Author: Steven Sahiounie

Higher wages will be driven by strong non-oil sector, need to retain top talent

As part of its strategy to bolster future readiness, the UAE unveiled the ‘Principles of the 50’, a document that sets forth 10 principles for the UAE

Belgium has declared it would summon the Israeli ambassador after the office building housing the Belgian Agency for Development Cooperation (Enabel) in Gaza was bombed and destroyed by Israeli airstrikes, Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib has announced. “Targeting civilian buildings is unacceptable,” she said in a post on X. Israel has repeatedly targeted residential and civilian buildings in its ongoing bombardment campaign. More than 60% of Gaza’ housing units have now been destroyed or damaged, according to the UN, which says the amount of debris caused by Israel amounts to 8,000,000 metric tons and will take three years to clear.…

Chinese Foreign Ministry called for supporting the task of UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), demanding an end to the collective punishment policy in Gaza and giving priority for their lives. “Gaza faces unprecedented humanitarian disaster, under the current circumstances, there’s no other choice than a ceasefire that can deescalate the crisis and there’s no other task that is more pressing than protecting civilians,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in a weekly press conference. He called on the international community, particularly the main donor countries to reconsider the suspension of funding the…

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian emphasized the Palestinian people’s right to decide their future, stating that no party or country should impose its will or political projects on them. Amirabdollahian made these remarks during a Thursday call with Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the politburo of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas. The minister expressed his firm belief that an immediate end to Israeli crimes in Gaza is crucial for establishing peace and stability in the West Asia region. During the call, Haniyeh briefed Amirabdollahian about the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where Palestinians have resisted nearly four…

UNICEF says about 17,000 children in Gaza are unaccompanied or have been separated from their families during the conflict. Nearly all children in the enclave require mental health support, the UN agency added. “They present symptoms like extremely high levels of persistent anxiety, loss of appetite. They can’t sleep, they have emotional outbursts, or they panic every time they hear a bombing,” said Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s chief of communication for the occupied Palestinian territories. “Before this war, UNICEF was considering already that 500,000 children were already in need of mental health and psychosocial support in Gaza. Today, we estimate almost…

Turkish authorities have formally arrested 25 suspects in connection with the shooting of a man during a service at a church in Istanbul last weekend, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Friday.Among the 25 remanded in custody were the two suspected gunmen, previously captured by police, who are believed to be tied to Daesh, Tunc said on the social media platform X.The two main suspects were foreign nationals, one from Tajikistan and the other Russian, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said previously.Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on Telegram, saying it was in response to a call by…

President Joe Biden will oversee the return of the bodies of three American soldiers killed in Jordan to the United States. The troops were killed in a drone attack at a US military base in Jordan that Washington blamed on Iran-backed fighters. The three were the first US military personnel killed by hostile fire in the region following Israel’s war on Gaza. The bodies of William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett will arrive at an air force base in Dover, Delaware. Biden said he has made up his mind on how to respond. The expectation has been there will…

President Mahmoud Abbas discussed during a telephone call this evening with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the latest political developments in the occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the war-torn Gaza Strip. During the call, which comes as part of the ongoing bilateral consultations and efforts to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, the president emphasized the necessity of putting an end to the Israeli aggression immediately and preventing any attempts aimed at the forced displacement of any Palestinian, whether in Gaza or the West Bank, including Jerusalem. The President stressed that the…

Three pro-Iran fighters were killed on Friday in Israeli strikes south of Damascus, a war monitor said, the second such attack this week.Syrian state media reported damage from “Israeli” air strikes south of Damascus, but did not mention any casualties.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said “three members of pro-Iran groups, including an Iranian and an Iraqi national” were killed in “Israeli air strikes,” adding the toll was provisional.Strikes hit a site belonging to Lebanon’s Hezbollah group on a road leading to the Sayyida Zeinab district, the Observatory said, while a site previously vacated by pro-Iran groups on the…