Giuseppe Caffulli

An economic and financial system operates in Jeddah which, whilst bringing together 57 countries, does not rely on large-scale globalised flows. At the end of September, it approved loans totalling 938 million dollars for Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria and Kyrgyzstan. Beyond the recycling of petrodollars, this is a complex and evolving mechanism.

The US-led military mission comes to an end tomorrow. The crux of the matter lies in arms supplies to the militias and state control. Today, Iraq is the point where various fault lines converge: Iran and the United States, the Arab world and regional powers, the central government and the militias, national sovereignty and external influence.

In Paris, King Abdullah II signed a cooperation agreement with Macron covering defence and security. The strategic role of the Hashemite Kingdom in a region torn apart by conflict. Lebanon, Gaza, the Occupied Territories and Syria, as well as water, are the other areas of strategic agreement.

The Jordanian government has stepped up technological surveillance using night-vision goggles, thermal imaging systems, drones, and satellites. Traffickers are moving not only Captagon but also hashish, methamphetamine, synthetic cannabinoids, and cocaine. Stabilising Syria, combating criminal groups, and maintaining territorial control are crucial.

Led by the heads of various Churches, pilgrims have returned to the 5th-century monastery built around the column on which Saint Simeon lived for 40 years. One of the most important monuments of early Christianity, it still bears the scars of bombing and looting. Yet it bears witness to a faith stronger than any adversity.

The SESAME project was conceived with CERN in Geneva as a model and took 20 years to get off the ground. The first synchrotron, which accelerates electrons and produces light used to study matter, has been operational since 2017. Whilst wars and crises have directly affected member countries in the Middle East, the laboratory has continued to operate.

“Tracing Scribes and Scrolls” is a research project investigating the provenance of the texts from the ancient Dead Sea Library. Dating from the 3rd century BC to the 1st century AD, they are written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Ranging from biblical books to wisdom literature, they provide a window into the pluralism of the Second Temple period.

In addition to oil, museums, exhibitions, and architecture are part of the emirate’s new economic strategy. DCT data indicate a record number of visitors, 26.6 million, last year, up by 19.5 per cent over 2024. This is part of an ambitious shift, from luxury and business to art and major events in a single ecosystem. Saadiyat Island is at the heart of the transformation.

The new excavation campaigns promoted by Saudi Arabia focus on the human, economic, and social environments that characterised the Arabian Peninsula from the pre-Islamic era to the first centuries of the Hijra. They challenge the stereotype of a uniform desert, populated exclusively by nomadic tribes.

Among the topics discussed at the General Synod held in York was the Kairos Palestine document, in which the communities of the Holy Land take a stand on the Israeli occupation, peace and justice. Primate Mullally’s visit and the challenge of not allowing oneself to be paralysed by differing sensibilities. Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac: “A step we have been waiting for a long time”.

A corruption scandal of symbolic significance involving the former deputy minister responsible for oil fields. Following Saddam’s fall, the new political system has encouraged the emergence of patronage networks. The Integrity Commission is working to extradite suspects and recover illicit assets.

The bombings in the Syrian capital, coinciding precisely with Macron’s visit and his meeting with Trump in Turkey, have reignited doubts about the extent to which the former jihadist-turned-president truly controls the country. The army is ‘absorbing’ more than sixty militias but without dismantling the local power bases, while international players pursue different objectives regarding the ‘new Syria’.