Author: Steven Sahiounie

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s non-oil exports surged by 10.5 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2024, led by outgoing shipments to the UAE and China, official data showed.

China dominates the market for electric vehicles. Now it’s chasing Tesla in the race to build battery-powered humanoids expected to replace human workers building EVs on assembly lines.

Nestle shares fell Friday after the surprise departure of chief executive Mark Schneider, which followed slowing sales growth and bad headlines at the Swiss food group.

Chinese aviation logged a new milestone with a test flight of an unmanned civilian drone capable of carrying up to 3.2 metric tons of cargo, as drone makers trial larger and larger drones in anticipation of future domestic demand.

The Ministry of Health announced today its plans to launch a major polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip at the end of August. This initiative comes in response to a confirmed case of polio in the war-torn region and aims to curb the spread of the virus. The Ministry stated that it has finalized its vaccination plan, which includes organizing medical teams, establishing vaccination centers, and completing training in collaboration with UNRWA, the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and other local and international organizations. The campaign will target all children under ten years old and will be conducted in…

Following the unresolved election last month, French President Emmanuel Macron is set to start a series of difficult talks with party leaders on Friday with the goal of assembling a workable ruling coalition. Six weeks after Macron lost his legislative majority in a snap election, he still hasn’t appointed a new prime minister, whose main responsibility will be to present the budget proposal for the upcoming year to the National Assembly. After the election, the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP), which became the largest faction, declared its desire for economist Lucie Castets to take over as premier. Along with other NFP…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a telephone conversation with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Kremlin said. Earlier, Putin said as he visited Azerbaijan that he would call the Armenian premier and tell him about the results of his talks in Baku. Putin and Pashinyan “continued to discuss normalizing relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the wake of Putin’s talks with Azerbaijanian President Ilham Aliyev during his state visit to Baku,” the Kremlin said in a statement. According to it, “the Russian side reaffirmed its readiness to provide further assistance to Armenia and Azerbaijan in their efforts to work…

In a telephone conversation, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, reiterated the Islamic Republic’s commitment to supporting Syria and resistance countries against the Israeli regime.  This dialogue took place following Araghchi’s appointment as Iran’s new Foreign Minister. During the call, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad congratulated Araghchi on his new role and wished him success. Mikdad conveyed warm greetings from the Syrian President to Iran’s Supreme Leader and President, emphasizing Syria’s dedication to strengthening strategic relations with Iran. Meanwhile, Araghchi expressed gratitude for Mikdad’s congratulations and reaffirmed Iran’s approach in the new government, highlighting continued support for Syria and allies…

Talks in Cairo on reaching a Gaza truce have made progress, the White House said Friday, as it urged Israel and Hamas to move forward.The White House confirmed that CIA chief William Burns and senior official Brett McGurk were taking part in discussions which started at a preliminary level Thursday evening.“There has been progress made. We need now for both sides to come together and work toward implementation,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.“The preliminary talks that we had going into Cairo last night were constructive in nature. So we want to see that same sort of momentum…

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday said he had spoken with his Israeli counterpart to discuss a range of issues in the region, including the ongoing exchanges of fire on the Israel-Lebanon border and the need to finalize a ceasefire deal. In a post on X, Austin said he also discussed the risk of escalation from Iran and Iran-backed groups in the call on Thursday and told Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant that the United States is well postured across the region. Source: Arab News