Cairo, Egypt--The Arab League (AL) on Sunday organized a workshop in Cairo to discuss the role of BRICS for African and Middle Eastern countries. Titled BRICS: Potential Roles, Challenges Facing African and Middle Eastern Countries, the one-day workshop discussed new memberships, expectations, and needs related to the mechanism. New BRICS...

TEHRAN, IRAN – The Middle Eastern country has improved its global standing in steel production, becoming the ninth largest producer in January 2024, according to new data released by the World Steel Association (WSA). In the first month of 2024, Iranian steel mills produced a total of 2.6 million tons...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his accompanying delegation arrived here on Tuesday. The Ukrainian President was on a visit to Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, who is also the prime minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, received President Zelenskyy...

Oil spills in Iraq -- a country ravaged by decades of conflict, corruption and decaying infrastructure -- have contaminated farmland in the northern province, especially during the winter rains.

Tehran, Iran -- In a significant step towards enhancing energy cooperation between Pakistan and Iran, Islamabad has given the green signal for advancing much-delayed work on gas pipelines within its territory. This marked considerable progress in the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project, Mehr News Agency reported. The approval comes as Pakistan...

ABU DHABI, UAE – The Ministry of Finance on Tuesday announced the issuance of Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024 and this will come into effect on March 1 2024. The Cabinet Decision No. 10 of 2024 amended the schedule of violations and administrative penalties of Cabinet Decision No. 75...

TOKYO, JAPAN – Japan's Moon lander has produced another surprise by waking up after the two-week lunar night, the country's space agency said on Monday. The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down last month at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. As...

ABU DHABI, UAE – Emirates Development Bank (EDB) has unveiled its 2023 results, showcasing an extraordinary year of achievements and strategic milestones. EDB revealed a significant 80 percent surge in its contribution to the UAE’s industrial GDP, which has grown from US$653 million (AED2.4 billion) in 2022 to US$1.1 billion...

Barcelona, Spain - Smartphone makers are packing their latest devices with flashy new artificial intelligence tools such as real-time voice translation and advanced photo editing in efforts to reignite consumer demand. The trend was on display at the telecom industry's biggest annual show, the four-day Mobile World Congress (MWC) which got...

Abu Dhabi, UAE-- Applauding the UAE's commitment to trade liberalization, including development of green and digital trade globally, Ralph Ossa, Chief Economist at the World Trade Organization (WTO), said the country's focus on low tariffs, export diversification, and active participation in the multilateral trading system demonstrates its commitment to free...

ABU DHABI, UAE – Chairman of Eagle Hills International Mohamed Alabbar has said that US$4 billion joint venture Binaa Al Bahrain company aims to create expansive mixed-use projects, offering diverse residential, commercial and entertainment opportunities designed to elevate the overall local community experience. The JV was set up by an...

WASHINGTON, US  - In a shift from tit-for-tat tariffs and strong-arm tactics to tech restrictions and investment curbs, US policy towards China has become more targeted under President Joe Biden - though still hardline. Despite differences between Democrats and Republicans, analysts expect Washington's approach to Beijing will only become tougher, whether...

Trump completed a sweep of the first four major nominating contests, converting a year of blockbuster polls into a likely insurmountable lead going into the "Super Tuesday" 15-state voting bonanza in 10 days. The margin of victory was not immediately clear but US networks felt able to call the race...

With most banks out of service, the only exchange rate that matters to ordinary Sudanese is on the black market, where the dollar currently goes for around 1,200 Sudanese pounds. To make matters worse, a communications blackout since early February has hampered online transactions -- which Sudanese relied on to...

AMMAN, JORDAN – Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) and Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday discussed enhanced cooperation and investment partnership.The two sides pledged during a meeting to forge robust commercial relations, remove hindrances, reactivate bilateral agreements, exchange more visits by economic teams and hold joint exhibitions.Participants stressed...

Washington, US - President Joe Biden on Saturday hailed the landing of a US spacecraft on the Moon as a historic achievement in space research led by the United States. The uncrewed Odysseus lander, built by a private company and funded by NASA, landed near the lunar south pole Thursday, more...

New Delhi, India - India's foreign ministry confirmed on Friday that some of the country's citizens had signed up for "support jobs" with the Russian army and said it was working with Moscow to secure their discharge. The Hindu newspaper reported on Wednesday that around 18 Indians were stranded in...

