Entertainment
Saudi minister urges PIF to ease domestic spending, make way for private sector
- Minister Khalid urges PIF to make way for the private sector.
- PIF chairman said last year fund would focus on domestic projects.
- Project sits at heart of Vision 2030 with $900 billion in assets.
Saudi Arabia’s investment minister on Tuesday urged the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to ease its spending on domestic projects and make way for more investments from the private sector, as the fund prepares to draft a new strategic plan.
“It is time for us to maybe scale back on this government or PIF spend to prove and to seed some of these value chains and clusters and let the private sector start investing,” Khalid al-Falih said on Tuesday as financial titans gathered in Riyadh for the country’s flagship investment conference.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 economic plan has led to hundreds of billions in spending on projects that are designed to transform the kingdom’s economy away from its dependence on hydrocarbons.
At last year’s edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference, PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan said the fund would tap more of its resources to fund plans domestically to wean the economy off oil and said the fund planned to cut its overseas investments.
But many of the plan’s flagship projects have been delayed amid low oil prices and a budget deficit that has forced Saudi Arabia to prioritise and downsize.
Saudi Arabia’s PIF, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds with more than $900 billion in assets, sits at the heart of Vision 2030. The fund’s initial strategy for 2021-2025 ends this year, and it is due to announce an updated strategy.
Foreign investment into the country has grown 24% in 2024 to $31.7 billion, Rumayyan said earlier on Tuesday as he opened the event, where attendees include Colombian President Gustavo Petro, Blackrock’s Larry Fink, JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon, and Citi’s Jane Fraser.
Falih later added that 90% of that foreign direct investment was into Saudi Arabia’s non-oil sector, without mentioning specifics.
“We just did a transaction here in the kingdom, and we had five times more demand than we could provide. It was for a pipeline in Jafurah, and the amount of money that was interested in investing here in the kingdom was at a record level,” Fink said on a panel.
“To me, this is just an indication of the transformation here in the kingdom, but more importantly, in the whole region, and I do believe we’re seeing more and more, as the GCC, becoming one of the major destinations for capital.”
That Jafurah deal, which raised $11 billion for Saudi state oil giant Aramco upfront in exchange for payments over 20 years to the investors, is in the exact sector the kingdom is trying to reduce its reliance on.
Entertainment
Jamie Lee Curtis hits back after backlash over Charlie Kirk comment
Jamie Lee Curtis is clearing the air after her remarks about Charlie Kirk’s death did not land as she expected.
Back in September, the actress appeared on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast and commented on the 31-year-old media personality’s tragic death.
“I disagreed with him on almost every point I ever heard him say, but I believe he was a man of faith, and I hope in that moment when he died that he felt connected to his faith,” she said at the time.
“Even though his ideas were abhorrent to me,” she added, “I still believe he’s a father and a husband and a man of faith. And I hope whatever connection to God means that he felt it.”
However, the Oscar winner faced online backlash over her remarks.
Now, during a recent chat with Variety, Curtis clapped back at the criticism noting, saying, “An excerpt of it mistranslated what I was saying as I wished him well, like I was talking about him in a very positive way, which I wasn’t. I was simply talking about his faith in God.”
She went on to say, “So it was a mistranslation, which is a pun, but not.”
“In the binary world today, you cannot hold two ideas at the same time: I cannot be Jewish and totally believe in Israel’s right to exist and at the same time reject the destruction of Gaza. You can’t say that, because you get vilified for having a mind that says, ‘I can hold both those thoughts. I can be contradictory in that way,'” she added.
It is pertinent to mention that Kirk was a conservative advocate, who founded a group named Turning Point USA.
He was shot dead during a public speaking event at Utah Valley University on September 10.
Entertainment
Jesse Eisenberg promotes 'Now You See Me: Now You Don't' with real magic tricks
Jesse Eisenberg performed a magic trick in front of the public of New York City ahead of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t premiere in November.
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Entertainment
Bob Mackie reflects on legendary career as a fashion designer and working with stars like Tina Turner, Cher
Legendary fashion and costume designer Bob Mackie is known for his glamorous designs, dressing stars such as Cher, Tina Turner and Madonna for everything from red carpets to concerts.
Recently, Taylor Swift wore one of Mackie’s creations in several of her photos for her album, “The Life of a Showgirl.”
“It was kind of a surprise because I didn’t know she had those clothes,” Mackie told “CBS Mornings” on Tuesday, during an interview reflecting on his career. “She borrowed them from the place in Vegas, the big casino.”
Mackie had designed the costume more than 40 years ago for a Las Vegas show in the 1980s.
He explained he sketches his designs, but watching the stars perform is part of his process.
CBS News
“My philosophy is watch what they do, how they work on stage, how they walk, how they sit,” he said.
“It is very important. You can’t just put a dress on anybody.”
Mackie reflected on his work with Turner and Cher.
“You just don’t know until you meet them and watch them perform that they’re that woman, that kind of a girl. I mean Cher was never intimidated by one thing I ever put on her – ever,” Mackie said.
He added that Turner, “always knew what she wanted. She would say, ‘oh that’s too old fashioned, I can’t wear that.’ Then she would put it on and go, ‘oh. Well, that’s pretty good.'”
Harry Langdon / Getty Images
Sarah Morris / Getty Images
Now some of Mackie’s iconic designs are headed for auction in December.
“It’s OK. I don’t have it at home waiting for me. It’s just there and the girls kind of like seeing somebody else wear it. That’s fun,” he said.
The Washington Post
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