Defying a government ban against marches, scores of Moroccan trade union activists protested on Sunday in the capital Rabat and other cities to denounce surging costs of food and fuel. Protestors from the Democratic Labour Confederation (CDT) organized rallies outside their offices in Rabat and Casablanca as well as other...

SFAX, TUNISIA - Thousands of Tunisian trade unionists held protests across the country on Saturday over worsening economic woes and the arrest of a top union official. The North African country is in drawn-out talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout loan, which the powerful UGTT workers' federation has...

The first UN delegation to visit rebel-held northwestern Syria since last week's earthquake crossed over from Turkey, AFP reported, as anger simmers at the world body's slow response. Over 35,000 people were killed when the quake devastated swathes of Syria and neighboring Turkey on February 6, at least 3,600 of...

Dubai, UAE-- The 2023 edition of Dubai Marathon will be held at Expo City Dubai on 12th February, 2023, according to its organizing committee. Organised with the support of the Dubai Sports Council and the cooperation of various government entities, the 22nd edition of the race will bring together runners...

US job gains surged unexpectedly last month as unemployment slipped to its lowest rate in over five decades, government data showed. The world's biggest economy added 517,000 jobs in January after a five-month slowdown in hiring, as the jobless rate edged down to 3.4 percent, said the Labor Department in...

Beirut, Lebanon--Two Lebanese lawmakers on Friday entered the second week of a sit-in inside the crisis-hit country's parliamentary chamber, vowing to remain inside until fellow MPs elect a new president. Parliamentarians Najat Saliba and Melhem Khalaf, both independents, began their protest on January 19, after colleagues met and failed for an...

Doha, Qatar-- The preacher of the Al Aqsa mosque Sheikh Ekrema Sabri fears takeover of the mosque by the extreme right-wing Israeli government. He said in an interview with QNA, that they do not rule out the attempt to control the Al Aqsa mosque by the extremist Israeli National Security...

Abu Dhabi, UAE--The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) announced that gross banks’ assets, including bankers’ acceptances, increased by 0.7 percent, rising from $983 billion at the end of October 2022 to $988 billion at the end of November 2022. According to figures published in CBUAE's November summary...

Manama, Bahrain--This week’s $186 million issue of government treasury bills has been oversubscribed by 208%. The bills, carrying a maturity of 91 days, are issued by the Central Bank of Bahrain on behalf of the government of Bahrain. The issue date of the bills is 25th January 2023 and the...

Dubai, UAE-- Dubai Customs has completed 25.7 million customs transactions and made 2,147 seizures in 2022, while also winning several global awards besides launching a number of products to reduce cost for clients and increase their revenue, the Customs said. Dubai Customs dealt with 388 intellectual property disputes in 2022,...

Global business leaders, CEOs, and innovators from around the world will gather in Davos next week to discuss what World Economic Forum (WEF) President Børge Brende described as an event to find solutions for a more cohesive world "so that economic growth could be achieved even in challenging times."

Tel Aviv, Israel--Thousands of Israelis protested on Saturday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history, an AFP correspondent said. Protesters brandished signs with slogans including "Democracy in danger" and "Together against fascism and apartheid" in the coastal city of Tel Aviv. Some waved...

Washington, United States--Four cruise lines have been sentenced by a US judge to pay a total of nearly $450 million for having used a Havana port nationalized by the Cuban government in 1960. The ruling Friday by a federal judge in Florida requires the Carnival, MSC SA, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian...

Cairo, Egypt--Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Thursday approved a document outlining 62 economic activities the state will withdraw from and turn over the private sector, a cabinet statement said. The document’s approval was required by the International Monetary Fund, which this month approved a 46-month, $3 billion financial support...

Hundreds of Syrians in the rebel-held north protested against signs of a thaw between Ankara and Damascus after their defense ministers met in Moscow for the first time since 2011. Several hundred demonstrators gathered in Al-Bab, a town controlled by rebel factions long backed by Ankara. "We will not reconcile,...

Tripoli, Libya--Libya's unity government has carried out a prisoner exchange with rival eastern forces, releasing a pilot captured during strongman Khalifa Haftar's 2019 assault on Tripoli, local media reported Monday. According to the reports and images on social media, pilot Amer al-Orfi al-Gajam was exchanged for 15 prisoners held by Haftar's...

BEIRUT, LEBANON - Six Syrian fighters from a pro-Turkish group died in clashes with regime troops that still raged Monday in northwest Syria, rebel forces and a war monitor said. A pro-Turkey rebel statement said the six were killed and three more wounded in the offensive launched by government forces backed...

Algiers, Algeria-- Algeria approved the 2023 budget, the largest in the country's history after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune approved the Finance Law on Sunday. The Algerian government allocated the largest budget since its independence - 6 decades ago - at a value of $98.5 billio), an increase of $24.5 billion over...

Tunis, Tunisia-- A Tunisian rights group condemned Sunday a "repressive and inhumane" government decision to deport a group of migrants who had been evacuated from a defunct refugee camp. The 25 men from Egypt, Niger, Nigeria and Sudan had sought asylum in Tunisia after fleeing violence in neighbouring Libya in 2011,...

A key indicator of US inflation edged down from a year ago in November, according to government data, in welcome news to households grappling with soaring costs while spending slowed. This extends a downward inflation trend in recent months, though it is unlikely to bring quick relief from an aggressive...

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - US lawmakers early Tuesday released the text of a US$1.7 trillion funding bill which Congress hopes to pass within days to avert a government shutdown. The bill includes $858 billion in defense funding and will also provide $44.9 billion in emergency assistance for Ukraine. It also includes...

