well-received in saudi arabia was the statement by flynn recently. accountable for what they did with the ships that attacked the saudi frigate. i said at an event in the past that i expect iranians in the first six months to test the administration and see how trump will respond. this of you like arresting u.s. marines or harassing ships in the gulf or kidnapping americans to see what the trump administration would do compared to whaan obama administration. it seems they did not wait for them to do that. they jumped on the opportunities on the houthis, attacked the saudi frigates, and put them on notice. it sounds very scary. i think i will stop there. >> thank you. if we can step outside a little bit, and i will ask nabil to in with the vigor international picture it possible because we are running over. at the end, i will take one question for two or three of you and open it up to the audience. >> so i think five of my seven minutes were already donated to the ambassador here. >> you promised that. [laughter] >> in two minutes, money give you a big

as anthony mentioned earlier in the segment, that is based on saudi aramco or saudi arabia has claims around 2 billion barrels of oil reserves. $10 a multiply that by barrel, you get somewhere around $2 trillion. two trillion dollars is being touted as the approximate value of saudi aramco, but whether we get to that number will depend on several factors -- corporate governance, tax structure, the way aramco will pay dividends to the governments. i think $2 trillion is the benchmark. if we go below that, that may be a can learn to investors. concern to be a investors. we are at an early stage at the moment. tarek, i know you have been following the saudi arabia story very, very closely. as you look for the key to investing in saudi arabia, what springs to mind? the reality is, margins are under pressure, companies are trying to redefine their business models. you navigate that? how do i make money off of it? i think frankly it will be very difficult because the saudi market is dominated by historic monopolies, utilities, other companies, telecom companies that have basically had the m

you can see, this is saudi arabia. emirates interbank rate.eeing saudi arabia stabilize with the rebounding oil prices. the hibor is still relatively high. >> is not just the rebound in oil prices. , i would be, saudi arabia have the jump in debt issuance is. those are targeted at inter--- international investors. you had pressure building up to but the bond issuance is helped bring cash bacon to the system -- cash back into the system. deficits really are here to stay . for the stronger countries, you will see less than 5% in the coming year. but for saudi, the deficit is expected at 10%. the situation is still quite tight. but ultimately, will see bond issuance is become a real are part of the funding situation for sovereigns in the region. shery: of course, in the eye of the storm is the banking industry. how much will better margins from potentially higher rates help these golf banks offset the challenges, including more provisions, including liquidity, and so on? >> all banks everywhere are sort of looking at higher rates. that's definite

and a relationship saudi arabia will have with america? shihabi: when president trump took office, funnily enough, you know the day of the inauguration, we felt that the persian gulf and arabian peninsula area became safer. the problem we had with the obama administration was that we felt the obama administration was very naive in its dealings with iran. and that iranian expansionism and trouble-making in the middle east, with hezbollah in lebanon, and syria and iraq, and particularly yemen, was not taken as seriously as it should have been taken by the obama administration. the obama administration tended to give the iranians the benefit of the doubt at every opportunity because they were so obsessed with concluding the nuclear deal. what we like about the grown-ups that have come in to the trump administration is that they've been on the ground in the middle east. these generals understand it, they've dealt with it and it's given us -- first, it's given us a much higher level of comfort, and it's given american prestig sharyl: what would

is there any single election is saudi arabia? and they started by government of yemenis and then the saudis took the chance and invaded the yemen and it should be the representative of your bed so. >> congratulations on finding parking so quickly by the way. [laughter] >> by accident you came here. you came here by accident. >> but i am originally from iran. >> thank you very much. >> if i may, we'll take two questions. >> my name is carlos from -- what can the secretary general due to empower our tribal leaders to mediate and resolve the conflict at a local level? how can he facilitate those discussions? >> would you like to take that. >> you know thank you for coming. as you mentioned, again, i think maybe you came late, but, yes brother. we have recorded the facts about the intervention in yemen. not talking about you. it is a regime. we are brothers with the iranian people. i give you all the time you just express yourself. we have a legal foundation for our condemning iran's convention. we have the facts. we are not are not b

