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ABU DHABI – ADNOC and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC (TAQA) today signed a 27-year utility purchase agreement to supply critical utilities to the Tahiz Industrial and Chemicals Zone in Ruwais Industrial City, Abu Dhabi. The contract period includes utility offtake and construction of the power plant. Under the agreement, ADNOC and TAQA will jointly develop a central business project that includes grid connectivity, steam generation, process cooling, and a range of water and wastewater projects required to deliver the TA’ZIZ chemicals and transition fuels project. TA’ZIZ, a joint venture between ADNOC and ADQ, will establish and own a…

RIYADH — Minister of Investment and Engineering Khalid Al Falih announced that the average salary of Saudis in the private sector has increased by more than 45% cumulatively. He said the number of Saudis working in the private sector will increase to 2.48 million by the end of 2025, doubling job opportunities in key sectors including tourism. “There has been a significant leap forward in women’s participation in the labor market, and the unemployment rate has fallen significantly from 13% to just over 7%,” he said at a government press conference in Riyadh on Tuesday. Al-Falih explained that since 2016,…

Markets expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to announce today that it will keep its key interest rate at its current level of 3.6%, ignoring repeated calls for rate cuts from President Donald Trump, who has cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point three times in a row over the past year.However, the unemployment rate is stable and there are signs that the economy may recover. At the same time, inflation remains well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.monetary policyOne of the main issues that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell is likely to address in today’s press conference is…

Gold topped $5,200 for the first time on Wednesday after rising more than 3% on Tuesday as the dollar fell to its lowest in nearly four years amid lingering geopolitical concerns ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision. Spot gold rose 1.1% to $5,243.58 an ounce as of 0314 GMT, after earlier hitting a record high of $5,247.21, up more than 20% since the beginning of the year. U.S. gold futures for February delivery rose 3.1% to $5,237.70 an ounce. Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA, said: “(Gold’s rise) is due to its very strong indirect correlation…

A recent study published in Nature Communications found that certain types of fat stored in the abdomen may play an important immune role in fighting inflammation and infection, contradicting the traditional view of abdominal fat as a purely health risk.The study, conducted by researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, explained that abdominal fat is not a single homogeneous mass, but is made up of different tissues with different functions, and that some of these tissues have been shown to exhibit immune activity that may be beneficial to the body.The study focused on analyzing five different fat samples taken from…

Egypt has opened the 3.5 billion Egyptian pound Cleopatra Hospital Tagamore (Sky) in East Cairo, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced on Tuesday, as part of a strategic shift to leverage private sector expertise in state-run health facilities. The facility is owned by the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources but equipped and managed by Cleopatra Hospital Group, making it the flagship model for the state’s public-private partnership (PPP) program. Madbouly said the government is moving forward with plans to strengthen health services by expanding partnerships with the private sector both domestically and internationally to ensure financial and operational sustainability. “The…

SINGAPORE: The dollar took a breather on Wednesday after reversing losses as US President Donald Trump appeared to ignore recent weakness in the world’s reserve currency as stock prices hit record highs on optimism about profits. The dollar’s plunge has pushed the euro above $1.20 for the first time since 2021, the Australian dollar to a three-year high above 70 cents, gold to new highs and commodity prices measured in dollars. Trading stabilized in Asian trading, helping the struggling yen stay away from recent lows before the dollar recovered to 152.76 yen. The dollar’s decline is the sharpest since President…

The National Meteorological Center predicted in its weather forecast today (Wednesday) that opportunities for thunderstorms with hail and active winds would be ripe, limiting horizontal visibility in some areas of Jizan, Asir, Al-Baha, Mecca Al-Mukarrama, Riyadh, Al-Qassim, and Al-Sharqiyah. Fog is unlikely to occur in some of these areas, but active winds will continue to cause dust and soil-raising effects in parts of the Medina, Tabuk, and Al-Jawf regions. Hail, and the northern border.According to the report, surface winds in the Red Sea range from west to northwest winds of 15 to 45 km/h in the northern and central regions,…

RIYADH – Saudi wealth tech company Benre has secured $9.6 million (R36 million) in a pre-Series A round through a hybrid equity and debt structure, according to a press release. The transaction was co-led by Vision Ventures and anb Seed Fund, with participation from Sanabil 500, Ace & Co, Plus VC, and strategic private investors. The new investment will be used to expand the customer base, introduce new platform features and deepen Venre’s presence in Saudi Arabia and the growing fintech sector. Vennre offers a transparent, Shariah-compliant solution that was previously only available to educational institutions and ultra-high-net-worth participants. Founded…

SINGAPORE: The U.S. dollar struggled near four-year lows on Wednesday after President Donald Trump wiped out recent dollar weakness and intensified dollar selling ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy decision, pushing the yen, euro and pound higher. Currency markets were digesting heavy dollar selling in the previous session, which pushed the euro above the $1.2 level for the first time since 2021. The single currency was last down 0.36% at $1.1994. The pound hit its highest since 2021, falling 0.33% to $1.3796, after rising 1.2% in the previous session. The dollar index, which measures the value of the U.S. currency…