Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai’s Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) has updated its regulations surrounding holiday homes to become more competitive, with the most significant amendments positively impacting individual owners and better enhancing the emirate’s holiday home segment through greater transparency, safety, standardisation and competitiveness. Under the new resolution, private home owners can apply for a holiday ...

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the UAE Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, the Environment and Protected Areas Authority in Sharjah (EPAA) honoured the winners of the 4th Sharjah Sustainability Award 2016. The award ceremony was held at the Sharjah Cultural Palace, on Thursday, and ...

  Umm Al Quwain / Emirates Business The Government of Umm Al Quwain and Sobha Group, a leading luxury real estate developer, announced the launch of “Firdous Sobha”, an integrated world-class resort and residential island development in Umm Al Quwain. Aimed at setting new heights in destination living, the agreement will see the two parties collaborate to develop an island ...

  Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business Abu Dhabi-based National Central Cooling Company, Tabreed announced an increase in its 2016 first quarter results. Tabreed has witnessed a robust growth of 4 percent and posted AED63 million in their quarterly financial results. Considering the financial performance of the company, it seems to continue its drive towards strong and effective operations across the ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Mashreq ‘Salaam Rewards’ Customer Loyalty Program by Mashreq, UAE’s leading financial institution, was awarded two of the top awards for its continued efforts to offer enhanced customer experience; “Best Customer Experience Initiative” award at this year’s MEFTECH Innovation Awards – one of the MENA regions’ largest and most prestigious financial innovation gatherings and “Best Customer ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF) – a member of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Global Initiatives – announced the expansion of its knowledge initiatives and projects to consolidate its efforts in the dissemination, transfer and localization of knowledge in the region. The enhanced initiatives were unveiled in line with the announcement of His Highness ...

BEIRUT / AP A wave of nighttime airstrikes hit a hospital in Syria supported by Doctors Without Borders and nearby buildings in the rebel-held part of the contested city of Aleppo, killing at least 38 people as the UN envoy for Syria appealed early Thursday on the US and Russia to help revive the peace talks and a cease-fire, which ...

  Paris / AFP A highly contested EU deal with Turkey may not be ideal, but it is the only solution to stem the migration crisis, the bloc’s Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides said on Thursday. The deal in which Turkey agrees to take back certain migrants fleeing to Greece in exchange for visa-free travel in the EU has angered member ...

  BRUSSELS / AP Turkey’s crackdown on the media and reported human rights abuses are pushing the country further away from Europe even as it hopes to join the European Union, a senior EU official said on Thursday. European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans told EU lawmakers that “the distance between us and Turkey is not decreasing, it is increasing.” “If ...

  Rome / AFP Italy and Austria were set for showdown talks on Thursday as Italian politicians and media reacted furiously to Vienna’s new anti-migrant measures that could close the border between the two countries. Austrian Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka, who has vigorously defended the controversial package which was driven by a surge of the far right, was due in ...