UAE

02 September 2022; MEMO: The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Iran held talks on Thursday to discuss ways of boosting bilateral relations, Anadolu News Agency reports.

This came in a phone call that Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan received from his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the Emirati state news agency, WAM, reported.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard seized an American sea drone Tuesday in the Persian Gulf and tried to tow it away, only releasing the unmanned vessel when a U.S. Navy warship and helicopter approached, officials said.

The incident marks the first time the Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet’s new drone task force has been targeted by Iran.

25 August 2022; MEMO: The UAE is collaborating with Israel to sabotage Gulf reconciliation efforts, disturb relations between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and deepen the rift with Bahrain, Al-Quds Al-Arabi has reported. Citing information gleaned from leaked documents and reports, the newspaper exposed the UAE-Israel efforts being coordinated to undermine the reconciliation witnessed at the summit hosted by Saudi Arabia at Al-Ula early last year.

24 August 2022; MEMO: A junior Lebanese chess player has withdrawn from an international festival in the United Arab Emirates to avoid playing against an Israeli opponent.

Nadia Fawaz refused to face Israeli Elijah Grosman in the fourth round of the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival after winning her matches against Brunei's Wafa Yacoub, Saudi Arabia's Ziad Saleh Abdali and the UAE's Wafia Darwish Al-Maamari.

DUBAI, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Afghan refugees and migrants living in limbo at a United Arab Emirates (UAE) facility for nearly a year since being evacuated from Afghanistan held fresh protests this week over what they say is a slow and opaque resettlement process.

Hundreds of Afghans carried banners and shouted for freedom on Monday and Tuesday, two Afghans in the facility told Reuters, estimating that thousands were still awaiting resettlement to the United States or third countries.

22 August 2022; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) said yesterday that its Ambassador to Iran, Saif Mohammed Al Zaabi, would return to Tehran "in the coming days", more than six years after the Gulf Arab state downgraded ties with the Islamic Republic, Reuters reported.

The move is in line with UAE efforts to strengthen relations with Iran "to achieve the common interests of the two countries and the wider region", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

KHARTOUM/ABU DHABI, Aug 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed ordered $6.8 million (AED 25 million) of humanitarian aid to Sudan after floods killed at least 79 and destroyed over 14,500 houses.

“The directives of President His Highness Sheikh Mohamed to provide such assistance are an expression of the solidarity of the UAE and its people with the Sudanese people in such dire circumstances,” Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported on Saturday.

The aid is expected to alleviate the suffering of those who were displaced by the floods.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — To Enas Taleb, the headline felt like a spiteful punch line.

“Why women are fatter than men in the Arab world,” it read in bold, above a photograph of the Iraqi actress waving onstage at an arts festival.

The Economist article ran through possible explanations of the obesity gap of 10 percentage points between men and women in the Middle East, then cited Iraqis who see Taleb’s curves as the ideal of beauty.

“Fat,” a word now considered taboo in much of Western media, was repeated six times.

15 August 2022; MEMO: Infertility rates in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are rising and are more than twice the global average, according to research carried out by ART Fertility Clinics, which has medical centres across the region. Global estimates of infertility are approximately 15 per cent, while data suggests that rates in GCC states are as high as 35 to 40 per cent.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran said Tuesday it submitted a “written response” to what has been described as a final roadmap to restore its tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency offered no details on the substance of its response, but suggested that Tehran still wouldn’t take the European Union-mediated proposal, despite warnings there would be no more negotiations.