Author: Steven Sahiounie

Oil prices eased in trading on Monday as fears of weaker demand in top oil importer China weighed on market sentiment while investors focused on the progress of ceasefire talks in the Middle East, which could reduce supply risks

A total of 505 new firms were registered on the Qatar Financial Centre platform in the first half of 2024, up 230 percent year on year

: Negotiations are underway between Cenomi Retail and a top fashion retailer for a significant transaction that could involve the merger of several commercial agencies.

Saudi Arabia is keen to attract more foreign direct investment from Asia and Europe as the Kingdom continues its economic diversification journey

Multiple US-Saudi real estate agreements are set to be signed during a five-day visit by a leading official from the Kingdom to the North American country.

Israel’s economy grew less than expected in the second quarter of 2024, extending a period of volatility since the start of war in Gaza, but the weakness is likely not enough to prompt a central bank rate cut next week given rising inflation.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has signed a decree prohibiting coal exports to Israel, citing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza caused by Israel’s ongoing military response to the cross-border attack by Hamas last October. 

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez has once again strongly condemned the Israeli occupation’s ongoing military actions in Gaza, accusing the occupying regime of perpetrating a massacre without any intention of addressing the underlying causes of the war. Rodriguez also criticized the United States for its continued support of the Israeli occupation, asserting that this backing allows “Israel” to act with impunity. The Cuban top diplomat highlighted the recent bombings in the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the deaths of at least 10 children, as clear evidence of Israeli aggression. He reiterated Cuba’s condemnation of the “Israeli genocide against the Palestinian people” and…

The UN’s acting humanitarian chief has expressed concern over the increasing “normalisation of violence against aid workers” in a statement released on World Humanitarian Day. Joyce Msuya, the acting director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), added that the “lack of accountability” for aid worker deaths is “unacceptable, unconscionable and enormously harmful for aid operations everywhere”. More than 280 aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October, including many local employees of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, OCHA said. More than half of the deaths in 2023, or 163, were aid worker…

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the current round of talks on the Gaza Strip is the “last chance” to return hostages and reach a ceasefire in the embattled enclave. “This is a decisive moment — probably the best, maybe the last, opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security,” the Ynet portal quoted him as saying during a meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem. Blinken arrived in Israel the night before; on August 19, he also has meetings scheduled with Prime Minister…