Manila: The Philippines’ dominant development model — over-centralised, elite-driven, and clientelist — often runs headlong into the country’s deep historical, geographical and cultural realities. Rather than aligning economic growth with broad-based institutional reform, this model reinforces old »»»

AMMAN — Gold prices remained near record highs this week, while trading in Jordan’s local market stayed slow as consumers postponed purchases amid global economic uncertainty and anticipated changes in US monetary policy.Head of the Jordanian Jewellers Association Ribhi Allan said that local demand»»»

AMMAN — Chairman of Jordan Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Khalil Haj Tawfiq, on Sunday participated in the work of the 136th session of the Board of Directors of the Union of Arab Chambers, which was held in Cairo, at the invitation of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce.According to a state»»»

AMMAN — The Board of Directors of the Agricultural Credit Corporation (ACC), chaired by Minister of Agriculture, approved the corporation's 2026 budget on Sunday.The meeting, which brought together ACC Deputy Director and board members from the public and private sectors, passed a lending budget of»»»

Damascus, Dec. 21 (SANA) CBS Governor Abdulkader al-Husrieh said any step related to changing the national currency will be announced exclusively through an official press conference, stressing that preparations for the process are proceeding as planned and without delay. In a post published on his»»»

DOHA: Registration for the 17th edition of the Qatar International Falconry and Hunting Festival (Marmi 2026) began today and will continue for three days at the Qatar Falconry Association headquarters in the Katara Cultural Village. The Marmi Festival organizing committee has designated the Burqa »»»

Gaza: Health authorities in Gaza Strip confirmed that around 1,500 children are awaiting the opening of border crossings to travel and receive treatment outside the strip, amid a severe shortage of medicines and essential medical supplies that has led to the suspension of a large number of surgical»»»

Heidenheim, Germany: An understrength Bayern Munich coasted to a 4-0 away win over lowly Heidenheim on Sunday, restoring their nine-point lead atop the table in Harry Kane's first match as captain. Borussia Dortmund had closed the gap to the leaders to six points on Friday but Bayern were in comple»»»

Mogadishu: Somalia will deploy more than 10,000 security personnel in the capital, Mogadishu, ahead of next week's local elections -- the first direct polls in nearly 60 years -- the security minister said on Sunday. The east African country is struggling to emerge from decades of conflict and chao»»»

In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, in 2021, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia. The Ursid meteor shower, the final celestial event of the year, will take place overnight Sunday into Monday. NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI | License Photo D»»»

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has accused the Nobel Foundation of breaking Swedish law when it bestowed its highest honor upon the pugilistic Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. Before he died in 1896, the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel made sure that his last will and testament was»»»

Tehran: Iranians of all religions and walks of life mark the ancient Persian festival of Yalda Sunday, though many say economic hardships fanned by international sanctions will put a damper on this year's celebrations. Yalda falls on the winter solstice and is characterised by family gatherings and»»»

Far from rotting our brains, video games may improve our cognition. But how we play them matters when it comes to the benefits they provide. By playing video games, "people are practicing complex skills in simulated environments,” said Aaron Seitz, a professor of psychology and the director of the »»»

Visitors walk through the Salle des Fetes where major dinner parties and other ceremonies take place at the Elysee Palace in Paris. File Photo by Eco Clement/UPI | License Photo Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The head steward responsible for formal silverware has been arrested for stealing fine cutlery and porce»»»

Abuja: Nigerian authorities have secured the release of 130 kidnapped schoolchildren taken by gunmen from a Catholic school in November, a presidential spokesman said Sunday, after 100 were freed earlier this month. "Another 130 abducted Niger state pupils released, none left in captivity," Sunday »»»

Share: Photo: A damaged ATM machine is pictured in Beirut, Lebanon March 17, 2021. The financial collapse of Lebanon resulted in depositors largely being shut out of their savings and the local currency losing about 99% of its value . Poverty in Lebanon has more than tripled over the past 10 years,»»»

