Freelance Licences Skyrocket by 224% in Abu Dhabi's Thriving Business Scene Abu Dhabi: more people are starting businesses in Abu Dhabi. New figures from the Abu Dhabi Registration Authority (ADRA) show that the number of new economic licences issued in the first half of 2026 was 5 per cent higher »»»

Dubai accounts for 78% of UAE staycation bookings as outbound demand also stays strong Dubai: UAE staycation bookings have jumped 31 per cent year-on-year ahead of the October half-term break, with families increasingly choosing shorter holidays closer to home, dnata Travel announced on Thursday, a»»»

The European Union is bracing for a confrontation with China as a trade deficit exceeding $1 billion a day heightens anxiety over potential job losses and pushes the bloc's political leaders to take a more aggressive approach toward its second-largest trading partner. The European Commission's top »»»

In response to an inquiry from BTA, the Medical University of Plovdiv reported on Thursday that so far, there are no grounds for the dismissal of Prof. Mariela Geneva-Popova as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Geneva-Popova is one of six people charged in a health insurance fraud case that alleges »»»

Dates, handicrafts, artworks produced at correctional centres go on display Dates grown at farms inside Abu Dhabi’s correctional and rehabilitation centres are being showcased at Global Food Week 2026, alongside handmade products and traditional crafts created by inmates. The Abu Dhabi Judicial Dep»»»

Schneider Electric has published new research finding that AI-enabled buildings can cut whole-building energy use by up to 22% against traditional controls. The research highlights annual utility savings as $13,600 to $49,300 per building at current commercial rates, helping organizations reduce op»»»

TAIPEI: Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-long affirmed that his country looks forward to strengthening its economic and investment partnerships with Saudi Arabia, especially in advanced technology, semiconductors and artificial intelligence, noting Taiwan’s readiness to employ its technological »»»

With almost a quarter of a billion people and a culture of healthy debate, there are not many topics in Pakistan that unite opinion, but Saudi Arabia is one. Whether from its political parties or from its 240 million people, there has been a rare and in many ways remarkable show of solidarity with »»»

Doha, Qatar: The sixth edition of the Recycling Towards Sustainability Conference & Exhibition 2026 concluded yesterday after two days of discussions, exhibitions and workshops highlighting innovative approaches to recycling, waste management, sustainability and the development of a circular econom»»»

Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs has honoured a group of scholars, researchers and intellectuals who participated in the second edition of the “Quran and Human Knowledge” Conference and the “Kitab Al Ummah” Forum, recognising their contributions to enriching academic dialogue »»»

COMMENTUAE fintech market could top $5bn by 2029 as regulation and digital rails mature For years, the UAE’s fintech story was framed around start-ups, funding rounds and the rise of digital payments. That chapter is not over, but the story has become far more significant. Sign up for our daily bus»»»

London: Harry Kane refused to rule out catching Cristiano Ronaldo at the top of the international goalscoring charts after netting twice against the Czech Republic to celebrate his record-equalling 125th England cap. The captain matched Peter Shilton’s men’s record at Wembley on Tuesday, scoring hi»»»

Singapore: George Russell’s hopes of winning the 2026 world championship hit another road bump yesterday when it was announced that because of an engine penalty he would have to start from the back of the grid in this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix. The Englishman had to retire in the closing laps »»»

Local authorities in Russia’s Siberian region of Irkutsk have imposed quarantine measures on people and several hospital departments amid reports of a possible “plague” outbreak. Russia’s consumer and health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said an employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute o»»»

Doha, Qatar: The second round of the Longines Hathab Qatar Equestrian Tour 2026-2027 will begin today at the Qatar Equestrian Federation’s indoor arena, with the three-day round featuring show jumping competitions in various categories. The round will open with the amateur competition at 100cm and »»»

JERUSALEM/LONDON: British Foreign Minister Ed Miliband said on Thursday that the British Consulate General building in East Jerusalem would not close, but would instead be known as a UK Mission, remaining independent, operational and serving the Palestinian people. Israel had ordered the British co»»»

Retired legal official revisits investigation, trial, execution nearly three decades later Dubai: A veteran Emirati legal figure who served as a police officer, public prosecutor, judge and later lawyer has offered a rare account of his three-decade journey through the UAE’s criminal justice system»»»

