County Gulf Financial News

National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors CEO Eric Hoplin discusses potential port strikes on Mornings with Maria.

Lydia Hu reports on a potential port strike ahead of the holidays on ‘Mornings with Maria.’

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to protect dolphins along Mississippi's coast from harm by a spillway used for flood control

SpaceX, billionaire Elon Musk's space venture, to buy two brick ranch houses she owns near the mouth of the Rio Grande. The properties are nestled amid the South Texas scrubland where SpaceX established an ever-expanding facility for the production and launch of its rockets. For decades, they've served as a home for the former social worker and a source of retirement income from beachgoers who once rented one of the houses, a short walk from the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX's breakneck development, and fast-changing local regulations that facilitated it, disrupted her quiet retirement and halted much of the beach traffic. It also raised her property taxes, inflated by soaring values all around her as neighbors sold land to SpaceX.

spacewalker returned to Earth with his crew on Sunday, ending a five-day trip that lifted them higher than anyone has traveled since NASA’s moonwalkers.SpaceX’s capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico near Florida’s Dry Tortugas in the predawn darkness, carrying tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, two SpaceX engineers and a former Air Force Thunderbird pilot.They pulled off the first private spacewalk while orbiting nearly 460 miles (740 kilometers) above Earth, higher than the International Space Station and Hubble Space Telescope. Their spacecraft hit a peak altitude of 875 miles (1,408 kilometers) following Tuesday’s liftoff.Isaacman became only the 264th person to perform a spacewalk since the former Soviet Union scored the first in 1965, and SpaceX’s Sarah Gillis the 265th.

Polymatech Electronics is investing $16.2 million (about Rs 136 crore) in Bahrain as part of its strategy to spend more than $100 million in the Gulf nation by 2027, top company officials said. This investment marks the first phase of Polymatech’s foray into the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market, the officials told ET. Polymatech designs, manufactures, packages, and assembles opto-semiconductor chips and modules. Opto-semiconductors are electronic devices that either emit or detect light, and are used in a variety of applications, including medical lighting, large-area lighting, cell phone backlights, agriculture, PCs, and laptops.

Oil prices rose on Friday, extending a rally sparked by output disruptions in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, where Hurricane Francine forced producers to evacuate platforms before it hit the coast of Louisiana. Brent crude futures rose by 34 cents, or 0.5%, to $72.31 per barrel by 0016 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose by 38 cents, or 0.6%, to $69.35 a barrel.

Bond yields, which ended at 6.82% were down by three basis points, since its previous close at 6.85%, Clearing Corporation of India data showed.

India and the UAE have inked a pact that provides a framework for giving services for operation and maintenance of nuclear plants in the emirate. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Bhuwan Chandra Pathak, Chairman and Managing Director of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), and Mohamed Al Hammadi, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) of the UAE. The MoU was inked during the ongoing visit of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to India. Al Nahyan held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Ukraine conflict cannot be resolved on the battlefield, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Tuesday that Russia and Ukraine have to negotiate, and if they want advice, India is always willing to give. Jaishankar made the comments while responding to questions at the Annual Ambassadors' Conference of the German Foreign Office in Berlin, a day after he held a «useful conversation» with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the margins of the India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers' meeting in the Saudi capital. «We don't think this conflict is going to be resolved on the battlefield. At some stage, there's going to be some negotiation. When there is a negotiation, the main parties — Russia and Ukraine — have to be at that negotiation,» he said. Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visits to Russia and Ukraine, he said that the Indian leader has said in Moscow and Kyiv that this is not an era of war.

India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Monday, at their first-ever Foreign Ministers meeting in Riyadh, adopted a Joint Action Plan 2024-2028 for undertaking various joint activities in diverse areas, including health, trade, security, agriculture and food security, transportation, energy, culture, among others.

Oil prices rose about 1% on Monday on concerns that a hurricane forecast to hit Louisiana on Wednesday will disrupt production and refining along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Brent futures were up 78 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $71.84 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude gained $1.04, or 1.5%, to settle at $68.71.

