UAE

DUBAI, Aug 19 (NNN-WAM) – Afghan President, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, claimed last night that, he “decided to leave my country in order to prevent bloodshed.”

Ghani made the statement, addressing his compatriots, in their native language Pashto, during a live Facebook broadcast from the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Ghani said, “If I had stayed, I would be witnessing bloodshed in Kabul.”

He also issued a rebuttal against his critics who said he left Afghanistan hastily, saying that, “those who think that I fled should not judge, if they don’t know all the details.”

15 Aug 2021; MEMO: Emirates airline said a flight to Kabul on Sunday was diverted due to the temporary closure of the runway at the airport, while fellow Dubai state-owned carrier flydubai suspended services, reports Reuters.

The Emirates Boeing 777-300 flight circled over the Afghanistan capital, aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 showed, before returning to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

DUBAI, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Iran's hardline President Ebrahim Raisi presented his cabinet to parliament for a vote of confidence on Wednesday, appointing a hardline diplomat as foreign minister to oversee negotiations with six powers to try to restore a 2015 nuclear deal.

The cabinet list, published on state media, shows Raisi has chosen Hossein Amirabdolahian as foreign minister and Javad Owji - a former deputy oil minister and managing director of the state-run National Iranian Gas Company - as oil minister.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Some of the foreign contractors who powered the logistics of America’s “forever war” in Afghanistan now find themselves stranded on an unending layover in Dubai without a way to get home.

After nearly two decades, the rapid U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan has upended the lives of thousands of private security contractors from some of the world’s poorest countries — not the hired guns but the hired hands who serviced the American war effort.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s oil-producing company, Aramco, announced Sunday a net income of around $47 billion for the first half of the year, double what it earned over the same period last year when the coronavirus grounded travel and pummeled global demand for oil.

This puts Aramco back squarely where it was before the pandemic struck and sunk earnings to $23.3 billion in the first six months of 2020.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the company’s second quarter results “reflect a strong rebound in worldwide energy demand.”

07 Aug 2021; MEMO: The National Food Security Initiative conference held last week in Tel Aviv revealed the names of five donors who have funded a food security programme, including United Arab Emirates (UAE) tycoon Mohamed Alabbar.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar Airways said Thursday it grounded 13 Airbus A350s over what it described as fuselages “degrading at an accelerated rate” in the long-range aircraft, further escalating a monthslong dispute with the European airplane maker over the issue.

DUBAI, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi will be sworn in as Iran's president on Thursday, with the Islamic Republic's clerical rulers face growing crises at home and abroad.

Iranian television said Raisi, 60, would be inaugurated later on Thursday, two days after winning the formal endorsement of the country's supreme leader to take office following his victory in an election in June.

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The hijackers who captured a vessel off the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman left the ship Wednesday, the British navy reported, as radio traffic appeared to reveal a crew member onboard saying Iranian gunmen had stormed the asphalt tanker.

The incident — described by the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations the night before as a “potential hijack” — revived fears of an escalation in Mideast waters and ended with as much mystery as it began.

FUJAIRAH, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The British navy warned of a “potential hijack” of a ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf of Oman on Tuesday, though the circumstances remained unclear.