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Amazon Launches in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi woman employed at the new center in Jeddah - Asharq Al-Awsat AR
A Saudi woman employed at the new center in Jeddah - Asharq Al-Awsat AR
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Amazon Launches in Saudi Arabia

A Saudi woman employed at the new center in Jeddah - Asharq Al-Awsat AR
A Saudi woman employed at the new center in Jeddah - Asharq Al-Awsat AR

Amazon has launched an online store for shoppers in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, www.amazon.sa, offering customers a large variety of options at low prices, fast delivery services, and several payment options.

It allows customers to return products in a period of 15 days after purchase and offers free next-day delivery service for orders above SAR200.

Customers can purchase products using Saudi Riyals, cash upon delivery, or through either a local or international debit or credit cards, including Mada cards, over the website or via the Amazon application, both of which are available in English and Arabic. Some banks also allow their clients to pay installments.

The new online store replaces Souq.com, which Amazon acquired in 2017.

Customers can continue to use the same login information they used on Souq.com to sign in to their account on Amazon.sa., while those who have an existing account on Amazon with the same email address associated with their Souq.com account, are set to use their Amazon password and not their Souq.com password to log in.

In a statement, the company clarified that "All existing Souq.com customer credentials, wish lists, orders, delivery addresses, payment methods and customer support queries have been converted to new Amazon.sa accounts".

Amazon has been investing in Souq.com’s infrastructure, user interface, and customer service and enlarged its team, now at 1,400 employees.

Rafid bin Amin Fatani, Amazon's Head of Public Policy in Africa and the Middle East, emphasized the workforce’s equitable gender-ratio, boasting that Saudi Women make up 40 percent of the workforce at the new 226,000 square foot center in Jeddah.

Amazon also helps thousands of Saudi companies sell their products. It ensures the security of payments and provides customers with easy access to their products, in addition to reliable and quick delivery.

Amazon currently uses 3 shipping-service centers and 11 delivery stations across the country and has formed a strategic delivery partnership with Saudi Post.

Ronaldo Mouchawar, vice president of Amazon in the MENA region and co-founder of Souq.com, said the company is working hard to ensure the safety of its staff and customers in light of the new coronavirus pandemic, stressing that the company is keen on adhering to the safety measures set by the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health.

"As part of the effort to ensure the highest safety and hygiene standards in all of our centers and deliveries, Amazon has implemented more than 150 safety precautions."

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Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)

They may be the most powerful people on earth, but for the seating arrangement at Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday, all foreign leaders will play second fiddle to the Argentines and Italians and surrender to the whims of the French alphabet.

About 130 foreign delegations had so far expressed their desire to attend the funeral, the Vatican said on Friday, and more were expected to do so throughout the day. Those include around 50 heads of state who have been confirmed as attending, among them US President Donald Trump and 10 reigning monarchs.

Apart from the VIPs, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral in St. Peter's Square, which starts at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Saturday. Italian police have laid on one of the most complex security operations in decades.

The official delegations will sit at a section to the right of the altar at the top of the steps leading toward St. Peter's Basilica.

Pride of place goes to Argentina, Francis' native country, whose president, Javier Milei, will sit in the front row. Milei, a maverick right-wing libertarian, had heaped insults on Francis while he was campaigning in 2023, calling him an "imbecile who defends social justice". But the president shifted his tone after he took office that year.

Next comes Italy, the country that surrounds the Vatican and which agreed in 1929 to recognize its sovereignty as the world's smallest state. It gets the second-best seats in the VIP section also because the pope is bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy.

That is when the alphabet in French – still considered the language of diplomacy – kicks in for the other delegations. The countries following Italy are ordered according to their names in French and not in their native languages.

So, it is Etats Unis and not United States, Allemagne instead of Deutschland (Germany), and Pays-Bas instead of Nederland (The Netherlands).

Royalty will take precedence. Reigning monarchs -- expected to include royalty such as the kings and queens of Spain and Belgium and Prince Albert of Monaco -- will be seated in front of other heads of state.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Friday that no distinction would be made between Catholic and non-Catholic royalty for the seating order. After the royals come the remaining heads of state. Trump, who attracted criticism from Francis because of his immigration policies, will sit ahead of many other leaders because Etats Unis begins with an "E".

That alphabetic logic means that Trump - currently engaged in trying to get a peace deal in the war in Ukraine - will not be sitting near Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Former US President Joe Biden, who has been the target of constant criticism by Trump, is attending the funeral, but will not be part of the official US delegation, a diplomatic source said. This means Biden, a lifelong Catholic, should be sitting further back, with other VIPs.