• Saudi Arabia: the official spokesman for the Coalition Forces, Major General Turki al-Maliki, said air defence intercepted and destroyed at dawn today, Thursday, a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militia towards the Eastern Region, while Civil Defence issued warnings in the Eastern Region and Najran and then announced that the danger had passed — a development followed closely by Sudanese residing in the two regions. (Source: Saudi Press Agency — SPA) • The UAE and Sudan: the Emirates News Agency said the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal today sentenced eight people to life imprisonment in a case of a network for illicit trafficking in weapons and ammunition and money laundering, for supplying weapons, ammunition and military equipment to the Sudanese army, with additional sentences of three years' imprisonment and a fine of one million dirhams for each of them for money laundering, confiscation of the seized funds and deportation after serving the sentence. Reuters recalled that the Sudanese army accuses the UAE of supplying weapons to the Rapid Support Forces, which the UAE denies. (Source: Emirates News Agency — WAM, via Reuters) • Saudi Arabia, humanitarian: the medical and surgical team of the Saudi programme for conjoined twins began this morning in Riyadh the operation to separate the Tanzanian twins Laitience and Lovence, aged two years and two months, at King Abdullah Specialised Children's Hospital, in nine stages over about 15 hours with the participation of 44 specialists and an estimated success rate of 70%. (Source: Saudi Press Agency — SPA) • Saudi Arabia and Kuwait: Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman discussed in Riyadh with Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Jarrah Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah enhancing cooperation in the fields of energy, industry and mineral resources, and efforts to support energy security and the stability of its supplies, in addition to developments in the situation in the region. (Source: Saudi Ministry of Energy) • Qatar and energy: the Australian company Woodside announced today that it will supply QatarEnergy with liquefied natural gas from its project in Louisiana under an agreement extending 20 years and rising to 3 million tonnes per year, at a time when QatarEnergy's operations are disrupted because of the war in the Middle East and the closure of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, according to Reuters. (Source: Reuters) • Oil prices: oil prices fell today with hopes of resuming peace talks and easing fears of supply disruption, with Brent down 82 cents, or 0.7%, to 114.50 dollars per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate crude down 1.04 dollars, or 1%, to 101.74 dollars per barrel — prices that are directly reflected in the cost of living and remittances for the families of Sudanese working in the Gulf. (Source: Qatar News Agency — QNA, and Saudi Press Agency — SPA) • Gulf markets: major Gulf bourses fell today, led by banking shares, amid escalating fighting in Yemen and uncertainty over efforts to end the Middle East war, with the Saudi index down 0.2%, Dubai 0.5%, Abu Dhabi 0.6% and Qatar 0.1%. In Kuwait, the bourse closed with its general index down 36.41 points, or 0.43%, to 8453.99 points, with a trading value of 81.17 million dinars, and in Oman the Muscat Stock Exchange 30 index closed down 0.42% to 7346.19 points, with a trading value of 42.115 million Omani rials. (Source: Reuters, Kuwait News Agency — KUNA, and Oman News Agency) • Interest rates: Qatar Central Bank kept interest rates unchanged at 4.10% for deposits, 4.60% for lending and 4.35% for repurchase, and the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates kept the base rate on overnight deposit facilities at 3.9%, following the US Federal Reserve keeping interest rates in the range of 3.75% to 4%. (Source: Qatar Central Bank and Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates)
— Editorial Team
