Gulf Insider

28 minutes ago

Bessent: US Readies Economic Isolation Of Iran “Like The World Has Never Seen Before”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Newsmax Thursday night that the Trump administration will announce unprecedented economic measures against Iran next week, signaling that a sharp escalation in economic warfare is just ahead as negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain stalled. The warning comes as Tehran-linked Houthi rebel forces resume attacks on Saudi Aramco energy infrastructure, raising concerns that the conflict is spreading geographically and pushing Brent crude futures higher. And, you know, at the president’s orders, we have raised the level even again, and watch this space for more announcements coming next week because we are going to apply measures like have never been seen in the history of economic isolation on a country. And I think the reason we are succeeding is because it is a one-two punch. People say, well, you know, Cuba lasted a long time. Venezuela lasted a long time. Venezuela immediately crumbled when we put the blockade on. So, it will be a combination of economic isolation like the world has never seen before and the continued blockade in the Strait of Hormuz that will keep anything from going in or out of the Iranian ports. By the midpoint of this week, we […]

Oman

30 minutes ago

Employees must be given six months to improve performance before termination :GFOW

The General Federation of Oman Workers (GFOW) has highlighted workers’ rights and employers’ obligations in cases where an employee fails to reach the required level of performance, stressing that underperformance alone is not sufficient grounds for termination. According to the federation, an employee who receives a warning from an employer stating that their performance has not reached the required level must be given a clear explanation of the shortcomings identified in the assessment. The employer must also provide the employee with an appropriate period to improve their performance. The federation advised workers to obtain a copy of the warning and ensure that the reasons cited for the alleged lack of competence are clearly specified. Workers should also retain all documents related to performance evaluations, employment-related correspondence and other relevant records. The guidance further states that employees should make use of the improvement period granted to them to address the identified shortcomings and develop their performance, while documenting the steps taken toward improvement. If an employer proceeds with termination on the grounds of underperformance, workers are advised to verify that the termination decision complies with the applicable legal requirements. If they believe the decision violates the law or established procedures, they […]

Oman

31 minutes ago

Oman intensifies oil spill response as Ras Madrakah cleanup continues

Oman is stepping up coordinated efforts to contain and monitor oil pollution caused by a grounded ship off the Al Hallaniyat Islands, with authorities conducting beach cleanup, environmental monitoring and impact assessments. The National Committee for Emergency Management’s (NCEM) Hazardous Materials Sector, represented by the Civil Defence and Ambulance Authority (CDAA) and the Environment Authority (EA), is intensifying operations in the Ras Madrakah area of Al Duqm. CDAA Chairman Maj Gen Sulaiman bin Ali Al Husseini and EA Chairman Dr Abdullah bin Ali Al Amri visited affected shorelines on Friday to assess cleanup operations, review field developments and strengthen coordination between the authorities. Specialised teams are being deployed to affected areas and locations requiring heightened readiness based on monitoring data and technical assessments. On Masirah Island, authorities said monitoring continues as a precaution and no oil pollution has reached the island’s shores so far. Response equipment and machinery have been positioned on the island, while teams track the movement of the oil slick and update its projected trajectory. Oman Environmental Services Holding Company be’ah has designated areas at the Al Duqm engineered landfill and a dedicated drop-off point at the Masirah transfer station to handle waste generated by beach-cleaning operations. […]

Motors

32 minutes ago

Tesla’s New Roadster Reportedly Uses SpaceX Cold-Gas Thrusters To Fly

Tesla plans to unveil a redesigned Roadster sports car with limited “flying” capabilities later this month, The Information reported Friday morning, citing people familiar with the matter. The report follows this week’s comments from Tesla’s chief vehicle designer, who said the long-delayed Roadster is “coming soon.” The limited-edition Roadster reportedly uses SpaceX cold-gas thrusters to hover and will be remotely operated during the unveiling event, scheduled for later this month at the rocket company’s testing site in McGregor, Texas. “Between Elon Musk’s promises of supernimble robots and interstellar colonization, the billionaire has spent plenty of time over the last decade hyping up another ambitious effort: the next version of the Roadster, the sporty electric vehicle that first put Tesla on the map. At first, he said he wanted the vehicle to be the fastest production car in the world. The Information began its report, noting that Musk is now pursuing a new “Flying” Roadster. Tesla has moved away from the original 2017 design toward a carbon-fiber-tub architecture, with the latest prototype featuring two seats and butterfly doors. The thruster-equipped version is not expected to be street legal. Cold-gas thrusters generate lift by releasing pressurized gas through a nozzle without combustion. […]

