Dubai / Emirates Business Maritime professionals attending Seatrade Maritime Middle East 2016 (SMME), have been discussing the ramifications of the new International Maritime Organization (IMO) 0.5% sulphur cap which comes into force in 2020 and could push the price of fuel used to operate ships (bunker prices), by more than US$200 a tonne – a 70% increase. Essentially from …

Dubai / Emirates Business Global shipping, logistics and marine services provider GAC Group is celebrating a double success after being honoured at both The Maritime Standard Awards 2016 and the Seatrade Maritime Awards 2016 for the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent and Africa. GAC was named the Ship Agent of the Year at The Maritime Standard Awards 2016, recognising it as …

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business A state-of-the-art Etihad Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner touched down in Johannesburg on Tuesday after its inaugural flight from Abu Dhabi. Etihad Airways flight EY604 took off from Abu Dhabi at 10.15am and arrived on schedule at 4.45pm local time. The return flight EY603 departed Johannesburg at 7.50pm, touching down Abu Dhabi on schedule at …

  DUBAI / Emirates Business UNIKAI Foods PJSC, one of the largest dairy food companies in the Arabian Peninsula, entered into an exclusive three-year partnership with Etihad Airways. Valued at AED14.4 million, the agreement makes UNIKAI the sole supplier of long-life juices across the airline’s premier guest lounges and all flight classes. Speaking on the synergy, Neeraj Vohra, CEO, UNIKAI …

  ABU DHABI / Emirates Business HIMSS Analytics has announced that Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of Mubadala’s network of world-class healthcare providers, has achieved the HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Record Adoption ModelSM (EMRAMSM) Stage 7, an international benchmark for the use of advanced IT to improve patient care. Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi is the first UAE healthcare facility, and …

  Athens / AFP Russia seeks “honest cooperation” for a political solution in Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday as Moscow declared a brief truce in the war-ravaged city of Aleppo. “We hope our partners will draw (the) necessary conclusions (so that) we will all aim for honest cooperation… for a political process involving both the government and opposition …

  Moscow / AFP Amnesty International said on Wednesday that Russian authorities had sealed off its office in Moscow and changed the locks with no warning or explanation. “Staff found the office was sealed around 10 am (0700 GMT). The organisation had not received any warning and the premises was sealed in their absence,” the rights group wrote on its website. …

Ankara/ AFP Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi of weakness as tensions rose on Wednesday after Ankara deployed tanks and artillery near Iraq. Abadi had warned Ankara not to provoke a confrontation and said any invasion would see Iraq’s northern neighbour repelled after Turkey sent the 30-vehicle convoy to the southeastern district of Silopi on Tuesday. …

  Calais / AFP French authorities on Wednesday started moving out the remaining 1,500 unaccompanied children living next to the razed “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais to shelters around the country. A first bus carrying 43 minors left the area around 8:30 am (0730 GMT) for the southwest, rapidly followed by a second one. More than 30 buses have been …

  Kiev / AFP Ukraine said on Wednesday it no longer had conscripted soldiers fighting pro-Russian insurgents for the first time since a conflict that has claimed nearly 10,000 lives began in April 2014. The announcement by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko comes as the former Soviet republic tries to form a fully professional army that can conform to NATO standards …