Abu Dhabi / Emirates Business Residents of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can now apply for visas to Belgium at a new visa application centre launched in Abu Dhabi. The centre was inaugurated by HE Dominique Mineur, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi is the second city in the Middle East, after ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Land Department (DLD) launched the latest edition of its ‘Trakheesi System’. The edition reflects the continuous efforts made by Dubai Land Department to improve its services, with the introduction of reliable and rapid procedures that will support customers, and promote the use of smart services provided to real estate companies, individuals and investors. The ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Heart of Sharjah – one of the largest heritage-focussed project in the region – has announced that it has extended its ‘Al Basta’ market at Souq AI Shanasiyah to March 31. Initially scheduled to end on January 7, the new extension reflects on the growing turnout from the public and tourists, enjoying an authentic experience ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate’s dedicated entity for culture, arts and heritage, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dubai Airports to provide reading opportunities for passengers in airport arrival and departure lounges. The project is due for completion by March 2017, to coincide with the UAE’s National Month of Reading. ...

  Bloomberg US intelligence officials have informed President-elect Donald Trump about unsubstantiated reports they’ve received that the Russian government had compiled potentially damaging personal and financial information on him, a person familiar with the situation said. CNN reported earlier on Tuesday that as part of a briefing on Russian attempts to meddle in the presidential election, US spy chiefs included ...

  Beirut / AP Airstrikes in the northern Syrian province of Idlib killed at least 10 suspected al-Qaida-linked militants in Syria on Wednesday, the latest in a spate of targeted attacks against the group, activists said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 10 were killed when missiles struck two vehicles and three motorcycles in the airstrike in Saraqib, ...

  JERUSALEM / AP Israeli Arab leaders have called for a general strike in all their towns and villages in response to the demolition of 11 homes without proper permits by Israeli authorities. Lawmaker Yousef Jabareen on Wednesday called the demolition in the central city of Kalansua “unprecedented” and vowed to fight further measures. He said the source of the ...

  SKIEN / AP A government attorney says that Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in a bomb-and-shooting rampage, is in touch with fellow right-wing extremists from behind bars and must to be held in solitary confinement. During a government appeal against a court ruling last year that Breivik’s isolation in prison violates his human rights, ...

  Bloomberg Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s appointment of his son as a senior adviser may be a move to stem dissent in the governing party and prepare a successor to his 30-year rule. Museveni, who secured a fifth term in a 2016 vote, named Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the 42-year-old head of an elite military group, as his adviser for special operations. ...

  GENEVA / AP Talks to reunify long-divided Cyprus are on track to overcome major obstacles that have stood in the way of a peace accord for decades, the United Nations envoy for Cyprus said on Wednesday. But an immediate deal won’t be in the offing since important legal and technical details will have to be sorted out before an ...