you can see this is saudi arabia.ite.mirates you can see saudi arabia stabilize a little with the rebound in oil prices. it is still relatively high. what is going on? >> it is not just the rebound in oil prices. r, abu dhabi, had debt incidences. they tried to bring liquidity from outside into the systems. you had a real pressure building up. those bond issuance is help put cash back in the system. you saw anything of the pressure. the deficits really are here to stay. for the stronger countries you will look at less than maybe 5% of the coming year. for saudi, it is expected at 10%. the situation is still quite tight. but even if bond issuance is become a regular part of the funding situation first sovereigns in the region. >> the eye of the storm is the banking industry. how much will better margins from potentially higher rates help as these upset the challenges in flipping provisions and liquidity and so on? >> all banks everywhere are looking at higher rates. that is definitely a beneficial thing on the assets s

exports from the rockefeller family first struck oil and saudi arabia in 1938. saudi government ought out the original shareholders and renamed the company. they fueled prosperity for saudi arabia. 90% of thes government's income and built the refineries and chemical plants and other infrastructure that formed the world's 15th largest economy. this is the argument. they envision this as the centerpiece of the biggest economic shakeup in saudi arabia's history. the world's gift economy, the clock is ticking. will provide one third of the world's energy for the next few decades. the price tag will be on the future of petroleum. they are setting sights on the edge of its own oil age. ipocan read more about the on the bloomberg. that is your global is this report. had to bloomberg.com for more stories and -- stories. mark: they will cut oil production the most in eight years. cuts are noty, the having the intended effect. oil prices are slipping. we have bloomberg's managing editor for energy and commodities. this is one of the problems of this deal struck by non-op

as you said, saudi arabia opened up to foreigners in 2015.y're looking to introduce t plus two, which in our view is the last remaining hurdle before they get included in emerging market end cease. we have two major end cease. we think given the precedence, ftse will happen early. while the other is a 2019 event but the decision could come in 2018 with inclusion this year. the size of that event will be one of the biggest upfwradse in emerging markets. saudi arabia, excluding aramco, is around 3% and you'll have more active. >> you made specific calls when it came to qatar are there specific calls about saudi arabia or specific sectors that stand to gain more in this new age of austerity-driven government policy in saudi arabia? because it is an inflection point a chance to make money in a completely different way, away from oil. >> looking over at the market in saudi arabia, we have a slight underweight. we're still concerned about what's good for the economy is not necessarily good for earnings and equity market. the government reforms are

saudi arabia and egypt, where the pilots on 9/11 came from. pakistan and afghanistan, two countries where extremist terrorism is deeply rooted and has been for a while. isn't there a strong argument this order in fact completely misses some of the most dangerous countries, and if anything could serve as a propaganda for recruiting jihadists? rieke: i think there is a good point saying saudi arabia is a close ally to the u.s.. you don't want to mess with that because it is an important player in that region. there are also economic reasons why mr. trump chose to include certain countries into this band. course, i don't know what he thinks if that was the reason behind it. clearlye serially -- some questions to be asked. melinda: what you make of these rather glaring exceptions? you told us why you think saudi arabia is off the list. egypt? pakistan? alan: are you saying come up with them on the list? are you saying he is not doing enough? melinda: i am asking you, is this ineffective order? naming the seven countries that happen to be those wor

>> saudi arabia is the largest of thewith almost half production coming from saudi arabia.ing up next on "best of bloomberg markets: middle east," we look at the drivers behind egypt and stocks. this -- egyptian stocks. this is bloomberg. ♪ yousef: welcome back to "best of bloomberg markets: middle east." egyptian stocks saw a rally this week. is there a driver or a continuation of the positive momentum? ofthis is a good combination everything that is happening in egypt right now with some fresh and very recent numbers we have got to know that show exactly what is going on. for example, on sunday, we recognized $250 million entering the country for investments in egyptian assets and a good part of that is going to the equities market. the central bank released numbers. $4.6 billion entering the egyptian economy and most of that happened after the devaluation of the currency. we can see that egyptians are putting their money back in egypt and that is driving a surge in the stock market. >> let's talk about valuations. >> despite the fact the stock market, the main index for

