Dubai / Emirates Business The adoption of value added tax (VAT) by the GCC countries represents a major shift in tax policy that will impact all segments of the economy and lead to a fundamental change in the way businesses operate across around the region. According to EY, the VAT of 5% is expected to produce revenues of over ...

  SHARJAH / WAM Sharjah has successfully sounded out increased opportunities for doing business with Far East Asia following the participation of ‘Invest in Sharjah’ at two key summits. An initiative of the Sharjah FDI Office, Invest in Sharjah took part in events in both South Korea and Shanghai to introduce businesspersons in two of Asia’s strongest economies to the emirate’s ...

  Dubai / WAM The Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange, DGCX, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society (CGSE) in Hong Kong. As leading markets for precious metals trading, this collaboration will enable both DGCX and CGSE to deepen their penetration into emerging markets and further develop the precious metals markets in Asia ...

  Dubai / WAM High-school graduates employed by the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) Group will be trained through a technical work readiness programme for the oil and gas industry under an agreement between ENOC, a wholly owned entity of the Government of Dubai, and the Higher Colleges of Technology’s Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT). The one-year ...

  DUBAI / WAM For the seventh time, Dubai Customs (DC) has received one of the most prestigious awards from Ideas UK Association, acquiring Platinum Accreditation by scoring 100 percent for the fourth year in a row. “The Android Inspector” idea, developed by Dubai Customs, won ‘Idea of the Year 2016’. Additionally, the Elderly and VIP Clearance Buggy won the ...

  Aleppo / AFP The Syrian army captured a major district of Aleppo on Monday from rebel fighters, now confined to a small pocket of their former bastion in the city’s east. President Bashar al-Assad’s forces held more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition stronghold, a monitor said, and appeared on the verge of retaking the whole city. The fall ...

  Dubai / AFP Bahrain’s appeals court on Monday upheld a nine-year jail sentence against opposition chief Sheikh Ali Salman, a judicial source said. The sentence against Salman, for inciting hatred and calling for regime change by force, had been overturned by the court of cassation in October. Salman, 51, is considered a moderate who has pushed for a constitutional monarchy ...

  Khartoumi / AFP Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir vowed on Monday to brutally crush anti-regime protests, warning the authorities will crack down on demonstrators as they did in 2013 when dozens were killed during clashes. Bashir’s warning came as opposition activists issued a new call to hold a two-day nationwide strike next week against a government decision to cut fuel subsidies ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey arrested nearly 200 officials from a pro-Kurdish party and struck Kurdish militants in Iraq on Monday in response to this weekend’s twin bombings claimed by a radical Kurd separatist group. The toll from Saturday’s attacks, which struck an Istanbul football stadium and a nearby park, rose to 44 on Monday, Health Minister Recep Akdag said. Turkish ...

  Cairo / AFP Grief-stricken mourners gathered in Cairo on Monday for the funeral of 24 people killed when a blast tore through a Coptic church, in the deadliest attack on Egypt’s Christian minority. Wooden coffins, each bearing a cross, were covered with the Egyptian flag and lined up at the Saint Mary and Saint Athanasuis Coptic Orthodox Church in Nasr ...