Dubai / WAM Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) registered 255,000 client-servicing transactions last year ranging from face to face client servicing in the branches, telephone calls and e-mail correspondences. This is represents a breakthrough in the use of modern methods and techniques in managing day to day queries and transactions at Empower as the company has accommodated the increasing ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Wednesday appointed his wife Sheikha Hind bint Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the UAE Food Bank, an initiative he launched on the occasion of the 11th anniversary of his accession ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) is all set for the pilot phase of including moral education as a subject in the curricula of public and private schools in the emirate, which begins in the second semester of the current school year. Moral education is being introduced to schools following the directives of His Highness Sheikh ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Sharjah Investment and Development Authority (Shurooq)’s bold plans to boost the economy of Sharjah will be outlined at the Second Sharjah Forum, which is being held on Sunday, January 8 at Mleiha Archaeological and Eco-tourism destination, kick starting from 9:00am until 3:30pm. Titled ‘The Future of Sharjah,’ the event is being hosted under the patronage ...

  ISTANBUL / AP Turkey has identified the gunman in the Istanbul nightclub massacre, the foreign minister said on Wednesday as the president vowed that the country won’t surrender to terrorists or become divided. The gunman, who killed 39 people during New Year’s celebrations at the Reina club, is still at large. But Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said authorities had identified ...

  BEIRUT / AP Turkey warned on Wednesday that repeated cease-fire violations by Syria’s government were threatening peace talks scheduled for later this month. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the talks in Kazakhstan were scheduled for January 23, to be preceded by preparatory meetings between Turkish and Russian “experts”in Turkey. The Syrian government and allied militias have pressed on with ...

  BEIJING / AP An official allegedly shot and injured two leaders of a city in southwestern China on Wednesday as the pair held a meeting in a conference center, and later killed himself, local authorities said. The suspect entered the venue where the Communist Party chief and mayor of Panzhihua city in Sichuan province were meeting and shot continuously ...

  TEL AVIV / AP An Israeli soldier was convicted of manslaughter on Wednesday in the deadly shooting of an incapacitated Palestinian attacker, capping a nine-month saga that has deeply divided the country. The verdict, which marks an extremely rare instance of an Israeli military court siding against a soldier over lethal action taken in the field, threatened to deepen the ...

  Bloomberg India’s Election Commission announced poll dates for five states—including Uttar Pradesh, a politically crucial election that will gauge the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of his disruptive cash ban move. Uttar Pradesh, a bellwether state of 200 million people that sends more representatives to India’s upper house than any other region, will vote in ...

  DUBAI / AP An Arab separatist group has claimed two pipeline bombings in Iran’s oil-rich south and threatened to launch more attacks in the coming year as the country tries to boost production following the nuclear deal with world powers. Iranian state media and officials did not immediately comment on the claim by the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation ...