Now that passive funds have eclipsed their actively managed competitors, climate finance is increasingly in some new pairs of hands.
In an effort to increase tourism, Saudi Arabia recently eased its strict dress code for foreign women, allowing them to go without the body-shrouding abaya robe still mandatory for Saudi women.
FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images
In countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, it’s now official policy that women should go to college and work outside the home. But cultural pressure to marry and have kids remains strong.
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II greets Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Buckingham Palace in central London on March 7, 2018.
Dominic Lipinski/AFP
To ensure its energy security and influence in the Gulf region, the United Kingdom will likely deepen its relations with GCC nations in a post-Brexit world.
One of this year’s most refreshing developments was the youth-led action on climate change.
AAP Image/Dan Peled
From mass climate change movements to cultural genocide of Uighurs in China, here are some of the headline human rights moments that captured Australia’s attention.
Shaybah oilfield in Rub Al-Khali, Saudi Arabia.
Valdrin Xhemaj/EPA
The Saudi government’s oil firm is set to become the world’s biggest public company, but investors are already betting against its long-term prospects.
Former Tunisian President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
EFE-EPA/Stringer
Crony capitalism became firmly embedded under Ben Ali, benefiting his family and close friends.
The attack on the Abqaiq oil facilities in Saudi Arabia has sparked geopolitical tensions but has had only a minor impact on oil prices.
Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters
Energy-wise, the fallout from the attack on Saudi oil facilities has so far been very muted. The surge in oil production in the US over the past decade helps explain why.
Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for strikes on key Saudi oil facilities. How they’ve grown their military strength.
This week’s attack on Saudi oil facilities appears to be the latest effort by Iran to escalate tensions in the Persian Gulf to push back on the US ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions campaign.
Pavel Golovkin/EPA
Iran’s goal is to sow discord and inflict pain on energy markets, while avoiding crossing a threshold that prompts retaliation from the US. This is a fine line to walk at the best of times.
Former Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has offered to help free three detained Australians in Iran, but the attacks on Saudi oil facilities have made the situation vastly more complicated.
Stringer/EPA
Saudi Arabia and Israeli in balancing act after strikes on Iran-backed militias.
Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa gave an interview to Israel’s Channel 13 in June – a first.
Screenshot, Official Youtube of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Bahrain
With the opening of a synagogue in Dubai and warmer relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, some Arab states suddenly appear to be more open to friendship with Israel and Jews. Why?
This year’s hajj has attracted controversy, with growing calls for a boycott.
Shutterstock
Despite the calls for a boycott, millions of Muslims will make the pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the five pillars of Islamic practice.
Dalia Yashar, one of the first Saudi female students in training to become commercial pilot, pictured on July 15, 2018. Her future passengers will include solo women travelers, too.
Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed
Saudi women may now travel without a man’s permission, easing one of the most repressive aspects of the country’s ‘guardianship’ system. Women in Saudi Arabia gained the right to drive last year.
The Muslim pilgrimage known as the hajj is both a religious mandate and a symbolic act of unity with Muslims worldwide.
Reuters/Ahmad Masood
Millions of Muslims will convene in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Aug. 9. The annual five-day pilgrimage, known as the hajj, is required of all Muslims who can physically and financially make the journey.
Syrian tribes have found themselves on competing sides of Syria’s ongoing civil war.
Youssef Badawi/EPA
Despite the UK’s close relationship with Saudi Arabia, the British public think much the same about its global influence as they do about Russia and Iran – and it isn’t good.
In this October 2016 photo, fire and smoke rise after a Saudi-led airstrike hit a site believed to be one of the largest weapons depots on the outskirts of Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. Approximately 70,000 people have been estimated to have died in Yemen’s civil war – and Canada is complicit.
(AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)
Why is Canada’s labour movement so quiet on the Saudi arms deal? It should be a voice for peace and human rights and demand that the Canadian government immediately cancel the deal.
Victory at the Court of Appeal for Campaign Against Arms Trade on June 19.
Kirsty O'Connor/PA Wire
The UK Court of Appeal ruled that the British government did not properly assess whether Saudi Arabia had violated international law. What this means for the arms trade.
Senior Research Fellow, Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at IUPUI and Journalist-fellow, Religion and Civic Culture Center, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences