Israel strikes Hamas officials in Qatar, the first of its kind on Qatari territory
Qatar, which has been a key mediator in efforts to broker a truce in Gaza, said Israeli strikes targeted the...
Geostrategy
Israeli PM tells Gaza City residents to ‘leave now’ as military ramps up deadly assault
Israel has been intensifying its bombardment of the city in preparation for an operation to conquer it, despite repeated entreaties...
Geostrategy
Business
European Commission orders probe into Microsoft over Teams
Brussels, Belgium - The European Commission on Thursday announced an antitrust probe into Microsoft bundling its Teams communication app with its...
- The investigation will check whether the US software giant is bundling its Teams communication app with its popular Office suite, on concerns it could be cutting out competitors.
- Teams is a platform that allows users to communicate through messages, video calls and file sharing.
Business
Saudi club Al-Ettifaq signs English footballer Jordan Henderson
Liverpool, United Kingdom - Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson completed his move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ettifaq on Thursday, becoming the...
- The 33-year-old, who played 492 matches for Liverpool, scoring 33 goals, has finalized a deal with reported wages of up to £700,000-a-week.
- Liverpool are due to receive an initial £12 million ($15.5 million) from the Saudi club. The England international will be reunited in Saudi with Gerrard, who is Al-Ettifaq coach.
Business
Water loss, river pollution threaten Syrian fishermen’s livelihood
The battered country, where half a million died in the conflict, has also suffered the impacts of climate change, from...
- Syria has endured more than a decade of civil war, and the nearby town of Raqa was the center of the Islamic State group's brutal "caliphate" until their ouster in 2017.
- Raqa province received only 208 mm per month of rainfall last year, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Business
Major energy firms post sliding profits as oil and gas prices dip
Gas prices had soared last year after Russia cut gas shipments to Europe while oil markets were also rocked by...
- Shell on Thursday said its profit after tax came in at $3.13 billion in the second quarter (Q2), down 80 percent compared with Q2 last year.
- French group TotalEnergies said its net profit dropped 28 percent to $4.1 billion in the second quarter from a year earlier.
Geostrategy
Jordan okays cybercrime bill despite rights groups warning
The bill must also be approved by the senate before being ratified by King Abdullah II and published in the...
- The bill was approved by the house of representatives, with some of the proposed penalties reduced from an initial draft version.
- It came after 14 non-governmental organizations on Monday issued a statement describing the new bill as "draconian" .
Economy
US Federal Reserve’s united fight against inflation enters new phase
Analysts are divided ahead of the Fed's next decision in September, with the so-called "hawks" predicting additional rate hikes in...
- Thursday's GDP figure for the second quarter came in above analysts' expectations, a day after the Fed hiked its benchmark lending rate to its highest point for 22 years.
- The US central bank also left the door open to additional rate hikes, if needed, to get inflation down to its long-term target of two percent.
War-weary Yemenis drown torment in specialty coffee
The Arab world's most impoverished country, locked in an eight-year conflict between Houthi rebels and forces supporting the internationally recognized...
- Legend has it that Sufi mystics on Yemen's western coast were the first people to brew coffee beans back in the 15th century
- Yet Yemeni entrepreneurs have until recently focused on exporting their best product to wealthy overseas markets
Business
Meta posts big earnings
It posted a profit of US$7.8bn in the recently ended quarter.
- Meta reported a profit of $7.8 billion on $32 billion in revenue during the recently ended quarter, as the number of people using Facebook monthly rose to 3.03 billion
- Meta is seeing "good progress" in bringing in money from Reels, with the video snippets played more than 200 billion times daily across Facebook and Instagram, Zuckerberg said
Israel troops kill Palestinian teen in West Bank: ministry
So far this year, violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has killed at least 203 Palestinians, 27 Israelis, one Ukrainian and one Italian,...
- The shooting occurred in the city of Qalqilya in the northern West Bank where the army confirmed it had conducted "counter-terrorism activity"
- The Palestinian health ministry identified the dead teenager as Fares Abu Samrah, 14, and said he died of bullet wounds to the head
Samsung Q1 profit falls 95%
This is firm's worst quarterly profit since Q1 2009.
- Samsung's second-quarter net profit fell 84.5 percent to 1.72 trillion won, and sales dropped 22.3 percent to 60 trillion won
- The firm blamed weak demand for its chips and mobile phones, but offered an optimistic outlook for the remainder of the year
Most Read
Revenue from Saudi cinema may exceed $1bn by 2030KSA, UAE play well as e-gaming trends across GCCExclusive: Middle East’s retail sector rides on AR and hybrid shopping to become $600bn digital economyTECOM Group profit soars 13%UAE startups eye Saudi Arabia for growth, expansionSaudi Arabia leads GCC AI healthcare raceDisparity remains as Saudis, Emiratis see wealth gains
Israel strikes Hamas officials in Qatar, the first of its kind on Qatari territory
Qatar, which has been a key mediator in efforts to broker a truce in Gaza, said Israeli strikes targeted the...
Geostrategy
Company News
Latest News
Trump cuts to US-funded media put reporters at risk: RSF
President Donald Trump's dismantling of US-funded international media outlets such as Voice of America could put their journalists at risk,...
Economy
Webb telescope directly observes exoplanet CO2 for first time
The gas giants are not capable of hosting extraterrestrial life, but do offer clues in a lingering mystery about how...
Science
OECD lowers global growth projections over tariffs, uncertainty
"We are navigating troubled waters," said the OECD's chief economist Alvaro Santos Pereira as he summed up the world's economic...
Economy
Most Read
Geostrategy
Trump, Putin to discuss Ukraine ceasefire this week
US President Donald Trump and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to speak this week, officials said on Sunday, as...
- The United States this week proposed a halt in fighting in the war after talks in Saudi Arabia, with Kyiv accepting the proposal
- Putin however has given no clear answer, instead listing a string of conditions and raising "serious questions" over the proposition
Economy
US Fed likely to keep rates steady as uncertainty over Trump’s economic policies looms
Since January, Trump has imposed levies on major trading partners Canada, Mexico and China, and on steel and aluminum imports,...
- The Trump administration has also embarked on unprecedented cost-cutting efforts that target staff and spending, while the president has promised tax reductions and deregulation.
- But Fed Chair Jerome Powell emphasized this month that it is the "net effect" of policy changes that will matter for both the economy and monetary policy.
Business
China’s Baidu releases new, free AI model to compete with DeepSeek
Baidu announced in a WeChat post that its latest X1 reasoning model -- which the company claims performs similarly to...
- Baidu also made the models free to use, more than two weeks ahead of schedule. Previously, users had to pay a monthly subscription to access the company's latest AI models.
- Technology companies in China have been scrambling to release improved AI platforms since start-up DeepSeek shocked its rivals with its open source and highly cost-efficient model