UAE

DUBAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Iran's Oil Minister Javad Owji on Monday confirmed that a nationwide disruption to petrol stations was caused by a cyberattack.

A hacking group that Iran accuses of having links to Israel claimed it carried out the attack which disrupted services at petrol stations across the country on Monday, Iranian state TV and Israeli local media reported.

DUBAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Mounting attacks by the Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi militant group on ships in the Red Sea are disrupting maritime trade as leading global freight firms reroute around the Cape of Good Hope to avoid the Suez canal.

The group said it launched a drone attack on a cargo vessel in the area on Monday, the latest in a series of missile and drone strikes on shipping which it says are a response to Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, Kuwait’s ruling emir, died on Saturday after a three-year, low-key reign focused on trying to resolve the tiny, oil-rich nation’s internal political disputes. He was 86.

Kuwait state television broke into programming with Quranic verses just before a somber official made the announcement.

DUBAI, December 16. /TASS/: Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah has been proclaimed the new Emir of Kuwait, succeeding Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah who passed away on Saturday, Issa al-Kandari, deputy prime minister and minister of state for cabinet affairs, said in a statement on Kuwaiti television.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels slammed into a cargo ship Friday in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following another attack only hours earlier that struck a separate vessel, authorities said.

The missile attack on the MSC Palatium III and the earlier assault on the Al Jasrah escalate a maritime campaign by the Iranian-backed Houthis. The attacks also endanger ships traveling through a vital corridor for cargo and energy shipments for both Europe and Asia from the Suez Canal out to the Indian Ocean.

DUBAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Iran's Defence Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned that a proposed U.S.-backed multinational task force to protect shipping in the Red Sea would face "extraordinary problems", official Iranian media reported on Thursday.

Ashtiani's comments came after the United States said last week it was in talks with other countries to set up a task force following a spate of attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen on ships in the Red Sea.

DUBAI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Iran said it was lifting visa requirements for 33 countries, including Gulf states like Saudi Arabia with which Tehran had frosty relations for years until a recent rapprochement, the Iranian Students News Agency said on Thursday.

"The ministry of tourism believes that an open-door policy will showcase Iran's determination to engage with different countries of the world," the semi-official ISNA reported.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — United Nations climate negotiators directed the world on Wednesday to transition away from planet-warming fossil fuels in a move the talks chief called historic, despite critics worries about loopholes.

Within minutes of opening Wednesday’ session, COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber gaveled approval of the central document – the global stocktake that says how far the world is off-track it climate-fighting goals and how it is going to get back – without asking for comments. Delegates stood and hugged each other.

DUBAI, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing UN climate talks in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, were extended Tuesday beyond the scheduled host-set deadline of 11:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) as parties to the COP28 climate conference failed to reach a consensus on the draft text of a hoped-for final agreement.

"We would all like to finish on time, but we want the most ambitious outcome," said COP28 Director-General Majid Al Suwaidi while briefing media on the latest developments.

Al Suwaidi said, "We are facing the most demanding COP agenda of all time."

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In the bustling halls where global climate talks are being held, onetime farmer Joseph Kenson Sakala of Malawi is sharing the story of how fossil fuel development upended his life — and hoping that negotiators listen to many such stories and then move decisively to cut use of the coal, oil and gas warming the planet.