Abu Dhabi, UAE -- The Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ADCCI) announced the establishment of 54 working groups within the Advocacy Hub initiative. These working groups are part of the efforts to support the growth and prosperity of the private sector by providing an ideal platform for businesses...

The next US census and federal government forms will include new options for race and ethnicity including a category for people of Middle Eastern or North African origin, officials said. The changes, the first in nearly three decades, were announced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and published...

Tokyo, Japan--Japan is preparing to resume funding to the UN's crisis-hit Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, the government said. Once the sixth-largest contributor to the agency, Japan joined more than a dozen countries in pausing funding after Israel claimed that 12 of UNRWA's 13,000...

Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, who presented the government and aims to see it play a role in post-war Gaza said the "top national priority" for the new government, whose members are set to take office on Sunday, would be the end of the war in Gaza. The fighting and destruction...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) has launched the Cargo Data Reporting System (CARDS), which provides a range of technical services to government entities, national airlines, ground handling agents and express service providers. CARDS is the first platform of its kind to provide an analytical view of air...

ABU DHABI, UAE – The United Arab Emirates has solidified its position as a leading regional and global player in foreign direct investment, said Jamal Bin Saif Al Jarwan, Secretary-General of the UAE International Investors Council (UAEIIC). He estimates the total value of Emirati investments abroad, encompassing both government and...

London, United Kingdom--The UK announced Wednesday that it plans to bar overseas governments from owning British newspapers, a move that could scupper the contentious Abu Dhabi-led takeover of the Telegraph Media Group. Stephen Parkinson, a media minister, announced in the upper-chamber House of Lords that the Conservative government would amend proposed...

Athens, Greece-- The UAE and Greece have held talks in Athens on a wide range of economic and strategic issues to deepen the cooperation between the two countries. In this connection, Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and COP28 President, held several bilateral meetings...

Cairo, Egypt--Egypt has signed seven Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) on Wednesday in green hydrogen and renewable energy with seven global developers with expected investments worth $41 billion over ten years, the Egyptian Government announced. Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala Al-Saeed said that the agreements represent a new...

Dubai, UAE-- Morocco hopes to increase its exports by 12 percent this year, according to the kingdom's minister of industry and trade, Ryad Mezzour. In statements to the Emirates News Agency (WAM), on the sidelines of the opening day of the 13th WTO Ministerial Conference hosted by the UAE in...

Manama, Bahrain--Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) announces that the $93 million monthly issue of Government Treasury Bills has been oversubscribed by 226%. The bills, carrying maturity of 182 days, are issued by the CBB, on behalf of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The issue date of the bills is February 25...

Dubai, UAE--South Korea has pressed for boosting cooperation with the UAE in the field of advanced technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to enable digital government. This was stated by Dr. Koh Jean, Chairman of the Presidential Committee on the Digital Platform Government in the Republic of Korea, on the sidelines...

ABU DHABI, UAE – The Emirates General Pension and Social Security Authority (GPSSA) has issued a circular to government and private sector employers, detailing the regulations for pension deductions and end-of-service gratuity in line with Federal Decree Law No. 57 of 2023. The circular included limiting the procedure of deduction...

Saudi Arabia said it had disbursed $250 million in aid to the internationally-recognized government in Yemen. The money follows an initial payment of the same amount announced in August, when Riyadh committed to provide a total of $1.2 billion to ease the government's budget deficit and pay salaries for civil...

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, UK - Education campaigners demanded government action on Friday after new figures revealed that the number of children in England being homeschooled jumped more than 13 percent in one term last year. The spike -- from an estimated 86,200 in homeschooling at the start of 2023 to 97,600 in the...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – The third edition of the Future Minerals Forum (FMF), organized by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources, has witnessed the signing of several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between a number of government agencies, companies and institutions. New exploration sites were announced as well as...

