Gulf Insider

47 minutes ago

UAE Weather: Light Rain And Dust Forecast Through Saturday

The UAE is set to experience partly cloudy to cloudy conditions with a chance of light rain and blowing dust from today through Saturday, according to the National Centre of Meteorology (NCM). Today will see increasing cloud cover, with light rain possible over coastal areas and islands by night and into Wednesday morning, accompanied by fresh winds stirring dust and sand. Seas in the Arabian Gulf are expected to turn rough at times. On Wednesday and Thursday, cloud cover will persist with a continued chance of light rainfall over coastal, island and some eastern areas, alongside a noticeable drop in temperatures, particularly along western coasts. Winds are forecast to strengthen, reaching up to 40 km/h, reducing visibility due to dust. Conditions will gradually stabilise on Friday and Saturday, with fair to partly cloudy skies and lighter winds. Seas are expected to be slight in both the Arabian Gulf and the Oman Sea. Temperatures are forecast to range between 37°C and 40°C in coastal and internal areas earlier in the week before easing slightly towards the weekend. READ MORE: UAE Weather Alert: Hail, Heavy Rain, And Thunderstorm Hit Ras Al Khaimah

UNESCO Recognises RAK Prison Programme As Learning Leader

UAE

1 hour ago

UNESCO Recognises RAK Prison Programme As Learning Leader

A prison education initiative in Ras Al Khaimah has earned international recognition after being featured in a case study by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, highlighting its role as a regional model for correctional education. Implemented by the Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi Foundation for Policy Research in collaboration with the Ras Al Khaimah Correctional Facility, the programme provides inmates and correctional officers with access to educational resources and activities tailored to support both learning and psychosocial wellbeing. At the centre of the initiative is a multipurpose prison library housing more than 9,000 titles. The facility also includes dedicated spaces for individual reading and group engagement, along with a private room for psychological counselling and therapy sessions. A reading club and regular communal activities further encourage participation and personal development. The programme offers a wide range of courses, including literacy in Arabic and English, small business and office management, information and communications technology (ICT), art, mental health first aid, and life skills. According to the UNESCO case study, these efforts form part of Ras Al Khaimah’s broader shift toward rehabilitative, learning-focused correctional practices. “In Ras Al Khaimah, we believe every member of our community has the right to […]

UAE Airlines Expand To Over 420 Key Destinations Amid Ceasefire: Here’s Where They Fly To

UAE

1 hour ago

UAE Airlines Expand To Over 420 Key Destinations Amid Ceasefire: Here’s Where They Fly To

As regional tensions ease under a fragile ceasefire, UAE carriers like Emirates, Etihad, flydubai, and Air Arabia are continuing to fly and connect to hundreds of destinations across continents. While most continue to operate on a reduced number of flights, some, like Etihad, are introducing new destinations to expand their network in key markets. The Abu-Dhabi based carrier is introducing flights to six new African cities (Accra, Asmara, Harare, Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Lagos) to build up on its growth in China and India, connecting both continents with Abu Dhabi acting as a gateway. The number of destinations has drastically risen since the start of this month, expanding from 250 destinations to 420, factoring both direct and connecting flights. This Emirates flight schedule is tentative, and some flights on this list may not fly daily to the assigned destinations. Africa: Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Algiers, Asmara, Beira, Blantyre, Bloemfontein, Bulawayo, Cairo, Conakry, Cape Town, Casablanca, Dakar, Dar Es Salaam, Durban, East London, Entebbe, Gaborone, George, Harare, Hargeisa, Hoedspruit, Johannesburg, Kasane, Kimberley, Lagos, Livingstone, Luanda, Lusaka, Mahe, Manzini, Maputo, Marrakech, Maseru, Maun, Mauritius, Mombasa, Mthatha, Nairobi, Ndola, Nelspruit, Pietermaritzburg, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Praslin Island, Richards Bay, Sal Island, Skukuza, Tunis, Victoria Falls, Walvis Bay, Windhoek, Zanzibar. Oceania: Albury, […]

UAE Busts Iran-Linked Terror Cell, Arrests Members Over Plot To Destabilise State

UAE

2 hours ago

UAE Busts Iran-Linked Terror Cell, Arrests Members Over Plot To Destabilise State

