UAE minister and OPEC chief says IRENA’s solar forecasts for Gulf nations will prove conservative
With the International Renewable Energy Agency’s number-crunchers predicting almost 5.4 GW of new solar across the six Gulf Cooperation Council nations today, Suhail Mohammed Faraj Al Mazroui said his nation alone would install 6-7 GW of new renewables capacity by 2024, as pv magazine editor-in-chief Jonathan Gifford reports. ...
Why Gulf Banks Are Merging Like Never Before
Lenders in the Persian Gulf have been rapidly consolidating as they seek to stay competitive in an era of lower oil prices. Saudi Arabia’s biggest bank announced talks about a mega-merger with a domestic rival less than a year after the kingdom’s first such tie-up in 20 years. Abu Dhabi is working on a merger of three of its banks, potentially the emirate’s second in just over a year. And the wave continues: About a dozen other regional lenders are involved in takeover or merger talks. ...
Houthi drone attack military base in southern Yemen, 6 killed
After the drones attack ...
Agility opens new regional distribution hub in Bahrain in push for GCC expansion
Kuwait’s Agility, one of the top-listed logistics companies in the GCC, has opened a regional distribution hub in Bahrain, as the company looks to boost its warehousing, freight and transport capabilities in the Arabian Gulf. ...
Yemen soldiers killed in Houthi drone attack on base
A drone attack on a Yemeni government base by the rebel Houthi movement has reportedly killed six soldiers. ...
GCC urges UN envoy to pressure Houthis to exit Hudaydah
The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has called on UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to play a “more active” role in persuading Houthi rebels to withdraw from Yemen’s strategic port city of Al-Hudaydah, Anadolu Agency reports. ...
US envoy tasked with resolving GCC crisis resigns
The Trump administration's envoy tasked with resolving the dispute between Qatar and other Gulf nations has resigned, citing an "unwillingness" among regional leaders to agree to mediation to end the ongoing diplomatic row. ...
Pentagon denies US personnel saw detainee abuse in Yemen
The Pentagon has denied in a report to Congress that U.S. personnel in Yemen who interrogated Yemeni detainees for information about potential terrorist threats had witnessed or were complicit in torture or other mistreatment of any detainee. ...
UN envoy meets Yemen president in Riyadh
The United Nations envoy for Yemen held talks Tuesday with the war-torn country's president in Riyadh, as he sought to shore up a shaky truce in key port Hodeida. ...
USS Cole bomber died in Yemen air strike - Trump.
Jamal al-Badawi, the al-Qaeda militant behind the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, died in a US air strike, President Donald Trump has confirmed. "Our great military has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack," Mr Trump said. ...