Bloomberg As world leaders commemorate a century since the war that was supposed to end all wars, a conflict on Europe’s eastern periphery is getting more deeply entrenched. The breakaway region of Donbas in eastern Ukraine will hold elections on Sunday, the same day as the World War I Armistice event in Paris. Separatists backed by Russia are seeking to ...

Bloomberg Bangladesh will go to the polls on December 23 amid increasingly bitter tensions between the ruling Awami League and the opposition alliance, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina looking to extend her nearly 10-year rule. Chief Election Commissioner K.M. Nurul Huda announced the election road map despite opposition calls to defer the poll until their leader, former prime minister Khaleda ...

Bloomberg Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena dissolved the island nation’s parliament and called for a snap general election amid mounting pressure to prove a majority in the house supports his newly appointed prime minister. The 225-seat parliament was dissolved at midnight and a new one will meet on January 17 after a vote on January 5, according to a presidential ...

Bloomberg China and the US should discuss ways to avoid accidental conflict, Defense Minister Wei Fenghe told his US counterpart, Defense Secretary James Mattis, at a meeting in Washington, after an incident between the two countries’ navies last month. The Chinese and US military forces should “properly manage risks, discuss ways to avoid accidental conflicts and let military relations serve ...

Bloomberg Fanned by hot, dry winds, wildfires north of San Francisco and near Los Angeles have forced the evacuation of more than 215,000 people, including in Malibu, the coastal enclave of the rich and famous. The fires have grown to about 131,000 acres overall and threaten to destroy tens of thousands of structures, according to the California Department of Forestry ...

Dubai / WAM The UAE has made a new leap in the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), according to the recent Global Competitiveness Report issued by the World Economic Forum (Davos) 2018, where the country has advanced 18 places in “ICT Adoption” from 24th to 6th place in the world. This theme measures the efficiency of the telecommunications sector in countries ...

SHARJAH / WAM Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, Humanitarian Envoy of The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), and Chairman of Sharjah Media Corporation (SMC), opened the hospital built by The Big Heart Foundation in collaboration with the Medicines Sans Frontieres – Doctors without Borders, in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. The AED3 million hospital aims to offer lifesaving aid and ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Abu Dhabi City Municipality (ADM), made a new achievement by winning the “World Smart City Award for the Fastest Growing Practices”, presented by the German Sigfox Connect Company in Berlin. The awards attracted the participation of 52 countries from all over the world. Sami Abdul Qadir Al Hashimi, Manager of Technical Support for Infrastructure, and ...

Dubai / WAM The first of the new Dubai Metro trains had arrived in the emirate, with a total of 50 to be delivered by the end of October 2019. Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), said the first train has been transported to the Metro Depot at Rashidiya. ”The manufacturer, Alstom, will ...

Sharjah / WAM Noura bint Mohammed Al Kaabi, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development, inaugurated the Middle East’s first graphic design Biennial, and the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), region. Over the course of the next 21 days, the UAE’s fictitious “Ministry of Graphic Design” will introduce visitors to the best and most ground-breaking graphic designs ...