County Gulf Financial News

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has announced a new unified tourist visa called "GCC Grand Tours," allowing travelers to visit all six Gulf countries and stay for over 30 days. This initiative, unveiled by the United Arab Emirates Minister of Economy, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, at the Arabian Travel Mar ket (ATM), aims to boost tourism and make travel across the GCC region more convenient. The Gulf Cooperation Council, also called the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The GCC Grand Tours visa is designed to attract a higher number of tourists by simplifying the process of visiting multiple countries in the region, similar to the European Union's Schengen visa. This new unified visa is expected to significantly contribute to the growth of the tourism sector in the Gulf and increase the number of hotel guests, ultimately establishing the region as a leading destination for regional and international tourists.

Federal officials say the number of fish on the government’s overfishing list sunk to a new low last year in a sign of healthy U.S. fisheries

best travel agency in Dubai for holiday packages, has got your back. They are excited to reveal all our secret tips and tricks. Get ready for your epic Dubai escape with them.

ballistic missile defences facing their first complex, high-stakes combat scenarios in Israel, the Red Sea and Ukraine will encourage militaries globally to invest in the pricey systems, experts say — and intensify missile arms races. Iran launched as many as 120 intermediate-range ballistic missiles at Israel on April 13, U.S. and Israeli officials say. U.S. SM-3 and Israeli Arrow interceptors destroyed nearly all of them, leaving drones and smaller threats to the Iron Dome system. In previous months, interceptors fired from U.S. Navy destroyers stopped Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles, while in Ukraine, U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot batteries have shot down advanced Russian Iskander and Khinzal missiles.

THUNDER HORSE OIL PLATFORM—This hulking production base 150 miles offshore from New Orleans has long embodied BP’s outsize ambitions in the Gulf of Mexico and also reflected its recurring setbacks. Stretching roughly three football fields and pumping crude from more than a mile below the water’s surface, Thunder Horse in 2005 was found listing so precariously that it appeared in danger of sinking. Once it got roaring in 2008, three years behind schedule, it helped BP cement its position as one of the Gulf’s leading producers, capable of some of the industry’s biggest technical marvels.

Mexico took control of its most precious natural resource by seizing the oil sector from U.S. companies in a move that’s taught to schoolchildren and celebrated as a great patriotic victory

Death by firing squad is a sentence usually meted out in the military for heinous crimes like murder or desertion. The condemned prisoner is tied to a post or stood against a wall. A group of five or more soldiers aim at him, and on command, fire their rifles simultaneously.

Key West in Monroe County and hundred other islands, all near the Florida coast. While the pristine beaches, good sunny weather and relaxing getaways are surely an attraction, there is something else to plan ahead, when you take that holiday next time. According to data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 117 cyclones have passed this region in the last 200 years or so.

A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden has come under attack, the latest assault likely carried out by Yemen’s Houthi rebels over Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip

A ship near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait has seen an explosion in the distance, marking what may be a new attack by Yemen’s Houthi rebels through the crucial waterway for international trade

IMF's Asia and Pacific (APAC) Department. "China is more than four times bigger than India, and in that sense, if India is growing faster today than China, then it should not be surprising," Srinivasan explained, while speaking with ANI.

Air India announced on Friday the cancellation of flights to and from Dubai due to ongoing operational disruptions at the airport in the Gulf city. Passengers who have booked Air India flights scheduled for travel until April 21 will receive a one-time waiver on rescheduling and full refunds for cancellations. Read More | Dubai International Airport limits incoming flights as city reels from record rainfall

Dubai's giant highways were clogged by flooding and its major airport was in chaos as the Middle East financial centre remained gridlocked on Wednesday, a day after the heaviest rains on record. Tailbacks snaked along waterlogged, six-lane expressways after up to 259.5 millimetres (10.2 inches) of rain, the most since records began 75 years ago, fell on the desert United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

Microsoft Corp. will invest $1.5 billion in a technology company backed by the United Arab Emirates, a deal that includes an intergovernmental pact to ensure artificial intelligence security as the U.S. and China increasingly compete for influence in the Gulf.

DUBAI—Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf states have tried to avoid taking a position on America’s geopolitical rivalries in recent years, staying neutral in the Ukraine war and building ties with China. With Israel and Iran in open conflict, they might be forced to choose a side. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates struggled to stay on the sidelines when it became clear last week that Iran would attack Israel in retaliation for a strike in Syria that killed senior Iranian military officers.

India faced a tightrope walk as Iran launched a direct attack on Israel for the first time, responding to an Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus earlier this month. If the war escalates and spreads across West Asia, it might impact India's critical interests in the energy sector as well as its diaspora numbering about 10 million in the Gulf region, said people with knowledge of the matter. Any possible evacuation of diaspora in case of a wider conflict would also be a mammoth task, they said.

Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel Saturday, authorities said. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the seizure after a video seen by The Associated Press showed the commandos raiding the ship Saturday, an attack a Mideast defense official attributed to Iran amid wider tensions between Tehran and the West. The attack was earlier reported by the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which said it took place in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah.

Strait of Hormuz by helicopter Saturday, an attack a Mideast defence official attributed to Iran amid wider tensions between Tehran and the West. The video showed the attack earlier reported by the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. It had offered no details about the boarding in the Gulf of Oman off the Emirati port city of Fujairah. The defence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, shared the video with the AP. Though the AP could not immediately verify it, it corresponded to known details of the boarding and the helicopter involved appeared to be one used by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which has carried out other ship raids in the past.

Kerala to channel their compassion and rally together to raise an astounding ₹34 crore to save a man from the state from the gallows in Saudi Arabia. In a display of solidarity, people in Kerala have come together to save Abdul Rahim, who hails from Kozhikode, whose only chance to live is to pay the blood money of 15 million Saudi Riyals which comes to around ₹34 crore, before April 18, 2024. Until five days ago, the action committee, formed to work for the release of Rahim, could raise only a meagre amount but as the deadline neared, the campaign was intensified and help poured in from Kerala people from across the world, the action committee formed to help Rahim, said on Friday.

Indian Navy's recent exploits. Over the last three months, the navy has thwarted Somali pirates, rescued hijacked ships and responded to multiple drone/missile attacks by the Houthis in the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. As the Israel-Hamas war raged, the navy showed up in strength to protect crucial sea lanes as a first responder, security provider and resident power in the Indian Ocean region. It deployed 21 ships, made 19 interventions and rescued more than 100 crew and others, sometimes from the burning deck. And it assured protection to 450 merchant ships carrying essential supplies.

Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Group Chairman, Inditrade Capital, says: “The way I look at it, infra will come back with a strong set of numbers and so will defence. Apart from that, I am looking at a good set of numbers from BFSI as well as real estate. These are the four-five sectors which definitely will come back with good numbers. As far as other sectors are concerned, IT and FMCG will be a mixed bag. I do not think we will see a major pickup in earnings in IT. Cement, again, will be a little subdued.” What are you making of the resilience of India equity markets? The fact that crude is already at $91, but the Indian markets are not really absorbing that hit so far and even the central bank seems not perturbed by the sudden spike that one has seen. Sudip Bandyopadhyay: Crude at $91 does not augur well for India. However, this has just happened and crude prices have been benign for a very long time and this sudden shooting up is predominantly on the back of two things. One is what is happening in Russia and the Gulf and also the Chinese demand suddenly picking up with possible economic recovery in China. Now, the combined effect of all these factors and somewhere I am sure the calculations are that geopolitical tensions will ease and production in Russia as well as the Gulf will stabilise.