Hints and tips:
...Mitchell Bard, author of The Arab Lobby and a longtime analyst of Gulf nations’ influence operations in America, saw little evidence that Arab money was contributing to hostility towards Jews and Israel...
...The head of a Senate investigation into Saudi Arabia’s investments in the US has vowed to keep fighting to limit the kingdom’s influence over the sport of golf....
...The attack came after the USS Mason had responded to a distress call from the M/V Central Park, which had been boarded by unknown assailants, Centcom said....
...There were no injuries and the ship, the Marshall Islands-flagged, US-owned and operated M/V Genco Picardy, sustained some damage but was “seaworthy and continuing under way”, Centcom said....
...WhatsApp to Stephen: The line here is not outright attack but sadness that such a great brand is punching so far below its weight both in its public image and with the people it needs to influence....
...“And I think the V is about a superhero.”...
...That’s the way the United States would influence global affairs, right?...
...That’s not what I’m looking for.” On Wednesday, the US attributed the attack to Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group which contains Kataib Hizbollah....
...For this reason he believes their influence on mainstream fashion is limited. “It’s a moment that begins and ends there....
...“Everywhere you look in Saudi Arabia, you can see growth and progress and I’m excited to be part of that,” Nadal said....
...Luckily, the influence of geopolitics is exaggerated — the second reason obsessing about it vexes me. Particularly on equities....
...“I’m more concerned with building how Africans build and live rather than how we think they should based on these styles that we think are big moments in our history.”...
...“I’m extremely nosy and want to be involved in everything,” says Nick Wakeman, founder and creative director of Studio Nicholson, sitting in her neatly turned-out Hackney flat....
...“But Sheikh Mohammed was saying ‘I’m here to help in whatever way.’”...
...(David Pilling) Power Points Petrochemical factories lining the US Gulf coast have earned the region the nickname “Cancer Alley”....
...Kate Brandt, chief sustainability officer at Google, posted a cheerful update explaining “why I’m leaving COP28 with optimism for the future”....
...STC isn’t the first Gulf telecoms power to look to the west....
...It also demonstrates the growing influence of credit provided by the lending arms of the same large private equity firms....
...Job moves Morgan Stanley’s global chair of M&A Rob Kindler is returning to law after 17 years at the US bank....
...A lot of them go into Nigeria, go into Chad, going into the horn and into the Gulf region as well....
...The deal was one of the most striking illustrations yet of the growing power and influence of the PIF under the stewardship of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman....
...Twenty years later the trend is gathering pace: the V&A is building an open storage facility in east London and the Boijmans van Beuningen opened its version in Rotterdam last year....
...And here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today: US politics: The US House of Representatives is back in session and will discuss the election of a new Speaker....
...The UAE’s sovereign funds and state-linked companies, benefiting from a sustained period of high oil prices, are expanding as Gulf states try to accelerate the diversification of their economies....
...I’m at tony.barber@ft.com....
International Edition