The UAE’s State Security dismantled a terrorist organisation and arrested its members for an alleged plot to damage national unity and destabilise the country. The State Security Department on Monday disclosed the identities of 27 individuals and released their photographs. In an official statement, authorities said the group members were involved in covert activities, including plans to carry out coordinated terrorist and sabotage operations within the UAE. Investigations also revealed alleged links between the organisation and Iran’s Wilayat al-Faqih doctrine. Popularised by Ayatollah Khomeini, Wilayat al-Faqih (Guardianship of the Jurist) is a key Shi’a political doctrine. It forms the basis of Iran’s constitution, establishing a “Supreme Leader” to manage state affairs and protect Islamic law. Authorities reported that surveillance and further investigations showed the suspects held clandestine meetings inside and outside the country with people linked to terrorist or suspicious groups. They are also accused of adopting extremist ideologies that threaten the UAE’s internal security, spreading false information among young Emiratis, recruiting them for foreign interests, and encouraging dissent against the country’s policies. Below are the 27 individuals identified by the authorities and accused of attempting to place members in sensitive positions, including through covert recruitment and indoctrination activities coordinated […]

NCM forecast: Riyadh to witness heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday

Saudi Arabia

2 hours ago

NCM Forecast: Riyadh To Witness Heavy Rainfall On Thursday And Friday

The forecast of the National Center for Meteorology (NCM) indicated that the Riyadh region would witness moderate to heavy rainfall from Monday through Friday. It noted that the heaviest rainfall is expected on Thursday and Friday. According to the forecast, the rain will hit the capital city of Riyadh, as well as Al-Dalam, Al-Muzahamiya, Dhurma, Marat, Al-Qiddiya, Al-Diriyah, Al-Rayn, Al-Hariq, Al-Kharj, Hawtat Bani Tamim, Afeef, Al-Dawadmi, Al-Quwayiyah, Al-Ghat, Al-Zulfi, Al-Majmaa, Shaqra, Thadiq, Huraymila, and Rumah. The Civil Defense urged the residents in the Riyadh region to take precautions and follow its guidelines. READ MORE: Saudi Arabia: HR Ministry Shuts 14 Erring Recruitment Offices

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/saylors-strategy-holdings-top-800000-bitcoin-after-3rd-biggest-purchase-history

World

2 hours ago

Saylor’s Strategy Holdings Top 800,000 Bitcoin After 3rd Biggest Purchase In History

Michael Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest public Bitcoin holder, has blasted past 800,000 BTC in total holdings after announcing its latest purchases. Strategy acquired 34,164 Bitcoin for $2.54 billion between April 13 and 19, according to an 8-K filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. As Helen Partz reports for CoinTelegraph.com, the buy ranks as Strategy’s third-largest Bitcoin acquisition on record by coin count, behind purchases of 55,500 BTC and 51,780 BTC in November 2024. Holding around 780,897 BTC after a $1 billion purchase just a week ago, the company now holds 815,061 BTC, purchased for $61.56 billion. Source: SEC The new acquisition was made at an average price of $74,395 per coin, slightly below the company’s average acquisition price of $75,527. Strategy’s STRC funds more than 85% of the purchase Similar to a few recent acquisitions, the majority of Strategy’s latest purchase has been funded through Stretch (STRC), the company’s perpetual preferred security. According to the filing, STRC generated $2.18 billion, or about 85.7% of total proceeds, while sales of Class A common stock (MSTR) contributed $366 million. Source: SEC Last week marked several new records for STRC, including the company’s largest single-day buying spree through its at-the-market, or ATM, program. On April 13, STRC set a new […]

Hormuz Traffic At Standstill After US Ship Seizure

World

2 hours ago

Hormuz Traffic At Standstill After US Ship Seizure

Confirming the Schrodinger nature of the notorious waterway, the Strait of Hormuz is now just closed even more than before Iran and the US said the vital oil channel had been reopened. Traffic through the strait on Sunday and Monday was reduced to a trickle following a Saturday surge, after Tehran rejected a continuing US naval blockade and moved to seal the waterway again. The reduced movement underscores just how quickly hopes unraveled that cargoes could once again resume. On Friday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the strait was “completely open” for commercial shipping, while US President Donald Trump said Iran was removing sea mines from the waterway. That prompted oil prices to plunge and dozens of tankers to race toward the strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. But Iran quickly declared that the passage was closed again as it emerged that the US operation in place since April 13 would not be lifted. And rejected: the two tankers taking the neutral route, Minerva Evropi and Nissos Keros, have turned around; the Sanmar Herald which appears to be taking the Iran-sanctioned Larak island route is proceeding. https://t.co/aceBI7ki0B pic.twitter.com/gmkM37iA1U — zerohedge (@zerohedge) April 18, 2026 Here it is, the moment of […]

