Saudi Arabia has the world’s largest oil fields, however, its people suffer each year from heavy torrential rains with no action taken by the authorities to alleviate their suffering.
A tragic incident occurred in the Sabya governorate of the Jazan region in southern Saudi Arabia, where four siblings died after their father’s vehicle was washed away by torrential rain.
The father was driving to Mishlah village when his car was washed away by the torrential rains that struck the Jizan region. The father survived, but the four children drowned. Two kids’ bodies were found, while the search is still ongoing for the two others.
The incident is not the first of its kind in the village. Local residents have been calling for a safe route during the torrential rains for 15 years. However, the Saudi rulers are occupied by establishing new megacity projects and spending heavy funding on music and sports events to whitewash their poor human rights record, which was heavily hit by Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.
The local residents affirmed that they have no alternative route but to pass through the valley, pointing out that some patients are obliged to wait for long hours to pass. In a similar incident, a man died while waiting for the ambulance on the other side of the valley.
Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms are forecast across several areas in Saudi Arabia, amid warnings not to walk near flowing water, ponds, and valley streams.
A video was widely shared on social media showing a group of people stranded on a water tank due to the heavy rainfall.
Billions of dollars on video gaming
This came while the Saudi Public Investment Fund is in talks with Singapore’s GIC Pte Ltd to jointly fund up to 800 billion won ($591 million) for Kakao Entertainment Corp’s initial public offering due next year.
The advance still barely made a dent in the downtrend, as Kakao Corp. is down nearly 50% for the year, while Kakao Games Corp. has lost more than half its value.
Last year, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund pursued investments in an industry long favored by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman: video games.
Other media reports earlier revealed that the Riyadh-based Public Investment Fund acquired more than $3 billion worth of stock in three U.S. video-game makers during the fourth quarter, according to a regulatory filing. They include Activision Blizzard Inc., Electronic Arts Inc. and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
The sovereign wealth fund acquired 14.9 million Activision shares with a market value of almost $1.4 billion during the fourth quarter, according to a Form 13F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Its other purchases included 7.4 million Electronic Arts shares and 3.9 million Take-Two shares worth about $1.1 billion and $826 million, respectively, at the end of December.
