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  Dubai / WAM Industry experts and leaders from public and private sector entities met at a recent forum to share expertise, discuss challenges and review international standards as part of joint efforts to achieve Dubai’s smart city ambitions. The eighth session of the Dubai Smart Cities Forum, held with the theme ‘Blockchain and the Next Wave of Smart Cities Technologies’, ...

  Abu Dhabi / WAM The higher organising committee of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference (IDEX 2017) and the Naval Defence Exhibition and Conference (NAVDEX 2017) held its sixth meeting at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC), to discuss latest preparations by specialized committees to host the leading events in Abu Dhabi. Both IDEX 2017 and NAVDEX 2017 will ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey said on Wednesday it fears the world will be plunged into a global conflict with superpowers Russia and the US on opposing sides if the proxy war in Syria continues. “If this proxy war continues, after this, let me be clear, America and Russia will come to a point of war,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan ...

  Riyadh / AP Saudi Arabia announced an easing of its 18-month air blockade of rebel-held areas of neighbouring Yemen on Wednesday to allow the evacuation of hundreds of wounded from a deadly weekend air strike. More than 140 people were killed in Saturday’s raid on the wake for the father of a rebel leader in the Yemeni capital Sanaa ...

  ColombO / AFP Sri Lanka’s president on Wednesday accused top anti-corruption officials of launching politically motivated prosecutions against former military leaders, putting himself on a collision course with his own unity government. Maithripala Sirisena took the unusual step of publicly condemning criminal charges brought last month against three retired admirals and the former defence secretary, the brother of his ...

  Mazar-i-Sharif / AP At least 14 Shiites were killed on Wednesday in a bombing at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, the second deadly attack on the minority in as many days during the major festival of Ashura. “The explosion happened at the gate of the Shiite mosque in the centre of Balkh district (in Balkh province),” said provincial governor’s ...

  Karbala / AFP Huge crowds of black-clad Shiite Muslim pilgrims thronged the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala on Wednesday, weeping and beating their chests in mourning for the seventh-century killing of the prophet’s grandson. Shiites around the world mark Ashura, but attacks on those commemorating bloodshed 1,300 years ago often result in more mourning and loss, including in Afghanistan, ...

  Bloomberg Britain announced an agreement to double the number of flights allowed to operate between UK cities and China as Prime Minister Theresa May’s government seeks to boost inter-continental transport links following June’s vote to quit the European Union. Passenger services can now increase from the current maximum of 40 a week for carriers from each nation to as ...

  Bloomberg American Airlines Group Inc. trimmed expansion plans in an effort to bolster fares and placate investors by keeping capacity in line with demand. The carrier also joined United Airlines in providing preliminary third-quarter results of a key financial measure that were better than their forecasts, indicating that U.S. carriers are moving closer to increasing sales from each seat ...

  London / AFP British airline Monarch on Wednesday won a cash injection from its owner, allowing the carrier to continue flying holidaymakers amid Brexit-fuelled industry turbulence. Investment firm Greybull Capital has pumped another £165 million ($203 million, 184 million euros) into Monarch, enabling the airline to retain its licence to carry on selling package holidays, it said in a ...