UAE

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s president said on Sunday the next U.S. administration should use the opportunity to compensate for President Donald Trump’s mistakes, Iranian state reported after Joe Biden captured the U.S. presidency.

“Trump’s damaging policy has been opposed ... by the American people. The next U.S. administration should use the opportunity to make up for past mistakes,” President Hassan Rouhani was quoted as saying.

“Iran favours constructive interaction with the world,” Rouhani said.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday a major overhaul of the country’s Islamic personal laws, allowing unmarried couples to cohabitate, loosening alcohol restrictions and criminalizing so-called “honor killings.”

The broadening of personal freedoms reflects the changing profile of a country that has sought to bill itself as a Westernized destination for tourists, fortune-seekers and businesses despite its Islamic legal code that has previously triggered court cases against foreigners and outrage in their home countries.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco 2222.SE on Tuesday reported a 44.6% drop in third-quarter net profit as the coronavirus crisis continued to choke demand and weigh on crude prices.

Share prices of global oil companies have been hammered this year as investors fret over the impact of the pandemic on energy demand and the long-term shift away from fossil fuels.

03 Nov 2020; MEMO: The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the UAE has said that French President Emmanuel Macron was correct in his call to “reform” Islam in order to “integrate” Muslims into society. “[Muslims] have to listen carefully to what Macron said in his speech,” Anwar Gargash told German daily Die Welt, “He doesn’t want to isolate Muslims in the West, and he is totally right.”

02 Nov 2020; MEMO: The cabinet of the United Arab Emirates approved a smaller federal budget for 2021 in a sign that the country is curbing expenditure amid the coronavirus crisis and lower oil prices, reports Reuters.

The budget for next year was set at 58 billion dirhams ($15.8 billion), state news agency WAM reported on Sunday, down from this year’s 61.35 billion dirhams, which was the largest budget since the establishment of the country.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Tens of thousands of Muslims, from Pakistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian territories, poured out of prayer services to join anti-France protests on Friday, as the French president’s vow to protect the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad continues to roil the Muslim world.

Hardline Islamic groups across the region have seized on the the French government’s staunch secularist stance as an affront to Islam, rallying their supporters and stirring up rage.

28 Oct 2020; MEMO: The UAE is to discuss a proposal to provide additional housing grants and loans to Emirati men who take on second and third wives, Arabic Post reported yesterday.

Reporting Al-Bayan newspaper, Arabic Post said a parliamentary committee reiterated the recommendations included giving priority for housing grants for men who marry more than one wife.

28 Oct 2020; MEMO: Israeli wine produced in the occupied Golan Heights Winery will be sold in the United Arab Emirates from Thursday, reported The Jerusalem Post.

The bottles of wine will be made available in Dubai before being distributed to other emirates. The United States is currently the largest export market for Israeli wine.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar apologized Wednesday after authorities forcibly examined female passengers from a Qatar Airways flight to Australia to try to identify who might have given birth to a newborn baby found abandoned at the airport earlier this month.

Under pressure after Australia condemned the searches, Qatar’s government said it had begun an investigation into the treatment of the women who were taking Qatar Airways Flight 908 to Sydney on Oct. 2.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemen’s Houthis want to strengthen bilateral ties with Iran in various fields, the foreign minister for the Houthi administration that runs north Yemen told Iran’s new ambassador to the country on Tuesday, Houthi-run Saba Net news reported.

Iranian ambassador Hassan Eyrlo said Iran would make every effort to achieve peace in Yemen, in a meeting with Foreign Minister Hesham Sharaf Abdallah during which Eyrlo presented his diplomatic credentials.