Qatar’s real estate department records weeklong deals worth $71 million
Doha, Qatar -- Real estate sales contracts worth 251.25 million qatari riyals were registered with the emirate's Real Estate Registration...
Business
PIF completes $7 billion inaugural murabaha credit facility
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) on Monday announced its first murabaha credit facility for the...
Business
Business
Saudi records $412m venture capital funding in H1, highest in MENA
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia has maintained its first rank across MENA in terms of the amount of Venture...
- E-commerce/retail was the highest sector in the Kingdom in terms of VC funding, accounting for 52 percent of total funding, amounting to $215 million.
- FinTech continued to lead the Kingdom's total number of deals, capturing 14 percent of deals in the first half of 2024.
Business
Methanol-powered ship to set sail for Europe’s first ‘green’ route
Rotterdam, Netherlands -- The first methanol-powered ship to ply routes between Europe's busy ports was unveiled Tuesday in Rotterdam, with shipping...
- The Eco-Maestro, a 13,675-tonne container carrier will head off to Antwerp in the next few days, before plotting a course for Klaipeda in Lithuania and Riga in Latvia.
- Completed in China earlier this year, the Eco-Maestro is kitted out with the latest engines that can run on methanol -- a sustainable fuel made from decomposed organic matter.
Business
China’s BYD signs deal to open electric car plant in Turkey
Istanbul, Turkey -- China's electric vehicle giant BYD on Monday signed a one-billion-dollar agreement with Turkey to open a plant in...
- The one-billion-dollar agreement would likely help China dodge new European Union tariffs.
- The BYD facility will have an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles as well as a research and development center.
Business
Chip giant TSMC briefly joins trillion-dollar club
New York, United States -- Chip-making juggernaut Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. briefly surpassed $1 trillion in market capitalization on Monday as...
- TSMC controls more than half the world's output of chips and supplies them for everything from Apple's iPhones to Nvidia's cutting-edge artificial intelligence hardware.
- The company hit the threshold briefly after the opening bell in New York, but slipped lower in later trading.
Geostrategy
Gaza battles rage as mediators push for truce deal
Mediators Egypt and Qatar were due to host new talks this week, according to officials, as the bloodiest-ever Gaza war...
- Cairo and Doha have resumed diplomatic efforts to halt the fighting, aiming for an initial six-week ceasefire
- Hamas has signaled it would drop its insistence on a "complete" ceasefire
Geostrategy
Is Artificial Intelligence a major drain on the world’s energy supply?
Paris, France -- When Google announced this week that its climate emissions had risen by 48 percent since 2019, it pointed...
- The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report earlier this year that data centers in general used roughly 40 percent of electricity on computing and 40 percent on cooling.
- Big tech firms have been rushing to pack all their products with AI ever since OpenAI launched its ChatGPT bot in late 2022.
Business
Airbus nets satellite deal
The $2.5bn contract was awarded by the German army.
- The contract was awarded for next generation SatcomBw 3 military communications satellites, the European aerospace firm said.
- The contract, for deployment by the end of the decade, includes the prime contractor of two satellites "as well as the ground segment (receiving stations.
Business
European Union slaps Chinese electric cars with tariffs of up to 38%
Brussels, Belgium -- The European Union on Thursday slapped extra provisional duties of up to 38 percent on Chinese electric car...
- A European Commission probe launched last year concluded that state subsidies for Chinese EV manufacturers were unfairly undercutting European rivals.
- The Chinese Chamber of Commerce to the EU slammed the tariffs, coming on top of current import duties of 10 percent, as "politically-motivated" and "protectionist".
Geostrategy
Heavy fighting rocks Gaza as thousands are on the move again
The United Nations warned that the almost nine-month-old war had "unleashed a maelstrom of human misery."
- The UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees said 250,000 people had been impacted by the latest evacuation order
- The war has now displaced 80 percent of Gaza's population
Science
Dubai-based rowers brave Arctic this July to highlight plastics pollution
At an indoor pool in Dubai, three rowers battle artificial rain and simulated waves as they train for an Arctic...
- They plan to row for three weeks aboard an eight-meter boat flying the UAE flag, with no sail or engine
- The United Nations says plastics account for 85 percent of all marine trash
Qatar’s real estate department records weeklong deals worth $71 million
Doha, Qatar -- Real estate sales contracts worth 251.25 million qatari riyals were registered with the emirate's Real Estate Registration...
Business
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Assad’s fall reshapes Middle East politics, redefining power dynamics across the region
The Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham rebels shocked the world by swiftly seizing Aleppo and Damascus, overshadowing global focus on the...
UK Prime Minister to talk trade, Middle East during Gulf visit
London, United Kingdom -- Britain's leader Keir Starmer makes his first trip to the Gulf as prime minister from Sunday, seeking...
Geostrategy
Trump touts tariffs, mass deportations and NATO skepticism
In his first formal television interview -- and just six weeks before he takes office -- Trump again signaled that...
Geostrategy
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Business
Vegetable oil pushes global food prices to seven-month high in Nov
Rome, Italy -- The benchmark for world food commodity prices rose in November to its highest level since April 2023,...
- Global palm oil prices climbed further amid concerns about lower-than-expected output due to excessive rainfall in Southeast Asia.
- The Sugar Price Index decreased 2.4 percent, influenced by harvest activities in India and Thailand and improved sugarcane crop prospects in Brazil following recent rains.
Business
Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 startups secure $1.90 billion in funding, says CEO
Abu Dhabi, UAE -- Startups within Hub71, Abu Dhabi's global tech ecosystem, have secured over AED 7 billion in funding,...
- The ecosystem is now hosts over 300 startups from around the world and has forged 150 partnerships to support these companies in attracting investments.
- Ahmad Ali Alwan, CEO of Hub71, said it has received over 2,500 applications for its programmes.
Business
ADNOC signs deal with PETRONAS
Under the agreement, ADNOC will supply 1m tons of LNG per year.
- The LNG will primarily be sourced from the Ruwais LNG project, which is currently under development in Al Ruwais Industrial City, Abu Dhabi.
- Deliveries are expected to start in 2028 upon commencement of its commercial operations.