Jaishankar will on Sunday embark on a six-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Germany and Switzerland with a larger aim to boost overall bilateral ties and deliberate on pressing regional and global challenges. He will first travel to the Saudi capital Riyadh on a two-day trip primarily to attend the first India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers' meeting, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The GCC is an influential grouping comprising the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait. The total volume of India's trade with GCC countries stood at USD 184.46 billion in the financial year 2022-23. In Riyadh, Jaishankar is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with foreign ministers of several GCC member countries.

Iran launched perhaps the largest drone and missile strike in history against Israel, which was blunted by unprecedented cooperation from countries in the region and beyond. Yet the biggest surprise is also the most ominous for global order. A radical, quasi-state actor most Americans had never heard of, the Houthis of Yemen, have mounted the gravest challenge to freedom of the seas in decades — and arguably beaten a weary superpower along the way. The Houthis began their campaign against shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb, which connects the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in late 2023. They are nominally attacking out of sympathy for the Palestinian people, but also to gain stature within the so-called Axis of Resistance, a group of Middle Eastern proxies cultivated by Iran.

Super Typhoon Yagi, Asia's most powerful storm this year, churned towards the northern coast of Vietnam on Saturday after tearing through China's southern island province of Hainan and leaving two people reported dead. The lightning, rain and violent winds that hit Hainan also caused 92 to be injured, Chinese state media said on Saturday, citing local authorities. Yagi made landfall in Hainan on Friday, packing maximum sustained winds of 234 kph (145 mph) near its centre, downing trees and flooding roads. Power supply to more than 800,000 homes was cut.

India is set to host the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, early next week as it seeks to cultivate the next generation leadership in the key Gulf state. Sheikh Khaled, the eldest son of UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, has been groomed for leadership through his membership of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and the main national security body since 2016. In 2016, he was appointed head of national security. In January 2017, he was named the deputy national security adviser. In March 2023, he was appointed as the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, which holds the president's post since the creation of the UAE.

According to the NHC, three concerning areas that they were looking at are in the central Atlantic Ocean, eastern Atlantic Ocean, and Caribbean Sea, as per a Fox Weather report. However, weather pundits in the US have assured that there won't be any concern for the next seven days even as the monitoring on these three areas of disturbance will continue as usual.

Pakistan is facing a growing concern over the spread of mpox as Peshawar reports its fifth case this year, raising fears that the city may be emerging as a hub for patients arriving from the Gulf region, The Express Tribune reported. A 47-year-old man who recently returned from the Gulf region has tested positive for the virus and was isolated by Border Health Services staff on August 29. «This is the fifth mpox case reported in Pakistan this year and the fourth since WHO declared mpox a global health emergency,» said Dr. Shabana Saleem, Federal Director General of Health.

mosquito-borne disease caused by the Triple E virus, also known as the eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus. Recently, a US resident died after being hospitalized with eastern equine encephalitis, with cases also detected in other states. This year marked the first recorded death due to the virus, involving a 41-year-old individual from New Hampshire. But what is eastern equine encephalitis? How is it spread? What role do horses play? And is it a concern for Australia?

Two missiles suspected to have been fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have targeted a ship in the Gulf of Aden

Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) Friday said it has agreed to buy an 80% stake in Dubai-based Astro Shipping Company for $185 million (about ₹1,551 crore) as part of its strategy to expand fleet and boost earnings. «Astro's acquisition is part of our plan to become one of the world's largest marine operators,» said Ashwani Gupta, wholetime director and CEO of APSEZ. «Astro will add 26 ships to our current fleet of 142 tugs and dredgers, making a total of 168 ships. This will also give us access to many important customers and strengthen our presence in the Arabian Gulf, Indian subcontinent, and Far East Asia.» The deal valued Astro Shipping at $235 million. The company offers maritime services including ship management, shipping agency, freight forwarding, and chartering.