Kandahar /AFP The Taliban stormed into Tarin Kot on Thursday, triggering heavy fighting around government buildings as panicked residents scrambled to flee the capital of southern Uruzgan province, the latest city to be targeted by insurgents. Pitched battles prompted urgent calls from officials for reinforcements and air support, after the militants toppled security posts on the outskirts to breach …

  The Hague/ AFP A Dutch MP caused on a storm Thursday after he refused to shake hands with Benjamin Netanyahu during the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to parliament. On the second and final day of a trip to The Netherlands, Netanyahu met Wednesday with top Dutch politicians at the parliament building in The Hague. But as the Israeli leader …

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Design Week’s popular exhibition Abwab will return to this year’s program, festival organizers have announced. A showcase of emerging and established creative talent from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA) region, Abwab (‘doors’ in Arabic) will showcase entirely new work from designers and studios from Algeria, Bahrain, India, Iraq, Palestine and …

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Twenty orphan children got their wishes fulfilled after Knowledge without Boarders’ (KwB) response to ‘Sidreh of Wishes’ initiative that was launched by the Sharjah Social Empowerment Foundation. ‘Sidreh of Wishes’ saw KwB distribute personal items designed to help the youngsters in their learning endeavours, as well as be of practical assistance in other areas of …

  Sharjah / Emirates Business Students from the Middle East and North Africa will, for the first time, took part in the second edition of the cross-cultural SAWA Summer School initiative, held recently at the Sharjah Museum of Islamic Civilization. A joint collaboration between Sharjah Museums Department, Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, Staatliche Museen Berlin – Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz and University of …

  Bloomberg It will be too early for Iran to discuss freezing crude output when the world’s biggest producers meet later this month in Algiers, according to an official from the Persian Gulf nation’s state-oil company. Iran will be ready to decide on capping production once output reaches the level it was before international sanctions were imposed on the country, …

  Reuters Oil advanced as weekly industry data showed U.S. crude inventories declined, trimming supplies that are at the highest seasonal level in at least 30 years. Futures climbed as much as 2.2 percent in New York after rising 5.4 percent the previous three sessions. Crude stockpiles fell by 12.1 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said …

  Reuters Iraq has given fellow OPEC members the level of crude production at which it would be prepared to freeze output, according to the top official at the state oil marketing company. The second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries could support a freeze “for a certain period,” Falah Al-Amri, the director general of Iraq’s Oil Marketing …

Reuters Algeria’s government plans to slash spending by 14 percent in 2017, after a 9 percent cut this year, seeking to adjust to lower energy revenues, according to a government official. It is also considering increasing subsidised gasoline and diesel prices for a second straight year to rein in rising domestic consumption and lower the import bill, the official said. …

  Bloomberg Egypt’s annual inflation rate accelerated to 15.5% in August, driven to its highest level in at least seven years by the weakening of the currency and an increase in electricity prices. Consumer prices rose 1.9 percent in the month, according to data published by the state-run CAPMAS statistics agency. Food and beverage prices, which account for the largest …