Doha, Qatar: Minister of Labour H E Dr. Ali bin Smaikh Al Marri held separate meetings with several labour ministers and senior officials participating in the Second Doha Dialogue on Labour Mobility, which was held in the United Republic of Tanzania. The Dialogue was held under the theme “From Comm»»»

Capt. Gosalia says Capt. Machchhar’s training and instinct saved 174 passengers Capt. Smit Machchhar’s experience and instinct to prepare for any eventuality helped prevent what could have been an “unimaginable” disaster, a former colleague said. The flydubai captain is credited for helping save th»»»

Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani yesterday honoured 80 teachers from government schools in recognition of their distinguished careers and contributions to education at a ceremony marking World Teachers’ Day. Held under the them»»»

JERUSALEM: Workers removed signs and plaques at the British consulate in East Jerusalem overnight after Israel ordered it shut by Thursday over London's plans to impose sanctions on settlements ​in the West Bank, further damaging strained ties between allies. Reuters journalists saw workers in the »»»

Staff-level deal awaits Executive Board nod as IMF asks Islamabad to end fuel subsidies Dubai: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan on October 7 that clears about $1.21 billion (Dh4.44 billion) in new funding. The deal covers the fourth review of the E»»»

Poland’s president takes boxing lesson from Manny Pacquiao during historic Manila visit Manila: Polish President Karol Nawrocki stepped into a Manila boxing ring with Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao during his state visit to the Philippines, combining diplomacy with a light training session. »»»

Elbasan: For several days this summer the Albanian city of Elbasan choked in a dense cloud of stinging smoke coming from the direction of its notorious steelworks. Environmental inspectors who rushed to two fires discovered 318 tons of toxic industrial dust that had been stored for months in a chro»»»

Washington: A convicted US killer who survived a botched execution was almost taken off life support before she regained consciousness, her lawyer said Wednesday, as a court ordered prison authorities to preserve evidence in the case. One week after Christa Pike survived her execution by lethal inj»»»

A former Australian Catholic bishop has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for sexually abusing two young indigenous men over the course of a decade. 76-year-old ex-bishop Christopher Saunders is one of the most senior Australian clerics to be convicted in a series of scandals that ha»»»

Failed execution attempt leaves Tennessee woman in critical but recovering condition Christa Pike regaining consciousness and speaking a week after receiving two doses of execution drugs in Tennessee has left a stunning question: How did she survive? Attorneys for Pike, 50, called her recovery “med»»»

With almost a quarter of a billion people and a culture of healthy debate, there are not many topics in Pakistan that unite opinion, but Saudi Arabia is one. Whether from its political parties or from its 240 million people, there has been a rare and in many ways remarkable show of solidarity with »»»

Maduro and Flores face fresh allegations of torturing detained Americans US prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores over the alleged torture of Americans held in Venezuelan government custody, CNN reported Wednesday.»»»

WASHINGTON: The Democratic National Committee on Wednesday sued President Donald Trump’s administration for recent television advertisements that promoted his political message while costing taxpayers millions of dollars. The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, a»»»

WASHINGTON: An award-winning filmmaker whose work has explored ​conflict in his native Kashmir has been detained by US immigration officials after legally coming to the United States to study and later claiming asylum, his family and friends said on Wednesday. The Department of Homeland Security se»»»

Military representatives from all of NATO's 32 members have gathered in Kiev. Ukraine has been trying to join the expansionist military-bloc for years, but has been consistently rejected. The visit by the members of the so-called Military Committee, takes place just a day after US Secretary of Stat»»»

Iran and Oman finalise safe transit routes through the Strait of Hormuz Iran and Oman have agreed on the geographical coordinates of designated "safe" transit routes for ships entering and leaving the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Wednesday (Oct. 7, 20»»»

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday urged Western nations to return to what he called their civilisational roots and ensure the West "maintains its place at the head of the world" in a speech delivered against the backdrop of the Acropolis in Athens. The top US diplomat called on Europe »»»

