... Media figures to pull out of the conference include Arianna Huffington, who runs the health firm Thrive Global, Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the LA Times, and the CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin. The Viacom chief executive, Bob Bakish, and Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, have also confirmed they will not attend... Sir Richard Branson has halted discussions with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund about a planned $1bn (£760m) investment in Virgin’s space companies. He has also suspended his participation in two advisory boards... Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF, is listed as a speaker at the conference. Jihad Azour, head of the IMF’s Middle East department, would not say if she would attend. “Like most of the people here and everywhere, we are waiting to have more information on this recent development,” Azour said...