GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor documented, in a preliminary file submitted to UN special rapporteurs and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, dozens of field executions cases carried out by the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip. It also called for immediate investigation to hold the...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--UAE stocks generated strong cash flows Monday, with market liquidity surpassing $272 million. International Holding Company (IHC) and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) topped the market in terms of number of transactions. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) gained $241.25 million in liquidity, as compared to the...

GAZA, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES-  A relentless Israeli military campaign, in response to deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, has upset the lives of most, if not all, residents of the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have launched a bombardment campaign and ground invasion of Gaza ever since Hamas launched its attack --...

MAKKAH, SAUDI ARABIA - The Makkah Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Services of Beni Mellal Khenifra in Morocco signed a partnership agreement to strengthen economic and commercial cooperation. The agreement was signed on Sunday in the presence of the Assistant Consul General at...

NEW YORK, US - The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) approved a US$3.59 billion budget for 2024, including establishing a private account related to funding by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (UNPBF). In a statement late on Sunday, UNGA approved around US$50 million as an additional funding for UN Human...

Seoul, South Korea--South Korea's exports of eco-friendly vehicles surged 32.5 percent year-on-year to a record high during the first 11 months of 2023, due to solid global demand for electric vehicles (EVs), Yonhap News Agency reported on Sunday. The export volume of eco-friendly automobiles came to 662,307 units during the...

ABU DHABI, UAE - The Federal Tax Authority (FTA) has issued a new guide outlining the criteria to determine natural persons subject to the Corporate Tax Law, that came into effect on June 1 2023. The guide provides a comprehensive and simplified explanation and instructions for natural persons realizing income...

DUBAI  UAE -  Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, has approved the distribution of performance-based bonuses totaling AED152 million to civilian employees of government entities. The bonuses, subject to Dubai Government Human Resources (DGHR) Law No. (8) of...

NEW YORK, US - Artists under siege by artificial intelligence (AI) that studies their work, then replicates their styles, have teamed with university researchers to stymy such copycat activity. US illustrator Paloma McClain went into defense mode after learning that several AI models had been "trained" using her art, with no...

Dubai, UAE -- Hamriyah and Deira ports have reported 62,454 customs declarations, totaling AED 12.133 billion ($3.30 billion), with 19 seizures recorded over the first nine months of this year. Ahmed Mahboob Musabih, Director General of Dubai Customs, CEO of Ports, Customs and Free Zone Corporation, recently visited Creek Customs...

Hong Kong - The government of Oman’s targets to expand local green hydrogen production could support key credit metrics, such as GDP, fiscal revenue and the balance of payments, over the long term against the backdrop of the global energy transition, says Fitch Ratings. Uncertainty around potential outcomes remains high at...

Ankara has operated several dozen military posts in the area for the past 25 years in its decades-old war against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group blacklisted by Turkey and many of its Western allies as a terrorist organization. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday called for retaliation...

Dubai, UAE-- At least 100 journalists have been killed since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, according to new figures released by the government media office in Gaza. Palestinian journalist Muhammed Abu Hweidy was the latest to be killed in an Israeli air raid on his home in...

In one step back from the newfound isolation, the Un on Friday, after painstaking negotiations, let through a UN Security Council resolution on humanitarian aid for the beleaguered Gaza Strip, after vetoing two earlier calls to halt the fighting. But the United States still remained apart from some of its...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - According to the Riyadh Season, 10 million people took part in the activities organized in the first 50 days after its launch. The season started in late October, and since then, it has witnessed a large visitor turnout at all areas, with expectations that the coming...

Jerusalem - Khalil Sayegh lives in the United States and for days he anxiously awaited news of his family who had taken refuge in Gaza churches to escape the Israel-Hamas war. A few days before Christmas, he learned his father had died due to a lack of medical care, Sayegh...

Qlayaa, Lebanon - In the Lebanese Christian border village of Qlayaa, the priest urged his parish to keep the Christmas spirit alive despite clashes between Hizbollah and Israel forcing many to flee. Nestled among lush, green fields and flowing olive groves, Qlayaa has echoed to the sound of bombing on an...

