Agile work models and diverse skill demands propel MENA's freelance economy, empowering businesses to thrive amid modernization and digital transformation.

STRASBOURG, FRANCE – Europe's top rights court will on Tuesday issue unprecedented verdicts in three separate cases on the responsibility of states in the face of global warming, rulings that could force governments to adopt more ambitious climate policies. The European Court of Human Rights, part of the 46-member Council of...

Dubai, UAE--Dubai received 3.67 million overnight visitors in January-February 2024, with an increase of over 18 percent year-on-year (YoY), figures released by Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) showed. According to the DET's Tourism Performance Report for January-February 2024, Dubai recorded 1.77 million international visitors in January, and 1.9...

Brussels, Belgium - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg urged the United States to stick together with Europe as the Western military alliance turned 75 on Thursday menaced by an aggressive Russia and the specter of Donald Trump's return to power. The Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 re-invigorated NATO as it...

In December, the airline ordered 230 Airbus planes.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago upended European leaders' sense of unshakeable post-war peace, prompting many countries to gear up weapons production to supply both Kiev and their own militaries. Former European Council president Tusk, whose country has been one of the staunchest supporters of neighbouring Ukraine,...

The Shenzhen-based firm is now moving quickly overseas.

Beirut, Lebanon - A UN official on Friday appealed for about $4 billion in humanitarian assistance for Syria, warning funding was almost non-existent and that lack of support would push more Syrians to emigrate. Syria's war, which began 13 years ago with the repression of anti-government protests, has killed more than...

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS – Europe's largest art fair closed its doors on Friday with organizers saying that sales, including a rare Van Gogh and works by Picasso and Kees van Dongen, fetched "record prices". Although a total figure of sale for some of the world's most sought-after artworks could not be...

Senior European Union officials say the rules, first proposed in 2021, will protect citizens from the risks of a technology developing at breakneck speed, while also fostering innovation on the continent.

Doha, Qatar - Doha Bank has successfully issued $500 million in international bonds, garnering a total order book of $2 billion, marking an oversubscription of 4 times. The investor base includes prominent asset managers, banks, private banks, and insurance companies from the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East....

Sharjah, UAE-- Nearly 400,000 visitors from Europe have traveled to Sharjah during last year, marking a notable 28 percent increase compared to the previous year, with Europeans constituting 27 percent of the total visitor count. Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA) made the announcement during its press conference on...

Michael Stuebgen, interior minister for Brandenburg state, said that "if initial findings are confirmed, this is a perfidious attack on our electricity infrastructure".

Brussels, Belgium - The EU on Monday hit Apple with a more than 1.8-billion-euro fine ($1.9 billion) for violating the bloc's laws by preventing European users from accessing information about alternative, cheaper music streaming services. The iPhone maker immediately vowed to appeal the first ever antitrust fine slapped on Apple by...

Geneva, Switzerland - The pernicious "'great replacement' conspiracy theories" spreading in many countries are "delusional" and racist and are directly spurring violence, the United Nations rights chief warned on Monday. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk also took aim at the "war on woke", which he stressed was...

An increase in sales in North America and Europe lifted the profits.

LONDON, UK – Europe's aviation industry is extending its bounceback from the Covid pandemic, as British Airways owner IAG and Franco-Dutch rival Air France-KLM posted bumper 2023 profits on Thursday. The sector is flying at cruising altitude on pent-up demand after emerging from the dark days of Covid, which grounded planes...

Algiers, Algeria -- Sonatrach, the state-owned energy company of Algeria, will allocate $8.8 billion investment in 2024, which represents 17.6 percent of the total Algerian investment portfolio of $50 billion for the next four years (2024-28). The company's CEO, Rachid Hachichi, told QNA that majority of the allocated funds (71...

LONDON, UK – The price of natural gas in Europe fell again on Friday, taking it to its lowest in almost three years as mild winter weather continues and European stockpiles hold up. Mid-morning on Friday, the benchmark Dutch TTF futures contract was down 3.2 percent at US$24.3 (22.45 euros) a...

Singapore, Singapore - Boeing said Wednesday it was preparing to compete with China's first domestically produced passenger plane, which was showcased for the first time to international buyers at Asia's biggest airshow. The single-aisle C919 aircraft made its international debut this week at the Singapore Airshow, featuring in both flying and...

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia triggered a massive shift by European nations away from Russian natural gas delivered by pipelines, with prices for LNG soaring as they competed on international markets for limited supplies. With a limited number of import terminals, European nations were also forced to undertake measures...

"The weakness of yesterday's US retail sales release have given market doves a new lease of life and allowed them to refocus on the likelihood of an early Fed rate cut," Rabobank analyst Jane Foley told AFP.

Brussels, Belgium - The European Commission on Tuesday officially extended an exemption from contested rules to leave a share of agricultural lands fallow, which had become a flashpoint for protesting farmers across the bloc. First lifted in 2023 in response to market disruptions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the rules...

"The current military-security situation heralds what is likely to be a more dangerous decade, characterized by the brazen application by some of military power to pursue claims," the report said.

Its sales in China slumped 35% from April to December.

Ahead of a key meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels and the second anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war, Jens Stoltenberg insisted that "we need to reconstitute and expand our industrial base faster, to increase deliveries to Ukraine and refill our own stocks." "This means shifting from slow peacetime to...

