries and iran. iran got a host of concessions when it came to decreases in sanctions, unfrozen assets and in exchange, there were concessions that iran made on its nuclear program. critics say that iran got way too much and is giving up way too little. and on that front, secretary of state last evening sent a letter to house speaker paul ryan in which he said he is confirming that iran, as of yesterday, is living up to its commitments under the iran nu

next stop, saudi arabia and down to business, boosting trade, mostly lucrative arms sales. support and sell weapons to a country so criticised for its record on human rights. well, the important thing for the united kingdom, when we meet people and we want to raise issues about human rights, is if we have the relationship with them, then we are able to do that. so rather than just standing on the sidelines and sniping, it's important to engage. war across the border against rebels in yemen is being led by a saudi coalition. british weapons sales to saudi arabia were worth over £3 billion in the first year of the fighting up to last march. planes, arms and target training — britain's contribution to the yemen war effort. there's famine, mounting civilian casualties. britain joins the aid effort while supporting its saudi ally. mrs may spelled out her new mission. what is the may doctrine of foreign policy? well, the may doctrine of foreign policy is that everything we do is in our british national interest. it is in our british national interest to have good relations around

we've all heard about lawrence of arabia but not many people have heard of gertrude bell, the queen ofes, maybe we have heard of lawrence of arabia because of that epic tribute, gertrude bell never really had hers, this documentary is as epic as it gets. there is another film with nicole kidman in where she stars, this is a more fitting tribute through this letters that she left through her correspondence in the desert. she was the most powerful women in the british empire, the end of world war i the borders of arabia were being drawn. she was very much involved in that with winston churchill, riding into the desert, a redoubtable british colonial figure, the desert, a redoubtable british colonialfigure, intrepid explorer, pa rt colonialfigure, intrepid explorer, part spy, part stateswoman, part and quit aryan. in the arab world, she learned farsi, she understood everything. magnus atlevi played —— magnificently played by tilda swinton, who you would expect. what is well done in the documentary directed by two women, they resurrected these letters, finding brilliant archive footage fro

realis is a very important -- deal in saudi arabia.is interesting to hear is that a lot of people see this -- it is a very important moment for saudi. there are some anything thinks happening internally in the markets. ofs could be the first several similar deals going forward and not just in the banking industry. big mergers and the petro chem sector. this would be the first of a series of big mergers in the saudi market. ,his is a very important bank hsbc has been in the saudi market for a while. they played a very important role in some of the biggest deals we have seen out of the country including the make a bond sale last year. year.a bond sale last shery ahn: do you expect the market reaction to cool down? >> yes. a lot of people are expecting -- we saw 8% yesterday in the past trading session. nobody expected to be at that level for a week or longer than that. shery ahn: we are going to have to leave it there. we are talking opec and oil. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ debrah: the white house has make it is opened it this has made its o

tell coal surging and saudi arabia.hery: let's get a check of the first word headlines from around the world. a 70 cities last month have rose. cities inp from 56 february on a month by month basis. when compared with march after, home prices in beijing and shanghai are up around 20%. policymakers are seeking to clear a glitch of unsold homes while enforcing kurds in major centers to prevent a housing bubble. president trump will target i.t. outsourcing companies later with the h-1b see visa programs. administration official named and emphasis is examples of companies likely to have fewer visas approved under the changes. h-1b program channels thousands of foreign workers to the u.s. tech industry. a new survey suggests iranian president faces an uphill task to rent -- when a second term. term has notfirst improved the economy, or the standard of living for average iranians. or that one and a half thousand people have registered to run in the may 19 to vote. be candidates will now screened by credible authority. global

, not a man talking about women's rights in saudi arabia.eally care which gender is in any position. it's not relevant to me. for that particular one, that would go a long way. as we were talking about it, would she really have the right to say what she wanted to say? we thought, does it open up the conversation? she may not be able to say what she wants to say. >> harris: these women who are coming from some of these countries. what they're working on are not necessarily the issues that will many around the world are working on. >> meghan: if you are still stoning women in the street and you're going to sell children in america, you have no business in women's rights. >> harris: to student groups are suing berkeley over its efforts to cancel and then reschedule eight ann coulter event. berkeley says it's all about safety. really? who's right? we'll talk about it. i love that i can pass the membership to my children. we're the williams family, and we're usaa members for life. ykeep you sidelined.ng that's why you drink ensure. with 9 grams o

