Saudi Arabia expects budget deficits in 2023 and 2024 as spending rises

• The deficit for 2023 is expected to amount to 82 billion Saudi riyals (roughly $21.8 billion), while in 2024 it is expected to total 79 billion Saudi riyals (roughly $21 billion)
• The projections broadly align with a pre-budget statement issued in October that indicated deficits would last through 2026.

EU agrees to forbid destruction of unsold clothes

• The new rules, first proposed by the EU last year, impose tougher rules on products to ensure they last longer and are easier to repair and recycle
• The commission, the EU's executive arm, will also have the power to extend the ban to other unsold products beyond clothing and footwear

MSF demands immediate, sustained truce in Gaza as toll rises to 15,899

• MSF UAE's Executive Director, Dr. Khalid El Sheikh, highlights severe violence in Gaza.
• Israeli military operations in Gaza criticized for impacting civilians and medical facilities.

COP28 offers a chance to rethink, reboot and refocus

Mass displacement of civilians should not take place in southern Gaza, says US

• Israel has said it will continue its war on Hamas after an ongoing temporary truce expires.
• US has strongly backed ally Israel but it has increasingly warned that too many Palestinians are being killed.

Oman’s Producer Price Index down in Q3 2023

• Prices of oil and gas products decreased by 13.7 percent, under pressure from the decrease in the prices of crude oil and natural gas products by 16 percent
• Non-oil products also recorded a decrease of 8.2 percent due to a decrease in the prices of the manufacturing industries group by 10.2 percent

Climate change is the single biggest health threat facing humanity, says WHO

• Global warming must be limited to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius "to avert catastrophic health impacts”, WHO said.
• Under current national carbon-cutting plans, the world is on track to warm up to 2.9C this century, the UN said.

For a diaspora soccer club in Chile, ‘Palestine exists’

• A banner reading "In memory of those who are no longer with us" was displayed in the stands, where a section of seats was left empty to represent the dead
• Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Arab world, with the first immigrants arriving from Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour

Israel, Hamas agree four-day truce, 50 hostages to be released

• Under the Qatar-brokered deal, Palestinian militants will release 50 women and children kidnapped during their October 7 raids
• A senior US official said three Americans, including three-year-old Abigail Mor Idan, were among the 50 earmarked for staggered release from Thursday

Earth to warm up to 2.9C even with current climate pledges, says UN

• The UN Environment Program's annual Emissions Gap report is released just ahead of crucial COP28 climate talks in Dubai .
• Taking into account countries' carbon-cutting plans, UNEP warned that the planet is on a path for disastrous heating of between 2.5C and 2.9C by 2100.