DOHA: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis met Qatar’s emir on Saturday during a visit to the oil-rich Gulf state, home to the largest US air base in the Middle East.The visit to Doha is part of a regional tour that has included stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel. Mattis is scheduled to visit Djibouti on Sunday.The Pentagon chief’s meeting with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani […]
ABU DHABI // National Service recruits and volunteers have come away from military training with greater discipline, patience, appreciation for those serving in the Armed Forces, and life-long friends. After months of physical and technical training at Armed Forces’ National Service centres across the country, Emirati conscripts said the time in service had had a profound effect on their physiques, attitude and outlook. Hadi Al Badi, a […]
The three cases are part of a campaign by Saudi women, who have been broadcasting daring videos with their cellphones, using Facebook to organize street protests and posting Twitter messages to challenge the very idea of male supremacy in their famously patriarchal society. Continue reading the main story The campaign, started by a loose network of activists who have enlisted young, media-savvy women, has gone far beyond […]
Oil producers are moving closer towards agreement on extending the Opec-led deal to limit output, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said on Thursday, as the cartel battles excess stockpiles and a resurgent US shale industry that have weighed on prices. Khalid al-Falih said the deal could be run for another three to six months beyond the end of June. Under the terms of the existing accord, Opec members […]
Three Lines Shipping, a UAE-based transportation and logistics company, is looking for an investor to help boost its regional expansion and grow its brand, CEO Rafeeq KK has said. An investment of between $15-20 million is expected for a majority stake depending on the type of investor, he said in a statement. TLS said it is looking for an investor with good understanding of the business and […]
ABU DHABI // Etihad Airways will donate one dirham from every flight ticket sold in the UAE this year towards the UAE’s Year of Giving causes, the airline announced yesterday. The move is one of many initiatives by Etihad Aviation Group, including free cargo space for humanitarian causes. Each month, the airline will donate proceeds to Emirates Red Crescent’s local and international projects, including For Your Sake, […]
April 21, 2017 by: Anjli Raval, Oil and Gas Correspondent Oil was set for the biggest weekly drop in a month as market confidence in Opec’s ability to overpower a resurgent US shale industry wavered. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate fell below $50 a barrel on Friday — down $1.32 to $49.39 — by 6.45pm in London. The global Brent marker dropped $1.24 to $51.75 a barrel. […]
DOHA: Qatari citizens held hostage in Iraq by unidentified gunmen since 2015 have been freed and handed over to the Iraqi interior ministry, Qatar-based al-Jazeera reported on Friday.The satellite channel gave no further details on the release of the hostages, who were seized by gunmen in December 2015 while on a hunting trip near the border with Saudi Arabia.An Iraqi security official later said Iraq would hand […]
LONDON Oil held near $53 a barrel on Friday, but was on course for its biggest weekly drop in a month due to doubts that an OPEC-led production cut will restore balance to an oversupplied market. Brent futures LCOc1 were at $53.01 a barrel at 1107 GMT, up 2 cents from their last close and set for a 5.15 percent weekly drop, their biggest fall since the […]
Dubai-based retailer Marka has announced that it is opening the first Reem Al Bawadi outlet in Abu Dhabi as part of its ongoing expansion plans for its flagship brand. The new restaurant brings Reem Al Bawadi to Dalma Mall and will offer a total capacity of 243 covers, with 111 seats inside and 132 seats outside. The venue, which will open this spring, also features a TV […]
ABU DHABI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, held bilateral talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to discuss efforts to bring about an end to conflicts in the region as well as increasing security cooperation and economic ties. The UAE is Russia’s closest partner in the GCC, and Moscow has […]
Foreigners will no longer be allowed to work in Saudi Arabia’s numerous shopping malls, the labour ministry announced Thursday, in the latest measure to boost employment of Saudis. The kingdom has intensified efforts to develop more jobs for its citizens under a wide-ranging drive that began last year to diversify the oil-dependent economy. Known as Vision 2030, the plan calls for development of non-oil industries, small and […]
