LONDON: British Minister of State for Trade Chris Bryant has described the free trade agreement between the UK and the Gulf Cooperation Council as a “landmark” deal, not only because of its economic value, but because it marks the first agreement of its kind between the GCC and a G7 country. In an »»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s water sector has attracted investments exceeding SR60 billion ($16 billion) as the Kingdom expands private-sector participation and strengthens water security, a top minister said. Environment, Water and Agriculture Minister Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli cited the figure at the inaug»»»

RIYADH: Private debt has overtaken venture capital as the dominant source of startup funding in the Gulf, with Saudi Arabia accounting for the vast majority of the GCC’s $4.1 billion in structured credit deployment in 2025, according to an industry report. Data released by Stride Ventures showed th»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index edged down on Sunday, shedding 25.56 points, or 0.23 percent, to close at 10,907.67. The total trading turnover of the benchmark index stood at SR2.49 billion ($660 million), with 92 stocks advancing and 165 declining. The Kingdom’s parallel market Nom»»»

SINGAPORE: Oil prices rose on Monday following days of tit-for-tat strikes by the ‌US and Iran that underscored the fragility of their interim peace deal and again slowed energy shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures climbed 58 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $72.57 a barrel at 05:07 »»»

RIYADH: The Saudi Exchange’s benchmark TASI fell 1.06 percent on Monday, shedding 115.52 points to close at 10,792.15. Trading turnover reached SR4.41 billion ($1.18 billion), with 246.67 million shares changing hands. A total of 110 stocks advanced, while 148 declined. The MT30 Index closed at 1,4»»»

RIYADH: Jordan has launched a €35 million ($39 million) German-backed program to strengthen industrial competitiveness, support 370 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, boost exports and create jobs. The “Leadership in Industry” initiative will be implemented through the Industrial Developmen»»»

JEDDAH: Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Hani Sewilam, said Saudi Arabia and Egypt continue to strengthen cooperation, particularly in water desalination and reuse, to enhance water and food security in both countries. Speaking to Al-Eqtisadiah during Saudi Water Week 2026 in Jed»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources processed 763 chemical clearance service requests in May as part of its efforts to facilitate industrial investment and provide support services for the growth and expansion of manufacturing facilities. The Ministry of Industry and M»»»

RIYADH: Saudi buy now, pay later provider Tabby has secured consumer finance and small and medium-sized enterprise finance licenses from the Kingdom’s central bank, enabling it to offer longer-term loans for higher-value purchases and working capital to businesses. The licenses are expected to move»»»

RIYADH: Sovereign investors across the Middle East are placing greater emphasis on energy security as they navigate an increasingly volatile global environment, according to a new analysis. The 14th annual Invesco Global Sovereign Asset Management Study found that nearly nine in 10, or 89 percent, »»»

RIYADH: Saudi Minister of Environment, Water and Agriculture Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli told Al-Eqtisadiah that the Kingdom intends to expand the privatization of water production, treatment, transportation, and storage activities. He said this would help improve operational efficiency, attract addition»»»

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s services exports rose 7.9 percent quarter on quarter to SR71.3 billion ($18.96 billion) in the first three months of 2026, driven by strong travel receipts as the Kingdom continued to expand its non-oil economy, official data showed. Figures released by the General Authority »»»

DUBAI: For Gaza’s displaced families, the dangers of war no longer end with bombs and bullets. As mountains of garbage rise, sewage spills into streets and camps, temperatures soar, and clean water becomes increasingly scarce, aid agencies warn that a new threat of disease is spreading across the t»»»

Lawyers filed a suit against Ghana at west Africa’s top human rights court on behalf of deportees sent there under the United States’ third-country deportation policies, the legal team said Tuesday. As part of a sweeping crackdown on immigration, US President Donald Trump has expanded the categorie»»»

RAMALLAH: Israeli forces fatally shot a 15-year-old Palestinian teenager during a raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said, as violence surges in the Israeli-occupied territory. “The child Amir Ahmad Jawad Jaber, 15 years old, was martyred after being shot in t»»»

NEW YORK CITY: The West Bank is experiencing its largest displacement crisis since 1967, the UN Security Council heard on Monday. It came as officials and humanitarian agencies warned of an entrenched and unlawful Israeli occupation, while the US accused the world body of ignoring atrocities commit»»»

