Dubai / Emirates Business Smart Dubai Office (SDO) held an introductory meeting at the headquarters of Dubai Customs, during which HE Dr Aisha bint Butti bin Bishr, Director General of SDO, showcased the Smart Dubai Happiness Agenda, which follows systematic and science-based methods to enable Dubai City to create the opportunities that would lead to happiness across the city ...

London / AFP Britain’s two main political parties were in Brexit turmoil on Tuesday as the race to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron began in earnest and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn faced a no-confidence vote from Labour MPs. Five days after the shock vote for Britain to leave the EU, the two parties that have dominated Westminster for nearly a ...

  Washington / AFP The United States has complained to Russia about a mounting campaign of harassment and intimidation of American diplomats and their families in Moscow, the State Department said. Among those to raise objections, US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin in March, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said. “Over the ...

  Moscow / AFP Russian authorities have launched their first criminal case against a rights activist for failing to comply with Moscow’s controversial “foreign agent” law, the activist said on Tuesday. Valentina Cherevatenko, who runs two women’s rights NGOs in the southern Rostov region, could face up to two years in prison if she is charged under legislation which critics ...

  Bloomberg Driven from its stronghold in northeastern Nigeria, the militant group Boko Haram is targeting the world’s least developed country: Niger. The Nigeria-based militants stepped up attacks in southeastern Niger this month, raiding villages for food and cattle and attacking the town of Bosso, near Lake Chad, to steal weapons. A looting spree in villages near the lake on ...

  United Nations / AFP Three European countries and two Asian nations are battling for seats on the UN Security Council in elections on Tuesday that are drawing attention to the refugee crisis and human rights. Five non-permanent seats are up for grabs in the vote at the UN General Assembly, but two are all but decided. Ethiopia and Bolivia ...

Manila / AFP Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte takes office this week looking to end the domination of “Imperial Manila” with a radical shift to federalism that he says is vital to fighting poverty and ending a deadly Muslim separatist insurgency. Duterte, who won last month’s elections in a landslide, has vowed to have the constitution rewritten to achieve his bold ...

  Nuku’alofa/ AFP Rescuers launched an air and sea search on Tuesday for a boat missing in Pacific waters off Tonga carrying 11 people, including up to five children. Tongan police said the boat set off from the capital Nuku’alofa with another vessel on Monday afternoon and was due to arrive overnight in Fonoifua island, about 90 kilometres (55 miles) ...

  Lebanon / AFP Lebanese troops raided makeshift refugee camps near a predominantly Christian village on the border with Syria on Tuesday a day after two waves of suicide attacks. But Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq said the attackers who carried out Monday’s violence had come from inside Syria, not refugee settlements nearby. “We are worried that there are more terrorists, so ...

  Moscow / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin is to hold his first phone call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan since Ankara downed one of Moscow’s warplanes in Syria, the Kremlin said Tuesday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the conversation would take place on Wednesday at the “initiative of the Russian side” after the Turkish strongman sent a letter ...