LONDON, UK - British museums, like others across Europe, are under pressure to return artworks taken during the colonial era, including Bronzes from Benin, royal treasures from Ghana and friezes from Greece. However, politicians have little appetite to change the legal framework that is currently blocking full restitutions by national museums,...

London, United Kingdom - Europe's main stock markets steadied Friday as traders reacted to more earnings updates from top companies, while awaiting revisions to US inflation data. Asia saw holiday-thinned trade, with investors there struggling to build on another record-setting day on Wall Street. "Today sees things slow down after a...

PARIS, FRANCE -  Earth has endured 12 consecutive months of temperatures 1.5C hotter than the pre-industrial era for the first time on record, Europe's climate monitor said Thursday, in what scientists called a "warning to humanity". Storms, drought and fire have lashed the planet as climate change -- supercharged by the...

Strasbourg, France - The EU on Tuesday urged a 90-percent cut to its greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, even as the bloc's transition to a greener future was clouded by a widespread farmers' revolt. "Based on the best available science, and a detailed impact assessment, we are recommending that the 2040 target...

"The markets continue to forge ahead despite a blowout jobs report from the US last Friday which seems to have finally put the nail in the coffin of the idea rates will be cut next month," said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

For EU leaders, it is their way or the highway as the wealthy, powerful bloc seeks to tame opposition and browbeat defiant countries and individuals into submission.

It made record profit on the back of higher interest rates.

Tehran, Iran - Iran and Turkey are set to enhance their electricity exchange capabilities through the implementation of modern technology, according to Mehdi Moghimzadeh, the head of Iran's Iran Grid Management Company. “With the signing of the contract for the operation of 400-kilovolt BtB HVDC line between Khoy (Iran) and...

Ankara, Turkiye – Iran and Turkiye signed contract to connect their power grids during the visit of Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi to Turkiye. The Khoy-Van grid line is set to become operational as part of the agreement between the Iran Grid Management Company and the Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS).,...

iPhone users can download alternative app stores.

According to Axios, Israel has offered Hamas a two-month pause in fighting in Gaza in exchange for the release of all hostages. Vowing to crush Hamas, Israel has launched a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 25,900 people in the Palestinian territory, mostly women and children, according to...

The Western military alliance has said some 90,000 troops will take part in the months-long Steadfast Defender 24 exercise designed to test its defenses in the face of Russia's war on Ukraine. "The alliance will demonstrate its ability to reinforce the Euro-Atlantic area via trans-Atlantic movement of forces from North...

Last week, the national guard announced the disappearance at sea of about 40 Tunisians who left from Sfax province, on Tunisia's central coast, who were trying to reach Italy, whose island of Lampedusa lies around 150 kilometers (90 miles) away. In 2023, more than 155,000 irregular migrants arrived in Italy,...

Earnings per share dropped 12 percent to $1.40.

A surge in tech titans including Apple, Amazon, Nvidia and Facebook parent Meta on Friday pushed New York's S&P 500 index to its first new all-time high since early 2022 thanks to bets on lower borrowing costs this year.

Paris, France - The French government has been flooded with applications from low-income households to lease a subsidized electric car from 100 euros ($109) a month, Environment Minister Christophe Bechu said on Friday. President Emmanuel Macron unveiled the plan on social media in December as part of efforts to reduce carbon...

"International tourism is expected to fully recover pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with initial estimates pointing to 2.0 percent growth above 2019 levels," the Madrid-based agency said in a statement. Figures for last year showed that 1.3 billion tourists travelled abroad, 44 percent higher than in 2022 and 88 percent of...

Doha, Qatar - Asian Cup hosts and holders Qatar have been on a mission to banish the painful memory of their 2022 World Cup flop and forward Akram Afif is leading the charge. Qatar lost all three of their World Cup games on home soil on their way to a first-round...

Automakers are facing a 2035 deadline set by the European Union to phase out sales of new combustion engine vehicles. Sales of hybrid cars also soared last year, up by nearly 30 percent.

Vlissingen, Netherlands - Cocaine seizures at the Belgian port of Antwerp, the top gateway into Europe for mainly South American drug cartels, hit a fresh record high last year, authorities said on Wednesday. Some 116 tons of cocaine were seized in Antwerp alone, Belgian Finance Minister Vincent van Peteghem told reporters,...

Paris, France - Counterfeit products -- mainly clothes -- cost the European economy 16 billion euros a year and result in nearly 200,000 lost jobs, the EU's Intellectual Property Office said Tuesday. The findings, based on data from 2018 to 2021, show that fakes take the biggest toll on the clothing...

"Remember Ukraine?" UN aid chief Martin Griffiths asked as he launched the plan in Geneva. "Please do not forget Ukraine while there are many other places in the world which grab our attention." "As we go into 2024, the competition for funding is going to be more," he acknowledged, citing...

In Asia, Tokyo rose for a sixth successive day to build on last week's advances, which saw the Nikkei break above 35,000 points for the first time since 1990 thanks to a revival of Japanese inflation and a weaker yen that helps exporters.

Wielding piles of cash and cutting-edge technology, many Arab telecom firms are scouting overseas markets to expand business beyond home territory.