DUBAI / WAM HH Sheikh Mansour bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC) unveiled the first ‘Smart Lounge’ of the Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) to strengthen customer service standards and to ensure round-the-clock access to DED’s business registration and licensing services. Dedicated user-friendly and interactive kiosks and smart devices are …

  Saddha Batolni / AFP A Pakistani plane carrying 48 people crashed on Wednesday in the country’s mountainous north and burst into flames killing everyone on board, authorities said, in one of the deadliest aviation accidents in the country’s history. Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Flight PK661 came down while travelling from the city of Chitral to Islamabad, the civil aviation …

  Bangkok / AFP Thai authorities are investigating the BBC over a Thai-language profile of the nation’s new king, officials said on Wednesday, after the article outraged ultra-royalists in a country where criticism of the monarchy is outlawed. Thailand’s harsh royal defamation law has been used to jail scores of critics and spawned a culture of self-censorship across the media, academia …