tensions between saudi arabia in iran came to the fore munich. e saudi foreign minister called iran the main sponsor of terrorism in the world and said teheran was a destabilizing force in the middle east and accused it of wanting to destroy saudi arabia. he called on world powers to intervene. extendedars, we have gotten35 years we have tough and destruction in return. with a worlde increasing -- that enough pressure can be brought to bear in order to bring about a change in iran's behavior. ministerran's foreign mocked being put on notice in a tweet by president trump and said his country was focused on building, yes building, persian gulf alliances. let's get more with tracy alloway live from abu dhabi. give us some context on the comments. tracy: he basically said that tweeting had become "very fashionable." it was a lighthearted response about a serious subject. you will remember the thing that prompted donald's tweed from february 2 was this iranian ballistic missile test, and that resulted in fresh sanctions from the u.s.. continuesions iss

we have most of saudi arabia behind us.companies should we watch out for in giving beneficiaries off of the devaluation story? ahmed: look at companies that benefit from devaluation -- some have been doing well. we think there is more upside to that. those of the key benefits from evaluation. shery: how is egypt's devaluation different from what happened to asian exporters in the 1990 financial crisis? ahmed: you said yourself, exports. egypt is almost exporting everything. the story is different. there is not an industrial economy that will benefit from the export side. the only export argument we have is tourism. tourism is the key export. this is where egypt will be different, more on the tour is an story. has tourism recovers, that will be the main source of info. shery: i am curious. as someone who is watching the markets in egypt from afar, the cbe seems to have gained a lot of credibility for not intervening in selling off this far. is the egyptian pound being floated when it comes to the clearing rate? ahmed: when i

how about saudi arabia? is that of interest in terms of diversifying away from your overexposure in dubai or the emirates? >> we have a strong base in the uae. mainly in saudi arabia. in saudi arabia we have been there for the last 60 years. in.o have some factoring now, we are planning to have dubai investments alike. we have established the company and we are going to invest -- $250600 million million to start building very close to riyadh. we believe that this is going to give us an edge for the coming few years because that is something that we know we have done. we are going to repeat this in riyadh, angola. theoes this mean that market environment is now finally favorable for you to go ahead and push ahead with those ipos th you have been talking about for a few months? we are expanding, actually. 3 millionound activities, real estate, manufacturing and real estate. we are investing around 5.5 two or in the coming three years. also, we are spending roughly $1 billion on a new manufacturing activity. ba

he is the sake of a role in saudi arabia taking up the head of referees.is that he has signed a one—year rolling contract was to be gave a press conference in saudi arabia earlier today. we spoke about the professionalisation of refereeing and that one thing he was keen to do was to work with a team there and the residents to create a structure in saudi arabia that is going to make referees successful. he is tapping into the shoes of howard webb who has gone over to the mls to read a video of refereeing development over there. he will start initially on a part—time basis while he fulfils some other commitments will be full—time by the of next season. manchester city have been fined 35 thousand pounds by the fa for an anti—doping rule violation. the club admitted a charge of failing to inform authorities of their ‘club whereabouts' information... which is used to help facilitate drug—testing. fifa president gianni infantino wants to encourage co—hosting for the 2026 world cup. the proposal could mean that ‘three or four‘ countries join forces to stage the t

saudi arabia has stabilized with the rebound in oil prices.s still relatively high. >> it's not just the rebound in oil prices. qatar, abu dhabi, saudi arabia had those jumbo debt issuance is. so you had pressure building up, helped put cash back in the system, so enzi easing of the pressure, but the deficits are here to stay. for stronger companies, less than 5% in the coming year, but for saudi, the deficit expected at 10%, some of the situation still quite tight, but ultimately bond issuances will become a regular part of the funding situation for sovereigns in the region. of the storm eye is the banking industry, how much will better margins from potentially higher rates help banks offset the challenges, including provisions, the quiddity, and so on? all banks everywhere are looking at higher rates, so that is a beneficial factor on that ist side, but balanced by increases in the funding costs on the liabilities side, so you would expect corporate's expect more on their deposits, expect higher funding costs, so net-net, the higher rates wi

we are talking about saudi arabia.t in saudi arabia, but we are seeing infrastructure spending continue in the region. does that mean that sector, the construction contractors, are expecting to gain? guest: the thing is, contractors have them facing huge problems in the past, especially in saudi and the uae. they have seen some slow down in payments. the infrastructure projects you are talking about are still there. in saudi, you have taken infrastructure mainly on the -- big infrastructure mainly on the big projects such as the metro and the airport. in kuwait, since last year, the government has been very and the fact that we have seen a big surge in , thattructure in kuwait has been a big driver in the markets, especially in long-term perspective in the banks. and the uae, the government has been, that has been a big driver in the spending, especially in dubai -- the focus is on tourism, and many of the projects being delivered or worked on in dubai are towers that size. yousef: that is it for this "best of bloomber

, minister of foreign affairs of saudi arabia. of course, the third problem is their pattern of behavior to .reate proxy in every place in lebanon, we have has blocked -- we have hezbollah. we have the who do militias in yemen, shia militias in iraq, etc., etc. and, of course, all of this is under the umbrella of the biggest and most powerful and brutal and sophisticated terror organization in the world , the iranian revolutionary guard and their control of the terrorist number one in the world. but regardless of israel, if i tried to understand what we have since the signing of the nuclear deal between p5 plus one , it is a first of all competition organized in tehran denial cartoonst with a first prize of $50,000. there are hebrew inscriptions that say israel must be wiped out. we saw a state department report last august on global terrorism iran clearly stated that is the top state sponsor of terror in the world. just a few days ago, we saw a wild mob in downtown tehran, shouting death to america and death to israel. iran is de

in saudi arabia?away from the tradition, making money a completely different way. mohamad: we're still concerned about what is good for the economy is not necessarily good for earnings in the equity market. government reforms are very positive in terms of sustainability, but for earnings growth in the short-term, that will not be very good for some of the sectors. however, having said that, we still like health care are. -- health care. we still like insurance. the banking sector will be a beneficiary of fed rate increases. and we let the government and the private sector take the lead role in investment bank spending. we think that they will fit in a year or two. we are also buyers of banks. for the inclusion story, you need to focus on the heavyweights. speaking, we like health care, insurance, and also supermarket. they will benefit from consolidation in that sector. tracy: you mentioned saudi aramco. we are getting a steady stream of headlines before this listing. how excited are you about that ip

wherever you have a sunni power, be it turkey or saudi arabia, you will take the other side. shia, houthis, you backing them and the saudi—led coalition backing of course the forces of the internationally recognised government, we have this civil war where the iranians are arming the houthi rebels with weapons, ammunition and training them. so you are fuelling conflict too. well, i think that's an extraordinary, dangerous accusation. the government in afghanistan is a sunni government. the majority of the country is sunni. afghanistan has good relations with iran but poor relations with pakistan. in iraq, when isis was about to take irbil, kurdish — iraqi territory, the kurds there are predominantly sunnl the kurds there are predominantly sunni. it was iran that saved them from isis and no one else. in syria, the minority christians, along with the minority christians, along with the sufis and sunnis, were being attacked by isis. so i find it extraordinary that anyone could make such an accusation. i do not believe this groups represent sunnis islam. you were criticising the t

saudi arabia, as you know, is exporter,s a guest and saudi aramco will extend its long-standing strategymand for its crude. it has made the same move in the u.s., japan, and south korea. it has to, especially with shale producers fighting for global market share. there is also competition from russia and the rest of the opec members was so this deal and if it's both sides. both need a boost, a pretty symbiotic relationship. shery: exemplified without selfie, some calling it diplomacy. the relationship between saudi arabia and malaysia in the spotlight recently because of 1 mdb. has anything changed? the selfies says it all. nothing has changed. thing salman -- king salman brought a 600 person delegation. it also gave the king a 21 gun salute. the visit symbolizes stronger ties, bilateral ties were tested as saudi arabia was dragged into the 1mdb scandal. going forward, king salman also plans to visit the rest of asia, where he intends to discuss common issues, but no details have been given about the issues he will bring up. yousef: thank you. it is fascinating. it is where you see the s

