Watch NewJeans’ first overseas live performance in KCON Saudi Arabia

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cinemed, the Mediterranean Cinema Film Festival, is partnering up with Lebanese film org Aflamuna / Beirut DC to launch a new co-production and co-financing initiative aimed at high-profile projects from the Arab world. The new program, which is also backed by France’s National Film Board and is part of the festival’s industry showcase Cinemed Meetings, will present seven projects involving 22 Arab countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Liban, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Syria, among others. All selected projects are currently in development and are being brought by filmmakers who have previously directed at least one short film.

President Biden has not left any doubt as to whether politics played a role in his unsuccessful pressuring of Saudi Arabia to delay an OPEC+ announcement of a decrease in oil production until after the American midterm elections, Sen. Marco Rubio told Fox News.

Democratic lawmakers Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., are pushing for the U.S.

The White House said Tuesday that President Biden believes Saudi Arabia has effectively sided with Russia’s war aims in Ukraine following the Riyadh-led OPEC+ alliance’s announcement last week that it would cut oil production. "We believe by the decision that OPEC+ made last week, (Saudi Arabia is) certainly aligning themselves with Russia," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a Tuesday briefing.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said Sunday that President Biden should not have been surprised that ministers from Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC+) decided to cut oil production – in fact, she implied it could have been done just to spite him.

The Washington Post editorial board did not mince words about President Joe Biden’s attempts to persuade the Saudi Arabian government into helping with U.S. energy policy, saying the administration "failed" "badly." The board claimed that OPEC – heavily influenced by the Saudis – recently slashing "crude oil production by 2 million barrels per day," is a "setback" for Biden agenda, the United States and its allies.  The Saturday editorial stated that OPEC’s decision "is not quite as big of a shock as the embargo OPEC imposed on the United States between October 1973 and March 1974.

Three House Democrats are introducing a bill to remove U.S. defense systems from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in response to the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels per day – a move that is expected to drive up gas prices in the U.S.

Netflix has previewed a selection of upcoming films and shows aimed at the Arab world and hailing from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Egypt, and Jordan.

North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday morning local time, just two days after Pyongyang sent an intermediate-range ballistic missile flying over Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.  About 40 missiles have been launched by North Korea this year, including six in the past two weeks, but Tuesday's test marked the first time in five years that the country has sent a missile over Japan.  The U.S. and South Korea staged joint drills on Wednesday in response, with the USS Ronald Reagan moving into waters east of South Korea.

EXCLUSIVE: Former MGM and Sony Pictures exec Eric Paquette’s film and TV company Meridian Pictures has struck a partnership deal with Saudi Arabian production house and literary management company Hakawati Entertainment.

Cristiano Ronaldo was linked with a clutch of clubs over the summer as it became apparent he wanted out of Manchester United.