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BAGHDAD / AP The Iraqi military backed by US-led coalition aircraft on Thursday launched a long-awaited operation to recapture the northern city of Mosul from IS militants, a military spokesman said. In the push, Iraqi forces retook several villages on the outskirts of the town of Makhmour, east of Mosul, early in the morning on Thursday and hoisted the Iraqi ...

Hanoi / AFP Vietnam on Thursday hit back at Taiwan for taking international media on a tour of a disputed island in the South China Sea, saying the “illegal and worthless” trip had further raised tensions in the hotly contested waters. Taiwanese officials on Wednesday took journalists to Taiping, the largest island in the Spratlys chain, which it controls and ...

Tripoli / AFP It was meant to finally bring an end to Libya’s political chaos and unrest, but the creation of a new UN-backed unity government has only added to the country’s disarray. Desperate to resolve years of political deadlock that has allowed extremists to gain an important foothold on Europe’s doorstep, the United Nations and Western powers have been ...

Sunaina Rana / EMIRATES BUSINESS The country’s recent cabinet reshuffle — which aims at economic diversification, reducing oil dependence — will boost the national economy, according to Dr Vasiliki Kostami, a renowned academician and management guru. She emphasised a that the reorganisation targets at bringing about an improvement in the service industry in the country. Citing UAE as an investment ...

RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business Gauging the gap in the electronic and automated payment solutions market, Dubai-based tech Giant KeyBS is planning to spread its wings into the African market. The company stated that it is keen to extend the reach through franchise programs in other markets and looks forward to significant growth in the near future due to apparent ...

EMIRATES BUSINESS Google has announced the arrival of Umm Al Quwain in Street View, a feature by Google Maps that will allow users to view and navigate 360 degree street-level imagery of major streets across the city. Street View was launched in May 2007 and is already available in more than 3000 cities across 63 countries around the world. Google ...

Sunaina Rana / EMIRATES BUSINESS dipndip — the world’s fastest growing chocolate cafe — continues its exponential growth as the company has recently signed a $32 million joint venture into the global market. The chocolate cafe has joined forces with Abu Dhabi-based Almed company to expand their business globally into four new territories. The company has 50 cafes in 13 ...

Sunaina Rana / Emirates Business Waking up to the e-commerce boom in the region, Souq.com has announced its new campaign under the tagline: ‘It’s yours.’ Ronaldo Mouchawar, CEO and Co-Founder, Souq.com, told Emirates Business, “Our latest campaign ‘It’s yours.’ aims to reposition Souq.com from electronics focused platform to ‘the online location’ for everyone to find everything they need and the ...

Bloomberg Barack Obama became the first U.S. president to visit Argentina in more than a decade as his counterpart, Mauricio Macri, seeks a rapprochement with the international community following a decade of financial and diplomatic isolation. Obama, arriving from an historic state visit to Cuba, met with Macri and is scheduled to attend a business forum in Buenos Aires before ...

Bloomberg Puerto Rico gained another week to file a proposed rate charge to the island’s energy commission, a fee that would back debt used to restructure about $9 billion owed by its main electric utility. Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority creditors agreed to give officials until March 30 to submit their petition to implement a new customer fee, called a ...