Kuwait

2 hours ago

Kuwait Declares Force Majeure As US Seizure Of Iranian Ship Escalates Tensions

The move comes as tensions in the Strait escalated again following the U.S. seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the waterway. According to Reuters, Kuwait Petroleum Corporation has notified customers that it is invoking contractual clauses allowing it to withhold certain scheduled deliveries after the blockade hindered access to the Gulf. The measure is not expected to result in a complete halt to supply. The latest escalation follows a volatile weekend in which the Strait briefly reopened before closing again after Iran linked the reopening of the shipping lane to the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade targeting its oil exports. Iran’s foreign ministry said it has no plans for a new round of talks following the U.S. seizure of the vessel. U.S. President Donald Trump said a delegation led by Vice President JD Vance is heading to Islamabad for talks. Pakistan has tightened security in the capital ahead of the potential negotiations. Iran has warned that it cannot guarantee safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz if its oil exports continue to be restricted, saying that security for shipping in the waterway cannot be separated from pressure on its own crude flows. Shipping activity in and around the Strait has been disrupted again, with […]

USS Ford Carrier Returns To Mideast After Extensive Fire Repairs

World

2 hours ago

USS Ford Carrier Returns To Mideast After Extensive Fire Repairs

Over the weekend it was confirmed by Pentagon statements that the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group has belatedly redeployed to the Middle East after a month in port for repairs following a fire aboard the ship. The world’s largest aircraft carrier returned to operations after what’s been officially described as a blaze in its laundry area, which headlines have presented as accidental. The incident injured sailors and forced significant maintenance work, and ever since it happened on March 12, there’s been an avalanche of public speculation that Iranian forces my have hit it in a missile or drone attack. However, US and military officials have repeatedly rejected that the Ford was damaged as a result of Iranian attack, as Tehran has claimed. The carrier is rejoining an expanding US military buildup in the region – with the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group already deployed, and the USS George H.W. Bush expected to soon join, which would bring the number of US carriers in the Middle East to three. By comparison, the 2003 US invasion of Iraq was supported by a total of five US Navy aircraft carriers, with some in the Persian Gulf and some in the Mediterranean. The Ford had been operating in the eastern Mediterranean when the US and Israel […]

World

3 hours ago

World’s Biggest Physical Oil Trader Warns Of Months Of Price Volatility

Seasonally lower demand ahead of the peak summer driving season and the continued turbulence in the Middle East could extend the violent oil price swings for months ahead, the top executive of oil trader Gunvor has told the Financial Times. “It is a little bit of a more challenging, softer period that we need to be careful of,” Gary Pedersen, chairman and CEO of Gunvor Group, told FT in an interview published on Monday. “Frankly, it could be very choppy,” commented on the oil market Pedersen, who took over the top job at one of the world’s biggest physical oil trading groups after a management buy-out in December 2025. Before the big shake-up at the group, Gunvor was accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of being a Kremlin puppet and was denied a license to take over the international operations of Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil, which the United States sanctioned last autumn. The recent violent swings in oil futures prices were partly due to what Gunvor’s new head Pedersen attributed in the FT interview to a “masterclass” in political messaging from U.S. President Donald Trump. Oil futures prices have sold off sharply several times in recent weeks following various comments from President Trump that a deal […]

