Saudi Electricity Company is once again enlisting the help of General Electric (GE) to meet the increasing demands for fast power in isolated areas of Saudi Arabia's grid. The Saudi Arabia-based electricity utility company has ordered six gas turbine packages for its existing power plants in Jizan and Tabouk. The turbines can serve as emergency generators if a power outage occurs. Read More »

For financial services institutions, the cost of doing business in Bahrain is lower than in Dubai or Qatar, a recent KPMG report said. “We are honored to be part of this important initiative and to provide an independent overview of the financial sector in Bahrain, a critical sector in the local economy,” Jalil Al Aali, KPMG's head of financial services in Bahrain, said. Read More »

The Iran nuclear deal and overall improved ties with the Western world has caused many nations in the Middle East -- including Qatar -- to re-evaluate their relationships with other countries in the conflict-ridden region. David Weinberg, senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, recently discussed Qatar and Iran's complicated relationship with the Gulf News Journal. Read More »

Macy's Inc will open a Bloomingdale's store at the 360 Mall in Al Zahra in 2017, the company announced last week. Read More »

Jobs in health care, IT services and telecommunications are the Middle East's fastest growing professions, a report released recently by online job listing company Monster.com said. The report is based on sampling of ads posted for 12 selected industries on the company's website. The report found that the UAE's job market as a whole grew 24 percent. Read More »

Al Jazeera America announced this week that it is ending all operations in the United States by April 30. While the move was a surprise to the hundreds of Al Jazeera America employees who found out Wednesday they were losing their jobs, those who study the TV broadcasting industry saw it coming long before.  Read More »

The Dubai Real Estate Institute and the International Real Estate Federation partnered with the United Nations to bring 150 thinkers together in Dubai to discuss the future of cities. The assembled specialists at the Urban Thinkers Campus looked at successful examples from cities around the world that have applied principles of smart growth, economic health and sustainability. Read More »

U.S. Sen. John McCain recently called on President Barack Obama's administration to issue a strong response to Iran following the recent test firing of several rockets that came within 1,500 yards of American aircraft carriers in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. military officials announced the incident Dec 26. No one was harmed, but the surprise test was seen as a provocative move. Read More »

Economies in the Middle East and North Africa continue to atrophy as conflict in the region intensifies and oil prices sharply decrease. Read More »

MasterCard recently reported that the number of users in the Middle East and Africa has doubled in the last three years to 100 million users. Read More »

An all-star team of energy experts from the UAE are in Paris for the COP21 climate change conference, where they are working with world leaders to strike a global deal on climate action. The delegation is led by Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, vice chairman of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and CEO of the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority. Read More »

The Central Bank of Kuwait has released new commemorative coins celebrating Kuwaiti leader and Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s recognition by the United Nations as Humanitarian Leader of 2014. In celebration of the anniversary, three coins will be released with the Kuwaiti leader’s likeness and an inscription memorializing the U.N. recognition in both Arabic and English. Read More »

Fitch Ratings said that Kuwait has issued new rules for the Gulf nation’s Shariah-compliant sukuk market that could inject life into its Islamic finance sector. Financial experts at the American credit rating agency suggest the new framework put forward by the Capital Market Authority of Kuwait (CMA) could revitalize the country’s private-sector Islamic bond market. Read More »

The Islamic Research and Training Institute and Thomson Reuters will release a set of new studies and reports on the global Islamic finance sector at the World Islamic Banking Conference next month in Bahrain. The conference aims to explore investment opportunities in high-growth emerging Islamic financial markets in Central Asia, North Africa and the Americas. Read More »

Twenty public and private sector organizations were honored this week at the eighth annual Arabia CSR Awards backed by the United Nations Global Compact and United Nations Environment Programme. Hawkamah and Terous hosted the event, which is sponsored by the League of Arab States, for the second year in a row. Read More »

MasterCard is shaking up its management team in the Middle East and Africa, starting with the appointment of Raghu Malhotra as MENA regional president. From January, Malhotra will be stepping into the shoes of Michael Miebach, who will take up the position of chief product officer. Malhotra will take charge of delivering high-quality customer service and evolving financial technology. Read More »

The Middle East’s investment banks recorded 22 percent less in fees over the first nine month of 2015 than last year says Thomson Reuters' quarterly investment banking analysis for the region. Thomson Reuters estimates Middle Eastern investment banking fees reached just above $480 million during the first quarter of 2015, which makes it the worst third-quarter total for the region. Read More »

The Middle East’s enterprises need to recruit higher level strategists to drive digital transformations, chief information officers from around the globe told attendees at the GITEX Technology Week in Dubai this week. Experts assembled at GITEX noted that advancing new technologies and collaboration will do much to develop the Smart Cities regional leaders aim to create. Read More »

The Arabia CSR Forum and Awards are set for Oct. 27-28 with the focus on sustainable development goals and the role businesses play in achieving them. Supported by the League of Arab States, the UN Global Compact and the United Nations Environment Programme, the forum will focus on regional cases, experiences and scenarios with regard to businesses' sustainability practices. Read More »

Under the leadership of Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chairman of the board of trustees of the Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation, the second Eye on Earth Summit is underway at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort in Abu Dhabi; the event began Oct. 6 and will run through Oct. 8, and this year's theme is “Informed Decision-Making for Sustainable Development” and focuses on the part governments, technology, the scientific community and citizen participation play Read More »