World

37 minutes ago

Saudi Oil Fleet Increasingly Going ‘Dark’ Due To Houthi Blockade

Yemen’s maritime blockade on Saudi shipping has pushed the kingdom’s crude exports off the radar in the Red Sea, with tankers forced to turn off their tracking signals to avoid attack and every recent cargo loaded at Yanbu sailing “dark,” Reuters reported on Wednesday. Saudi export volumes can no longer be independently verified as a result of the increased invisibility, with ship-tracking firms issuing conflicting estimates of the same shipments, figures the International Energy Agency (IEA), OPEC, and traders use to gauge world supply and forecast the market. Three firms tracking the same week beginning August 3 reached three different conclusions. Vortexa measured a modest decline at Yanbu, to 2.38 million barrels per day (bpd) from 2.71 million, while Kpler reported a collapse to 1.78 million bpd from 4.04 million, and AXSMarine recorded a rise, to 850,000 bpd from about 420,000. Vortexa analyst George Morris said no Yanbu cargo lifted last week had its Automatic Identification System (AIS) switched on. “Last week Yanbu liftings were all conducted dark. We’re not seeing any loadings with Automatic Identification System (AIS) on at the moment,” he said. Kpler analyst Nhway Khin Soe said about 70 percent of loadings along the Saudi west coast were dark […]

World

39 minutes ago

Russia Quickly Rejects Ukraine’s Offer Of Ceasefire On Black Sea Shipping

Ukraine has quietly floated a deal through a third-party mediator to halt reciprocal strikes on civilian vessels in the Black Sea, Reuters reports, in what appears to be a calculated bid to unfreeze a critical global commodity corridor and to relieve pressure on Ukraine’s battered wartime economy. The maritime artery remains a vital economic lifeline for both nations, channeling massive volumes of grain and agricultural supplies to world markets – especially the Middle East and Africa – but there’s now been weekly and almost daily tit-for-tat attacks. With roughly 90% of Ukrainian grain and sunflower shipments departing from the primary port cluster of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdenne, the fallout on Ukraine’s agricultural sector has been severe. Kyiv Post cites that as a result grain exports have fallen 76% year-on-year so far in August. But the publication notes that the pressure is longer one-sided, as “on Wednesday, Ukraine launched a major coordinated strike on Novorossiysk, Russia’s key Black Sea naval and grain-export hub, forcing all three grain terminals to suspend operations and hitting naval infrastructure.” It didn’t take long on Friday for the Kremlin to dismiss the idea of a Black Sea ceasefire, blaming Ukrainian acts of “terrorism” against maritime traffic. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman […]

World

42 minutes ago

Decommissioning Spending In UK North Sea Hits Record High

Authored by Michael Kern via OilPrice.com, Decommissioning remained a major activity across the UK North Sea in 2025, with industry spending hitting a record-high of £2.6 billion, or $3.5 billion, the North Sea industry regulator said in a report on Thursday. Well-decommissioning remains the single largest component of forecast decommissioning expenditure on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), accounting for around half of expected costs to 2032, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) noted in its annual decommissioning cost and performance update. The UK North Sea has a backlog of about 500 wells awaiting decommissioning and final abandonment, which means operators need to speed up work on well closures and abandonment, the watchdog said. Last year, operators in the UK North Sea spent about £1.3 billion, or $1.75 billion, on well decommissioning activity only, with work undertaken on more than 250 wells and over 100 reaching final abandonment status. “While this represents an increase in activity, a backlog of approximately 500 wells awaiting final abandonment remains,” the NSTA said. “With more than 1,000 additional wells forecast to be decommissioned over the next five years, activity levels will need to increase significantly if industry is to meet regulatory expectations and provide the certainty of work […]

