A rebound by Dubai builder Arabtec lifted the mood of investors in United Arab Emirates stock markets Monday, while other bourses in the Middle East moved very little as oil once again halted its advance. Brent oil slipped 0.2 percent and traded near $55 per barrel after Saudi Arabia indicated it was pumping near a record high of 10 million barrels per day, adding to concerns about global ...

Health Minister Wael Abu Faour launched Monday an investigation into the case of an infant who died at a Mount Lebanon daycare. Health Ministry inspectors opened a probe into the Clarinette et Zoe nursery in the town of Ajaltoun Monday, where four-month-old Elie Salloum died Monday in an “accident,” according to a statement released by Abu Faour’s media office. The statement said the baby was already dead when ...

Jordan says it will help train Syrian rebels as part of its fight against the extremist ISIS, which controls parts of neighboring Syria and Iraq. The training is part of a regional effort also involving Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar as hosts of training sites. The U.S. Congress has passed legislation providing $500 million for training about 5,000 rebels over the next year. Jordanian government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said ...

The White House Monday bluntly warned Israel that its occupation of Palestinian territories must end, dismissing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to take back controversial campaign pledges. In unusually tough language that underscores the fracture in relations between Washington and Tel Aviv, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said “an occupation that has lasted for almost 50 years must end.” McDonough criticized Netanyahu’s pre-election pledge ...

Lebanon will ask the forthcoming Arab summit for support in its open battle against terrorism as well as financial aid to cope with the Syrian refugee crisis, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Monday. In the absence of a president, Salam will head Lebanon’s delegation to the annual Arab League summit, scheduled to be held on March 28-29 in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, ...

Israel said on Monday it was probable that world powers and Iran would agree a “bad deal” on Tehran’s nuclear program and it would do all it could to toughen any accord before talks resume this week. “We think it’s going to be a bad, insufficient deal,” Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz said in an interview before meeting French officials in Paris. “It seems quite ...

As Yemen plunged further into all-out civil war, the country’s Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen issued a call for Gulf countries to launch military intervention to halt the advance of Shiite Houthi fighters as they pushed south from the capital Sanaa. Torn between Houthi-controlled Sanaa and the southern port city of Aden where President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has established an alternative ...

The United Arab Emirates has ordered some Lebanese to leave the country in the latest wave of deportations from the oil-rich state, Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry and a former deportee said Friday. The ministry said in a statement that Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil called his Emirati counterpart to ask about the issue. “The Lebanese in the Emirates fully merge into ...

The chief of Qatar Airways on Monday denied his company receives subsidies and accused rivals Delta Air Lines of flying “crap” older planes, escalating hostilities between Gulf and American carriers. Speaking at an arts conference in Doha, Akbar Al-Baker said any money his airline receives from the state is in the form of “legitimate” equity and added his company’s fleet ...

Islamic State militants on Monday continued to hold parts of the city of Tikrit against a much larger pro-government force after two weeks of battle, as Iraqi officials said they were pausing their offensive to call for reinforcements and to preserve property and civilian lives. The slowing of the operation came amid reports that the tomb of Saddam Hussein in the nearby ...