NEW YORK CITY: The UN on Monday described a newly announced “Trilateral Framework” established by the US, Israel and Lebanon as a “milestone” development. Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters the arrangement “constitutes a milestone in efforts to»»»

DUBAI: The UAE has said its nationals can travel to Lebanon, effective on Monday, lifting a weeks-long ban in place because of the Middle East war. The foreign ministry announced “it will allow UAE citizens to travel to the sisterly Lebanese Republic, starting from Monday, June 29, 2026,” the offic»»»

LONDON: Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed sharply over the weekend as ships avoided a transit corridor off Oman after a fresh exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran.Only four tankers and one container ship used the Omani southern corridor to enter the Gulf on Sunday, escor»»»

TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry said it had held on Monday the first meeting with Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz since Tehran and Washington signed their preliminary deal to end the Middle East war. Both Iran and Oman say they hold sovereignty over the waterway, a vital route for Gulf energy»»»

BAGHDAD: Journalists live for the unexpected especially in Iraq, where events can overtake a carefully planned interview before it even begins. I had requested a meeting with Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, who emerged after a prolonged political contest involving two of his predecessors, »»»

TEHRAN: US President Donald Trump said Iran has requested a meeting that will be held in Qatar on Tuesday, despite Tehran earlier denying that any technical talks on the deal aimed at ending the Middle East war were planned. The announcement came after Iran held its first talks with Oman on managin»»»

CHICAGO: King Abdullah will no doubt have been disappointed by the outcome of the Jordanian national team’s game against Argentina at the Dallas Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on June 27, in which a 3-1 defeat marked the end of his nation’s World Cup 2026 adventure. But his mood was lifted the follow»»»

ISTANBUL: Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have blasted Israeli incursions and ammunition fire in southern Syria targeting the provinces of Quneitra and Daraa. Turkiye’s foreign ministry on Monday denounced the Israeli incursions after tensions near the Golan Heights forced some l»»»

ABDIN: As Israeli troops and vehicles entered the town of Abdin in southern Syria, residents blocked the roads with rocks, and some young men and boys threw stones to push back the military patrol. Tensions in this part of the country created by a buffer zone occupied by Israeli forces have flared »»»

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes in southern and central Gaza on Monday killed at least eight people, including two children, and wounded at least 20 others, according to health officials and emergency services. In Khan Younis, a strike hit a tent in the Al-Mawasi neighborhood after a war»»»

DUBAI: Two members ​of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were killed and two ‌others wounded ‌in ​what the ‌Guards ⁠described ​as a “terrorist” ⁠shooting in the western province of ⁠Kermanshah on ‌Monday ‌evening, ​state ‌media ‌reported on Tuesday. The attackers opened fire outside ‌the Guards members’ »»»

Decades later, Samar Kabouli still fondly recalls gathering with women in her family and sipping cardamom-spiced coffee as they embroidered fabric with colorful threads in traditional Palestinian patterns. Born in Lebanon to Palestinian refugees, Kabouli had never seen her parents’ homeland. But mo»»»

BELGRADE, Serbia: Feliks’ journey resembles a Hollywood movie script, with kidnappers, smugglers and clandestine border crossings. The year-old eastern imperial eagle from Serbia, started flying in August and later set off on his first migratory flight toward the Middle East, only to be captured by»»»

BANGKOK: Thailand’s main opposition leader and nine other MPs were among dozens on trial Tuesday, accused of ethics breaches over attempts to reform the kingdom’s strict royal insult law. The 44 defendants, whose trial opened at the Supreme Court, include Natthaphong Ruengpanyawut, whose progressiv»»»

BERLIN: Germany should end a boycott of Russian oil and gas to bolster its flagging economy, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, Alice Weidel, told Reuters as she outlined the ​party’s ambitions to lead a national government. Weidel said the AfD can win two key federal state electi»»»

Warsaw: Along Ukraine’s front line, demand for drones and anti-drone camouflage netting is only going up. But in Warsaw, a group of Ukrainian volunteers putting them together say growing fatigue with the war is making it harder to convince people to help. More than four years after Russia invaded, »»»

WASHINGTON: The powerful twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela last week damaged or destroyed more than 58,000 buildings, according to a preliminary assessment of satellite data published by US space agency NASA. Some 1,700 people were killed and thousands remain missing following the quakes of ma»»»

