While Israeli defense minister indicates imminent ground invasion of Lebanon speaking to his country's troops, Prime Minister Netanyahu addresses Iranian people through a video saying that change will "come a lot sooner than people think"

The World Food Program says it had launched an emergency operation to provide meals for one million people affected by the escalating conflict in Lebanon, calling on the international community to mobilize US$105 million to fund the operation.

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- The UAE cinema sector achieved revenues of AED 517 million during the first eight months of this year, attracting about 11 million visits to cinemas, the Emirates Media Council revealed.Mohammed Saeed Al Shehhi, Secretary General of the Emirates Media Council, said that the UAE accounts for...

Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said the death toll in Israeli strikes Monday rose to 492, including 35 children, the bloodiest daily toll in nearly a year of cross-border clashes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel has dealt serious blows to the Lebanese group Hezbollah, as rapidly escalating cross-border exchanges raised fears of an all-out war. Netanyahu's remarks follow a night of intense rocket fire at northern Israel that had sent hundreds of thousands of people to...

While Europe and Americas have nearly returned to pre-pandemic levels, the Middle East's growth outpaces all other regions, UN World Tourism Organization says.

Saudi Arabia isn't aiming to be the next Dubai but is forging its own unique path in tourism," Aradhana Khowala tells TRENDS in an exclusive interview.

London, UK -- The Middle East is moving towards investing $75.63 billion in renewable energy projects until 2030, according to a new report.The report, released today by the Energy Industry Council, showed that these investments include 116 renewable energy projects, which are expected to be operational between 2025 and 2030.These...

Palestinian medics said an air strike targeting a car in the occupied West Bank killed five people on Thursday, while the Israeli military reported it hit "an armed terrorist cell". "Five killed and (one) seriously wounded in a strike (on) a car in Tubas," the Palestinian Red Crescent Society said.

The result was perhaps the biggest exchange of fire in 10 months of a war which began with a Hamas attack launched from Gaza and has triggered both new violence on the Lebanon-Israel border and fears of a broader conflagration in the Middle East.

Making his ninth trip to the Middle East since the Gaza war began when Hamas attacked Israel in October, the US secretary of state is to meet Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders in a renewed bid to seal a deal that could help avert a wider conflagration.

Expectations of US interest rate cuts weakened the dollar, while oil prices tumbled as weak Chinese demand expectations offset turmoil in the Middle East, according to traders. Gold rose to a record high of $2,500.16 an ounce as investors snapped up the haven investment in the face of an increasingly likely...

Abu Dhabi, UAE -- The IPO market in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region remained resilient during the second quarter of this year, with 14 IPOs registering total proceeds of US$2.64 billion, up 45.3 percent compared to the same period last year.According to the Ernst & Young report...

With tensions soaring in the Middle East, the United States says that Iran along with its proxies might attack Israel as early as this week. The world leaders are trying to persuade Iran and Israel to avoid war, but Iran says it has a right to defend itself just like...

He said Austin, who spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant on Sunday, had also ordered the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the area. Ryder said the pair discussed "the importance of mitigating civilian harm, progress towards securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in Gaza."

A prospective cessation of hostilities also involving the release of hostages held in Gaza and scaled-up aid deliveries has centred around a phased deal beginning with an initial truce. Recent discussions have focused on a framework outlined by US President Joe Biden in late May which he said had been...

Biden called King Abdullah II of Jordan, which helped down Iranian drones and missiles in an earlier showdown in April, while Blinken called top officials in Qatar and Egypt, the key intermediaries seeking a ceasefire in the 10-month Israel-Hamas war.

Rome, Italy -- G7 foreign ministers met by videoconference Sunday to discuss the Middle East and expressed "strong concern" over the threat of escalation, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said."Together with our partners, we have expressed strong concern about recent events that threaten to determine a regionalization of the crisis, starting...

Israel on Saturday again traded fire with Hezbollah, carried out a deadly raid in the occupied West Bank, and struck a school compound in Gaza City in an attack that the Hamas-ruled territory's civil defence agency said killed at least 17 people.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the Middle East and areas under US European Command, as well as a new fighter squadron to the Middle East. Israel killed Hizbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut on Tuesday.

World Bank’s latest Migration and Development Brief said the modest 0.7 percent growth rate reflects large variances in regional growth, but remittances remained a crucial source of external finance for developing countries in 2023, bolstering the current accounts of several countries grappling with food insecurity and debt issues.

For the second consecutive year, the Middle East is the fastest-growing real-time payments market globally, according to the 2024 Prime Time for Real-Time report, published by ACI Worldwide, a global leader in mission-critical, real-time payments software, in partnership with GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. In the Middle East,...

A "strong" Palestinian Authority is needed to bring peace in the Middle East, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said just before going into the meeting with Mustafa. The talks were being held as efforts were narrowing to try to find a Gaza truce and a hostage-release deal.

