Trump in Saudi Arabia: High-level Delegation Accompanies US President to Riyadh
The US President, Donald Trump, is set to arrive to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday morning, in his first major diplomatic trip during his second term as a president. Trump's visit to the Kingdom underscores the depth of Saudi-US relations and stresses Riyadh's strategic importance to Washington. Senior Officials
Trump will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including senior officials and high-profile businessmen and investors. According to Al-Arabiya, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio; Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth; and Secretary of Treasury, Scott Bessent; as well as the Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnik, are accompanying the US President to Riyadh.
Moreover, most of White House's senior officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, will head to Riyadh alongside Trump. The US officials will take part in meetings with Saudi officials. Business Leaders
Furthermore, a group of top CEOs are arriving in Saudi Arabia for the Saudi-US Investment Forum. These include Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk and Amazon's CEO, Andy Jassy, in addition to the CEOs of Blackrock, Citigroup, IBM, Boeing, Delta Airlines.
The Saudi-US Investment Forum has kicked off at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, convening senior Saudi and American policymakers and investors to strengthen the bilateral relations that has evolved over nearly a century. Saudi-US Investment Forum
The Forum focuses on clean energy; technology and artificial intelligence (AI); advanced manufacturing; financial services; venture capital and innovation; aerospace and defense; and healthcare and life sciences.
Keynote speakers from Saudi Arabia include Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman; Sports Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal; and Investment Minister, Khalid Bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih.
They also include Finance Minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan; Communications Minister, Abdullah Al-Swaha; Industry Minister, Bandar Ibrahim Alkhorayef; Saudi Aramco CEO, Amin Nasser; and ACWA Power Chairman, Mohammad A. Abunayyan.
Meanwhile, distinguished US speakers will take part in the event, including BlackRock CEO, Larry Fink; Citigroup CEO, Jane Fraser; IBM CEO, Arvind Krishna; President and CIO of Google and Alphabet, Ruth Porat; and Qualcomm CEO, Cristiano Amon.
Short link :
Post Views: 71
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
an hour ago
- Saudi Gazette
Trump and California Governor Newsom clash over deployment of National Guard in Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES — Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom after a second day of clashes between hundreds of protesters and federal immigration authorities in riot gear. Newsom wrote on social media: 'The federal government is creating chaos so it can have an excuse to escalate things. This is not the way any civilized country behaves'. He described the decision to deploy the National Guard as a 'deliberate and cowardly' action, adding that it would 'only escalate tensions.' Trump reacted to Gavin Newsom in a posting on his 'Truth Social' platform on Saturday, writing, 'If Governor Gavin Newsom of California and Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles can't fulfill their duties that everyone knows they can't, then the federal government will step in and solve the problem of rioters and looters the way it needs to be solved!!!' Confrontations broke out on Saturday near a Home Depot in the heavily Latino city of Paramount, south of Los Angeles, where federal agents were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office nearby. Agents unleashed tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls, and protesters hurled rocks and cement at Border Patrol vehicles. Smoke wafted from small piles of burning refuse in the streets. Tensions were high after a series of sweeps by immigration authorities the previous day, including in LA's fashion district and at a Home Depot, as the weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the city climbed past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement. The White House announced that Trump would deploy the Guard to 'address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.' It wasn't clear when the troops would arrive. In a signal of the administration's aggressive approach, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy the U.S. military. 'If violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,' Hegseth said on X. Trump's order came after clashes in Paramount and neighboring Compton, where a car was set on fire. Protests continued into the evening in Paramount, with several hundred demonstrators gathered near a doughnut shop, and authorities holding up barbed wire to keep the crowd back. Crowds also gathered again outside federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles, including a detention center, where local police declared an unlawful assembly and began to arrest people. Standoff in Paramount Earlier in Paramount, immigration officers faced off with demonstrators at the entrance to a business park, across from the back of a Home Depot. They set off fireworks and pulled shopping carts into the street, broke up cinder blocks and pelted a procession of Border Patrol vans as they departed and careened down a boulevard. US Attorney Bill Essayli said federal agents made more arrests of people with deportation orders on Saturday, but none at the Home Depot. The Department of Homeland Security has a building next door and agents were staging there as they prepared to carry out operations, he said on Fox11 Los Angeles. He didn't say how many people were arrested Saturday or where. Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons told multiple news outlets that community members showed up in response because people are fearful about activity by immigration agents. 'When you handle things the way that this appears to be handled, it's not a surprise that chaos would follow,' Lemons said. Some demonstrators jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones. 'ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are,' a woman said through a megaphone. 'You are not welcome here.' More than a dozen people were arrested and accused of impeding immigration agents, Essayli posted on X, including the names and mug shots of some of those arrested. He didn't say where they were protesting. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement that the work the immigration authorities were doing when met with protests is 'essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California's feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.' The president's move came shortly after he issued a threat on his social media network saying that if Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not 'do their jobs,' then 'the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!' Speaking on TV station ABC7, Bass said that 'we certainly want to make the opportunities available for people to exercise their First Amendment rights, but the minute that things turn to violence ... that is not acceptable and people are going to be held accountable.' She said she had spoken with members of the Trump administration and insisted that she and Newsom were in control and there was no need for the National Guard to be deployed. Arrests in Los Angeles Protests kicked off a day earlier in Los Angeles after federal authorities arrested 44 people for violating immigration law Friday. The Department of Homeland Security later said recent ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organizations and people with prior criminal histories. David Huerta, regional president of the Service Employees International Union, was also arrested Friday while protesting. The Justice Department confirmed that he was being held Saturday at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles ahead of a scheduled Monday court appearance. Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for his immediate release, warning of a 'disturbing pattern of arresting and detaining American citizens for exercising their right to free speech.' The Trump administration's continued warnings and threats come as the Los Angeles Police Department says protests across the city are now proceeding 'peacefully.' — Euronews