SAN FRANCISCO, US - A US federal court ruled that social media company Twitter, now branded X, violated contracts by failing to pay annual performance bonuses it orally promised its workers. The breach-of-contract lawsuit was brought by former employer Mark Schobinger in June. The lawsuit said Twitter had promised workers a...

Doha, Qatar-- Inflation in Qatar is expected to fall in 2024, according to Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, the Minister of Finance. In a press conference on Thursday, the minister said that the inflation witnessed in Qatar in 2023 was temporary and associated with a specific period and reasons, such...

Abu Dhabi, UAE - The United Arab Emirates was named the most economically competitive nation in the Arab world, a report on Arab Economic Competitiveness Index released by the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF). UAE's sustained progress across crucial sectors, including its economy and investment environment are said to be the...

BYD already has operations in Hungary, including an electric bus factory.

Cairo, Egypt – The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has kept the current key interest rates unchanged in its final meeting of 2023.  The decision leaves the overnight deposit rate at 19.25 percent, the overnight lending rate at 20.25 percent, the main operation rate...

Turkmenbashi, Turkmenistan - On the Caspian Sea coast in Turkmenistan, Batyr Yusupov can no longer ferry his passengers between two ports. There is not enough water. "I used to go between Turkmenbashi and Hazar," the 36-year-old ferry worker said of the ports separated by a small gulf on Turkmenistan's coast. "But...

New York, USA - The UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution by 185 votes on 'The UN Human Rights Training and Documentation Center for South-West Asia and the Arab Region'. Qatar sponsored and facilitated negotiations every two years since its establishment in 2008, with its headquarters in Doha. Sheikha...

London, United Kingdom - On a busy north London street, plumber Ben Hume-Wright zipped through the heavy rush-hour traffic to his next job by bike. Trades such as his used to rely on vans but many are now choosing to do more business using two or sometimes three wheels. Since switching...

Dubai, UAE--Arabian Travel Market (ATM) has entered into a partnership with the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) for the upcoming edition of the event, which takes place from 6th to 9th May 2024 at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The global organisations...

Paris, France - The French government of President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday was battling to salvage a flagship immigration reform following deadlock in parliament that risks casting a shadow over his second mandate. After the government bill was rejected by parliament last week, a commission of French lower house MPs and...

Sharjah, UAE - The Islamic World Heritage Committee of the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) added the Mleiha archaeological site and Al Dhaid Fort and Falaj to the List of the Islamic World Heritage. The Sharjah Archaeology Authority (SAA) has completed the nomination dossier of the Mleiha...

Dubai, UAE--A Hamas official on Monday said one of the group's tunnels revealed by the Israeli army in Gaza had "successfully" accomplished its mission, downplaying the Israeli announcement of its discovery. On Sunday the Israeli army showed images of what it said was the biggest Hamas tunnel uncovered so far...

Dubai, UAE-- The UAE and South Korea Korea are looking to boost ties in the water sector and in this regard the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure (MoEI) received a delegation from Korea’s Ministry of Environment to discuss the latest developments and share experiences in the sector. As part of...

Abu Dhabi, UAE-- Kings Aluminium Industries has begun constructing a state-of-the-art aluminium manufacturing and recycling facility in Khalifa Economic Zones Abu Dhabi (KEZAD Group), the largest operator of integrated and purpose-built economic zones. With a total investment of $204.22 million by Kings Aluminium Industries, the facility in KEZAD will be...

Dubai, UAE - A "possible explosion" struck a key shipping lane off Yemen on Monday, two maritime agencies said, the latest incident in the vital waterway threatened by Houthi rebel attacks. The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations issued a warning of a potential explosion striking near a vessel passing through...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Basic Chemical Industries Co.'s (BCI) subsidiary Chemical Marketing and Distribution Co. Ltd. secured a loan from the Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) to finance its project in Jubail Industrial City.  The US$100 million (SAR 376 million) loan, secured on Sunday, has a duration of seven years and three...

Moscow, Russia--Gazprom has set a new record for daily gas supplies to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline on December 16, the company said in a statement. "On December 16, China’s application for the supply of Russian gas through the Power of Siberia gas pipeline once again exceeded the...

