ABU DHABI (BLOOMBERG) – The United Arab Emirates reported fewer than 100 coronavirus cases on Sunday (Oct 17) for the first time since March 2020, days after its de facto ruler declared the crisis over. The Gulf nation registered 99 new cases, down nearly 95 per cent since August. The dwindling daily infection rate, combined […]

TEL AVIV (AFP) – Drone powerhouse Israel is translating the know-how of air force veterans to the delivery of sushi and ice-cream, as companies tap their expertise to avoid collisions in increasingly crowded skies. On a grassy stretch of a Tel Aviv beachfront, three drones flew above shiny high-rises this week, propellers buzzing as they […]

TUNIS, TUNISIA (NYTIMES) – For roughly three months after Tunisians toppled their dictator in January 2011 in an eruption of protest that electrified the Arab world, Ali Bousselmi felt nothing but “pure happiness.” The decade that followed, during which Tunisians adopted a new constitution, gained freedom of speech and voted in free and fair elections, […]

It has been six years since an Iranian American business consultant, and later his father, were arrested in Iran and they remain there despite efforts by three White House administrations to secure their release. Now the father, Baquer Namazi, an 84-year-old retired Unicef official, is described by his family as facing a possibly imminent death. […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – Seven more people were killed in Oman as heavy winds and rain swept through the country after tropical storm Shaheen made landfall, the national emergency committee said on Monday (Oct 4) on its official Twitter account. Four people had been killed on Sunday including a child. Latest data showed that the storm […]

DOHA (REUTERS) – Qataris voted on Saturday (Oct 2) in the Gulf Arab state’s first legislative elections for two-thirds of the advisory Shura Council, a process that has stirred domestic debate about electoral inclusion and citizenship. Turnout for the election of 30 members of the 45-seat body was 44 per cent, the elections’ Supervisory Committee […]

DUBAI (REUTERS) – Iran started military exercises near its border with Azerbaijan on Friday (Oct 1) as tensions between the two neighbours rose over issues including Baku’s relations with Teheran’s arch-enemy Israel. Iranian state media said the exercises involved armoured and artillery units, as well as drones and helicopters. They kicked off near the Poldasht […]

DOHA (AFP) – Qatar and the European Union’s (EU) top diplomats on Thursday (Sept 30) labelled a recent string of human rights abuses in Afghanistan “disappointing”, with Doha encouraging the Taliban to look to Qatar for how to run an Islamic system. The Taliban publicly strung up four alleged kidnappers from cranes in Herat last […]

DOHA (AFP) – Qataris are gearing up for inaugural legislative polls on Saturday (Oct 1) that are a symbolic democratic step for the autocratic Gulf region, but are unlikely to alter the monarchy’s balance of power. The Oct 2 election is for 30 members of the 45-strong Shura Council, a body with limited powers that […]

BEIRUT (REUTERS) – Prime Minister Najib Mikati will meet with the advisory firm Lazard soon to see how a financial recovery plan it drafted for Lebanon could be developed into a”more realistic” vision for getting the country out of its crisis, he said on Monday (Sept 27). Mikati also said Lebanon would be very lucky […]