IZMIR, Turkiye: More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Turkish opposition stronghold Izmir on Wednesday, angered by the defection of the city’s mayor to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AKP. The move was a huge symbolic victory for the Turkish leader, who has long wanted to control the secul»»»

BEIJING: The European Union’s top commerce official was due in China on Thursday for talks aimed at bringing both sides back from the brink of a mutually damaging trade war. The EU last year ran a trade deficit of around a billion euros ($1.1 billion) a day with China, caused by what many in the bl»»»

MILAN: Foreign workers building the vast new US consulate compound in Milan signed agreements at a Milan hotel Wednesday securing payouts averaging 45,000 euros ($50,400) each for alleged labor abuses while working for an American construction company. More than 60 laborers, mostly from India, sign»»»

QNA Doha The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is set to launch a new website of the Official Gazette and the Al Meezan Legal Portal on Sunday, introducing what it describes as the country’s first AI-powered comprehensive national system for legal knowledge. The new platform will provide legal information »»»

QNA Doha Attracting the wealth of talent in the nation, primarily citizens, those born in the country, and residents, is a foremost priority for the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in order to turbocharge the educational sector, Minister of Education and Higher Education HE Lolwah bint R»»»

LONDON: The longtime speaker of the Libyan parliament was ousted on Tuesday in a move likely to inject fresh tension into the country’s largely frozen political landscape. Aguila Saleh, a supporter of the Libyan National Army commander, Khalifa Haftar, was removed after 12 years in the post. Al-Sal»»»

Pregnant woman, two children among dead after residential building collapses in Seemapuri Dubai: Rescue teams searched through tonnes of rubble for survivors after a multi-storey residential building collapsed in northeast Delhi on Wednesday, killing three people and injuring eight, officials said.»»»

NASA has released a striking image of dawn on the Martian surface taken by its Curiosity rover, ​showing sunlight bathing jagged crags formed billions of years ago as the car-sized vehicle continues to explore Earth’s planetary ‌neighbor. Curiosity landed in 2012 in Gale Crater near the Martian equ»»»

DENPASAR: An Indonesian court sentenced dozens of Indian nationals to prison on Wednesday for their involvement in an online gambling operation on the resort island of Bali. Gambling is illegal in the Muslim-majority archipelago, with punishments extended to bookmakers, punters, those who promote g»»»

RIYADH: When Sven Otto Littorin arrived in Saudi Arabia in 2017, he witnessed a country at the beginning of Vision 2030. Nearly a decade later, the former Sweden minister of employment has turned those experiences into a book documenting the Kingdom’s transformation. In “Kingdom in Motion” publishe»»»

A court on Wednesday ordered the former head of Germany's foreign intelligence service August Hanning to remain in pretrial detention after his arrest on suspicion of espionage and treason, along with a former deputy who allegedly supplied him with secret files. Here's what we know about one o»»»

Pike would have been the first woman put to death by Tennessee in more than 200 years A convicted US killer who survived a botched execution is shackled to her hospital bed, awake and able to speak a little, her lawyer said on Wednesday, as a court ordered prison authorities to preserve evidence in»»»

Court finds no reliable proof she received money or sent the disputed messages Ajman: The Ajman Appeal Court has overturned the conviction of an Egyptian woman accused of embezzlement and breach of trust, ruling that doubts over the authenticity of WhatsApp evidence and a lack of proof that money w»»»

SEOUL: South Korea’s presidential office on Wednesday dismissed a Ukrainian report that Russia has imported petroleum products from South Korean ports, calling the accusation inappropriate. Ukraine’s top sanctions official, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, said on Tuesday the shipments had eased the impact of a »»»

Lucky Day Draw No. 261007 sees several participants walk away with cash prizes Dubai: Several participants have won cash prizes following the latest UAE Lottery Lucky Day draw held on Wednesday. In Lucky Day Draw No. 261007, the winning numbers in the Days section were 16, 18, 20, 8, 11, 12, while »»»

Doha, Qatar: The Investment and Trade Court's Court of Appeal has upheld a ruling awarding QR500,000 in compensation to a foreign visitor who suffered serious injuries in a limousine accident while spending his annual holiday in Qatar. The compensation, covering material and moral damages, is to be»»»