Wilmington, United States--A car crashed into a Secret Service vehicle attached to Joe Biden's motorcade on Sunday, with the security scare startling the US president as he left his campaign headquarters in Delaware. After a loud bang caused by a sedan slamming into an SUV positioned in a nearby intersection about...

BERLIN, GERMANY -  The German government on Sunday faced a backlash after abruptly ending an electric car subsidy scheme in a blow to the already struggling automotive industry. The scheme is one of the casualties of a budget crisis caused by a shock constitutional court ruling in November that upended the...

BELFAST, UK - Long gone from Belfast's famed harbor where the Titanic was built, oysters are making a comeback thanks to a nursery installation project aimed at boosting marine life and water quality. Until the early 1900s, the narrow Belfast Lough channel was home to large oyster reefs but overfishing, disease and...

At their meeting, Sunak and Meloni agreed to fund a project to help repatriations of migrants in Tunisia, the departure country for many migrants trying to reach Europe. They "committed to co-fund a project to promote and assist the voluntary return of migrants from Tunisia to their countries of origin",...

Doha, Qatar-- Qatar has recorded a 9.3 percent drop in the Industrial Production index (IPI) in the month of October 2023 to 93.1 points, compared to the previous month (September 2023), and decreased by 6.0 percent, when compared to the corresponding month in 2022, according to the Planning and Statistics...

Samer Abu Daqqa's body, bearing his bullet-proof vest and helmet, was carried through a crowd in the city of Khan Yunis before being buried in a grave dug by fellow journalists. His colleague, Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, was wounded in the same attack. Dahdouh had lost his wife and two...

Abu Dhabi, UAE - UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed bilateral ties with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of Turkey. The two explored boosting cooperation to achieve further prosperity for the UAE and Turkey, local media reports said. Al Nahyan and Erdogan also exchanged views on various regional...

TABUK, SAUDI ARABIA - Red Sea Global (RSG), the multi-project developer behind the regenerative tourism destinations, is piloting SubSLAM, an advanced photogrammetry technology developed by VAARST, a leader in marine robotics. This technology is being used to produce high-resolution, 3D digital representations of Al Wajh Lagoon's coral reefs and vital...

AMMAN, JORDAN - National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) seeks to regulate the Kingdom's cybersecurity market by outlining and endorsing the related legislation.In a statement to "Petra," NCSC head, Bassam Maharmeh, said one of the center's key measures focuses on issuing Cybersecurity Services Licensing System, which would "effectively" contribute to strengthening...

Doha, Qatar-- Qatar received more than three million tourists from around the world during the ongoing year, making the oil-rich country a great tourist destination. According to chairman of Qatar Tourism, Saad bin Ali Al Kharji, Qatar has become a distinctive tourist destination, which is particularly evident as Qatar holds...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--ADQ, an Abu Dhabi-based investment and holding company, and Azerbaijan Investment Holding (AIH), a strategic sovereign wealth fund located in Baku, have announced the formation of a joint venture with the aim of investing in sectors of mutual priority and interest, such as agriculture, technology, pharmaceuticals and energy...

Istanbul, Turkey - Turkish Airlines said on Friday it has decided to order 355 Airbus aircraft over the coming decade as it seeks to become the world's largest carrier. "It was decided to purchase 355 aircraft from Airbus," Turkish Airlines chief executive Bilal Eksi said in a social media statement. "I...

Seoul, South Korea - Microsoft has seized the websites of a Vietnam-based group it alleges sold millions of fake accounts to cybercriminals who used them for ransomware attacks, identity theft and other scams around the world. The group, identified by Microsoft as Storm-1152, developed sophisticated tools to defeat the US tech giant's...

There have been near-daily cross-border exchanges between Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Hamas ally in Lebanon, and Israel since the Palestinian group's unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel.

Kuwait City, Kuwait -- The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of Kuwait has inked a KD 6.7 million ($21.7 million) agreement with Finland's Vaisala company to implement a state-of-the-art surface observation system and airport meteorological system at Kuwait International Airport. Emad Al-Jalawi, the Acting Director-General of DGCA, told KUNA...

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - Business activity in the eurozone slumped at a faster rate in December, weighed down by a deeper downturn in France, a key survey said on Friday. The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) published by S&P Global fell to 47 in December from 47.6 in November. A figure below...