World

44 minutes ago

English Village Will Have Six Migrant Men To Every Woman

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News, A quiet North Yorkshire village of roughly 600 people is set to be flooded with around 1,200 single adult male asylum seekers at the nearby disused RAF Linton-on-Ouse base. Local women would be outnumbered six to one. Labour MP Rachael Maskell has raised the alarm over the plan, which forms part of the government’s wider push to move roughly 3,750 people into three former military sites near villages as it tries to empty asylum hotels. The base sits beside a primary school and nursery, has only four buses a day into York, and already faces severe shortages of water, sewage capacity and electricity. Maskell has written to border security and asylum minister Anna Turley and is due to meet Home Office officials this month. “It’s just the wrong site,” Maskell said. “The last government realised that, once they got into the detail. All we’re saying to this Government is that it’s really important that they recognise that too, because the site is in a worse state now than it was when the Government last looked at this.” Similar plans for Linton-on-Ouse were abandoned in 2022 after fierce local opposition. Now they are back […]

World

46 minutes ago

US Lost 25% Of Its Reaper Drones In Iran War, Officials Estimate

Amid a recent avalanche of media headlines warning of significantly depleted US weapons stockpiles, The Washington Post is out with another fresh report Thursday which sounds the alarm, this time over advanced drones. The US military lost at least 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones during the Iran war, American defense officials were quoted as saying. The same officials estimate that this constitutes roughly 25% of the Pentagon’s fleet. If these were the type of small, cheap drones which have been prevalent in the Russia-Ukraine war, no one would see this as much of a problem, but Reapers are highly advanced surveillance systems and also hunter-killer aircraft, capable of flying for 27+ hours straight, and with some variants able to push past 40 hours. Made by General Atomics, each drone costs between $30 million to $50 million. With 45 drones wiped out, this means that well over one billion dollars in hardware was either shot out of the sky or crashed in the context of Iran war operations. The US has also at times lost parked aircraft at bases that came under Iranian attack in the Gulf. This was especially true of even pricier large aerial refueling tankers. The Washington Post explains why the […]

Saudi Arabia

23 hours ago

Saudi: Customs Foil Attempt To Smuggle 58.6 Kg Of Meth Hidden In Shoes At Jeddah Port

Customs authorities have foiled an attempt to smuggle 58.6 kilograms of methamphetamine, locally known as shabu, concealed inside a shipment of men’s shoes arriving through Jeddah Islamic Port. Hammoud Al-Harbi, spokesperson for the Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA), said customs officers discovered the drugs after the shipment underwent customs procedures and was inspected using security technologies and detection methods. The methamphetamine was found concealed inside cavities in the shoes. Following the seizure, ZATCA coordinated with the General Directorate of Narcotics Control to identify and arrest those due to receive the drugs in Saudi Arabia. Three people were subsequently arrested. Al-Harbi said ZATCA continues to tighten customs controls over the Kingdom’s imports and exports and remains vigilant against smuggling attempts as part of its efforts to enhance security and protect society. He said these efforts are being carried out in coordination with the Ministry of Interior and the General Directorate of Narcotics Control. ZATCA urged the public to contribute to combating smuggling by reporting suspected cases through its security hotline at 1910, by email at 1910@zatca.gov.sa, or through the international number +966 11 910. The authority said reports related to smuggling crimes and violations of the Unified Customs Law are […]