Los Angeles, United States: "Avatar: Fire and Ash," the third installment in James Cameron's blockbuster sci-fi fantasy series, debuted atop the North American box office with $88 million in ticket sales in the weekend before Christmas, industry estimates showed Sunday. "Fire and Ash" grossed $345 »»»

Doha, Qatar: Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future - a member of Qatar Foundation - and UN-Habitat Regional Office for Arab States have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Arab Ministerial Forum on Housing and Urban Development, establishing a strategic partnership to address sustai»»»

A drone attack on a busy market in Sudan's North Darfur state killed 10 people over the weekend, first responders said on Sunday, without saying who was responsible. The attack comes as fighting intensified elsewhere in the country, leading aid workers to be evacuated on Sunday from Kadugli, a besi»»»

San Francisco, United States: Power has been restored in San Francisco to most of the 130,000 homes and businesses impacted by a massive outage for several hours, the main local utility provider said Sunday. Pacific Gas & Electric Company said in a statement on X that by 7:30 am (1530 GMT) power ha»»»

South African authorities are investigating the whereabouts of around 20 African men who were allegedly misled into fighting for Russia in Ukraine. FRANCE 24 has reviewed a letter from former president Jacob Zuma, testimony from a father in Botswana and analysis from a defence expert to understand »»»

French fashion giant Shein was issued with an "injunction" on Friday as a Paris court ordered the e-commerce giant not to resume selling "sexual products that could constitute pornographic content, without implementing age-verification measures". But the court stopped short of handing Shein an outr»»»

France ​will ⁠build a new aircraft carrier to boost ​its ‍capacities ​as a maritime ​power, President Emmanuel Macron told French troops gathered at a military ‍base in ​Abu Dhabi. Macron arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with troops and to discuss bilateral ties »»»

Muscat: Qatar's sharpshooters secured four medals (two silver and two bronze) at the start of their campaign in the Arab Shooting and Airgun Championship, currently underway at the National Olympic Complex in Muscat, Oman. The championship features 141 marksmen representing 14 countries and conclud»»»

In a bTV interview on Sunday, GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Denitsa Sacheva said that National Assembly Chair Raya Nazaryan (GERB-UDF) will not accept the post of caretaker prime minister. According to Sacheva, the issue has been discussed many times, and Nazaryan herself has already addressed it pu»»»

European aerospace corporation Airbus has decided to move critical digital systems away from Google’s cloud services. Company executives say the decision is driven by security and data sovereignty concerns linked to US jurisdiction over sensitive industrial information. The decision comes as Google»»»

Vila-real, Spain: Barcelona wingers Raphinha and Lamine Yamal guided the Catalan giants four points clear at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 win at 10-man Villarreal on Sunday. Brazil international Raphinha won and converted an early penalty before Villarreal's Renato Veiga was sent off before half-t»»»

Sharjah: The Sharjah City Municipality’s call centre was placed on maximum alert during the recent low-pressure weather system and rainfall that affected the emirate and the UAE as a whole, officials said. Operating round the clock via the emergency number 993, the centre received 522 report relate»»»

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A handout photo made available by South African Police Services shows the overnight shooting crime scene in Bekkersdal, South Africa, on Sunday. Photo by South African Police Service/EPA Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Nearly a dozen armed gunmen stormed a tavern in South Africa early Sunday and opened fire at ra»»»

Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev said he is confident in the actions of the United States authorities following the death of a Bulgarian citizen in an immigration detention facility in Michigan. Speaking to Bulgarian National Television, Georgiev noted that an official investigation is underway and »»»

Sharjah: Leaving mobile phones charging overnight — a habit common in many households — could pose a serious fire risk, the Sharjah Civil Defence Authority has warned, urging residents to adopt safer charging practices to prevent avoidable incidents. The warning comes as part of the authority’s ong»»»

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia will adhere to the positions discussed in Alaska and at other meetings with US representatives, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Sunday. "We will adhere to what we agreed on in Anchorage and at other meetings with US representatives," Ushakov told Russian journalist Pavel»»»

