The wire

The terms are often confused, but family businesses, family holdings and family offices serve very different purposes. Family business A commercial company owned, controlled and run by members of the same family across generations. This is the profit-making business. It might manufacture products, sell services, hire employees and build factories. The family usually holds a […]

Saudi Arabia’s non-oil economy continued to expand in July while Kuwait’s private sector returned to growth for the first time since the start of the US-Iran conflict. Operating conditions in the kingdom improved for the fourth consecutive month, with companies reporting an increase in output and new orders, Riyad Bank said in its latest report. […]

Oil prices rebounded early on Tuesday as peace plan talks between the US and Iran remained elusive. Brent crude futures rose 1 percent to $84.61 a barrel by 0240 GMT, after dropping nearly 7 percent in the previous session to a three-week low. US West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.8 percent to $80.99 after falling […]

The International Cricket Council has banned US cricketer Bodugum Akhilesh Reddy from all cricket for eight years after a tribunal found he tried to persuade a team-mate to concede extra runs during the 2025 Abu Dhabi T10 and deleted phone data relevant to the investigation. The tribunal said that, had the approach succeeded and become public, it […]

Turkish inflation eased in July to its lowest in three months, though core input costs such as transport and housing remain stubbornly resistant to government efforts to curb price rises. Consumer inflation was 1.78 percent month-on-month, according to data issued by the state statistics agency on August 3. The July number came in marginally below […]

Crude-loading at the Saudi Red Sea port of Yanbu rebounded at the weekend despite Houthi threats against vessels calling at the kingdom’s ports. Loading activity at the Saudi terminal had noticeably picked up, maritime analyst Arsenio Longo said, although public ship-tracking data offered only a partial picture of crude movements. The Houthis, who control much […]

Kuwait and Qatar are expected to suffer the deepest economic fallout among Gulf states from the Iran war, with both economies forecast to contract this year as disruption to the Strait of Hormuz hits energy exports. The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) expects the remaining GCC economies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Oman, to […]

Oil prices slumped early on Monday after US President Donald Trump suspended new attacks on Iran in an attempt to strike a peace deal and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures fell $4.60, or 5 percent, to $83.37 by 0330 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate was down $4.95, or nearly 6 percent, at […]

Iraq has warned that it may not be able to pay civil servants’ salaries on time, due to a cash shortage caused by the sharp drop in oil export revenues during the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. “Are we in a liquidity crisis? Yes we are,” government spokesman Haidar Al-Aboudi told Iraq’s Alawla TV on Thursday. “There […]

The UAE has hiked retail prices for petrol and diesel for August as the value of oil rose by a fifth in July. The UAE Fuel Price Committee, which reviews retail prices for drivers at the end of each month, will add AED0.20 (5 US cents) per litre to all fuels. Super 98 will rise […]

Saudi Arabia has announced plans for a multinational maritime coalition to secure shipping routes in the Red Sea that are vital for the kingdom’s oil exports. The Defence Ministry announced on Thursday that 14 countries — not including the US — would form the coalition, which will have its headquarters in Riyadh. In a joint statement, […]

“Autonomous driving is now available!” The message flashed up on my Uber app as I sat in the Mezzanine bar at Madinat Jumeirah, contemplating what had become of my afternoon and what remained of my Corona. For the third time that day, it appeared that Dubai’s driverless future was ready to receive me. It wasn’t. […]