Alberta's tourism sector, with attractions resonating with GCC travelers, aims for a $25 billion visitor economy by 2035, says Joseph Schow in an exclusive interview with TRENDS.

Venkatasubramanian (Subbu) Hariharan, MD of Canon Middle East and Turkey, highlights the significance of remanufacturing and refurbishment for reducing environmental impact, in an interview with TRENDS.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the only high-income economies to rank among the top 10 most improved economies between 2019 and 2024, a WEF report says.

Digitalization is revolutionizing travel, and data analytics is hyper-personalizing the sector, notably in GCC's growing business tourism, says Pallav Singhvi of Almosafer in an interview with TRENDS.

Gabriel Chahine, Middle East Lead for AlixPartners, discusses the significance of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh, economic outlook, AI, and strategies for businesses.

The kingdom accelerates its biotech and genomics sector with substantial investments, in line with Vision 2030's push for economic diversification and innovation, according to ADL report.

The quarterly profits increased despite weak Middle East sales.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit to Riyadh comes nearly seven months after the eruption of war in Gaza put the brakes on what was intended as a signature foreign policy achievement for his boss, US President Joe Biden. It also comes as Americans prepare to vote in November...

MENA's debt-to-GDP ratio surged 23% in 6 years due to pandemic fallout, with only 8 of 19 countries returning to pre-pandemic levels by 2023.

The Arab countries are experiencing a significant surge in the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), particularly favoring premium models, says Rene Koneberg, MD Audi Middle East.

Iran downplayed Israel's reported retaliation for its unprecedented drone and missile attack, tamping down fears that escalating attacks between the arch enemies could tip over into a broader war in the Middle East. However a deadly blast at an Iraqi military base underlined the persisting tensions in the region.

A tech-savvy population sees cryptocurrencies a safe investment option as governments adopt progressive regulatory frameworks, offering innovation and investor protection.

Moscow, Russia - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, discussed the latest escalation in the Middle East in a conversation on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, reported by Russian news agency TASS.On April 1, Israel carried out an airstrike on Iran’s consulate in Damascus and on April...

Dubai, the Middle East's financial centre, has been paralyzed by the torrential rain that caused floods across the UAE and Bahrain, and left 18 dead in Oman on Sunday and Monday. Dubai airport operations were suspended for 25 minutes in the afternoon before resuming.

Gulf states are grappling with the widening Middle East conflict as hostilities between Iran and Israel threaten their security and ambitious plans to reshape their economies.Leaders of the resource-rich Gulf monarchies engaged in a rapid round of diplomacy after last weekend's Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel raised the...

In light of the military escalation and developments in the Middle East region, the Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council held its 44th extraordinary meeting on April 15, 2024, at the headquarters of the Qatari Embassy in Tashkent

Saturday's bombardment of more than 300 ballistic and cruise missiles and attack drones -- which were mostly repelled by air defenses -- compounded worries about the outlook for US interest rates following more forecast-beating inflation and jobs data.

Vast swathes of land across the desert region are seeing the sprouting of new special zones to entice big business to set up shop. But can the model work to power the GCC economy?

Iran's UN envoy, Amir Saeid Iravani, retorted that the Islamic republic was exercising its "inherent right to self-defence" and "had no choice" but to act. He insisted his country did "not seek escalation or war", but would respond to any "threat or aggression".

As expected, Iran retaliated early Sunday by firing more than 200 drones and missiles toward Israel in response to Israel's covert attack of Iran's diplomatic office in Damascus that killed nine people.

Agile work models and diverse skill demands propel MENA's freelance economy, empowering businesses to thrive amid modernization and digital transformation.

London, United Kingdom -- Wall Street stocks slid on Friday despite banks beating expectations at the start of earnings season as oil and gold prices shot up amid worries about the conflict in the Middle East widening."Geopolitical worries have triggered some risk aversion, but worries about a growth slowdown have presumably...

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Wednesday that Israel "must be punished and will be punished", days after one of his advisers said Israeli embassies are "no longer safe". Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz swiftly replied on social media site X that "if Iran attacks from its territory, Israel...

The threat of regional war compounded fears that the Federal Reserve would not cut interest rates as much as previously expected, with the focus now on the release of key US jobs data later in the day. The sell-off followed a plunge across the board on Wall Street.

On Thursday, bullion touched $2,304.96 per ounce, according to Bloomberg News, after Fed boss Jerome Powell said it would likely be appropriate to cut borrowing costs "at some point this year". Eyes are now on the release of US jobs figures due at the end of the week.

Oil prices rose around one percent, with Brent crude closing in on $90 per barrel, as OPEC experts met to discuss extending supply cuts. "Geo-political risks linked to conflict in the Middle East, OPEC supply cuts and better data out of China are helping to drive bullish sentiment currently," said...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – flynas, the Saudi air carrier and the leading low-cost airline in the Middle East and the world, celebrated taking delivery of the 50th airplane out of a large order for Airbus A320neo jetliners at a reception held at King Khalid International Airport here.The company is moving...