Near Fallujah / AFP Iraqi forces battled the IS group on Monday in the opening stages of an operation to retake Fallujah, one of the toughest targets yet in Baghdad’s war against the extremists. As Iraqi forces struck targets in and around the extremist bastion, which saw deadly battles in 2004 between insurgents and American forces, IS claimed bombings ...

The raw Sunni recruits in crisp camouflage uniforms, popping off rounds at the firing range at a US training camp here, illustrate the dilemma for the US as it seeks to form a strong military force to drive the IS from its capital, Raqqah. The US could try to build the Sunni army it would want, ideally, to capture Raqqah, ...

  Greek lawmakers were pragmatic when they took the painful decision on Sunday to approve unpopular tax increases, a new privatisation fund, and free up sale of non-performing loans in exchange for much-needed bailout loans and debt relief. They will hit Greeks where it hurts, with increases in value added tax by one point to 24 per cent, more tax ...

  Christopher Flavelle There may now be more campaigns devoted to selling a carbon tax than there are members of US Congress willing to support one. It’s unclear whether this shows progress toward an economy-wide price on carbon or how very far away it remains. The latest effort is the Climate Leadership Council, run by Ted Halstead, founder of the ...

  A new study by researchers at Harvard University estimates that Chinese government employees fabricate 488 million social media posts each year. As the first rigorous analysis of China’s online propaganda machine, the team found that the “Fifty Cent Party” or Wumao Dang—a derogatory term used to describe contract workers popularly believed to be making fifty cents per post—largely consists ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business For the second year in a row, Smart Dubai Office is partnering with the ArabNet Digital Summit to highlight digital transformation in the public and private sector and the potential for the Smart Economy. “We believe what we are doing today in Dubai will be the platform other cities will learn from,” declared HE Dr. ...

  RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business There is a dire need of creating a new financial paradigm in the Middle East in order to diversify economies and end the dependence on oil. Experts are suggesting a well-thought-of-change in monetary policies to strengthen GCC economies by an increased participation of private sector and retention of human capital in the region. This ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Dubai Courts has launched its Annual Report 2015, reflecting a significant improvement in the performance of the three courts; namely, First Instance, Appeal and Court of Cassation and a remarkable progress in Dubai Government’s Unified Customer Complaints’ Portal, smart transformation, and Emiratization. It also achieved the targets of its Operational Plan 2015 which aimed to ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Al Najah Education Limited, a leading education investment company, has acquired a majority stake in Brooklyn Melodies Music Centre (BMMC), further expanding the firm’s education investment portfolio in the MENA and Southeast Asia regions, the key markets in which the company operates. As part of the deal, the two founding shareholders of BMMC will remain ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business UAE-based multinationals will start to feel the impact of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) proposals that come into effect this year, a KPMG seminar on international tax developments has revealed. The BEPS proposals are focused on mitigating tax planning strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits ...