DUBAI // Six natural reserves have been formally declared in Dubai to improve the environment and boost eco-tourism. Jabal Nazwa reserve, Al Marmoum desert reserve, Al Wuhush desert reserve and Al Ghaf reserve, Hatta mountain reserve and the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve (DDCR) will now also be run by Dubai Municipality. They have been established to protect natural wildlife, including plants such as samar, ghaf, and side, […]
The main shareholders of U.A.E. construction giant Arabtec Holding are consolidating their control over the company as the country’s stock markets prepare for the implementation of an upgrade to emerging-market status by stock-index provider MSCI. Arabtec chief executive Hasan Ismaik raised his stake from 8.03% to 21.46% by buying shares on the market, the company said in an emailed statement Wednesday. This follows a move three years […]
The hotel was honoured at the MENA Travel Awards 2014 and Sharjah Tourism Excellence Award events DUBAI (May 28, 2014) – Ramada Sharjah received two separate accolades honouring its service quality and facilities at the MENA Travel Awards 2014 and Sharjah Tourism Excellence Award this spring. The hotel won its first Silver Award in the ‘Best 4-Star Business/Corporate Hotel’ category at the MENA Travel Awards 2014 on […]
A deadly respiratory virus that originated in Saudi Arabia two years ago has reached Iran, infecting two sisters in the southeast province of Kerman, the health ministry reported. In a statement posted on the ministry’s website, it said two other members of the same family had the symptoms of the disease, known as Middle East Respiratory Syndome or MERS, but their cases had not been confirmed. According […]
CAIRO — The Benghazi militant group Ansar al-Shariah is under attack by a renegade former general trying to rid Libya of political Islam. But in response, the militia has taken aim squarely at Washington. “We remind America of their defeats in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia,” Mohammed Ali al-Zahawi, the leader of Ansar al-Shariah, declared this week in a videotaped statement, warning that the United States would face […]
WASHINGTON — A United States citizen working in Syria with a militant group backed by Al Qaeda conducted a suicide bombing there Sunday, in what is believed to be the first time an American has been involved in such an attack, American officials said Wednesday. The suicide attack first surfaced on Tuesday in Twitter messages from the Nusra Front, an Islamist extremist group in Syria aligned with […]
ABU DHABI // More than 1,000 cases of employers accused of breaking labour laws by ill-treating their workers were referred to prosecutors in the past year, a new report reveals. The prosecutions came amid a massive enforcement campaign by the Ministry of Labour, whose staff conducted 138,801 general inspections, 11,807 visits to workers’ accommodation and 80,571 visits to construction sites to ensure labourers were not working during […]
DUBAI // Two Mediterranean olive trees each more than a millennium old have found a new home on The World islands. The trees, dated between 1,300 and 1,400 years old, are being planted on the Heart of Europe chain of man-made islands off the Dubai coast by the UAE-based real estate developer Kleindienst Group. In all, 58 trees comprised of more than 10 varieties native to the […]
Mashreqbank, the Dubai-based lender owned by the Al Ghurair family, plans to raise about $500 million from a three-year loan as it seeks funds to expand, three bankers familiar with the plan said. Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch unit and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ) are helping coordinate the fundraising with five other banks also expected to participate, one of the people said, […]
Emaar Properties has secured a $1.5 billion sharia-compliant loan from five local lenders, two banking sources aware of the matter said on Wednesday, the latest Dubai-based borrower to take advantage of buoyant markets to reprice debt. A number of state-linked entities in the emirate have sought to refinance existing debts, even if the loans have years until maturity, as market sentiment towards Dubai improves after its debt […]
Although the world’s largest democracy has been hobbled by inflation, a declining currency and difficult business environment, the pro-business Bharatiya Janata Party that just won an epic election in India has engendered optimism that the country can turn around its sagging economic scenario. It’s time to increase your exposure to India’s stock market. The timing is good with equities in India perking up of late, something that […]
In Dubai, a city known for some of the world’s most luxurious hotels and penthouses, developer Union Properties PJSC (UPP) is looking to tap demand from people who want to visit the emirate without breaking the bank. The company plans to build around 1,000 hotel rooms in the next five years to address a shortage in the middle- and lower-end of the market, managing director Ahmad Al […]