of course, saudi arabia will be in focus after the latest from the vice-chairman about the momentum andestor interest they are trying to stimulate, but also the story from the ceo of the saudi stock exchange. he underscored they are looking to cross list in 2018. that is going to be fundamental. the interview with herfy exclusive, looking to expand operations beyond and outside the middle east and north africa. not their traditional turf. this is a company three decades old. also, news out of qatar, powder qatar to incorporate qatar into qatar petrochemical. network deal with ericsson to improve mobile coverage, so you are looking at the index in bahrain. over all, a travel group has been cut to hold from buy. plenty to look for it too. it is incredible to rarely do we have days like this good what a show it has been having you on board as well. this is bloomberg. ♪ yvonne: thanks. ♪ p.m. in hong kong. i have an update of the top stories. persons say president trump is proposing defense spending increases in his first budget and cuts to the environmental protection agency and state depa

israel and saudi arabia find common ground in cyberspace. trying to protect players in the nfl. all that ahead on "bloomberg businessweek". ♪ oliver: we are back with bloomberg businessweek editor in chief talking about must reads in this magazine. let's talk about the wall, arguably trump's biggest promise. let's talk about the hurdles he will run into with folks on the border there. megan: there are many hurdles to the wall. i love when we have a story that mentions eminent domain, one of my favorite legal terms. mostf the things that is interesting is that there are golf courses on the path of where this wall would be dealt. this has always been an issue. there is a structure in place to crossing,ople from but there are areas where it will be incredibly difficult from a pure geographic landscape , and you take property will have to use eminent domain. is a bigump said he fan of eminent domain. this is a large parcel you will have to stitch together. oliver: you have golf courses, immigration, he will have to pick one. megan: he is talking about financing the wall, it has chan

we want the same in saudi arabia. he wants to lift regulations.body who does not believe in climate change. when he looks at the energy sector, asa when he looks at the energy sector, as a candidate he said he wanted to block all imports from saudi arabia. he said it repeatedly. the white house energy policy talks about working closely with the united states' gulf allies, saudi arabia is the leader of that group. so i believe... you do not believe the campaign promises? at the end of the day, i believe that the trumpet ministration will do the right thing for the united states. and rightly so. “— for the united states. and rightly so. —— of the trump administration. we wa nt so. —— of the trump administration. we want to do the right thing for saudi arabia and there are areas of alignment. the united states is the biggest energy market. in the first weeks of trump's administration we are seeing that he is putting america first so they must be a worry here when he talks about energy independence, when he looks at the us shale oil market, when he ta

strategybout the beyond saudi arabia and the uae? any more exotic places?ave a very wide geographic footprint. >> our universe is about 21 countries. extends all the way from turkey down to south africa, from bahrain to morocco. >> any picks in that space? there is no particular pick. our investment process is quite rigorous and exhaustive. we're spending a lot of time right now in south africa, in turkey. there is a lot of distress. >> we will have to leave it there, and of course, we will have to follow up. thanks for joining us. still to come in the program, we will be talking to one of singapore's biggest property developers on why it has seen a plunge in profit. that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪ kong, 8:30 inng dubai. these are some of the headlines from around the world. nissan says the decision announced a short time ago was the recommendation and he'll seek a renewal in june. china's social security fund has started buying hong kong equities in a bid to achieve higher returns. the firm has been trading hong kong stocks for the fund. the benchmark ag

our other main stories this hour: saudi arabia says it looks forward to working with president trump's "pro—oil and gas" administration. we have an exclusive interview with the saudi oil minister. growing concern about the escalating violence in eastern ukraine. the un warns of a "dangerous deterioration." i'm sally bundock. the business news. seven is the magic numberfor apple. the tech giant reverses its sales slump thanks to its latest iphone reporting its highest quarterly revenue ever. a growing transatlantic divide. the president of the european council says the new government in washington is one of the biggest threats facing europe. 12 days into his newjob, president trump has made one of the most significant decisions of his four year term. he's fulfilled another major campaign promise and nominated a conservative judge to fill the vacancy on the us supreme court. 49—year—old neil gorsuch is the youngest nominee to the supreme court in a quarter of a century, a the position that's for life. david willis reports from washington. in the hands of this man, even an appointment to

