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☆ ‘To the Future’: Saudi Arabia Spends Big to Become an A.I. Superpower
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Adam Satariano | Paul Mozur | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On a Monday morning last month, tech executives, engineers and sales representatives from Amazon, Google, TikTok and other companies endured a three-hour traffic jam as their cars crawled toward a mammoth conference at an event space in the desert, 50 miles outside Riyadh. The lure: billions of dollars in Saudi money as the kingdom seeks to build a tech industry to complement its oil dominance. To bypass the congestion, frustrated eventgoers drove onto the highway shoulder, kicking up plumes of desert sand as they sped past those following traffic rules. A lucky few took advantage of a special freeway exit dedicated to “V.V.I.P.s” — very, very important people.

Persons: eventgoers Organizations: Amazon, Google Locations: Riyadh

☆ Rough Seas for Blinken and Co. as Israel, Iran and Ukraine Cloud G7 Meeting
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-19 | by ( Michael Crowley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Rough seas were a fitting symbol for this week’s meeting of Group of 7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri. Coast Guard ships that ferried V.I.P.s across the Gulf of Naples to the island on Wednesday swayed precariously, leaving the passengers reaching for their motion-sickness medicine — and, in some cases, their sick bags. Though no ministers from this elite international coalition, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, were known to have lost their lunch, the global problems they confronted were enough to make even a seasoned diplomat queasy: the risk of war between Iran and Israel, the nightmare in Gaza and Ukraine’s uncertain fate. At the luxurious Grand Hotel Quisisana, Mr. Blinken came determined to project unity within a group that includes Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and the European Union. First created to help stabilize the world economy, the G7 has grown more active and ambitious in recent years, seeking to shape geopolitics and to be “a steering committee for the world’s most advanced democracies,” as Mr. Blinken put it in a closing news conference on Friday.

Persons: precariously, Antony J, Blinken, queasy Organizations: Coast Guard, European Union Locations: Capri, of Naples, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United States

How to Win the Restaurant Reservation Game Scoring a table in New York can seem impossible, but may be easier than you think. Meanwhile, with just three weeks to go, we’re still on the waiting list, which has grown to nearly 60 names. 3 DAYS OUT The Realist Andrew Harroz, 39, a lawyer in Oklahoma City, and his fiancée get a notification that a 5 p.m. reservation table is open. Let patience pay off Even if a restaurant is fully booked, ask to put your name on a waiting list. It’s not a great night for romance: A couple whose reservation for two included the note “Considering proposing” leave the restaurant.

Persons: Semma, seatings, Resy, Gracie de Souza, “, ”, Jatin Mallakunta, they’ll, Ash Hashmi, Santo Pesantez, we’re, Andrew Harroz, He’s, Pesantez, Roni Mazumdar, Vijay Kumar, Pandya, who’ve, Mindy Kaling, it’s, Nathan G, Christine, Nathan, he’s, ” Christine, Gillian Garcia, Hugo Rodriguez, Rodriguez, they’re, let’s, Trinity, Garcia, Arjun Kallapur, ’, Rouven Chopra, Jana Frauns, ” Mr, Chopra Organizations: Washington , D.C, American Express, YouTube Locations: New York, Semma, Indian, New York City, Greenwich Village, Resy, New Orleans, Washington ,, Manhattan, Santo, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Los Angeles, United States, Frankfurt, Germany

☆ Mixed Business at an Anxious Art Basel
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Scott Reyburn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

After an underwhelming series of auctions in New York in May, dealers exhibiting at this year’s Art Basel fair in Switzerland — which opened to V.I.P.s on Tuesday and welcomes the general public from Friday onward — hoped to quell concerns about a dip in the art market. The 53rd annual edition of this bellwether Swiss event, featuring 284 international galleries specializing in 20th and 21st-century art, was the first under the watch of Art Basel’s new chief executive, Noah Horowitz. It is being held in a climate of geopolitical uncertainty, with high interest rates and inflation hampering consumer spending in many countries. “There’s quite a lot of anxiety around,” said Paul Gray, the director of Gray gallery, based in Chicago and New York. But in his 40-year experience, he added, the art market suffered from few major downturns.

Persons: —, Basel’s, Noah Horowitz, ”, Paul Gray, Gray Organizations: Basel Locations: New York, Switzerland, V.I.P.s, Chicago

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