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, has called for a population increase, an edict likely to restrict access to contraception. In an edict on his website, he wrote that increasing the population of 76 million people would “strengthen national identity” and counter “undesirable aspects of Western lifestyles.” Since 1986 the population growth rate has fallen to 1.22 percent from 3.2 percent, according to the C.I.A. World Factbook. […]
Mount Everest (C), the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen from air during a mountain flight from Kathmandu April 24, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Tim Chong (Reuters) – Nepal said on Tuesday it was investigating whether a Chinese woman, this season’s sole climber of Mount Everest from the Nepalese side, used a helicopter to reach a high camp after a deadly avalanche last […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon — An international team sent to investigate allegations that chlorine gas had been used as a weapon in Syria’s civil war came under attack on Tuesday, forcing it to abort its mission to reach a village where numerous such attacks have been reported. In a statement, the United Nations-backed Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said all of its investigators were safe and had […]
‘No country demand anything like the same assurances as the USA immigration authorities’ Photo: GETTY Having recently returned from the US, I feel obliged to offer a few thoughts about American transport. Because – certainly at Los Angeles and New York – something has gone very badly wrong. A lot of people complain about Heathrow and Gatwick but the truth is that we British have quietly set about […]
DUBAI // A wish list of 21 requests from Indian expatriates in the UAE was delivered to Narendra Modi’s office on Monday as the Bharatiya Janata Party leader was sworn in as prime minister. It included long-standing demands such as voting rights for non-resident Indians, encouraging investment in infrastructure, joint-venture incentives and exemption from restrictive taxes. “These issues relate to NRIs all over the world, not just […]
FUJAIRAH // Free health testing for women will be available this week at malls in Fujairah and Ajman. It is part of an initiative to raise awareness about cardiovascular disease – the number one killer of women not only in the UAE but across the world. The tests will include blood pressure, blood sugar, body mass index and cholesterol level checks. The Go Red for Women campaign […]
JERUSALEM — Making history for the second day running, Pope Francis laid a wreath Monday on the grave of the founder of Zionism, becoming the first pope to do so, a gesture of support to Israel after several symbolic signals the day before that lent a spiritual lift to Palestinian aspirations for sovereignty. At the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Francis added to his marathon morning […]
A Dubai-based startup has raised $1.6 million in new funding to help launch its software that better connects social media users and the brands they follow. Brndstr Inc. (pronounced ‘brandster’) uses software that allows the brand’s Twitter accounts to automatically respond to #hashtags with offers and vouchers. For example, if a Twitter user retweets a brand’s tweet, then that user can automatically be sent a voucher giving […]
Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister Cameron. Photo: AFP Tory MPs may have agreed not to panic in the light of Ukip’s big win, but that doesn’t mean David Cameron isn’t going to come under a huge amount of pressure from them in the coming days and weeks to do something, anything, to show he’s got the message. One of their demands is bound to be that the […]
A full-size replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza is seen in Shijiazhuang, north China’s Hebei province on May 13, 2014. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images Chinese tourists may have been thrilled about getting their very own Sphinx. Egypt, however, was less than pleased. The country said it planned to file a complaint to Unesco over an imitation Sphinx built in China earlier this year because it “harms the […]
JERUSALEM — Pope Francis met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres Monday as he wrapped up his three-day trip to the Middle East. Netanyahu told the pope why he believes Israel needed to build a separation barrier around the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Israeli prime minister said that when incitement and terror against Israel ends, there will not be a need […]
JERUSALEM — Pope Francis met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres Monday as he wrapped up his three-day trip to the Middle East. Netanyahu told the pope why he believes Israel needed to build a separation barrier around the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Israeli prime minister said that when incitement and terror against Israel ends, there will not be a need […]