so iran right now is going against saudi arabia. united states is supporting saudi arabia.he people are suffering and the people are yemenis. literally, it's a tragedy. i wish more people would learn about it. and yemen is one of the seven countries, the poorest country in that region, and we're blocking refugees from yemen. it's cruel. it's going to look bad on us in america because everyone in the middle east knows the united states is supporting not only saudi arabia now but unconditionally putin who's supporting the dictator assad, who has killed over 500,000 people along with extremists there. and so this destabilizes all good, any good that resulted from diplomacy, which was not perfect during the obama years, and he's so erratic that honestly for all of our security, middle eastern security and muslim-majority country security this is a very dangerous ground and he's only two weeks into his presidency. >> salena, i want to get your response. but i also want to find out from you if you think these sanctions imposed by the u.s. are really effective considering that the

david: steve, i just want to be clear about this, why saudi arabia was not on the list because saudi arabia, according to the government, i'm not justifying it, but this is what they say, they have tightened their standards for those individuals who are allowed visas, whereas these other countries, the seven countries on the immigration order are barely countries, at least many of them. they-- it's difficult to find any way that they vet the people that are coming here. >> precisely, david. you have saudi arabia, you have pakistan and others. they don't have this extreme vetting because they are able to do some of the vetting there, but those seven countries in particular aren't able to do there what is needed to bring people over here and that was-- that's why those seven were chosen. by the way, it's abouten pointed out going back to president carter, he used the same kind of power, president obama did the same thing, in particular situations. so this was nothing new. this was, yes, the order was not handled well, but primarily it's because it's donald trump. david: and even the hea

saudi arabia has always produced in response to market demand. last two years, our market strategy was to sell to customers who requested shipments for the next month to be scheduled. so every barrel of oil that leaves saudi arabia's shores has been sent out at the request of a customer. so, come july, the assumption markets will be balanced. and if there is an agreement at that time to see the ceiling lifted, saudi arabia will be responsive, rather than constrained, in meeting those customers' demand. i would not expect an all out flood of the market in july. i would not expect an all out flood of the market injuly. what i would not expect an all out flood of the market in july. what we i would not expect an all out flood of the market injuly. what we want to see, in the first quarter is a lwa ys to see, in the first quarter is always tough, but over the six months, what we want to see is a large reduction in global infantry is to bring it back within the five—year range. —— inventories. if we can do that, we will allow the market to do its thin

the world's biggest oil producer, saudi arabia, is embarking on a plan to wea n saudi arabia, is embarkingeputy crown prince says he also wants to boost the private sector and slowly open up this conservative kingdom where cinemas are banned and women are not allowed to drive. chief international correspondent, least is that, reports from saudi arabia. they call him the artist of arabs. mohammed two, allowed to sing live in his own country for the first time in years. it is the first of many concerts planned by a new ministry charged with bringing some fun toa ministry charged with bringing some fun to a conservative kingdom one step at a time. look at the crowd. all men. some saudis do not want women at concerts like this. yeah, it is too much and it is not good for the country. but the pace of change is picking up. the union bashing is one of the few thrills on offer at the weekend. —— dune bashing. there are not any saudi women here today. it is quite a ride. i am sure they would enjoy it. in this young country two thirds of people are under 30. the bright lights of dubai or london are

>>> saudi arabia fell victim to a horrible storm. >> this particular region of saudi arabia was on theeceiving end of about three months' worth of rain in one 24-hour period. >> see the footage of the chaos. >>> and peanut and seeta have captivated c captiv c and while it's okay to nibble in public, a lady only dines in private. try the name your price tool from progressive. it gives you options based on your budget. uh-oh. discussing finances is a big no-no. what, i'm helping her save money! shh! men are talking. that's it, i'm out. taking the meatballs. that's it, i'm out. listerine® total care strengthens teeth, after brushing, helps prevent cavities and restores tooth enamel. it's an easy way to give listerine® total care to the total family. listerine® total care. one bottle, six benefits. power to your mouth™. delsym helpswhich means, impulse to cough for 12 hours. you're controlling your cough on your morning commute. and later when you're joking with beth... even when most cough medicines stop, delsym is still working. delsym. the #1 12-hour cough medicine. >>> closed captions