Soliman, Tunisia - A Tunisian imam expelled from France for alleged hate speech said on Friday he would take legal action in a bid to overturn the decision. Mahjoub Mahjoubi, from the town of Bagnols-sur-Ceze in the south of France, denounced his removal as "arbitrary". The 52-year-old was arrested and then...

ABU DHABI, UAE- The aggregate capital and reserves of banks operating in the UAE increased 13.3 percent, reaching US$131 billion (AED481.5 billion) by the end of November 2023 compared to US$114.6 (AED424.9 billion) at the end of the same period of 2022, according to the Central Bank of the UAE's...

DOHA, QATAR  - The volume of real estate trading in the country in sales contracts at the Department of Real Estate Registration at the Ministry of Justice during the period from February 11 to February 15 2024 reached US$66 million (QR 242,019,892). Total sales contracts for residential units in the...

Barcelona, Spain - The world's biggest mobile phone fair throws open its doors in Barcelona Monday with the sector looking to artificial intelligence to try and reverse declining sales. Phone makers are expected to focus on the unique AI-powered tools of their latest handsets at the four-day Mobile World Congress in...

ABU DHABI, UAE – The Registration Authority (RA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market has fined Baker Tilly Middle East Limited (Baker Tilly) and its registered audit principal Neil Andrew Sturgeon (Sturgeon), an ADGM media release said on Friday. The RA imposed a financial penalty of US$50,000 against Baker Tilly and...

Beijing, China--Major Chinese cities reported falling home prices in January with narrowing declines, official data showed on Friday. The National Bureau of Statistics reported that 56 of 70 large and medium-sized cities saw month-on-month drops in new home prices, down from 62 in December 2023. Additionally, 68 such cities registered...

Amman, Jordan--Jordan and Oman have signed a raft of agreements to boost direct investment in both the countries. The first memorandum of understanding (MoU), which was signed by the ministries of investment of Jordan and Oman's ministry of trade, industry, and investment promotion, called for cooperation between the two parties...

Manama, Bahrain--Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) announces that the $93 million monthly issue of Government Treasury Bills has been oversubscribed by 226%. The bills, carrying maturity of 182 days, are issued by the CBB, on behalf of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The issue date of the bills is February 25...

Paris, France -- US firm OpenAI debuted a tool last week that can generate highly realistic snippets of video from just a few lines of text, leading content creators to wonder if they are the latest professionals about to be replaced by algorithms. Reactions to the tool, called Sora, have ranged...

DUBAI, UAE – President and CEO of Dubai Chambers Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah has revealed that 6,478 new Food and Beverage (F&B) companies joined Dubai Chamber of Commerce in 2023, representing year-over-year growth of 19.4 percent. The total number of F&B companies registered with Dubai Chamber of Commerce – one...

Singapore, Singapore - Boeing said Wednesday it was preparing to compete with China's first domestically produced passenger plane, which was showcased for the first time to international buyers at Asia's biggest airshow. The single-aisle C919 aircraft made its international debut this week at the Singapore Airshow, featuring in both flying and...

Tehran, Iran--Iran said Wednesday that Israel was behind twin sabotage attacks against gas pipelines that disrupted supplies in at least three provinces last week. The February 14 explosions hit pipelines in the cities of Safashahr in the southern province of Fars and Borujen in the southwestern province of Chaharmahal and...

The Neuralink startup, cofounded by Musk in 2016, aims to build direct communication channels between the brain and computers. The ambition is to supercharge human capabilities, treat neurological disorders like ALS or Parkinson's, and maybe one day achieve a symbiotic relationship between humans and artificial intelligence.

Geneva, Switzerland - The World Health Organization voiced alarm on Tuesday at the rapid spread of measles, with more than 306,000 cases reported worldwide last year -- a 79-percent increase from 2022. "We in the measles world are extremely concerned," said Natasha Crowcroft, a WHO technical adviser on measles and rubella....

Rotterdam, Netherlands - The world's first chemical tanker ship fitted with massive rigid aluminium "sails" has left Rotterdam, its owner hoping to plot a route to bringing down the shipping industry's huge carbon footprint. The MT Chemical Challenger, a 16,000-ton chemicals transporter set sail from Antwerp for Istanbul on Friday, and...

