China’s Baidu to deploy driverless cars on Uber

• Uber users in these locations may have the option of choosing to ride in a fully driverless Apollo Go car after they request a trip.
• Driverless taxis are already on the roads with limited capacity in China, most notably in the central city of Wuhan.

Saudi leads MENA in VC funding for H1, surpassing 2024’s full-year total

• Saudi Arabia's H1 VC share is 56 percent of the total capital deployed in the region.
• The report also revealed that Saudi Arabia achieved a record number of 114 VC deals for the first half of 2025.

SIB H1 net profit $189m

Salini awarded $600m contract for 400 retail units in Diriyah Square

• Diriyah Square is located at the heart of Diriyah, the City of Earth, within the unique Najdi-inspired architectural Diriyah Masterplan.
• It is designed to develop a vibrant retail district featuring a mix of 400 iconic retail, leisure, and dining brands.

Low-cost carrier Wizz Air to stop Abu Dhabi operations

• The airline will exit its  Abu Dhabi hub starting from September.
• The seventh biggest European airlines in terms of daily flights operated around 30 routes in the Middle East.

Syria signs $800 mn port deal with DP World to develop Tartus port

• DP World operates dozens of marine and inland ports and terminals globally, particularly in Asia, Africa and Europe.
• The Syrian civil war devastated the country's infrastructure, and the new authorities hope to use the lifting of Western sanctions to attract investments and fuel reconstruction.

The $10 mn bag: Original Birkin smashes records at Paris auction

• The modern design classic, owned by a Paris-based handbag collector, sparked a telephone bidding war up to seven million euros, with the final sale price set at 8.58 million.
• The final buyer, who eclipsed eight other rivals, was a "private collector from Japan", the auction house added, without giving further details.

TSMC’s H1 revenue up 40 percent

Demand for crude will continue to expand through 2050, says OPEC

• That rising demand will be "driven by expanding economic growth, rising populations, increasing urbanization, and the new energy-intensive industries like AI.
• The IEA said last month that it expects global oil demand begin to decline in 2030, driven by the rise of electric cars and the shift away from crude to produce power.

Cricket’s Indian Premier League value surges to $18.5 bn: report

• The world's richest cricket tournament generated an estimated $11 billion a year for the Indian economy in 2020.
• Since it launched in 2008 it has inspired a range of other franchise-based leagues in India in sports as diverse as boxing, badminton, poker and kabaddi.