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...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA - Saudi Arabia’s real gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 4.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) in the third quarter of 2023, data issued by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) showed.  The real seasonally adjusted GDP eased 3.2 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in the three-month period.  Non-oil activities increased...

Dubai, UAE--The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with TerraPower, an American nuclear innovation company, to collaborate in various areas of technological development. The MoU was signed during COP28 by Ahmed Al Mazroui, Nuclear Research and Development Vice President of ENEC, and Chris Levesque, President...

Dubai, UAE--The UK government has ordered a formal probe into the proposed sale of the Telegraph Media Group to an Abu Dhabi-backed investment fund. The investment fund, RedBird IMI, disclosed earlier this month that it was set to take control of The Daily and Sunday Telegraph sister newspapers and The...

Billions of dollars are being invested into ventures to grow food in the GCC to make the arid, hot region self-sufficient, in a sector vulnerable to the vagaries of war, climate and disease.

Syrian government bombardment killed nine civilians including six children as they harvested olives in northwestern Idlib province, the country's last main rebel bastion, a war monitor said. "Ground bombardment by regime forces" struck the group "in the village of Qoqfin", in Idlib province's mountainous Jabal al-Zawiya area, the Syrian Observatory...

The UN chief was informed about the decision by the country's ambassador to the UN, saying Sudan was terminating the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS) with immediate effect. According to the UN chief's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, the mission's mandate was scheduled to end on December 3.

Abu Dhabi, UAE-- The third edition of the Investopia summit will be held in Abu Dhabi in February next year, drawing prominent local and international figures, investors, government officials, decision-makers and entrepreneurs. Al Marri announced the details of the upcoming edition of the Investopia summit to be held under the...

DUBAI, UAE – Tawazun Council signed 16 deals, worth US$1.3 billion (AED 4.87 billion), with local and international companies on behalf of the Ministry of Defense on the fourth day of the Dubai Airshow 2023. UAE’s Tawazun Council is an independent government entity that works closely with the defense ministry....

Tehran, Iran-- Iran has ramped up its oil production to 3.4 million barrels per day (bpd), up from about 2.9 bpd. This was stated by Iranian Oil Minister, Javad Owji, according to whom it is part of the government strategy to boost production. The minister made the remarks on the sidelines...

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreased by 4.5 percent in the third quarter of 2023, compared to the third quarter of 2022, flash estimates by the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) said. GASTAT attributed the fall to a decrease in oil activities by 17.3...

Dubai, UAE--Emirates Health Services (EHS) and Burjeel Hospital for Advanced Surgery have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to bolster the delivery of health services within government schools. These efforts align with sustainable development goals in public health and encompass strategic cooperation in several key areas, such as developing the...

Manama, Bahrain--Bahrain Economic Development Board (Bahrain EDB) has attracted $295 million in direct investments within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector as part of a total projected direct investment worth $1.4 billion, during the first nine months of 2023. Stemming from 14 local and international projects, the direct investments...

Dubai, UAE--Moro Hub, the digital arm of DEWA, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Digital Dubai Authority (DDA) to deliver state-of-the-art cyber security services to various government entities across Dubai. As part of this agreement, Moro Hub will extend its comprehensive suite of managed cyber security services to...

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Considering opposing views, exchanging ideas and developing pathways for collaboration are essential to improving lives and protecting the planet in an increasingly polarized and fragmented world. That was the key message of the opening sessions of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of the Global...

Vienna, Austria--The UAE’s economy remains robust, with constant contributions from the non-oil sector, especially from tourism, leisure, and real estate, according to the OPEC’s Monthly Oil Market Report (MOMR) for October 2023. MOMR noted the UAE’s tourism sector, which accounts for more than 16% of the country’s GDP, continued to...

The three-member "war cabinet" would include Netanyahu, Gantz and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, according to the statement. It said Gadi Eisenkot, also a former army chief from Gantz's party, and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer will serve as observers.