ABU DHABI, UAE - Oil prices could rise to $100 per barrel and gold prices could reach $3,000 per ounce within the next 12 to 18 months, subject to three potential catalysts, CNBC reported, citing Citi analysts. Aakash Doshi, Citi’s North America head of commodities research, told CNBC that gold...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi National Bank (SNB) commenced the US dollar-denominated senior unsecured sukuk issuance through a special-purpose vehicle. The sukuk are offered to qualified investors inside and outside Saudi Arabia.  The amount and terms of offer of the sukuk will be determined subject to market conditions, the bank said in a statement to Tadawul.   This announcement...

Renk is just 10 kilometers (six miles) from Sudan, where fighting broke out in April last year between army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, commander of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Since then, Renk's two UN-run transit centers have been overwhelmed by an...

Shenzen, China--The total number of high-tech enterprises in south China's Guangdong Province has exceeded 75,000, local authorities have said. By the end of 2023, the province's estimated annual research and development (R&D) expenditure topped 460 billion yuan (about 64.8 billion U.S. dollars), boasting 1.35 million R&D personnel and more than...

FUZHOU, CHINA - Construction of the main complex of a joint-investment ethylene project, which involves petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), began on Monday in east China's Fujian Province. The project, with a total investment of US$6.3 billion (44.8 billion yuan) from SABIC and Fujian Energy Petrochemical Group Co....

The "slender sheaf of 22 well-preserved pages of his trial transcript, unobtrusively squeezed among many hundreds of other routine court-martial cases in the National Archives, reveals the hidden link between the two men -- and between two presidents across the centuries," Gerleman wrote.

ABU DHABI, UAE – Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD Group) and Al Ghurair Group subsidiary Automotive Precision Technology (APT) on Monday announced the signing of a lease agreement for an automotive aluminum component manufacturing facility. The 30,000 square meters advanced manufacturing facility for APT in KEZAD will be strategically...

SHARJAH, UAE - The Financial, Economic and Industrial Affairs Committee of Sharjah Consultative Council (SCC) held a meeting to discuss points to be raised on the policy of Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), during the next session. A number of key issues related to stimulating economic growth and...

The portion of the revenues that Israel will transfer to Norway will remain in a Norwegian account until the parties agree whether Norway may release the funds to the Palestinian Authority. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store hailed the agreement.

Beijing, China--China maintained a basic balance in its international payments last year, with its current account surplus amounting to US$264.2 billion, the country's foreign exchange regulator said on Sunday. According to China Central Television, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) disclosed that the ratio of the current account surplus...

ABU DHABI, UAE - Saudi Arabia’s holdings of US Treasuries reached US$131.9 billion in December 2023, up $3.8 billion month-on-month, new data released by the US Treasury showed. The Kingdom maintained 16th place among the largest holders of US treasury securities for the month.  Saudi Arabia’s holdings of US Treasuries were distributed among long-term bonds worth...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- World number two Aryna Sabalenka said on Sunday she was "addicted to winning" and hungry for more major glory following her successful title defense at the Australian Open last month. The Belarusian returns to action this week at the WTA 1000 in Dubai to contest her...

London, United Kingdom--Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched in London on Saturday, with police making 12 arrests for alleged offences including inciting racial hatred and assaulting emergency workers. The demonstrators gathered at Park Lane in the centre of the British capital holding banners demanding a "ceasefire now" while chanting "free...

The UN has extended an invitation to the Taliban authorities to participate in the Doha convention, following their exclusion from the first meeting in May. A senior diplomatic source told AFP the Taliban government had said it will only if they are the sole representative of Afghanistan at the convention...

ABU DHABI, UAE - The Abu Dhabi Roadmap, a high-level plan outlining global recommendations to bolster Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), was revealed on Day Four of the 12th World Environmental Education Congress (WEEC2024) here. A culmination of four days of vibrant discussions, workshops and events...

Tehran, Iran - Iran unveiled two new air defense systems on Saturday, state media reported, with tensions high in the Middle East amid the war in Gaza. "The Arman anti-ballistic missile system and the Azarakhsh low-altitude air defense system, built by the ministry of defense, were unveiled this morning," the official...

Islamabad, Pakistan - A senior bureaucrat said on Saturday he helped rig Pakistan's elections, a week after polls marred by allegations of manipulation returned no clear winner. Liaqat Ali Chattha, commissioner of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where the country's powerful military has its headquarters, said he would hand himself over...

AMMAN, JORDAN – A total of 35 Jordanian companies are taking part in Gulfood 2024, the world's largest annual food and beverage trade exhibition, in Dubai, UAE.The Jordan Exporters Association (JEA) is coordinating the country's participation in the event, which will open next Monday at Dubai World Trade Center.The JEA’s...