Al-Tameer Mortgage Finance Company (Al Oula) has signed a cooperation protocol with the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) to support Egypt’s mortgage finance system and expand access to housing finance for customers seeking to purchase units owned by the Authority. Ayman Abdel Hameed, Vice Cha»»»

Housing and Development Properties (HDP), the real estate arm of Housing & Development Bank, has signed a cooperation agreement with EPower to manage, operate, and maintain electricity and water networks across several of its residential developments. The agreement aims to ensure the efficient oper»»»

Building on the extensive experience of MADKOUR Holding in delivering national infrastructure projects, MADKOUR Developments has officially entered Egypt’s real estate market with the launch of its first project in the New Administrative Capital, aligning with the state’s broader urban development »»»

ZAYA Developments has officially launched its new residential project, HOM, in 6th of October City, as part of the company’s expansion strategy in West Cairo. The HOM development spans 24 feddans and will deliver approximately 400 residential units in its first phase, with unit sizes ranging from 6»»»

In the quiet corners of the Russian-African Ministerial Conference this weekend, the traditional image of Egyptian diplomacy—often focused narrow-mindedly on the Nile—gave way to something far more expansive. Whether discussing renewable energy tenders in South Africa or the first shipment of medic»»»

Greece is on track for "another record year" for tourism in 2025, despite ongoing labor shortages in a key sector of its economy, Tourism Minister Olga Kefalogianni said on Sunday. Between January and the end of September, the Mediterranean nation -- long beloved by tourists for its sunny islands a»»»

The Foreign Press Association in Jerusalem on Sunday welcomed the Israeli Supreme Court's decision to set January 4 as the deadline for Israel to respond to its petition seeking media access to Gaza. Since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, sparked by Palestinian group Hamas's attack on Isr»»»

Israeli strikes in south Lebanon on Sunday killed one person and wounded another, the Lebanese health ministry said, as Israel's military said it targeted Hezbollah members. Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah infrastructure or operatives, despite»»»

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday the launch of development and construction work on the French Navy's future aircraft carrier, a move he described as a decisive step to reinforce the country's maritime power. "In accordance with the last two military programming laws and »»»

Tunis, Dec 21 (TAP) — The weather on Sunday night will be very cloudy with scattered rainfall across northern Tunisia, the eastern central regions, and Sfax, with locally heavy downpours expected along north-western coastal strip.The wind will blow...»»»

Tunis, Dec 21 (TAP) — Spanish construction materials group Cementos Molins on December 19, 2025 announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Portuguese conglomerate Semapa to acquire 100% of Secil, Portugal’s leading cement...»»»

Abu Dhabi: President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met with American entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of X, SpaceX, Tesla, and Starlink, to discuss advancements in technology and artificial intelligence. The leaders explored how these innovations can enhance quality of life and promote»»»

Vertex Technologies participated as an official sponsor of a job fair organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), reinforcing its commitment to youth empowerment and the development of digital and outsourcing talent in Egypt. The job fair aims to connect fresh gra»»»

San Francisco's skyline is dominated by the 1,070-foot Salesforce Tower as viewed from the top of Mount Tamalpias in Marin County, California on February 18, 2019. File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Power has been largely restored after a widespread and unexplained bla»»»

US Senator Lindsey Graham accused Hamas and Hezbollah of rearming during a visit to Israel on Sunday, and charged that the Palestinian group was also consolidating power in Gaza. After two years of war between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian territory, a fragile ceasefire has held since October»»»

Iraq’s state oil marketer SOMO said on Sunday international producers in Kurdistan were still obliged to send it their crude under a September export agreement, after Norway's DNO said it would not take part in the agreement. SOMO said its statement was in response to a Reuters report in ‌September»»»

Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOCI), in cooperation with the Center for Empowerment and Care of the Elderly (Ehsan), organized an awareness workshop for the center's members as part of its efforts to promote consumer rights awareness and encourage responsible purchasing practi»»»