Author: Steven Sahiounie

RIYADH: The Thai Trade Exhibition Saudi Arabia 2023 aimed at promoting bilateral trade across various sectors concluded in Riyadh on Wednesday. Riyadh and Bangkok have managed to forge a robust economic alliance, which is underpinned by several factors including shared economic interests and a commitment to leveraging each other’s strengths. The four-day trade show sought to bolster commercial ties between the two countries. Over 100 manufacturers and entrepreneurs from the country are showcasing a wide range of products from different sectors such as food and beverage, fashion, health, beauty, jewelry, medical services, and spas. The event drew the participation of…

RIYADH: In a move to further boost promising local businesses, the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources issued 102 new industrial licenses during July 2023 compared to 73 released in June, according to a report by the National Industrial and Mining Information Center. Most of the licenses were granted to main industrial activities, led by the food product manufacturing sector with 21 permits, followed by non-metallic minerals activity with 16, non-ferrous metal manufacturing — except machinery and equipment — with 14. Rubber and plastics products manufacturing came next with nine licenses. Among others, eight permits went to other manufacturing industries.…

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index slipped on Thursday, as it shed 83.55 points, or 0.72 percent, to close at 44,491.20. Saudi Arabia’s parallel market Nomu was steady, as it lost just 1.90 points to close the day’s trading session at 23,654.33. The MSCI Tadawul Index also lost 13.30 points to 1,482.19. The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR8.77 billion ($2.34 billion) as 98 of the stocks advanced, while 112 declined. Wafrah for Industry and Development Co. was the best-performing stock of the day. The company’s share price soared by 10 percent to SR34.65. Other top gainers include…

The top Ukrainian economic adviser has called on the West to close the sanctions ‘loophole’ The Ukrainian president’s top economic adviser has urged Western countries to tighten anti-Russia penalties, arguing that the current restrictions allow third countries like India, China and Türkiye, to refine crude exported by Moscow and re-sell it without restrictions. In an interview with Politico on Wednesday, Oleg Ustenko appealed to officials in the EU, the UK and the US to close the “loophole” used for evading sanctions imposed on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s aide, Russia’s state energy firms are still…

Serbian president Aleksandar Vucic says the TurkStream pipeline is critical for Serbia’s and Hungary’s energy security Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has expressed hope that the TurkStream pipeline, which transports Russian natural gas to his country via the Black Sea, will be safe and secure, and that no one would attempt attacking it as happened with the Nord Stream pipelines. Vucic’s statement follows a warning by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban that both Budapest and Belgrade would consider any attacks on Russian gas-supply routes to the region as a pretext for war. The Nord Stream pipelines, built to deliver Russian gas…

BAE Systems will manufacture, repair and supply spare parts for a wide range of weapons, Ukraine’s president says  The British arms manufacturing giant BAE Systems intends to “localize in Ukraine” the production of British L119 and US M777 howitzers, as well as Swedish CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky announced on Thursday. There are also plans to “open an office of BAE Systems in Ukraine,” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel after a meeting with the head of the company, Charles Woodburn. According to Zelensky, the enterprise has already started working in Ukraine. “I met with the company’s CEO Charles…

Over $2 billion in assets of international depositories has been frozen by Moscow in response to Western sanctions Russia’s central bank, The Bank of Russia (CBR), is working on mechanisms that will unlock the accounts of depositories from ‘friendly’ states in order to allow foreign investors into the country’s financial market, business daily RBK reported on Thursday, citing its sources. Persons familiar with the matter explained to the outlet that investors from ‘friendly’ states (those that abstained from sanctions) at present cannot work on the Russian market because foreign depositories are “locked” in so-called C-type accounts. A C-type account is kept in…

The African Union’s Peace and Security Council Chair Willy Nyamitwe said on Wednesday that he had urgently assembled a meeting with Burundi, Senegal and Cameroon to analyze the situation in Gabon. The Peace and Security Council of the African Union is scheduled to convene on Thursday to deliberate on the situation in Gabon after the military takeover of the Central African nation. On the preceding Wednesday, Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba secured his third term as the country’s leader by winning 64.2% of the vote. In response to the election body’s announcement, the Gabonese military made a televised statement annulling…

A Palestinian youth was Thursday morning injured after he was shot by Israeli forces, to the west of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah. Local sources said that the Israeli forces opened fire at a Palestinian youth, whose identity has yet to be revealed, at the Ni’lin military checkpoint, claiming that he had allegedly carried out a car-ramming attack near the illegal Israeli settlement of Mod’een. Israeli reports said that three settlers were injured, as a result. source: WAFA

A Palestinian child was Wednesday evening killed after he was shot by Israeli police in the occupied city of Jerusalem, local sources confirmed. Israeli police opened fire at Khaled Samer al-Za’neen, 14, near the area of Bab al-Amoud, seriously injuring him and leaving him bleed to death. The sources added that the child was in the train before he was assaulted by extremist settlers, who later called the police, who came and open fire at the unarmed child. Israeli media claimed that the child had allegedly carried out a stabbing attack against a settler and injured him before he was shot.…