Dubai / WAM The Emirates Development Bank (EDB) approved an estimated budget of AED1.5 billion for 2017 to finance housing loans for Emirati citizens and to help establish small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The decision was taken during the EDB’s 10th board meeting in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The budget allocates AED750 million for housing loans for Emirati citizens …

  ABU DHABI / WAM Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, said that the announcement of President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, naming 2017 as the official ‘Year of Giving’ presents joyful tidings for the UAE and its people. Al Mansouri said, “It ushers in a new year that is set to establish new milestones in …

  DUBAI / WAM Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises and the Al Habtoor Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The MoU constitutes an understanding of collaboration between Al Habtoor Group and Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for SME Development where the Al Habtoor Group will give priority business to members of Dubai SME proving they can …

  Belgrade / AFP Aleksa Konstantinov was one the brightest maths students in Serbia this year but like many Balkan youngsters he immediately left for a US university after finishing school. Bosnian neurologist Sanina Babic Ribic was either laughed at or told she needed “political or some other support” to get a job after she graduated. She moved to Germany …

  Soroti / AFP When power goes out in the rural town of Soroti in eastern Uganda, store manager Hussein Samsudin can only hope it won’t go on so long it spoils his fresh goods. Another shop owner, Richard Otekat, 37, has to pay a neighbour hourly to use his generator during blackouts as he can’t afford to buy one himself, …

  Dubai / WAM In implement to the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai on Sunday directed the formation of the Higher National Committee for the Year of Giving initiative, which would include five Ministers as members and …

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The UAE, led by President His Highness, continues its confident progress to further bolster its humanitarian and economic leadership, while embracing generous giving as an approach, said His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Saturday. The declaration of 2017 as …

  Abu Dhabi / WAM A new council has been formed to reinforce the UAE’s policies and strategies on climate change, environmental and sustainable development. The UAE Council for Climate Change and Environment was constituted on Sunday by Dr. Thani Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment through a Ministerial Decision No (795) of 2016. The council will develop …

  Abu Dhabi / WAM Zayed Giving Initiative (ZGI) launched the world’s first state-of-the-art mobile city for humanitarian and charitable work as part of a series of initiatives it plans to roll out in the Year of Giving in 2017. “The word’s first makeshift city for humanitarian work was launched in consistence with President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s …

  Bob Gates has worked in senior national-security positions for the last five presidents, Republican and Democratic. So it’s noteworthy — and to me, encouraging — that he is advising President-elect Donald Trump, too. Gates, a former defense secretary, CIA director and deputy national security adviser, spoke with me by telephone on Wednesday about the advice he’s giving Trump and …