Iraq's Ruling Pro-Iran Bloc Races To Choose PM, While US Rejects Main Candidates

World

3 hours ago

Iraq’s Ruling Pro-Iran Bloc Races To Choose PM, While US Rejects Main Candidates

The US has suspended all funding and security coordination with Iraq, and shipments of dollars the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI), until a new Baghdad government acceptable to Washington is formed, Saudi state-owned Al-Hadath reported Monday. The US is also conditioning continued security cooperation on the disclosure of those involved in the bombing of its embassy, the news channel added. Nevertheless, on Monday, the CBI released a statement rejecting the Al-Hadath report. Since 2003, a decision issued by Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) head Paul Bremer has required that all Iraqi oil revenues be paid into an account at the US Federal Reserve Bank of New York, giving the US the ability to control how many US dollars are returned to the CBI. From that point until today, the Iraqi Ministry of Finance has had to submit funding requests to the US Treasury, which then approves or denies them based on its own criteria. This monthly transfer of US dollars, flown into Baghdad in pallets of hard cash, determines Iraq’s ability to pay for basic needs such as salaries, food, and medicine. Whenever Washington believes that Iraq is not aligned with US regional goals, including enforcing economic sanctions on Iran, Baghdad’s major trading partner and a source of natural gas for electricity production, these fund […]

Crime

14 hours ago

Saudi Arabia: HR Ministry Shuts 14 Erring Recruitment Offices

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development (MHRSD) has shut down 14 recruitment offices across the Kingdom for violating Labor Law regulations. The violations were detected during inspections carried out at recruitment offices and companies all over the Kingdom during the first quarter of 2026. The inspections were part of the ministry’s ongoing efforts to regulate the recruitment sector, as well as to raise compliance levels, and protect the rights of all parties. The ministry revealed a number of violations requiring punitive measures against 14 recruitment offices. Three recruitment offices were immediately suspended, while the licenses of 11 others were revoked for failing to rectify the violations within the specified timeframe. The violations included breaches of recruitment activity and labor service rules, delays in returning funds owed to beneficiaries, and failure to process beneficiary complaints. The ministry affirmed its continued periodic monitoring of recruitment offices and companies and the imposition of regulatory penalties on those failing to comply with regulations and instructions. Violations may be reported through the unified call center at 920002866 or via the Musaned application available on smart devices.

Crime

15 hours ago

Saudi Arabia: Interior Ministry Warns Against Fraudulent Hajj Campaigns

The Ministry of Interior has warned against fraudulent Hajj campaigns and offices that are not licensed to serve domestic pilgrims. The ministry urged Saudis and expatriates not to be misled by deceptive advertisements being circulated on various websites and platforms. It also called for verifying the legitimacy of licensed campaigns serving domestic pilgrims through the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah website. The ministry called on the people to report any violations of Hajj regulations by calling over the number 911 in the regions of Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, and the Eastern Province and the number 999 in the rest of the Kingdom.

Qatar

15 hours ago

US-Iran Ceasefire: International Flights Resume Operations To Qatar

International airlines have resumed operations to Qatar, the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority (QCAA) announced, signalling the restoration of regular international air services following recent disruptions. The authority said the decision came after “a comprehensive assessment of the situation, conducted in coordination with all relevant national entities, to ensure the highest levels of readiness and operational efficiency,” according to QNA. The move is expected to normalise flight schedules and strengthen connectivity through Qatar’s aviation sector, with airlines gradually reinstating services in line with operational approvals. On April 8, Washington and Tehran announced a two-week ceasefire in the conflict triggered by US and Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, aimed at easing hostilities and opening space for diplomatic engagement. Qatar had earlier closed its airspace amid Iranian retaliatory drone and missile attacks across Gulf states, before partially reopening it on March 7 for limited operations, including flights by national carrier Qatar Airways.

World

15 hours ago

From Leverage To Liability: The Hormuz Strait Is Now Iran’s Biggest Weakness

For half a century, the Strait of Hormuz was Iran’s weapon. Today, it is its noose. The mathematics of energy have flipped, and with them the balance of coercive power in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s implicit deterrent was geographic, spanning from the tanker wars of the 1980s to the sanctions standoffs of the 2010s. Almost 20% of global seaborne oil, and a similar share of liquefied natural gas, passes through the Strait. The formula was simple: any military confrontation that threatened the Tehran regime risked a closure that would halt trade supplies, spike crude prices, bleed Western consumers, and, above all, inflict pain on the United States, who was the world’s largest oil importer. The strait served as Tehran’s insurance policy and its most powerful bargaining tool. The threat was predicated on the regime’s belief that it could block everyone except its exports. The Iranian regime revealed its biggest weakness by constantly threatening to damage the global economy through a shutdown of the Strait. In reality, a total shutdown has the most severe impact on Iran. Almost 90 per cent of Iran’s crude exports, and about 80 per cent of its total exports, depend on the transit through Hormuz. Around […]

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