By Warren Strobel and Arshad Mohammed | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The United States wants new commitments from Saudi Arabia to improve its targeting procedures to minimize civilian casualties in its part in the Yemen civil war as it weighs resuming sales of precision-guided munitions to Riyadh, U.S. officials told Reuters. An announcement of the weapons sale had been anticipated last month, but objections by mostly Democratic lawmakers and […]
CAIRO: US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrived in Cairo Thursday on the latest leg of a regional tour, as ties with Egypt continue to warm under President Donald Trump.After touching down at Cairo airport, Mattis set off to meet President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who was hailed by Trump during a White House visit earlier this month.Sissi’s visit marked a shift in relations after Trump’s predecessor Barack […]
Following years of acrimony between OPEC and the hedge fund community, which the cartel dismissed simply as “speculators”, things suddenly changed in 2016 when the two groups got so close, there were outright reports of collusion between the two on various occasions. We documented this last month in “Why OPEC Is Colluding With Hedge Funds.” However, as Reuters’ energy analyst John Kemp pointed out on twitter this […]
The chairman of Saudi-based construction giant Dar Al-Arkan on Wednesay rang the market opening bell to celebrate the listing of a $500 million sukuk on Nasdaq Dubai, the region’s international exchange. Yousef Bin Abdullah Al-Shelash said the listing provides support for Dar Al-Arkan’s capital-raising strategy as it prepares for further property development activities across Saudi Arabia. The sukuk was two times oversubscribed and received significant interest from […]
ABU DHABI Kuwait’s oil minister Essam al-Marzouq said on Thursday he expected a global pact to cut oil supplies to be extended beyond June, supported by higher compliance from non-OPEC producers. “We have a noticeable increase in compliance from non-OPEC which shows the importance of extending the agreement,” Marzouq told an industry event with other Gulf oil ministers including Saudi Arabia’s energy minister Khalid al-Falih in Abu […]
By Lesley Wroughton | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday accused Iran of ‘alarming ongoing provocations’ to destabilise countries in the Middle East as the Trump administration launched a review of its policy towards Tehran. Tillerson told reporters the review, which he announced on Tuesday, would not only look at Tehran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal but also its behaviour in the […]
A Saudi military helicopter that crashed in Yemen killing 12 Saudi soldiers was likely hit by “friendly fire”, military sources said Wednesday. The soldiers, including four officers, died Tuesday when the helicopter went down in Yemen’s Marib province, the Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting Iran-backed Huthi rebels said in a statement. “As the Saudi helicopter was not identified by the ground operations centre, the air defence system was […]
The defense secretary said Iranian support for the Houthis was destabilizing Yemen, and he talked up the relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Relations are enjoying salad days in the Trump administration after years of friction between the Obama administration and the Saudi leadership, which thought Obama officials were too friendly with Iran. Continue reading the main story Mr. Mattis’s two-day visit, the start of […]
By Steve Holland | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump may add a visit to Saudi Arabia to a trip to Europe in May in what will be his first overseas journey since becoming president, a senior administration official said on Wednesday. Such a trip is “being discussed,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump is already planning to attend a NATO summit in Brussels […]
LONDON OPEC plans to meet with non-OPEC oil producers on the same day as its scheduled May 25 conference, sources familiar with the arrangements said, as they decide whether to extend supply cuts into the second half of the year. Ministers from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries will convene at their Vienna headquarters. Joint talks with non-OPEC oil ministers will also take place that day, […]
Twelve Saudi soldiers, including four officers, were killed on Tuesday when their helicopter went down in Yemen, the Arab coalition fighting Yemeni rebels said in a statement. The Saudi Black Hawk “fell during operations in the province of Marib” east of Sanaa, the coalition said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency, without clarifying the reason. “The causes of the incident are being investigated,” the […]
19 April 2017 Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) and the Federal Republic of Nigeria have discussed potential collaboration in Science & Technology, innovation and food security. The discussion took place at the IsDB headquaters led by Mr. Sayed Aqa, IsDB Vice President, Cooperation and Country Programming, with Chief Ogbonnaya Onu, Nigeria’s Minister of Science & Technology. “IsDB is scaling up in the […]