>> reporter: well, kelly, saudi arabia is one of our most crucial allies in the region. their support, absolutely critical, which is why president trump called the saudi king directly just one day after the attack. and here's what he said. quote: the king reaffirmed strong support, strong saudi support for the united states military strike against the airfield in syria and thanked the president for his courageous action which both agreed was a necessary response to the horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. now, the white house says that there has been strong support for this strike throughout the sunni-arab world, there's also been strong support for the strike on capitol hill among both republicans and democrats. but the big criticism has been that president trump did not seek congressional approval before this strike, and now we're learning that today president trump formally sent his justification for this strike in a letter to congress. and it reads in part, quote: i acted in the vital national security and foreign policy interests of the united sta

nicole: meanwhile, defense secretary jim mattis isn't saudi arabia isn't saudi arabia saying the destabilizing influence must be overcome to win the conflict in yemen. saudi arabia supporting the government while i read this back in the rubble grow. lauren: russian bombers flew close. two russian jets were well within the area known as the alaskan air defense element tuesday. this comes just a day after the russian bombers flew southwest of the air force base in alaska. the u.s. military said two fighter jets and they flew alongside the russian jets for 12 minutes. officials say the planes reversed course and headed back to their base. nicole: a soyuz space capsule blasted off from kazakhstan just a few hours ago. the first two-person spaceflight in 14 years because the russian space agency decided to send one cosmonaut instead of two. yet the third seat is being for cargo. astronaut jack fisher and that bush is less than five months on the space station of travel six hours before document the space station at 923 eastern time this morning. lauren: university of california berkeley has cited s

i think for the time being, we are going to see saudi arabia draw down on its reserves.hey are going to be drawn down. that is what they were built for. we have a rainy time ahead. for the next couple of years, that is going to be the trend we see. youy: sticking with opec, will know this. we do have a growing expectation we will get an extension of the production agreement. >> i think the market may have put too much weight on -- crude oil is down 6%. that would be the first thing i would point out. look at where oil has come back from, the fact that they have held above this market, that is a good indicator we have seen oil price expectations manage quite well. i think it is important we have this extension stay in place. ultimately, the supply and been a function of opec's production. let's cross over the red sea to read we have the big isi.ing between trump and s that is a classical yield curve i have put up. it is somewhat unique. what does that tell us about the egyptian economic recovery story? >> it is interesting. if you look at the ends, they are flat on either

here injordan, next stop saudi arabia.ld. here injordan, next stop saudi arabialj post—brexit world. here injordan, next stop saudi arabia. i want to see a truly global britain that is really outward looking. a good trade deal with the eu but yes, good trade deals around the world. but our relationships around the world are not just about trade, they are about ensuring we can maintain our security and support the security of areas like the gulf region. but as britain looks to make new deals further afield, closer to home questions over what would happen if the uk and eu failed to reach a trade agreement edem backbench mps have released a report warning of the risks and called on the government to work out how much no deal would cost. without the government setting out what mitigating steps it would put in place, the assertion that no deal is better than a bad deal is, in the words of the report, unsubstantiated. select committees are meant to hold the government to account it up they are made up of mps from across the poli

here in saudi arabia, meetings with officials on the agenda. the war in yemen a few hundred miles south of here. official position from the trump administration, they want to accelerate u.n. brokered talks. they see a peace brokered agreement through the u.n. also on the agenda, the fight against isis. on the plane we spoke with the secretary of defense and he said the de-confliction line -- didn't necessarily say it was open but he said they're de-conflicting. there are conversations taking place between russian and u.s. pilots to make sure there are no mishaps in the air. also, shadowing this entire trip, what's happening in north korea. we heard from mattis what seemed to be a ratcheting up of rhetoric, talking about a reckless act, provocation. >> you are aware that the leader in north korea again, recklessly, tried to provoke something by launching a missile, was not an intercontinental ballistic missile. it failed on launch. and it shows why we are working so closely right now with the chinese. >> after saudi arabia, the secretary heads t

relationship with saudi arabia. >> they're moving closer to saudi arabia.t falls to secretary of state rex tillerson who in his previous job with exxonmobile built substantial business ties there. secretary tillerson speaks this afternoon at the u.s. saudi arabia ceo summit. while the administration says it's an important relationship, the security relationship between the u.s. and saudi arabia is now his chief tax, the u.s. and saudi arabia are coordinating on the fight against isis, efforts in syria and attempted transition away from president bashar al-assad and fighting in yemen and saudi arabia and iran have been competing for influence for decades. the saudis are looking for a stronger u.s. opposition to iran. >> shannon: it remains a threat, rich. >> yes, iran does. also has to do with the iran nuclear deal that iran is looking to expand its influence in the region. there is a letter last night that secretary of state sent to house speaker paul ryan, secretary tillerson confirmed iran is complying with the ob ligations in the iran nuclear deal but he

wants to see a strong saudi arabia. he says the trump administration is weighing increased support for the saudi led coalition. he criticized iran for what he calls its destabilizing influence. >> everywhere you look, if there is trouble in the region, you find iran. right now what we are seeing is the nations in the region and others elsewhere trying to checkmate iran and the amount of disruption and instability they can cause. >> the fed number two is to paint a picture of a global economy. in a speech wednesday stanley fischer will say the removal of accommodations will be driven by growth and other nations will likely benefit. the fed signals to more hikes this year and that it intends to start tricking its $4.5 trillion balance sheet. global news. 24 hours a day. powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. this is bloomberg. ♪ shery: thank you. texas crude is below $51 a barrel after slumping the most in six weeks. it is still gaining ground, .4%, but still below that mark. expand