Dubai / WAM To promote road safety in the UAE, the UPS Foundation has announced an initial grant and in-kind commitment of more than US$40,000 to the Emirates Foundation, an independent philanthropic organisation set up by the Abu Dhabi government to facilitate public-private funded initiatives to improve the welfare of youths across the UAE. UPS and Emirates Foundation volunteers will …

  Dubai / WAM Dubai-government owned Emirates National Oil Company Group, ENOC, on Thursday announced that it has appointed a new board of directors for its wholly-owned subsidiary, Dragon Oil. HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, was selected as the company’s new chairman, the company said in a statement. Saeed Mohammed …

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The 10th World Future Energy Summit (WFES) ended on Thursday in Abu Dhabi with strong growth in commercial activity surrounding the event and the number of hosted business meetings surging by more than 60 percent. Hosted by Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, as part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, WFES aims to promote the business …

    Dubai / WAM Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum approved expanding warehouse facilities at the International Humanitarian City (IHC) in response to urgent demand from leading UN and NGO agencies, most notably the Red Crescent, UNHCR, ICRC and the World Food Programme. The approval gives the …

  Dubai / WAM Artists shortlisted for the AED 2.3 million Dubai Canvas 3D Art Award will create and display their stunning 3D artworks at the Dubai Canvas 3D Art Festival to be held in City Walk from March 1-7. The shortlist features an eclectic group of accomplished international 3D artists who bring diverse creative perspectives and technical skills. Dubai Canvas …

  TEHRAN / AP A high-rise building in Tehran engulfed by fire collapsed on Thursday, killing at least 30 firefighters and injuring some 75 people, state media reported. The disaster struck the Plasco building, an iconic structure in central Tehran just north of the Iranian capital’s sprawling bazaar. Firefighters, soldiers and other emergency responders dug through the rubble, looking for survivors. …

  MILAN / AP Rescue workers were met with an eerie silence on Thursday when they reached a four-star spa hotel struck by an avalanche in a mountainous earthquake-stricken region of central Italy. At least 30 people were missing, including at least two children, authorities said. Guests at the three-story Hotel Rigopiano in the central Abruzzo region alerted emergency workers of …

  LUCKNOW / AP A truck loaded with sand collided with a school bus early Thursday, killing at least 24 young children in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, police said. At least two dozen other children were injured when the speeding truck collided head-on with the bus, said Javeed Ahmed, the state’s top police official. The children, between the …

  Bloomberg A day before US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, another pro-Russian president was sworn in far to the east, in NATO member Bulgaria, as questions arise over the future of the alliance amid rising animosity with its Cold-War adversary. Rumen Radev, a 53-year-old, US-trained general, took an oath of office on Thursday in Sofia after defeating the ruling party’s …

  NICOSIA / AP Greece’s president says an insistence by Turkey and Turkish Cypriots on keeping troops and military intervention rights on Cyprus even after the ethnically split island is reunified is “anachronistic” and unacceptable.” President Procopis Pavlopoulos says such positions are contrary to European Union norms and would create “dangerous precedents” if implemented. He said after talks with Cypriot President …