Bloomberg Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi arrived in Mosul to declare it liberated from IS, three years after the city’s abrupt fall to the extremists alerted the world to the group’s growing strength, territorial ambitions and barbarity. Al-Abadi congratulated the Iraqi people and fighters on a “great victory” after the last pockets under IS control were retaken, according to a ...

Dubai / Emirates Business Despite the short-term challenges posed by global macroeconomic factors across the GCC, the region’s tourism and hospitality industry remains on an upward trajectory as govern- ments recognize the potential of the sector in enabling revenue diversification and job creation, and actively invest in its development. Set to be worth $36.7 billion by 2020 according to Euromonitor ...

Dubai / WAM A steppingstone for a unified clearing house in the UAE has been laid by the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), and Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX) to accelerate growth and development of the UAE financial markets and raise the bar in terms of trading and clearing standards. This came through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) ADX ...

Dubai / WAM In line with Dubai Tourism’s vision of attracting 20 million visitors per year by 2020, Atlantis, The Palm, has announced a US$100 million refurbishment programme across Atlantis, The Palm, as well as an expansion with the brands second property, The Royal Atlantis Resort and Residencies also located on The Palm. Atlantis, The Palm shares impressive results during ...

Dubai / WAM The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has completed its preparations to launch the second phase of the unified electronic system ‘Salama’. The second phase, which will be launched in August, includes Dubai Hospital, Dubai Diabetes Centre, the Family Gathering Centre and all Primary Health Care Centres. The Salama project, which was launched under the patronage of HH Sheikh ...

ABU DHABI / WAM The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC), has announced the voluntary recall of 2,363 products in 21 categories including toys, electrical appliances, cosmetics, cigarettes and tobacco products. The recall was an outcome of inspection campaigns on controlled products carried out in the first half of 2017 during which QCC inspectors examined a total of 36,291 ...

Donald Trump’s foreign policy, such as it is, rests on a massive and apparently indestructible contradiction. Trump wants the United States to remain the ‘essential’ nation, the best embodiment of Western ideals of freedom and democracy, while at the same time deliberately alienating many of our traditional ‘allies,’ whose support the United States desperately needs. American leadership becomes difficult, if ...

It’s hard to catch a breath in Brazil. Just the other day President Michel Temer dodged a brick, surviving potentially job-ending charges in electoral court that he’d won his mandate with dirty campaign money. Political bulls promptly declared Temer a survivor who would not only salvage vital political and economic reforms but also tough out his beleaguered presidency. But in ...

For leaders as well as friends, spouses and colleagues, grace is a precious characteristic. Whatever one thinks of Donald Trump’s policy choices, our nation has never had a president more lacking in grace. Whether or not Abraham Lincoln was the greatest American president, he was certainly its most gracious. On the eve of victory, Lincoln avoided triumphalism or crowing. Instead ...

North Korea’s test of an intercontinental ballistic missile changes the strategic landscape in Asia — yet the options for dealing with Pyongyang are as ugly as ever. The overriding need is to exploit these limited possibilities more thoroughly and creatively. The Hwasong-14 ballistic missile launched earlier this week could be capable of reaching Alaska, and a missile that can hit ...