Shortly after her dismissal by the internationally recognized government in Tripoli, Amel Jerary, whose detention was ordered by the country's prosecutor general over alleged corruption, was questioned about "administrative and financial abuses" allegedly used to "obtain illicit material advantages by illegally seizing public funds".

DUBAI, UAE - The Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) of the Government of Dubai's Department of Finance (DOF) announced a reduction of approximately US$7.8 billion (AED29 billion) in Dubai's public debt by the end of this year. The achievement has been realized within a year and a half since the...

Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau called on the Indian government to "work with us" in order to establish processes to uncover the truth of the matter. Trudeau, however, refused to provide the evidence that led him to accuse India...

The diplomatic spat has grown fierce in the hours since Canada blamed India for being behind the killing of a Sikh leader last June and expelled its intelligence chief from the country. New Delhi has followed suit, expelling a senior Canadian diplomat. In the meantime, the UK and Australia have...

Days after thousands of people took to the streets in the Kurdistan region over unpaid civil service salaries which they blamed on Baghdad, the federal government said it would disburse annually to Iraqi Kurdistan two trillion and one hundred billion dinars to be paid in three equal installments of more...

Annual inflation in Egypt hit 39.7 percent in August, official figures showed, an all-time high for the country as it grapples with a punishing economic crisis. It comes after an unrelenting economic crisis that has seen the currency shed half its value against the US dollar since early last year.

Abu Dhabi, UAE - The UAE Ministry of Economy has announced that Zencargo, a UK-based company with expertise in digital freight forwarding, is joining its NextGenFDI program, a government initiative to attract international investment to the UAE. The company plans to establish operations in the Emirates with a view to...

Cairo, Egypt--Egypt is looking to raise $5 billion from the offering of power plants and state-owned companies from October 2023 until the end of June 2024, according to a report on the Government IPO Program by the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC). The report showed that Egypt plans...

Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said that Najla al-Mangoush, the foreign minister, has been temporarily suspended and will be subject to an administrative investigation by a commission chaired by the justice minister. The decision was made after the Israeli foreign minister announced that he had held talks with her last week...

Manama, Bahrain--Bahrain has indicated its keenness to encourage investments in the kingdom's oil and environmental projects through partnerships with the private sector, especially banks, to achieve sustainable development goals. Dr. Mohammed bin Mubarak bin Daina, Oil and Environment Minister, Special Envoy for Climate Affairs, has affirmed the government’s keenness to...

Amman, Jordan--Jordan has succeeded in securing US$1.9 billion in foreign aid and negotiations are underway to ramp it to $3.2 billion by the end of the year. Addressing Jordan's financial assistance at a forum convened by the government on the shores of the Dead Sea on Friday, Minister of Planning...

Manama, Bahrain – This week’s BD 70 million ($185 million) issue of Bahrain Government Treasury Bills has been oversubscribed by 100 percent. The bills, carrying a maturity of 91 days, are issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain, on behalf of the Bahrain government   The issue date of the...

Baghdad, Iraq--Iraq has restored access to the popular messaging app, Telegram, on Sunday after a week-long ban. The ban, which took effect on August 6, was enforced after concerns arose regarding breaches of national security. The government cited the leaking of state-owned private documents and the protection of citizens' personal...

Tens of thousands of Israel's Arab minority fear they will bear the brunt of the government's judicial overhaul. The community has remained mostly on the margins of a raging debate over the sweeping changes as many Israelis have rallied weekly against the reform package. Arab citizens of Israel make up...

The two projects -- in Texas and Louisiana -- each aim to eliminate one million tons of carbon dioxide per year, equivalent in total to the annual emissions of 445,000 gas-powered cars. It is "the world's largest investment in engineered carbon removal in history," the Energy Department said in a...

ABU DHABI, UAE - Key UAE government entities have partnered to boost coordination between advanced technology and space sectors. The collaboration is aimed at harnessing emerging technological innovations and developments to tackle global climate change.   The Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology (MoIAT), UAE Space Agency, and COP28, through...