Arab News
2 hours ago
- Arab News
US troops make first detentions in Trump border military zones
US troops have made their first detentions inside military areas set up on the US-Mexico border as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, the US Army said. The unprecedented military areas along 260 miles (418 km) of border in New Mexico and Texas were declared extensions of US Army bases by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, allowing troops to temporarily detain migrants and other civilian trespassers. Three 'illegal aliens' were detained by troops in the New Mexico area near Santa Teresa on June 3, before being handed to US Border Patrol, Army spokesperson Major Geoffrey Carmichael said in an email. 'This marks the first time Department of Defense personnel have recorded a temporary detainment within either National Defense Area,' Carmichael said. US presidents have long used active-duty and reservist troops on the international boundary in support roles to US Border Patrol such as surveillance and construction. President Donald Trump took military use a step further by giving troops the right to hold trespassers they catch in the zones until civilian law enforcement assumes custody. Federal troops can also search people and conduct crowd control measures within the areas, according to the Army. Designation of the zones as military bases allowed troops to detain migrants without the need for Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. The 1807 law lets a US president deploy federal troops domestically to suppress events like civil disorder. Prosecution of dozens of migrants caught in the zones has faced setbacks in court after judges in New Mexico and Texas dismissed trespassing charges, and acquitted a Peruvian woman, ruling they did not know they were entering restricted areas. The primary role of troops in the zones is to detect and track illegal border crossers, with around 390 such detections so far, the Army said. News of the detentions inside military areas came as Trump deployed state-based National Guard troops to Los Angeles during protests over immigration raids.
Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the US. Here's what to know
DAKAR, Senegal: President Donald Trump has banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and restricted access for those from seven others, citing national security concerns in resurrecting and expanding a hallmark policy from his first term that will mostly affect people from Africa and the Middle East. The ban announced Wednesday applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The heightened restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the US and don't hold a valid visa. The policy takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m. and does not have an end date. Here's what to know about the new rules: How Trump justified the ban Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him. The travel ban stems from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on 'hostile attitudes' toward the US The aim is to 'protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes,' the administration said. In a video posted on social media, Trump tied the new ban to a terrorist attack Sunday in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. The man charged in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump's restricted list. US officials say he overstayed a tourist visa. Who is exempt from the ban, Which countries are affected Trump said nationals of countries included in the ban pose 'terrorism-related' and 'public-safety' risks, as well as risks of overstaying their visas. He also said some of these countries had 'deficient' screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their citizens. His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report about tourists, businesspeople and students who overstay US visas and arrive by air or sea, singling out countries with high percentages of nationals who remain after their visas expired. 'We don't want them,' Trump said. The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban makes exceptions for Afghans on special immigrant visas, who were generally the people who worked most closely with the US government during the two-decade war there. The list can be changed, the administration said in a document, if authorities in the designated countries make 'material improvements' to their own rules and procedures. New countries can be added 'as threats emerge around the world.' State Department guidance The State Department instructed US embassies and consulates on Friday not to revoke visas previously issued to people from the 12 countries listed in the ban. In a cable sent to all US diplomatic missions, the department said 'no action should be taken for issued visas which have already left the consular section' and that 'no visas issued prior to the effective date should be revoked pursuant to this proclamation.' However, visa applicants from affected countries whose applications have been approved but have not yet received their visas will be denied, according to the cable, which was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting on Monday. How the ban differs from 2017's Early in Trump's first term, he issued an executive order banning travel to the US by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. It was one of the most chaotic and confusing moments of his young presidency. Travelers from those nations were either barred from getting on flights to the US or detained at US airports after they landed. They included students and faculty, as well as businesspeople, tourists and people visiting friends and family. The order, often referred to as the 'Muslim ban' or the 'travel ban,' was retooled amid legal challenges until a version was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. That ban affected various categories of travelers and immigrants from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya, plus North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families. Reactions to Trump's order Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro's government condemned the travel ban, characterizing it in a statement as a 'stigmatization and criminalization campaign' against Venezuelans. Chad President Mahamat Deby Itno said his country would suspend visas for US citizens in response to the ban. Aid and refugee resettlement groups also denounced it. 'This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,' said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America. But reactions to the ban ran the gamut from anger to guarded relief and support. In Haiti, radio stations received a flurry of calls Thursday from angry listeners, including many who said they were Haitians living in the US and who accused Trump of being racist, noting that the people of many of the targeted countries are Black. Haitian-American Elvanize Louis-Juste, who was at the airport Sunday in Newark, New Jersey, awaiting a flight to her home state of Florida, said many Haitians wanting to come to the US are simply seeking to escape violence and unrest in their country. 'I have family in Haiti, so it's pretty upsetting to see and hear,' Louis-Juste, 23, said of the travel ban. 'I don't think it's a good thing. I think it's very upsetting.' William Lopez, a 75-year-old property investor who arrived from Cuba in 1967, supports the travel ban. 'These are people that come but don't want to work, they support the Cuban government, they support communism,' Lopez said at a restaurant near Little Havana in Miami. 'What the Trump administration is doing is perfectly good.'