The MENA region remains largely uneven, and the democracy and human rights situation looks bleak with little prospect of improvement in 2023, say experts at International IDEA.

SHARJAH, UAE - The Environment and Protected Areas Authority in Sharjah (EPAA) announced an increase in participation in the 11th session of the Sharjah Sustainability Award for 2022-2023. There were 485 entries from university students, colleges and government, private and foreign schools from different regions of the country, and youth...

Some Israeli political analysts had forecast that Netanyahu would move to announce a coalition days after receiving his mandate from President Isaac Herzog on November 13. But the coalition talks have proved complex, with Netanyahu forced to give sensitive portfolios to controversial figures, including Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben Gvir,...

BERLIN, GERMANY - The German government aims to put a stop to energy price hikes it sees as unjustified with planned gas and electricity price controls, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported Saturday. Price increases are to be prohibited until the end of 2023 - unless the supplier can prove "that the...

Two affiliates of ABB pleaded guilty to bribery charges.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia—The Arab Monetary Fund has signed a $1 billion agreement with the Yemeni government to shore up the war-scarred country's economic reform program. Sponsored by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the program seeks to contribute to backing efforts made to implement reforms to strengthen the financial status of...

Appealing to guilty parties to hand themselves in and return all the money, the prime minister of Iraq has revealed that the country has recovered part of $2.5 billion in public funds fraudulently withdrawn from a government account. A wealthy businessman implicated in the theft had given back $125 million.

Amman, Jordan— The Kingdom of Jordan intends to foster a "robust partnership" with the private sector of the country that plays a key role in propping up the economy and generate jobs. According to Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply and Minister of Labor Yousef Shamali, the government is serious...

Abu Dhabi, UAE— AD Ports Group will conduct a joint training exercise at Delma Port on November 24. The exercise, which will simulate a maritime incident at the port, is part of ongoing planning and preparation for emergency and crisis response in Abu Dhabi. Thirteen government entities are scheduled to...

SHARJAH, UAE - The 9th edition of the Sharjah International Travel and Tourism Forum (SITTF) is set to kick off at the Sharjah Expo Centre on November 24, 2022, under the theme 'Building a Resilient Future for Tourism'. The forum will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Sultan bin...

ABU DHABI, UAE - The Indonesian Government, G42, a UAE-based AI and cloud computing company, a global nonprofit OceanX and G-Tech Digital Asia (G-Tech) have announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to establish a collaboration to develop ocean research to help protect the marine environment. The Letter of...

New York, United States— The US government announced Monday it had seized $3.4 billion in bitcoin from a real estate developer who stole the cryptocurrency from the dark web marketplace Silk Road a decade ago. James Zhong, 32, pleaded guilty Friday to committing wire fraud in September 2012 ago when he...

Seeking to consolidate his position, Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has sacked several senior officials appointed by his predecessor, just days after a confidence vote in his government. The prime minister rescinded several appointments following the October 2021 polls, citing the government's "interim" status.

Jordan's cabinet reshuffle is a mandate for the government to work within the Kingdom's three modernization tracks, launched at the beginning of the country's bicentennial, Minister of Government Communications Faisal Shboul said.

Egypt and International Monetary Fund have reached a staff-level agreement on the economic policies to be supported by a 46-month arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility, IMF Mission Chief for Egypt Ivanna Vladkova Hollar said.

According to an analysis based on data released by Beijing's Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, the budget shortfall for all levels of government from January to September was $980 billion, almost three times the 2.6 trillion shortfall over the same period last year.

Striking down the previous government's decision to recognize West Jerusalem as Israel's capital, Australia has said the city's status should be decided through peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians, and not through unilateral decisions. The country's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said it supports a two-state solution.

The organizer said he did not want the gathering "to become a political platform". The decision not to invite American officials, a departure from previous years, comes as tensions rise between longtime partners Washington and Riyadh over the Saudi-led OPEC+ cartel's recent vote to cut oil production.

Kuwait's crown prince swore in a new government, less than a month after the emirate held parliamentary elections in which the opposition reaped major gains. The polls capped a political stand-off between the former cabinet and legislature that saw lawmakers occupy the national assembly building for days.

Iraqi firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr's movement announced its refusal to join a new government being formed by prime minister-designate Mohammad Shia al-Sudani.

Most of the respondents in the poll feel that GCC will weather the gathering economic storm and come out unscathed, a view corroborated by the IMF and the World Bank.

The UN experts said publishing the column was a matter of freedom of expression, and concluded that he had been "detained for peacefully exercising that right".

It remains without not only a new government but a budget too, obstructing much-needed reforms and infrastructure projects in the oil-rich but war-ravaged country. Iraq has raked in huge revenues from oil exports this year, but the profits are locked up in the central bank's coffers, which have amassed $87...

Amid crippling energy shortages, the British government is negotiating with Qatar and Norway to secure new long-term gas contract, according to media reports. The reports said that Prime Minister Liz Truss is in favor of the deal, which would secure long-term energy sources and cut down the cost of the...

The failure to flesh out her economic plan failed to calm the jittery markets, however, and the pound slid 2.01 percent against the dollar, falling to as low as $1.1241 after her address.

The visas currently under process, even those in the last stages of completion, will also be valid for two years only, UAQ Free Zone tells its members.

The European Union has shown interest to be part of the process of decentralization in Iraq and in this regard it is working in partnership with the Iraqi ministry of planning and other bodies in order to enhance activity in five sectors of the economy.

The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has hosted a webinar in cooperation with Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECP) to discuss the importance of AECP credit report and score for SME businesses.

The company raised $1.017 billion in IPO on the DFM.