Author: Steven Sahiounie

RIYADH: Saudi low-cost carrier flynas has received its 50th jetliner from Airbus out of an order of more than 100 aircraft, as it continues to pursue its growth and expansion plans.   

SINGAPORE: Oil prices steadied on Wednesday as investors eyed concerns around crude and fuel supplies, following Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries and the potential for a widening of the Israel-Hamas war to more directly include Iran.

RIYADH: Climate change, natural disasters and other global challenges have prompted a new regional food security strategy from the Gulf Cooperation Council. Faisal Al-Rawas, chairman of the Federation of the GCC Chambers, said the strategy is focused on developing agricultural, livestock, and fishery projects to achieve added value to the food industries, enabling the countries to achieve food security and sustainability for their citizens, the Saudi Press Agency reported. This comes amid challenges such as climate change, water scarcity, natural disasters, and population growth, prompting GCC governments to implement strict policies to limit the export of agricultural and livestock products to achieve self-sufficiency. Al-Rawas also…

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia issued 118 new industrial licenses in February – a 72 percent annual increase as the Kingdom’s manufacturing sector continues to strengthen,

Russia’s government and businesses have been steadily reducing the amount of money they owe to foreign lenders, the latest official data suggests.

Three tankers loaded with Russian Sokol-grade oil have arrived at Indian ports, despite being targeted by Western sanctions, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing vessel-tracking data.

Addressing a meeting of the UN Security Council on “threat to international peace and security”, held in New York on Tuesday, the ambassador and deputy of permanent representative of Iran to the UN called on the Security Council to vehemently condemn the Israel regime’s unjustified criminal act and terrorist attack that resulted in the martyrdom of seven Iranian military advisers in Damascus. What follows is the full text of the speech by Zahra Ershadi: Madam President, At the outset, allow me to congratulate you for assuming the presidency of the Security Council for this month. We thank Russia for requesting…

A sea convoy of undelivered food for Gaza has been returned to Cyprus after the killing of seven aid workers in an Israeli air raid on Monday evening. A cargo ship carrying 240 tonnes of food sailed back to Larnaca in Cyprus following the deadly attack, dropping anchor just outside the port. A second ship arrived earlier, the Open Arms, owned by a Spanish NGO working with World Central Kitchen, whose aid workers were the victims of Israel’s attack. The undelivered aid was part of a consignment of about 340 tonnes sent to Gaza from Cyprus on March 30. The aid workers…

Gaza’s Media Office says the bodies of the six foreign aid workers were transferred to Egypt via the Rafah crossing. The Government Media Office in Gaza announced on Wednesday that the bodies of the six members of the World Central Kitchen WCK had been handed over to the United Nations and then transported out of Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. Seven food aid workers were killed in a triple Israeli strike on their vehicle in Gaza’s Deir al-Balah last Sunday. The occupation entity admitted that it was behind the attack, and has received wide condemnation, especially from Western…

The last report by the United Nations secretary-general on the rights of children in conflicts – published in June 2023, four months before Israel’s war on Gaza began – recorded nearly 4,000 confirmed cases, of which almost half were of Israeli forces denying aid to children in the enclave. “Data gathered for our forthcoming 2024 report shows we are on target to witness a shocking increase of the incidents of the denial of humanitarian access globally,” Virginia Gamba, the secretary-general’s special representative for children and armed conflict, told the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday. The UN has, since Israel’s…