DUBAI (BLOOMBERG) – Dubai has ordered hotels and restaurants to put all entertainment activities on hold and is asking hospitals to cancel elective surgical procedures amid the biggest surge in coronavirus cases in the United Arab Emirates since the start of the pandemic. Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing ordered a temporary halt to all entertainment […]

ISTANBUL (REUTERS) – Ankara has imposed advertising bans on Twitter, Periscope and Pinterest after they failed to appoint local representatives in Turkey under a new social media law, according to decisions published on Tuesday (Jan 19). Under the law, which critics say stifles dissent, social media companies that do not appoint such representatives are liable […]

EL HUSSEINEYA, Egypt (NYTIMES) – A cry pierced the night from the balcony of an Egyptian hospital. A nurse was screaming that the patients in the Covid-19 intensive care unit were gasping for air. Ahmed Nafei, who was standing outside, brushed past a security guard, dashed in and saw that his 62-year-old aunt was dead. […]

DUBAI (BLOOMBERG) – Abu Dhabi’s government-run oil company is teaming up with two of its sovereign wealth funds to turn the petroleum-rich emirate into an exporter of blue and green hydrogen. Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (Adnoc) formed an alliance with Mubadala Investment Co and ADQ to produce hydrogen from renewable energy, known as green […]

ISRAEL (REUTERS) – Working in close quarters, surrounded by maps of the Middle East, a small team based in Israel’s foreign ministry are focusing their sights on the Arab world. Their mission: using social media to convince Arabs to embrace the Jewish state. The team is spearheading an Arabic-language campaign via platforms such as Facebook, […]

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to appear in court on Feb 8 after his trial for corruption was delayed due to a coronavirus lockdown, judges said on Monday (Jan 11). Netanyahu’s trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust began last May, with the premier being excused from subsequent hearings as his […]

DOHA (AFP) – Air travel between Qatar and Saudi Arabia will resume on Monday (Jan 11), according to the countries’ airlines, a major milestone as Doha’s former rivals normalise ties under a landmark agreement. Saudi Arabia and its allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in June 2017 slapped a blockade on Qatar that […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – Iran said on Sunday (Jan 10) that South Korea should avoid politicising the seizure of its vessel by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Gulf, Iranian state media reported, while pressing Seoul to release US$7 billion (S$9.29 billion) in funds frozen amid US sanctions. South Korea’s vice-foreign minister Choi Jong-kun arrived in Teheran […]

BEIRUT (AFP) – Islamic State group fighters killed at least seven regime loyalists in eastern Syria on Saturday (Jan 9), the latest in a series of deadly jihadist attacks, a Britain-based war monitor reported. “Seven members of the National Defence Forces, a pro-regime militia, were killed in clashes with an IS sleeper cell” in the […]

GAZA CITY, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES (AFP) – The densely populated Gaza Strip has long lacked sufficient drinking water, but a new project helps ease the shortage with a solar-powered process to extract potable water straight from the air. Unusually, the project operating in the Islamist-run Palestinian enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2007, is […]