Author: Steven Sahiounie

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s overall unemployment rate dropped to 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023, marking a decrease of 0.4 percentage points from the same period in 2022.  

RIYADH: Saudi energy giant ACWA Power has signed an SR3 billion ($800 million) agreement with Senegal’s Ministry of Water to develop a desalination plant.

RIYADH: Foreign direct investment inflows to Saudi Arabia rose 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the previous period, according to recent data. 

Moscow has introduced tight requirements for companies wishing to divest, ensuring local buyers receive major discounts on businesses that are leaving

The Israeli occupation army conducted last night and this morning a large-scale arrest campaign in the occupied West Bank and detained 25 Palestinians, including a child and former prisoners, according to various sources. The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) said that at least ten Palestinians, including a 15-year-old child, were rounded up by occupation forces from different areas across Hebron city. PPS added that the rest of the detentions took place in the governorates of Ramallah, Tulkarm, Jenin, Salfit, and Jerusalem. Palestinian detainees are usually subjected to brutal abuse during their detention, involving severe beatings and threats against the detainees and…

Italy’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister said Wednesday that the main agenda items for the G7 foreign ministers meeting which his country will host on the island of Capri next month will be the Middle East, Ukraine and terrorism. Antonio Tajani held a press conference in Naples prefecture ahead of the meeting on April 17-19 under Italy’s presidency. The G7 countries consist of the US, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, the UK and Germany. Tajani emphasized that the meeting will particularly focus on delivering a peace message for Gaza. He noted the continuation of efforts for peace following a previous…

Russia will bring everyone responsible for the crimes of the Kiev regime to justice, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Commenting on the report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the spokesman said: “All war crimes [committed] by the Kiev regime are thoroughly documented.” According to him, the report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights comes as no surprise to the Russian side. “We were well aware of these crimes. And, of course, we will make sure that those behind these crimes are duly punished,” Peskov pointed out. Earlier, the Office…

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has once again reiterated his refusal to supply Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine and send German troops there. “Moreover, as a head of government, I must take responsibility on issues of war and peace, and security in Europe – and this applies to the Taurus issue. Along with resolute support for Ukraine, one thing is important for me: we will do our best to prevent any escalation of this war, i.e. a war between Russia and NATO,” he said in an interview with the Markische Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. “We will not send our soldiers to Ukraine. And…

Iran says governments and international bodies face the judgement of history to deliver on their human responsibilities after a UN expert admits that Israel’s onslaught on Gaza amounts to genocide. “The Zionist regime’s crime of genocide against the Palestinians has now been confirmed and clearly stipulated by the UN special rapporteur,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani wrote on X Thursday.h In a report titled “The Anatomy of a Genocide” to the Human Rights Council in Geneva Tuesday, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Territories Francesca Albanese called on countries to immediately impose sanctions and an arms embargo on…

The humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip is turning into a man-made famine, the United Nations human rights chief has said, adding that Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon could amount to a “war crime.” The UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, in an interview with BBC on Thursday said that Israel is culpable for its role in the war as there was a “plausible” case that it was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Turk said that evidence had emerged that Israel was slowing down or withholding the delivery of aid, adding that…