that's how much saudi arabia's state oilfirm is investing in an oil refinery set up by malaysia's state saudi king salman arrived in kuala lumpur to kick off a multi—nation tour aimed at boosting economic ties with asia. sharanjit leyl joins us from our asia business hub. quite exciting, isn't it? two powerhouses coming together, big investments by saudi arabia into malaysia. that is right, so big that it makes saudi arabia's state oil firm the single biggest investor into malaysia. 0f firm the single biggest investor into malaysia. of course, this deal is between them and the malaysian state—owned energy company petronas. they are investing in this huge refinery project in southern malaysia. what is interesting is that this marks a dramatic reversal from earlier this year when we heard from earlier this year when we heard from industry sources that the deal was off, that had planned to pull out of this deal at the time. —— aramco had planned. but petronas and aramco had planned. but petronas and aramco executives are now scheduled to sign the agreement today, and they are saying that p

saudi arabia, for one thing, doesn't really have a civil society. what we are doing here couldn't be one. the idea of freedom of assembly is almost not unknown but rarely practice. just to give you an example. when i went there i was supposed to be mentoring young saudi arabian women journalists as well and i said where are they and they said you cannot see them. they are in an office under the stair well and i said i can't teach them if i can't see them. finally, it was agreed that once a week i would meet with the saudi women journalists who would can come in with the young men. they had the black hijab, and they covered everything except their gold-rim cat eye glasses. naga. she liked covering herself because she said, you know, i can make faces at people and they don't know it. small consultation but there you are. she had to go to an interview in riad one day before the first flight from jida arrived. so she had to fly in the night before. as a single saudi woman she can not travel without her male guardian's approval which could be her father,

he will go to saudi arabia and take up he will go to saudi arabia and take upa he will go to saudi arabiaference in saudi arabia earlier speaking about the professionalisation of refereeing and he is keen to work with the team and he is keen to work with the team and president tikrit structure in saudi arabia to make refereeing successful for many years to come. he is stepping into the former premier league referee howard who has gone to the mls. he will start initially on a part—time basis whilst fulfilling other commitments and will be full—term by next season. after his side were outclassed — beaten 5—1 by bayern munich in the first leg of their last 16 champions league tie — there are more question marks over the future of arsenal manager arsene wenger. bbc sport understands the club will wait until the end of the season before making what we think will be a ‘mutual‘ decision on his future. i have been receiving messages from arsenal supporters and the vast majority now think it is time to move on. it is given arsenal wonderful service, he needs a fresh start but unfortunately we have

oil is important in saudi arabia and the world, but is saudi arabia and the world, but is saudi arabiaroyal family were dependent for 90% on this one fuel, oil and gas. the discovery of oil here in the kingdom eight decades ago absolutely transformed saudi arabia from a small, remote desert kingdom into a powerhouse on the world stage. world oil prices crashed a few years ago, and the government lost half of its revenue. that has forced it to think about diversifying away from oil. but also is realises that if it is going to do that it has to start opening up. this is a very conservative, some would say older conservative kingdom, what do you do with a highly educated generation, more than 70% are under the age of 30, and they have benefited from a generous scholarship programme, so you have hundreds of thousands of people, many with ph.d. is, coming back to the country and looking for jobs and a life worth living to keep them here. what do you do, cinemas are banned and there are restrictions on women working? saudi arabia is opening up because it has two. are we really going to see g

still to come, what is driving changes in saudi arabia. kingdom wantsch to cut reliance on the national resource that has fueled its fortune. 300 pilot whales have died after becoming stranded on a remote beach in new zealand. there were discovered on the northwestern tip of the south island. conservation department staff and volunteers are trying to save another 100 whales still alive. a tragedy rarely seen on such an enormous scale on new zealand's shores. hundreds of volunteers pour water on the survivors while waiting for the high tide. part of pilot whales washed ashore. darkness forced rescuers to put off their efforts until friday morning to buy then, around three quarters of the pod had died. wethis is the third largest have recorded in our history. it is a very large one. it is a massive undertaking. reporter: of the more than 400 whales, now just over 100 are alive. some had successfully re-floated on a high tide, but most were quickly stuck again as the tide ebbed. the huge task is far from over. >> it is amazing, people from al

