The 966 welcomes back onto the program Bilal Saab, political-military analyst on the Middle East and U.S. policy toward the region and Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense and Security Program at the Middle East Institute. The hosts ask Bilal about his recent piece, entitled "After Oil-for-Security: A Blueprint for Resetting U.S.-Saudi Security Relations." Before that discussion, the hosts discuss fibre-optic cables and data centers in Saudi Arabia, how the Kingdom is doing on its efforts to achieve sustainability, and much more.

4:32 - Richard's One Big Thing is how Saudi Arabia is ‘redrawing the map of the future with fibre-optic cables’, citing a recent piece in the Middle East Eye. Saudi Arabia sees an opportunity with Egypt acting often as a bottleneck.

18:02 - Lucien's One Big Thing is a discussion on how Saudi Arabia's Green Initiative (SGI) is performing against international evaluations on sustainability progress. One new report, published annually by MIT called The Green Future Index, says that Saudi Arabia made a leap forward against its performance last year by jumping 10 places. But, it wasn't all good news for Saudi Arabia - the Kingdom is in the second-to-last category for these rankings. Still, the progress is laudable and can already be seen on the ground in Saudi Arabia. So far, Saudi Arabia has planted 18 million trees within the Kingdom and of those 13 million are mangroves.

32:35 - The 966 welcomes back onto the program Bilal Saab,  political-military analyst on the Middle East and U.S. policy toward the region and Senior Fellow and Director of the Defense and Security Program at the Middle East Institute. The hosts ask Bilal about his recent piece, entitled "After Oil-for-Security: A Blueprint for Resetting U.S.-Saudi Security Relations."

1:13:08 - Yallah! 6 top storylines to get you up to speed heading into the weekend.

In Surprise, OPEC Plus Announces Cut in Oil Production

Saudi Arabia, Russia and their oil-producing allies announced that they would cut production by more than 1.2 million barrels of crude a day, or more than 1 percent of world supplies, in an apparent effort to increase prices. The production cut was unexpected because leaders of the group, known collectively as OPEC Plus, said in recent days that they did not intend to make changes in their policies. The cuts, which are voluntary and start in May, could be temporary depending on economic conditions.

Ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday upgraded Saudi Arabia's credit rating to 'A+' from 'A', citing the Gulf state's robust fiscal and external balance sheets, including a favourable debt-to-GDP ratio and strong sovereign net foreign assets. Oil revenue will account for about 60% of total budget revenue in 2023-2024, according to Fitch, despite a major government push towards developing the non-oil sectors of the economy. "The upgrade also assumes ongoing commitment to gradual progress with fiscal, economic and governance reforms," Fitch said.

The venture arm of Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Sanabil Investments, has revealed dozens of US and European venture capital and private equity firms in its portfolio, shedding new light on the kingdom’s expanding global economic footprint. The fund’s portfolio contains 18 startups along with big-name VC and growth funds like California-based Andreessen Horowitz, 500 Global and New York-based, General Atlantic.

The top envoys for Saudi Arabia and Iran will meet in Beijing on Thursday, an Iranian official and a Saudi-owned newspaper said, as the two regional rivals work to hash out next steps of their diplomatic rapprochement amid a China-brokered deal. The meeting between Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amirabdollahian, will be the first formal meeting between Saudi Arabia and Iran's most senior diplomats in more than seven years.

The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Bill Burns was in Saudi Arabia this week to meet with officials and reinforce Washington’s commitment to intelligence cooperation, a US official told Al Arabiya English on Wednesday. The CIA director’s quiet trip comes on the heels of a surprising agreement signed between Riyadh and Tehran, brokered by China, to restore diplomatic ties, reopen embassies and exchange ambassadors in the next month.

The United Nations Development Programme has purchased a ship to take 1.1 million barrels of crude oil that has been sitting in a decrepit supertanker, SFO Safer, off the port of Ras Isa in Yemen’s west coast. It has contracted SMIT Salvage BV, a Dutch firm specializing in marine salvage, to extract the oil and remove the Safer to safety. The replacement vessel is currently in drydock in China, being fitted for its new purpose as a floating oil storage vessel. It is expected to arrive in the Red Sea next month.