Anger over Arab wars fuels jihadi threat in Saudi Arabia

A total of 2,284 Saudis have joined militant groups in Syria since the conflict began in 2011

UAE’s booming e-commerce market pushes up smart payments

increasing e-commerce spend and a push by governments to encourage cashless transactions are easing more and more consumers into smart payments

In Gulf, family business empires wary of going public

Many family firms think they can continue to prosper by modernising themselves without big changes to ownership or control.

Major investor in Dragon Oil says ENOC offer undervalues company

Dubai’s ENOC, which owns 54 per cent of Dragon Oil, raised its offer this week to buy out the minority shareholders

France’s Natixis to make Dubai capital markets hub for Mideast, Africa

In the past two years, Natixis has increased staffing levels in Dubai by around 50 per cent to 45 people

Russia, Saudi Arabia to discuss broad oil cooperation agreement

The talks follow OPEC’s meeting on June 5 in which the group kept its output policy unchanged

Dubai airport sees over 6.5m passengers in April

Passenger traffic at Dubai International rose 5.7 per cent year-on-year in April 2015

UAE spent $26.8bn to deal with violence in 2014

The UAE’s peace levels have deteriorated by 14 per cent over the last eight years.

Bahrain says seizes explosives intended for use in Saudi Arabia

The police chief said the seizure was made possible by information arising from the capture in May of a vehicle containing similar explosives

Emaar Misr sets IPO price at 3.8 Egyptian pounds per share

Emaar Misr is floating 12.99 per cent of the company, amounting to 600 million shares

Qatar Airways launches all-first class daily service to Jeddah

The Airbus A319 aircraft is fitted with an all-premium class configuration with 40 seats

Dubai satellite insurer elseco’s revenue to quadruple by 2020 – CEO

Elseco’s CEO expects satellite insurance revenue to reach about $120 million in 2020, while a greater focus on aviation and energy would earn about $300 million combined.

Saudi king appoints new head of grains business

Ahmad bin Abdelaziz Al-Fares replaces Abdulrahman bin Saleh Al-Ruwatie, who was the acting director-general of the GSFMO.

UAE launches new state bank to push housing, job creation policies

Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Development Bank has been created by the merger of Emirates Industrial Bank and Emirates Real Estate Bank

Sharaf DG to open first Egypt store in 2016, plots Gulf expansion

The electronics retailer is also looking to enter the Saudi market next year, a senior official said.

Dubai among world’s top 25 most expensive cities

Dubai and Abu Dhabi were also ranked most expensive cities for expats in the Middle East, according to a new survey

Dubai’s ENOC signs $1.5bn syndicated loan from 21 banks

The facility will support its expansion plans and provide the energy firm with long term funding

Emirates introduces new feature to block tickets for 48 hours

The ‘hold my fare’ feature is open to customers in the UAE and other select markets for a refundable fee

Al Qaeda in Yemen execute 2 Saudis accused of spying for America

Two Saudis, named al-Mutairi and al-Khaledi, were reportedly killed

Kuwait’s IPG buys jet fuel from state-owned KPC in rare move

Independent Petroleum Group bought 60,000 tonnes of the aviation fuel from Kuwait Petroleum Corp in July

Dubai developer Damac opens ladies only sales office

Named Morjana, the office will have 25 female staff and will be open seven days a week

Abu Dhabi records 20% rise in visitors in first four months of 2015

Over 1.3 million guests stayed in the emirate’s hotels and hotel apartments

UAE confirms that Ramadan will begin on June 18

The first day of Eid Al Fitr is likely to fall on Friday, July 17, say astronomers

Qatar Airways CEO says ILO has ‘vendetta’ against Qatar due to discrimination report

The ILO published a report on Saturday detailing its recommendations to Qatar on how the airline should change its discriminatory employment rules.

Qatar Airways discriminates against women employees – UN agency

The International Labour Organisation has accused the airline of unfair practices against its female staff

Private wealth in the UAE to grow by 10.7% in five years

Private wealth in the UAE is estimated to reach $1 trillion by 2019, boosted by buoyant equity markets and a growing economy, a new study shows.

Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed, Forbes settle libel case

The Prince and Forbes have been embroiled in a dispute ever since the magazine’s annual billionaires list was published in 2013

Reem Island accused’s lawyer calls non-muslim witness accounts ‘invalid’

Alaa Bader Al Hashemi is charged with the murder of American schoolteacher Ibolya Ryan and for planting explosives at the doorstep of another resident

Bahrain opposition leader sentenced to 4 years in jail

Sheikh Ali Salman has been convicted on charges of creating unrest against the ruling system, his party said.

Etihad starts daily flights to Hong Kong

The new service will offer a total of 3,620 seats per week between Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi