Coihuín / AFP Farmers in southern Chile still remember when they could make a living just by picking up seaweed at the beach. Not just any seaweed, but the red algae used to make agar-agar — a jelly-like substance used in a plethora of products from ice cream to dietary supplements to cosmetics. Chile is one of the world’s ...

  CAIRO / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, held talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi here on Thursday regarding the latest regional and international issues of mutual concern and ways to bolster strategic co-operation. The Abu Dhabi Crown Prince is currently visiting ...

  TIRANA / WAM Sultan Mohammed Majed Al Ali, UAE Ambassador to Greece and Non-resident Ambassador to Albania, discussed on Thursday with Damian Gjiknuri, Albanian Minister of Energy and Industry, how Albania can benefit from the UAE’s experience in renewable energy. The meeting, which took place at the ministry, tackled ways of enhancing bilateral relations in areas of energy and ...

  DUBAI / WAM Hospitality industry in Gulf region remains firm on its growth trajectory with projects worth $23.5 billion under construction in the key markets of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, organisers of a key industry event in Dubai reported on Thursday. The ongoing projects in region have a combined estimated value of $104.4 billion, of which 15 are ...

  Dubai / Emirates Business Azizi Developments, the UAE-based real estate developer with global reach into international markets, announced its 14th project launch in the burgeoning Al Furjan district, Azizi Samia, which is among Azizi Developments 20 projects in Dubai. The fully-serviced residence, a B+G+2P+12 structure, is Azizi Development’s newest project, which is within close proximity to Discovery Gardens, Dubai ...

  BAGHDAD / AP Iraqi troops consolidated gains in their advance on the northern city of Mosul on Thursday, regrouping as they clear neighbourhoods and houses once occupied by the IS group. In Mosul proper, where troops have a foothold in a sliver of territory in the city’s east, the special forces control the Zahra neighborhood, once named after former dictator ...

  Hebron / AFP Israeli forces have sealed off the West Bank home of a Palestinian accused of helping plan an attack in Tel Aviv that left four Israelis dead, the Israeli army and residents said on Thursday. The army said the home of Younes Zein, 22, in Yatta, south of the flashpoint city of Hebron, was sealed off overnight. ...

  Moscow / AFP Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that the armed forces chief of staff has criticized Donald Trump for his past harsh words about confronting Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf. The Thursday report quotes Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri as saying, “The person who has recently achieved power, has talked off the top of his head! ...

  Moscow / AFP Russia’s defence ministry on Thursday dismissed as “counterproductive” a request from the United Nations to extend future pauses in fighting to allow aid into rebel-held eastern Aleppo as winter comes. The ministry said it received a request from the head of a UN-backed humanitarian taskforce for Syria, Jan Egeland, to make future breaks in fighting longer to ...

  Istanbul / AFP President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday hailed the founder of modern Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on the 78th anniversary of his death but added the country’s influence should go well beyond the borders of the state he created. Ataturk, who died on November 10, 1938, founded Turkey as a secular republic in 1923 out of the ...