The Intelligence from The Economist — Dunes and gloom: MBS’s annus horribilis
41 claims analyzed
Claims41
Saudi Arabia received only about $30 billion in foreign direct investment in 2025.
Saudi Arabia has no reliable polls of public opinion on politics.
Senator Chris Murphy said the Houthis were threatening ground offensives in Saudi Arabia.
In late 2022, CoinDesk published a leaked balance sheet showing that Alameda held few assets apart from a few illiquid crypto tokens invented by Sam Bankman-Fried.
Singapore has been the world's most polluted city at various points in recent weeks.
Singapore's government is distributing masks to citizens and permanent residents amid the haze.
Indonesia's president announced a new peatland and mangrove restoration agency a couple of months ago.
Several Indonesian companies were issued preventive measures notices under Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act this week over the current haze episode.
Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative summit was canceled on October 19, 2026.
Sam Bankman-Fried placed FTX into bankruptcy.
Indonesia has said it does not need help from Singapore and Malaysia to fight the fires.
Around twenty people have been killed in strikes in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia had been targeting $100 billion a year in foreign direct investment by the end of the decade.
Saudi-funded golf tournaments have been steered to golf courses owned by Donald Trump.
Jamal Khashatse, a Saudi journalist, was killed in 2018 at Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul.
Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to get Donald Trump or the Department of Justice to consider pardoning him.
El Niño is a climate pattern that occurs every two to seven years.
Indonesia's government has opened ninety-eight cases against corporations accused of starting fires or not doing enough to prevent them.
Singapore and Malaysia have offered to send personnel to help Indonesia fight the fires.
The airport in Riyadh is closed amid attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The IMF had been expecting four percent growth in Saudi Arabia in 2026.
The IMF now expects Saudi Arabia's economy to contract by 3.3 percent in 2026.
Mohammed bin Salman talked about a trillion dollars of investment in the United States during a November 2025 White House visit.
The Saudis invested two billion dollars with Jared Kushner.
Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of financial fraud in November 2023.
Sam Bankman-Fried was ordered to pay eleven billion dollars.
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison.
FTX stopped meeting withdrawal requests while customers still had billions deposited on the exchange.
Sam Bankman-Fried is pursuing an appeal to the US Supreme Court.
Wildfires have spread across Borneo and Sumatra.
Students protested in several Indonesian cities this week against the government's handling of wildfires and toxic smoke.
Smog from the Indonesian wildfires is affecting Malaysia.
Smog from the Indonesian wildfires is affecting parts of the Philippines.
Smog from the Indonesian wildfires is affecting Singapore.
Singapore's government has set up haze shelters.
The World Meteorological Organization predicts that the current El Niño will persist until February 2027.
Indonesia's government has deployed thousands of personnel for firefighting.
Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act was passed in 2014.
Singapore's Transboundary Haze Pollution Act allows Singapore to penalize companies operating abroad if they contribute to haze in Singapore.
Preventive measures notices issued during the 2015 haze episode did not result in any convictions.