Bahrain

23 hours ago

F1 Bahrain GP Returns to Malaysia, Tickets Now Open

The Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) and Sepang International Circuit (SIC) announced the start of ticket sales for the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia 2026 ahead of the highly anticipated race weekend. The event, that will take place at Sepang International Circuit from October 2 to 4, 2026, will bring the spirit of Bahrain to Malaysia and represent Formula 1’s first visit to Sepang since 2017. Tickets for international fans are available through Bahrain International Circuit’s official website. Grandstand tickets start at US$350, while general-entrance tickets for three days start at US$219. The famous Main Grandstand costs US$566, with all pricing including taxes. Malaysian nationals with a MyKad can get special 3 day ticket discounts, with general admission starting at MYR 200 and grandstand tickets at MYR 1,291.40. Eligibility will be verified during the ticket purchasing procedure. Children aged three to six will get a 25% discount, while children under three can enter for free. Accessible seating is also provided for fans with special requirements. The ticket launch follows Gulf Air’s announcement of nonstop flights between Bahrain and Kuala Lumpur beginning September 29, 2026, giving fans a direct travel option for the race weekend. Shaikh Salman bin […]

Energy

1 day ago

India Eyes Two New Sites To Expand Strategic Oil Reserves

State-controlled Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) is finalizing feasibility studies for two new strategic petroleum reserves facilities as the world’s third-largest crude oil importer looks to boost its energy security. ISPRL, a government-owned special purpose vehicle, is finalizing a feasibility study for a facility at Bikaner in the state of Rajasthan in northwestern India and has completed a pre-feasibility study for a cavern in Bina in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, Indian media reported on Thursday. These two new facilities planned to host strategic petroleum reserves would add to the project led by India’s state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), the top explorer in the country, to build a storage site at Mangaluru to hold about 13 million barrels of oil. In the wake of the Iran war and the disrupted crude flows at the Strait of Hormuz, India found itself in search of alternatives to replace the lost Middle Eastern supply. Record crude oil imports from Russia have helped cushion the blow, but India realized it needs additional storage sites to hold commercial and strategic reserves. India is one of the biggest crude oil importers, but also one of the most exposed to supply shocks as […]

Geopolitics

1 day ago

US Creates New ‘Multinational’ Attack Drone Task Force Amid Iran War & Lessons Learned In Ukraine

Compared to what Ukraine and Russia are learning in the context of their grinding years-long war, the Pentagon is a bit late in putting together comprehensive drone swarm battle plans and tactics, but it seems to be the clear direction of future conflict spaces. On Thursday US Central Command unveiled that it is officially establishing America’s first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force. An announcement identified the initiative as Force Falcon Strike, which “will employ one-way attack drones consisting of unmanned systems from above, on, and below the sea operated by military support staff from the United States and regional partners.” Already the Pentagon has been deploying one-way attack drones in the context of ongoing Middle East Operations, which has been dubbed Task Force Scorpion Strike. “Task Force Falcon Strike will expand on Scorpion Strike’s success given the tremendous innovation happening among our regional allies and partners,” stated Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “Integrating and deploying our new capabilities together will help us rapidly realize the new possibilities that are on the horizon.” The broader initiative will invite regional partners to coordinate and cooperate with Pentagon operations, and it will ultimately be commanded from MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. The aforementioned example […]

UAE

1 day ago

Crescent Spotted Over UAE: What Rabi Al Awwal Means And When The Holiday Falls

UAE observatory captures Rabi Al Awwal crescent as Prophet Mohammed’s Birthday draws near Abu Dhabi: The International Astronomical Centre has shared images of the crescent moon marking the beginning of Rabi Al Awwal 1448 AH, the Islamic month in which Muslims commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). The crescent was photographed from the centre’s Al Khatim Astronomical Observatory after sunset on Thursday, 13 August. The first image released by the centre shows a single exposure without image stacking, while the second combines a number of images to make the slender crescent more clearly visible. The International Astronomical Centre maintains dedicated observations for each Hijri month, including crescent visibility maps, sighting reports from observers around the world and information on the official start of the month in different countries. The sighting draws attention to Rabi Al Awwal not only as the third month of the Islamic lunar calendar, but also because its 12th day is widely observed as Al Mawlid Al Nabawi, or the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed. Rabi Al Awwal, literally “the first spring”, is the third of the 12 months of the Hijri calendar. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the Islamic calendar is lunar, with months beginning around […]

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