Sebastian Usher

I think partly what we were just hearing there, that this hasn't been the big hit that the Saudis wanted it to be. And that's what the Saudis are after. I mean, we've seen it with boxing, we've seen it with wrestling, we've seen it with motor racing, gaming. All of these events now taking place in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Huge global events attracting big audiences. Recalibrating not just the sports, but the image of Saudi Arabia. That's been the big thing. And that's been achieved to some extent.

Kritiikki kutsuvat sen koulutuksen, koska Saudi-Arabia on ihmisen oikeuden rekordi, mutta Saudi-perspektiivisestä se yrittää reorientoida maan kuvan, sen tulevaisuuden, niin sanottuna Vision 2030, jossa on maanprinssa Mohammed bin Salman, mutta luulen, että siellä on ollut recalibraatio.

Kiitos puheenjohtaja.

which have all been put on hold. There was a big skiing alpine resort that was being built. Now there is snow in Saudi Arabia, but only for about four or five days a year. That's also being curbed. So it's really looking at the practical side of where the money should go and getting as much return as possible. The investment that they hoped to get for those projects wasn't coming in either.

Could the shadow of the conflict in the Middle East also play a role in this, in terms of an impact further down the line? I think so, because these big events taking place in Saudi Arabia, for example, and they need to be in a zone that is relatively stable, and that has been now knocked sideways. We've seen several high-profile events having to be cancelled in Saudi Arabia and in the UAE.

So that's a big knock-on effect. And, you know, another key element that Saudi Arabia is still focusing on is on tourism. Now, it's been successful to a degree with internal tourism, Saudis spending their money in Saudi Arabia rather than abroad. But aside from the big events, and of course for pilgrimage every year for Hajj, it hasn't really broken through successfully.

So I think that is playing a part as well. Also, as I mentioned before, the human rights issues, the shadow that hung over MBS for years over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, that's dissipated to some extent. But there's still an issue about that. The golf players, the footballers all have to face some kind of condemnation for going to play there or to work for the Saudis.

We've still got to hear from the boss of OpenAI and the head of Microsoft, which is a large shareholder in OpenAI later on in the trial. What does Elon Musk want from this case?

Well, he's up the ante again.

I mean, it's clear that he isn't really happy with there being the kind of ceasefire that there is in Lebanon at the moment.

It's unfinished business as far as he's concerned.

And as far as many Israelis are concerned, I mean, when the ceasefire was announced, there was a sense that he had been kind of forced into it by the Americans.

And that it was unfinished business, not just from him, but also from opposition politicians and parties.

So he has now, in a very brief statement, ordered the Israeli military to vigorously attack Hezbollah targets.

That is the first really strong statement from him since the announcement by President Trump that the ceasefire that's currently in place in Lebanon is being extended by another three weeks to give more time to these peace talks that are being held between the Lebanese government and Israel, but not Hezbollah.

I mean, from the Israeli perspective and from the way that it was defined in the terms of the ceasefire, Israel was given the right to carry out attacks still in Lebanon, as we've seen in Gaza, as we've seen in other countries.

war zones when it believes that there is a threat to its national security, which essentially it has felt pretty much every day since the ceasefire came into place.

And that's led to Hezbollah fighting to a smaller extent inside Lebanon and also firing a number of rockets into northern Israel.

So I don't think one can say that the ceasefire is over, but it's been breached every day.

And this would make one think that there are going to be bigger breaches