DUBAI: The 27th International Council of Museums general conference will be held in  Dubai in 2025, the Emirates News Agency reported.

The city will be the first in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region to host the global forum.

The ICOM flag, a symbolic baton entrusted to the organizing committee of the next ICOM general conference, was formally passed on to Dubai during the 2022 edition of the forum held in Prague.

DUBAI: Time was when spending long hours in the office was equated by company management with employee dedication, while telecommuting was regarded as the province of homebodies and slackers.

That was before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 transformed the world of work, proving almost overnight that many kinds of traditional office-based tasks could be performed equally efficiently from home.

LONDON: Saddled with a bankrupt economy, a devastated infrastructure and a worthless currency, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad is on a desperate mission to mend relations with its neighbors and expedite its return to the Arab League.

Although political rehabilitation on a global scale remains a bridge too far, the Assad government has made some progress in rebuilding its ties with Arab states, as evidenced by the reopening of some embassies in Damascus and the return of Syrian ambassadors to some Arab capitals.

JERUSALEM: A group of artists has filled a Palestinian area of East Jerusalem with paintings of large, wide-open eyes.

ALGIERS: French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Algeria carried important economic prospects, over which lukewarm diplomatic ties cast a shadow.

From a French perspective, Macron’s visit aimed to open a new chapter in the tumultuous relations between Algeria and France.

From an Algerian perspective, it was more about asserting political sovereignty vis-à-vis the former colonizer.