UAE

DUBAI/PARIS (Reuters) - Emirates Airline President Tim Clark will retire at the end of June 2020, the company said in an internal memo to staff on Tuesday.

Clark, who was part of the airline’s founding team in 1985, will stay on as an advisor, the memo reviewed by Reuters said.

A company spokeswoman confirmed in an email that Clark is retiring.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Dec 23 (NNN-WAM) – Dubai is expected to host some five million tourists, during the peak period of the Christmas season and the New Year.

Dubai is ranked among the top ten favourite international destinations in 2020, on the annual list of Lonely Planet, a leading international travel and tourism guide.

The city will host Expo 2020, an international event ready to attract people from all over the world.

Expo 2020 Dubai is the first World Expo to be held in the Middle East.

18 Dec 2019; MEMO: The UAE hired a US lobbying firm to convince Senators to impose sanctions on Turkey, the Anadolu Agency revealed.

The news agency said it had obtained an email sent by Charles Johnson, a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP lobbying group, that was sent a week after the House of Representatives passed its own sanctions legislation on Turkey.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Kuwait formed a new government on Tuesday, state news agency KUNA reported, a month after the previous one resigned due to a row between ruling family members and parliament.

Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah will be prime minister. Previously foreign minister, he was appointed by Kuwaiti ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah days after the government resigned.

16 Dec 2019; MEMO: A delegation of senior Israeli officials from the Ministry of Justice yesterday travelled to the UAE in order to participate in an anti-corruption conference being held in Abu Dhabi, Ynet News reported.

The UAE is hosting the Eighth Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) which begins today and end on Friday.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) shares were up 1% at 37.2 riyals ($9.89) in early trade on Sunday.

The state-owned oil company listed 1.5% of its shares at 32 riyals on Riyadh’s Tadawul exchange .TASI on Dec 11 in the world’s largest initial public offering (IPO).

Initially valued at $1.7 trillion, the shares have since hit $2 trillion, a value long sought by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The IPO is the centerpiece of the Saudi leader’s plans for diversifying the economy away from its dependence on oil.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Libya has not made a request to Turkey for sending troops to back forces of the internationally-recognized government battling Khalifa Haftar’s Libya National Army (LNA), Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday.

“No, not yet” Cavusoglu said when asked at the Doha Forum if such a request had been made.

President Tayyip Erdogan said last week that Turkey could send troops to Libya if the Tripoli-based government of Fayez al-Serraj requested it, following a security and military deal between the two countries.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani presented a draft state budget of about $39 billion to parliament on Sunday, saying it was designed to resist U.S. sanctions by limiting dependence on oil exports, which Washington has targeted.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran last year and reimposed sanctions on Iran, focusing on its vital oil industry.

“This is a budget to resist sanctions ... with the least possible dependence on oil,” Rouhani told parliament, according to state television.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Princeton scholar held for three years in Iran on widely criticized espionage charges was freed Saturday as part of a prisoner exchange that saw America release a detained Iranian scientist, a rare diplomatic breakthrough between Tehran and Washington after months of tensions.

DUBAI (Reuters) - A Chinese-American detained in Iran in 2016 and later charged for spying will soon be united with his family while an imprisoned Iranian will be released by Washington in return, Iran’s foreign minister said on Saturday.

“Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly. Many thanks to all engaged, particularly the Swiss government,” Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.