Author: Gulf News Week

Adapting to a changing world, Japan deepens cooperation on security, supply chains, and sustainable development between the two regions.The world is now in the middle of the most significant structural change since the end of the second world war. Amid shifts in the balance of power and the intensification of conflicts and confrontations, the free and open international order based on the rule of law faces serious challenges across the international community, including the Indo-Pacific. At the same time, the presence of the Global South is growing, and it is playing a larger role in international affairs.Ten years ago, Prime…

The move reflects a widening confrontation with Saudi Arabia and a fundamental realignment of alliances.For decades, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) functioned as far more than an oil cartel. For its Gulf members, the organisation embodied a form of collective sovereignty over their primary resource: the capacity of Arab producing states to weigh together on the global economy, defend a shared rent and speak with a coordinated voice to Western consumers. That institutional fiction has just collapsed.When the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced its withdrawal from OPEC and the expanded coalition known as OPEC+, effective May 1,…

After leaving Opec, the UAE will continue its responsible role by gradually and thoughtfully increasing production, in line with demand and market conditions The UAE on April 28 announced its decision to exit the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec and Opec+), effective May 1, 2026. The decision, which comes after six decades of being a part of the organisation, was made after the nation’s production policy and its capacity was reviewed. The UAE is a trusted producer of some of the world’s most cost-competitive and lower-carbon barrels, which will play an important role in supporting global growth and…

NewsFeedEU-backed migrant crackdowns in Mauritania fuel fear and deportationsThousands of migrants in Mauritania who once relied on daily street work to survive have been rounded up, detained in poor conditions and deported to remote borders under an EU-backed effort to halt Atlantic migration routes to Europe. media’s Shola Lawal reports from Nouakchott where those who remain say they are too afraid to step outside.Published On 28 Apr 202628 Apr 2026SaveClick here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharefacebookxwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd media on Googleinfo

Circumvention mechanisms already exist and the conflict is encouraging more entities to work with them.For years, sociologists and political scientists have warned that sanctions do not work. They do not topple targeted governments; instead, they hurt their citizens. And yet, the use of sanctions has only expanded, with the US leading the charge. As a result, there is now increasing evidence that this over-reliance on such punitive measures has led to their growing ineffectiveness. The US-Israel war on Iran has made that all the more obvious.The conflict carries the potential to push further the process of weakening the effect of…

A sovereign Lebanon and a demilitarised Hezbollah cannot happen without a credible political transition.Lebanese leaders have gone to Washington for the first direct negotiations with Israel in over 30 years, attempting to restore sovereignty under near-impossible terms.According to the ceasefire deal agreed on April 16, Lebanon must “effectively demonstrate its ability to assert its sovereignty” as a condition for extending the fragile pause in hostilities. Israel, for its part, preserves the right to take “all necessary measures in self-defence, at any time” and to keep its forces deployed on Lebanese soil.This is the framework through which Lebanese sovereignty is to…

US-Israeli attacks on Iran under the pretext of ending a nuclear weapons programme are damaging confidence in the NPT.On April 27, states party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) will gather in New York to begin their five-year review of its function. This year, the review conference opens under the shadow of the war that the US and Israel launched on Iran under the pretext that it was about to develop a nuclear weapon.As the 191 state parties gather to review the NPT, the grand bargain at the heart of this treaty will be put on…

Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil was killed because she refused to be intimidated into silence.On April 22, the Israeli regime assassinated yet another journalist. Her name was Amal Khalil. She was a well-known Lebanese journalist, born during the early years of the last Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, who spent years documenting the lives of people in the south of the country amid Israeli invasion and bombardment.Amal was well-known and beloved across Lebanon. As her brother, Ali Khalil, said at her funeral, she was present in every home.For two years, Amal received direct threats from the Israeli regime. In one interview,…

In war and peace, decentralised renewable energy systems provide a safe and resilient alternative.Forty years ago, a reactor exploded in the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in what was then the Soviet Republic of Ukraine. At least 30 people were killed in the immediate aftermath. The large amounts of radioactive particles released as a result of the explosion travelled in clouds across Ukraine, Belarus and Russia and then spread to other parts of Europe.It is estimated that tens of thousands have died since then due to radioactive exposure that triggered lethal diseases, including cancer. The frequency of birth defects increased between…

Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz have slowed fertiliser shipments which could put harvests at risk. Here is what African states can do about it.Food security in Africa could face major disruptions due to continuing uncertainty in the Strait of Hormuz.The conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran is disrupting global fertiliser trade flows – and this stands to leave millions of African farmers without the ammonia, urea, phosphate, sulphur and other fertiliser inputs vital to growing more food in sub-Saharan Africa.Fertiliser shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz account, for example, for roughly one-quarter of global ammonia trade…