DUBAI: Arabian Falcons FC manager Jonjo Shelvey has announced the club’s first major signing of the season, with Premier League winner Danny Simpson coming out of retirement to join as player-coach. The 39-year-old right back, who won the Premier League title with Leicester City in 2016, has signed»»»

MOSCOW: A six-month-old baby died after debris from a drone fell on a private building in ‌the ‌Moscow region on ‌Tuesday, ⁠governor Andrei Vorobyov said ⁠on his Telegram channel.The baby was taken out of ⁠the building ‌with ‌another child and ‌two other ‌survivors, but died on the way to ‌hospital»»»

QUITO: Two explosions outside Ecuador’s agriculture ministry and mining regulatory agency left one person injured and damaged nearby property, authorities said Monday. The suspected bombings in the capital Quito came just days after an explosive device was defused near a courthouse, as the South Am»»»

Kazakhstan has decided to sharply tighten access to early pension withdrawals amid worries over the country’s housing market, inflation outlook and long-term retirement security. Revised rules, in effect since June 5, mean contributors to the Unified Accumulative Pension Fund (UAPF) can only withdr»»»

MP Ibrahim Mousawi, a member of the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc, affirmed that when the enemy’s Prime Minister Netanyahu describes the Framework Agreement as an achievement, it means there is historic capitulation, surrender, and submission to the enemy’s dictates. In a post on “X”, he stressed »»»

In a decisive defensive operation against advancing occupation forces, a Hezbollah resistance fighter engaged and fatally struck an Israeli army captain during an overnight incursion into the southern Lebanese town of Deir Siryan, according to military sources on both sides of the border. The Israe»»»

The Speaker of the Iranian Shura Council affirmed, in a phone call with the Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, that ending the war in Lebanon, and this country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, constitutes an important part of the first clause of the “Islamabad Understanding” between Iran a»»»

The Israeli occupation forces continued on Sunday its attacks on the various towns and villages of South Lebanon in light of the shameful “Framework Agreement” concluded by the Lebanese Authorities and the Zionist enemy in Washington. In this regard, the Zionist warplanes, drones, and artillery tar»»»

A phone call took place between the Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Nabih Berri, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, during which they discussed developments in Lebanon and the region. Minister Abdelatty reiterated Egypt’s keenness on stability in Leban»»»

In a sweeping rejection of ongoing normalization overtures, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has declared that the framework agreement recently signed with ‘Israel’ is “impossible to ratify or implement,” characterizing the deal as a logical absurdity that stands in direct opposition to esta»»»

Former Hezbollah Minister Mustafa Bayram lashed out at the Lebanese Government over signing the so-called framework agreement with the Israeli enemy, describing it as an “agreement of humiliation and disgrace written by (Israeli PM) Benjamin Netanyahu.” Speaking at a memorial ceremony for martyrs i»»»

Hezbollah issued a new warning early on Monday over continued Israeli violations of the ceasefire in southern Lebanon, stressing that the resistance group is tracking developments closely and reserves right to defend the homeland and people. In a statement, Hezbollah Military Media detailed multipl»»»

Lebanon military chief General Rodolphe Haykal received US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper on Monday, the Lebanese Army announced. “Army Commander Gen. Rudolph Haykal received US Central Command Commander Admiral Brad Cooper and his accompanying delegation at his office in Yarzeh,” a stateme»»»

In May 2026, nearly 1.8 million guests spent about 3.9 million tourism nights at tourist (commercial, private and other) accommodation establishments. Tourist arrivals were up by 2.6% and tourism nights down by 0.5% in number compared to a year earlier. In January-May 2026, domestic arrivals at tou»»»

Effective January 1, 2026, a complete ban on the operation of private and other types of accommodation went into effect in Terézváros (District VI), resulting in a significant shift in the district’s tourist traffic. In its latest release on tourist arrivals, the statistical office took a closer lo»»»

RIYADH: Members of Saudi Arabia’s Masam project removed 2,164 explosive devices from various regions of Yemen last week. These include 2,072 unexploded ordnances, 81 anti-tank mines, six anti-personnel mines, and five improvised explosive devices, according to a recent report. The explosives were p»»»