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The best iPhone may actually be the one Apple seems to have forgotten about. I’ve had this conversation with taxi drivers, friends, and even other smartphone experts. The iPhone SE’s invisibility shows how important Apple’s marketing is to its sales: if it makes a great product but doesn’t talk about it, nobody knows it exists. But there’s a reason Apple keeps the iPhone SE in […]

HEBRON: A female member of the Palestinian parliament has been arrested by Israeli forces, Palestinian and Israeli security sources said Thursday.Samira Halayqa, a Hamas member of the largely defunct Palestinian Legislative Council, was arrested by Israeli forces on Wednesday night from her home near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian security sources said.The Shin Bet Israeli intelligence service confirmed the arrest, but declined to provide further […]

DUBAI // The UAE is leading the region in government-citizen communication and trust, according to a report on the future of government communication. The WPP Leaders Report, launched in the Middle East for the first time in partnership with Dubai Media Office, found that the UAE was one of five Middle Eastern countries that stood out in terms of trust citizens have in their government and having […]

European leaders moved on Thursday to isolate Poland as prime minister Beata Szydlo insisted she would press ahead with her campaign to oust Donald Tusk, the country’s former premier, as head of the European Council. Government leaders from across the EU lined up in support of Mr Tusk as they arrived for a Brussels summit at which they will press to give the European Council president a […]

BAGHDAD — Suicide bombers struck a village north of Baghdad as a wedding party gathered in the evening, killing at least 26 people and wounding scores, a government spokesman said on Thursday. The assault began late Wednesday when an assailant wearing an explosives-laden belt walked into the wedding party at an open area in Hajaj, near the city of Tikrit, about 120 miles north of Baghdad. After […]

Oil prices were back under pressure on Thursday, with the West Texas Intermediate benchmark falling under $50 for the first time since December. The falls came after oil prices fell the most in more than a year over the previous session when US crude inventories climbed for the ninth straight week to a record high. Renewed concerns about a supply glut sent ripples through the currency market […]

Mercy Corps, a leading American charity that uses Turkey as a base to aid hundreds of thousands of civilians upended by the war in neighboring Syria, was forced to curtail its work on Wednesday after the Turkish government abruptly revoked its registration to operate. “Our hearts are broken by this turn of events, which comes after five years of cooperation with the government of Turkey and other […]

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Your daily guide to community and cultural activities across the Emirates for March 9, 2017, including performances, festivals, art exhibitions, film screenings, health and fitness events, talks, classes, workshops and family fun. Aarti Jhurani rounds up 10 things to do today in the UAE. Want to see your event listed here? Email us with the details and contact information at [email protected] newslide Abu Dhabi Music festival Buy […]

AIG is to set up a new base in Luxembourg after the UK leaves the EU as the likely loss of passporting rights post Brexit has forced the US insurer to look for an alternative location to London from which to service EU business. The choice of Luxembourg is a sign of a shift in attitudes in the insurance world. Immediately after the Brexit vote, there was […]

“Every day that goes by, my concern for my father and Siamak increases,” Mr. Namazi said this week in a telephone interview from Dubai, where he lives. He expressed particular anxiety about his father, who has a heart ailment, saying that an Iranian prison cell was “no place for an aging old man.” Continue reading the main story Last month, on the anniversary of the elder Mr. […]

Uber has pledged to end the use of its “greyball” system for blocking officials from booking cars with its app — less than a week after the tool was made public. An investigation into its employees’ handling of the tool, which Uber has insisted is fully legal and has other uses, follows several inquiries from regulators about the technology. Last week’s revelation that Uber offices around the […]

Photo A minaret in Beit Safafa, a Palestinian neighborhood of Jerusalem, on Wednesday. Credit Ammar Awad/Reuters A bill that would regulate the traditional use of loudspeakers for the Muslim call to prayer passed its first legislative hurdle in Israel’s Parliament on Wednesday, provoking frustration and anger among some Arab lawmakers. One version of the bill would prohibit places of worship from using loudspeakers between 11 p.m. and […]

