GovCentral

Democrats in the U.S. Senate cleared the first procedural hurdle for sweeping healthcare reform on Saturday by voting to open debate on the historic legislation. The bill resembles a measure passed by the House of Representatives on November 7, but there are some major differences that would eventually have to be ironed out.   The Senate debate due to start on ...

Millions of unemployed U.S. workers face sharply higher health insurance premiums and loss of coverage as temporary federal subsidies expire, a healthcare advocacy group said on Tuesday. With the U.S. unemployment rate topping 10 percent, FamiliesUSA is urging Congress to extend a measure that helps laid-off workers maintain employer-sponsored health coverage with a 65 percent subsidy on their insurance premiums.   ...

  MIAMI (Reuters) - A disbarred Florida lawyer surrendered to the FBI on Tuesday and pleaded not guilty to charges he ran a complex Ponzi scheme that bilked investors out of more than $1 billion.   Scott Rothstein, who fled to Morocco in late October but returned to Florida in early November, was denied bond during a brief appearance before a ...

  DUBAI (Reuters) - Gulf markets dropped again on Tuesday, taking little comfort from Dubai World's plan to restructure about $26 billion of debt and despite reassurances on economic resilience from the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.   Dubai stocks fell a further 5.6 percent and the Abu Dhabi bourse lost 3.6 percent on their second trading day since Dubai ...

  Dubai/ Abu Dhabi: The sensual tango was recently granted protected cultural status by the United Nations, leaving residents wondering if their own heritage could also be protected. Some residents said that all traditions are equally important and nobody can judge which heritage is important for humanity and that all intangible heritages have the right to be protected. The tango emerged ...

  The seemingly perpetual Middle East peace process is now at a moment of truth. Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said so himself at a press conference on November 4. Palestinian hopes that the Obama administration would remain resolute in insisting that Israel halt further expansion of its colonies on Palestinian land have been dashed. An especially low moment came when ...

Monetary policy should not become a tool that can be abused by selfish politicians   In many countries independence has been granted to the central bank as is the case with the US Federal Reserve to prevent monetary policy becoming a tool that can be abused by governments and politicians at the expense of good economic governance. So, it is hard ...

  The core of the United Arab Emirates is its solid sense of identity and its strong confidence in its abilities as a nation, which have been tested and proved during the 38 years of its existence. It is on this secure base that the UAE will continue to be built, and as a result the government is committed to building ...

  Sarah Palin is never going to be president of the United States, so we all ought to stop paying attention to her high-profile, campaign-style book tour. Then again, maybe she is headed for the White House, so we would all do well to pay attention. There has been a depressing amount of back-and-forth along these lines in the American media ...

  Britain's third inquiry into the 2003 invasion of Iraq is underway. The previous Hutton and Butler reports were written off as establishment whitewashes with main government players emerging as pristine as snow. However, the current review chaired by John Chilcot — a Privy Counsellor who has been described as "a Mandarin with a safe pair of hands" — is empowered ...

Amid the news about US failures in Afghanistan stands a clear success: a vast expansion of primary health care services, including a major increase in the number of female health workers to provide prenatal care, attend births and treat female patients. By supporting the capacity of the Afghanistan Ministry of Public Health to develop and implement these services, the United States ...

Visits from three senior US officials in three weeks indicate troubles in the US-Pakistan relationship. Washington has failed to deliver on the regional strategy it promised this spring, and friction with Pakistan seems to be contributing to the long delay in announcement of a new US strategy in Afghanistan. Pakistan is critical to any Afghan strategy the Obama administration undertakes. Pakistanis ...

  There is no doubt that the person who concocted the term ‘the Arab Street' as a synonym for "the Arab public opinion" was right in his endeavour, as the above term has a well-deserved pejorative connotation in Arab culture. We dub those who are useless and lousy as ‘street guys'. Are we but ‘street folk' when it comes to standing ...

General Michel Aoun has always been a critic of bequeathing power from father to son in the complex world of Lebanese politics. He always took pride that, unlike Sa'ad Hariri, Walid Junblatt, Sulaiman Franjieh or Amin Gemayel, he built his political career single-handedly, without relying on a father, brother or grandfather for political legitimacy. He takes great pride that while Hariri ...

  Afghanistan's future does not look good. The Taliban are gaining military and political strength, and President Hamid Karzai is losing support at home and internationally due to his administration's rampant corruption and the obvious fraud committed in his re-election. Weariness with the war is spreading in the United States, where President Barack Obama finds it difficult to decide about an ...

  Dubai: Drake & Scull International PJSC (DSI) on Monday reported a net profit of Dh71 million while revenues amounted to Dh400 million for the third quarter ending September 30. In the first three quarters of 2009, DSI earned Dh239 million in profits — a rise of nearly 50 per cent compared with the same period in 2008. For the same ...

  Abu Dhabi: Takreer (Abu Dhabi Oil Refining Company) announced Thursday that three remaining contracts worth $4.4 billion (Dh16.1 billion) have been awarded to three South Korean Companies for "Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Commissioning" (EPC) works of the Ruwais Refinery expansion project. Takreer announced on November 3 the awarding of two contracts totalling $5.2 billion for the process packages of the project. ...

  Abu Dhabi: Work on the proposed Qatar-Bahrain causeway project, tipped to be the world's longest sea crossing, is likely to begin in the first quarter of 2010, a source familiar with the developments told reporters Sunday. "The consortium of six contractors which includes Vinci from France is negotiating with the management of the Qatar-Bahrain causeway for the final design and ...

  Dubai: The Gulf region's construction sector is still growing, industry reports have shown, defying the odds just one year after the global financial downturn hit the region late last year. Research findings from the World Construction Outlook by HIS Global Insight have shown that the Middle East construction sector would grow at an annual rate of 3.5 per cent over ...

  Dubai: The Big 5 PMV, the Middle East’s leading exhibition dedicated to plant, construction vehicles, machinery and equipment, opened in Dubai on Monday as new research showed that 3,398 civil building projects worth $1.35 trillion are currently active in the Gulf region. The figures, released by the event organisers, Streamline Marketing Group, paint a more positive picture of the regional construction ...