Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai built a city of skyscrapers and artificial archipelagos on the promise of globalization, creating itself as a vital hub for the free movement of trade, people and money worldwide — all things that have been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen’s government forces will ‘’confront the armed rebellion’’ of a separatist group who had declared self-rule in the south of the country, the Yemeni embassy in the United States said on Twitter on Tuesday.

The separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) on April 25 declared self-rule in Aden and other southern regions, threatening to renew a conflict with the Saudi-backed government in Yemen’s multifaceted war.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As she was treated for COVID-19 in a hospital isolation ward in Kuwait City, Amnah Ibraheem wanted to credit those caring for her. The nurses were all South Asian, the radiologist was African, another of her doctors was Egyptian. The only fellow Kuwaiti she saw, briefly, was a lone volunteer.

Ibraheem pointed this out on Twitter, in a rejoinder to some voices in Kuwait and other parts of the Gulf who have stoked fear and resentment of foreigners, blaming them for the spread of the coronavirus.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Firefighters brought under control a fire that broke out at a residential tower in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday night, Sharjah’s government media office said.

Seven people were treated for minor injuries from the fire in the tower in Sharjah’s Al Nahda area and taken to hospital for treatment, the media office tweeted.

Videos on social media purportedly of the fire showed burning debris falling from a tower engulfed in flames, which local media said was the 48-storey Abbco Tower. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates called on Thursday on all Libyan parties to commit to the U.N.-supervised political process to end the war, while at the same time saluting the eastern Libya based-army led by general Khalifa Haftar.

The UAE statement did not comment directly on Haftar’s declaration on Monday that his army would take power, ripping up a 2015 political agreement that has been the basis for all international peacemaking efforts.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In a Dubai industrial park, workers weld, drill and build what one entrepreneur sees as key to the near future of this desert city-state amid the coronavirus pandemic: disinfection gates.

Husam Zammar’s company builds such gates for government and commercial clients. He believes the new safety measures will find wide acceptance, just as metal detectors did after the 9/11 terror attacks. “If we consider two people, one has a knife and one has coronavirus, the second one is a hundred times dangerous than the first one,” he said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s state grain buyer SAGO on Monday said it bought 60,000 tonnes of Ukraine wheat from investment firm SALIC, marking its first purchase from agricultural investments overseas aimed at enhancing the country’s food security.

The Ukraine wheat cargo was bought at $248 a tonne, after the kingdom asked Saudi private investors with farmland overseas on April 6 to supply it with around 10% of its local needs this year.

The Saudi call comes as regional food importers scramble to beef up reserves as coronavirus lockdowns up-ended supply chains.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Saudi-led coalition mired in a yearslong war in Yemen on Monday urged Emirati-backed separatists to honor terms of a Riyadh peace deal and return control of Aden to the country’s internationally recognized government.

The statement by Saudi Arabia comes after the separatists’ Southern Transitional Council again claimed sole control Sunday of Aden, a Red Sea port that serves as the internationally recognized government’s capital as rebel Houthi forces still hold Sanaa.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran should draw up economic plans based on a worst-case scenario of nearly a year of disruptions due to the coronavirus, President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday, as the death toll from the disease rose by 76 to 5,650.

“Our first request is that we should plan production long-term based on a pessimistic view that we might face this virus ... for months,” Rouhani said in a meeting with heads of Iranian private companies carried live on state TV.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said on Saturday it would extend its suspension of scheduled passenger flights until at least May 16 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The airline, which had aimed to partially resume passenger flights from May 1, said in a statement all scheduled services would remain grounded until May 16 at the earliest. Earlier in the day, it had said the suspension would last until May 15.