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Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Qatar Int'l Exhibition for Tourism and Travel

The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) is participating in the Qatar International Exhibition for Tourism and Travel held in the Qatari capital, Doha, from November 20 to 22. (SPA)
The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) is participating in the Qatar International Exhibition for Tourism and Travel held in the Qatari capital, Doha, from November 20 to 22. (SPA)
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Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Qatar Int'l Exhibition for Tourism and Travel

The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) is participating in the Qatar International Exhibition for Tourism and Travel held in the Qatari capital, Doha, from November 20 to 22. (SPA)
The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) is participating in the Qatar International Exhibition for Tourism and Travel held in the Qatari capital, Doha, from November 20 to 22. (SPA)

The Saudi Tourism Authority (STA) is participating in the Qatar International Exhibition for Tourism and Travel held in the Qatari capital, Doha, from November 20 to 22, SPA said on Tuesday.
The step is an extension of STA’s regional and international participations aimed at enhancing the Kingdom's position on the global tourism map, highlighting tourist destinations, experiences, and products, along with showcasing investment opportunities and fostering connections with partners both within and outside the Kingdom.
The Saudi pavilion is set up on an area of 250 square meters, featuring platforms for product developers and service providers in the Kingdom's tourism sector.
It includes a dedicated space for service providers to guests of the Two Holy Mosques under the umbrella of "Nusuk," the unified platform for pilgrims to Makkah and Madinah. The pavilion is characterized by an authentic ambience that reflects the Kingdom’s rich culture.
Participating in the Saudi pavilion are more than 20 Saudi entities and companies, including developers of destinations and tourism projects such as NEOM, Cruise Saudi, and Red Sea Global. Additionally, there are organizers of trips and hotels, tourism and travel companies, national airlines, as well as companies specializing in Umrah, trip organization, and providing services to the guests of the Two Holy Mosques.
"The Saudi tourism sector has witnessed continuous growth in recent years, making it the fastest-growing tourist destination in the world. We have welcomed more than 16 million tourists in the first half of this year," said the CEO of Middle East and Africa Markets at the STA, Abdulkarim Yousef Al-Darwish.
The STA’s participation in this exhibition comes at a time when visiting the Kingdom has become easier than ever, with various visa options available.
These include the tourist visa, which also allows for performing Umrah, transit visa, and family visit visa, in addition to the availability of electronic visas for residents of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the United States, the United Kingdom, and European Union countries.
Moreover, visit visa holders from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Schengen countries, as well as citizens of 63 countries worldwide, can also easily visit the Kingdom.

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China Condemns EU’s Inclusion of Chinese Entities in Sanctions Package Against Russia

People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
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China Condemns EU’s Inclusion of Chinese Entities in Sanctions Package Against Russia

People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)
People gather at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition (Auto China), in Beijing, China April 24, 2026. (Reuters)

China's commerce ministry on Saturday expressed "firm opposition" to the European Union's inclusion of Chinese entities in its 20th round of sanctions against Russia, demanding their immediate removal from ‌the list.

The ‌EU sanctions ‌package ⁠targets third-country suppliers ⁠of critical high-tech items, including China-based entities accused of providing dual-use goods or weapons systems to Russia's military-industrial ⁠complex.

The move "runs counter ‌to ‌the spirit of the ‌consensus reached between Chinese ‌and EU leaders, and seriously undermines mutual trust and the overall stability of ‌bilateral relations", a spokesperson for China's commerce ⁠ministry ⁠said in a statement.

The ministry warned it would take "necessary measures" to protect Chinese companies and said "all consequences will be borne by the EU side," the statement added.

Business

US State Dept Orders Global Warning About Alleged AI Thefts by DeepSeek, Other Chinese Firms

The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)
The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)
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US State Dept Orders Global Warning About Alleged AI Thefts by DeepSeek, Other Chinese Firms

The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)
The logo of DeepSeek is seen during the Global Developer Conference, organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association in Shanghai on February 21, 2025. (AFP)

The US State Department has ordered a global push to bring attention to what it says are widespread efforts by Chinese companies, including AI startup DeepSeek, to steal intellectual property from US artificial intelligence labs, according to a diplomatic cable seen by Reuters.

The cable, dated Friday and sent to diplomatic and consular posts around the world, instructs diplomatic staff to speak to their foreign counterparts about "concerns over adversaries' extraction and distillation of US A.I. models."

"A separate demarche request and message has been sent to Beijing for raising with China," the document states.

Distillation is the process of training smaller AI models using output from larger, more ‌expensive ones as ‌part of an effort to lower the costs of training a ‌powerful ⁠new AI tool.

This ⁠week, the White House made similar accusations, but the cable has not been previously reported. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

OpenAI has warned US lawmakers that DeepSeek was targeting the ChatGPT maker and the nation's leading AI companies to replicate models and use them for its own training, Reuters reported in February.

CHINA REJECTS ACCUSATIONS

The Chinese Embassy in Washington on Friday reiterated its stance that the accusations are baseless.

"The allegations that Chinese entities are stealing American AI intellectual property are ⁠groundless and are deliberate attacks on China's development and progress in the ‌AI industry," it said in a statement to Reuters.

DeepSeek, whose ‌low-cost AI model stunned the world last year, on Friday launched a preview of a highly anticipated ‌new model, called the V4, adapted for Huawei chip technology, underlining China's growing autonomy in the ‌sector.

DeepSeek also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, it has said that its V3 model used data naturally occurring and collected through web crawling and it had not intentionally used synthetic data generated by OpenAI.

Many Western and some Asian governments have banned their institutions and officials from using ‌DeepSeek, citing data privacy concerns. Nevertheless, DeepSeek's models have consistently been among the most used on international platforms that host open-source models.

The State Department ⁠cable said its purpose ⁠was to "warn of the risks of utilizing AI models distilled from US proprietary AI models, and lay the groundwork for potential follow-up and outreach by the US government."

It also mentioned Chinese AI firms Moonshot AI and MiniMax . Neither company immediately responded to a request for comment.

The cable said that "AI models developed from surreptitious, unauthorized distillation campaigns enable foreign actors to release products that appear to perform comparably on select benchmarks at a fraction of the cost but do not replicate the full performance of the original system."

It added that the campaigns also "deliberately strip security protocols from the resulting models and undo mechanisms that ensure those AI models are ideologically neutral and truth-seeking."

The White House accusations and the cable come just weeks before US President Donald Trump is set to visit Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. They could well raise tensions in a long-running tech war between the rival superpowers, which had been lowered by a detente brokered last October.

Business

Bessent Rules Out Renewal of Iranian and Russian Oil Waivers

US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)
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Bessent Rules Out Renewal of Iranian and Russian Oil Waivers

US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)
US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent testifies during the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on 'A Review of the President's FY2027 Budget Request for the Department of the Treasury' on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2026. (EPA)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that the US does not plan to renew a waiver allowing the purchase of Russian oil and petroleum products that are currently at sea.

He also said a renewal of a one-time waiver for Iranian oil at sea is totally off the table.

“Not the Iranians,” Bessent told The Associated Press. “We have the blockade, and there’s no oil coming out.”

In an AP interview about the impact of the war on the global energy market and other topics, Bessent also said he had no plans to extend the sanctions relief for Russia.

“I wouldn’t imagine that we’d have another extension. I think the Russian oil on the water has been largely sucked up,” he said.