they pretty well cleaned out al qaeda from saudi arabia with our assistance, and so their vetting is extremely sophisticated at this point. they have helped us find ways to jointly fight terrorism. we have a joint counterterrorism task force together, that's quite a contrast to the seven countries that we're talking about here that don't have nearly those kinds of controls. liz: i do not envy the ninth circuit court of appeals. you have the humanitarian issue, the terrorist issue and, of course, the worker issue. thank you, both so much for giving us that sense of how we get through all of this. ambassador robert jordan, former ambassador to saudi arabia and harvard university professor ron hera. we appreciate you coming on. the markets are not spooked and running away, we have solid gains for the dow and the s&p. what do we see here? the closing bell 45 minutes away. ibm, not joining the list of all of those companies that are supporting fighting the ban which is interesting, but it is certainly one of the dow 30 leaders doing a block chain deal with the dubai government agencies, i

as it turns out he's gone to saudi arabia.s also taken charge of the champions league final, the fa cup final, the european championship final. now he's leaving to go to saudi arabia in the prime of his career. thank you. after his side were outclassed — beaten 5—1 by bayern munich in the first leg of their last 16 champions league tie — there are more question marks over the future of arsenal manager arsene wenger. bbc sport understands the club will wait until the end of the season before making a "mutual" decision on his future. i've been receiving messages from lots of arsenal supporters trust members. the vast majority are arsenalfans members. the vast majority are arsenal fans now think it's time to move on. he's given arsenal wonderful service, he needs a fresh start. u nfortu nately we wonderful service, he needs a fresh start. unfortunately we have a board that doesn't seem to lead the club and the decision will be dumped him. in an uncomfortable limbo over the next few weeks and i'd like to see a statement from arsen

-- in saudi arabia.e joined by the person who helped break the story. what do we know now? is big time for citigroup -- it is big time for citigroup. this move is a big initiative from their side to try and get active the kingdom at a time where reform is happening and bank initiatives like saudi aramco to massive privatizations and bond issuance is, so we see -- this is probably the best time to be a bank. mark: what is it doing on the side, to target business opportunities? reported its choice sometime late, last year about city creating a task force internally, which included bankers to evaluate opportunities in saudi arabia and the bank has been constantly having those discussions causing us to see one of the business as atunities and coming in key bank on the mega bond issue. $17.5 billion of sovereign bond issuance, so they have been on this for a while, and they realize it is a big opportunity and they are moving at the right pace. annie: does that give it advantage over other foreign banks that a

interesting how saudi arabia has taken the lead in this.n is how much longer do they have to go? where they cut supplies to support prices further? and of course the u.s. shale story and how that might disrupt the opec and non-opec agreements to pull oil out of the system. let's tell our clients about this amazing new feature. it is our interactive tv function on the bloomberg. tv , put it in, check it out. , a slighttch us live delay there, slightly bizarre, but in any case, you can see the intoous interviews, dive securities or bloomberg functions that we talk about a become part of the conversation by sending us instant messages during our show. this is for bloomberg cirque driver subscribers only. tv . wcrest announced better-than-expected profit on the back of higher gold prices. we are joined by paul allen in sydney. how did the number stack up? result,g all-around underlying performance and profits jumping fourfold, revenue up 22%, $1.8 billion, an interim dividend of seven cents, and re-affirming guidance for 2017, so a stro

shifting sands in saudi arabia. we travel to the kingdom to see what's changing.dent trump has said he is committed to bringing us—japan ties even closer and that there are lines in the cornerstone of peace and stability in the region. tokyo sees america as an ally to maintain security. we are committed to the security of japan and all areas under its administrative control and to further strengthening our very crucial alliance. the us—japan alliance is the cornerstone of peace and stability in the pacific region. it is important both japan and the united states continue to invest very heavily in the alliance to build up our defence, and our defensive capabilities which, under our mutual leadership, will become stronger and stronger, and, as time goes by, ultimately they will be impenetrable. unsurprisingly, the first question from the full from journalists was on a different subject, and that was the trump travel ban. the question put to him from the new york post. we are going to keep our country safe, we are going to do whatever is necessary to keep our country