There are efficiency gaps between the startup ecosystems in Singapore and Silicon Valley, which the former can address by introducing simpler and clearer investment terms. Doing so would, in turn, attract more mature startups to their fold and better set up founders for success, according to executives from muru-D’s Singapore outfit. The Telstra-owned accelerator had just completed its second batch of eight startups under the six-month programme, […]

By Joseph Ax and Lisa Fernandez | NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO Women protested around the world on Wednesday for equal rights and in the United States against President Donald Trump, with many Americans skipping work or boycotting stores to demand economic fairness on International Women’s Day. American women seized upon the momentum of the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21, the day after Trump’s […]

Snap, the first big tech listing since Alibaba in 2014, has already experienced the highs and lows of the stock market in the week since its NYSE listing. Shares on Wednesday closed at $22.81, down from a high of $29.44 last week, but still above the $17 IPO price. That performance, along with doubts over corporate governance, has raised questions over if, rather than when, Snap will […]

Continue reading the main story But the agent has his passport and has refused to refund his recruitment fee, he said. He has no money for a plane ticket. “There is a huge dependence on migrant workers who have employment terms that are no different than indentured servitude,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, an advocacy […]

Nike Inc (NKE.N) will launch a hijab for female Muslim athletes early next year, becoming the first major sports apparel maker to offer a traditional Islamic head scarf designed specifically for competition, the company said on Wednesday. The head covering, marketed under the “Pro Hijab” brand, is designed to allow athletes to observe the traditional Islamic practice of covering the head without compromising performance. Made from a […]

Dubai, UAE 08 March 2017  Amlak Finance PJSC, a leading specialized real estate financier in the Middle East, today announced its Full Year Financial Results for the year ended 31 December 2016. Amlak reported net profits of AED 107 million at the end of December 2016, a decrease of 20% compared to AED 135 million in 2015. The Company’s total revenues, however, reached AED 778 million in […]

ABU DHABI // A former Russian diplomat said on Wednesday that dialogue was the key to strong international relations and that his country was capable of being good friends with GCC states and Iran. Veniamin Popov, a former Russian ambassador to Yemen, Libya and Tunisia, said in Abu Dhabi that president Vladimir Putin wanted to see an end to all conflict in the Middle East and hoped […]

George Osborne will earn £650,000 a year for working four days a month at BlackRock, more than ten times what he is paid as an MP once expected share awards from the world’s largest fund manager are included. The detail of Mr Osborne’s pay at BlackRock, which he agreed to join as an adviser earlier this year, was disclosed in the register of members’ financial interests at […]

By John Walcott and Andrea Shalal | WASHINGTON/BERLIN WASHINGTON/BERLIN U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Wednesday that they have been aware since the end of last year of a security breach at the CIA that led to anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks publishing agency documents on its hacking tools. The officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters that they believed that the documents published by […]

Confide, a messaging app used inside the White House and touted for its ability to allow staffers to privately leak to the press, isn’t as secure as the company claims. The multi-platform app, which first broke onto the security scene three years ago but only recently made headlines for its use across the Trump administration, claims that nobody can intercept and read messages that disappear after they […]

AMMAN: An official in Jordan’s government says a Jordanian soldier who killed seven Israeli schoolgirls visiting the country on a class trip will be released after serving 20 years in prison.Spokesman Mohammed Momani said Tuesday that Ahmed Daqamseh is to be freed next week, possibly Monday, after completing his term.Daqamseh killed the girls in a 1997 shooting rampage at the “Island of Peace” border post.A military court […]

Apple says it is working fast to fix vulnerabilities in the iPhone and other products after WikiLeaks released material said to show the Central Intelligence Agency was stockpiling malware to break into devices. “While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked were already patched in the latest iOS [operating system for iPhones and iPads], we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities,” […]

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