Abu Dhabi / WAM The United Arab Emirates (UAE) took the top spot in the Middle East and ranked 8th globally in the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom, released by the US-based Heritage Foundation. The UAE made incredible progress compared with the 2016 Index, which came second in the Middle East and ranked 25th globally. The UAE advanced a whopping ...

  Canberra / WAM Dr Obaid Al Hairi Salem Al Ketbi, UAE Ambassador to Australia, and Christopher Pyne, Australian Minister for Defence Industry, have met at the Australian parliament to discuss bilateral and military relations between their two countries, with a focus on ways of promoting these relations in the area of defence industries. They explored coordination and cooperation between the ...

  Dubai / WAM The Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai received 27,027 consumer complaints in 2016, an increase of 23 percent compared to the 21,896 complaints received during the previous year. On an average the Ahlan Dubai call centre (600 54 5555) of DED received 2,252 complaints monthly as continued awareness campaigns by DED led to better understanding of ...

  MUNICH / AP Vice President Mike Pence vowed on Saturday that the United States will “hold Russia accountable” even as President Donald Trump searches for new common ground with Moscow at the start of his presidency. Pence, in an address to the Munich Security Conference, also offered assurances to European allies that the US “strongly supports” NATO. He said ...

  Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE’s multi-billion dollar fully integrated national railway network, has since commencing Stage One operations, transported 10 million tonnes of granulated sulphur for the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) as of February 10, from sources at Shah and Habshan to its point of export at Ruwais. ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Land Department (DLD) announced that its work on Dubai’s Building Classification project is now being carried out at an accelerated pace, with the organisation expecting to complete its survey of all buildings across the Emirate this year. The announcement came following Dubai Land Department achieving a 50% classification rate for all Dubai properties, with ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced that a high-level panel of judges is scheduled to meet on Sunday to select the winners of the 9th cycle of the annual Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum (MRM) Business Award and the 1st cycle of the MRM Business Innovation Award. The high-profile awards ceremony, organised by Dubai ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business After assessing hundreds of pieces of art from children around the world, the Organising Committee of the fifth edition of Sharjah Children Biennial (SCB) announced the winners in each of its three categories of Environment, Architecture Design, and Fantasy & Reality. The biennial had received entries from 1,663 children from around the globe, only 785 ...

  Bloomberg As the clock ticks toward a takeover deadline, Kraft Heinz Co. faces an uphill battle getting Unilever to negotiate. Publicly, the company has decried Kraft’s $143 billion buyout offer as lacking merit and said there was no basis for further talks. Behind the scenes, Unilever executives have fretted over Kraft’s penchant for slashing costs and lack of vision ...

  Bloomberg AT&T Inc. and Time Warner Inc. promised lawmakers who criticized their planned merger that the combined company wouldn’t withhold programming from rivals to gain a market advantage. “Restricting distribution of Time Warner content would not only sacrifice revenues, but also damage Time Warner’s reputation and relationships in the entertainment industry,” the companies told the lawmakers, according to a ...