UAE

17 Aug 2020; MEMO: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel on Saturday signed the first commercial cooperation agreement since Abu-Dhabi and Tel Aviv announced a peace deal on Thursday.

The UAE’s Apex National Investment company has signed a “strategic commercial agreement” with Israel’s TeraGroup to conduct research into COVID-19, the UAE’s WAM news agency reported.

16 Aug 2020; MEMO: Telephone lines between the United Arab Emirates and Israel were open on Sunday in a development the Israeli communications minister hailed as important for normalising ties between the countries, reported Reuters.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Telephone service between the United Arab Emirates and Israel began working Sunday as the two countries open diplomatic ties, part of a deal brokered by the U.S. that required Israel to halt its contentious plan to annex West Bank land sought by the Palestinians for a future state.

Associated Press journalists in Jerusalem and Dubai were able to call each other from both landline and cellular phones registered to Israel’s country code +972 from around 1:15 p.m.

(Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has made a “huge mistake” in reaching a deal toward normalising ties with Israel, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday in a speech furiously condemning what he called a betrayal by the Gulf state.

The UAE-Israel agreement announced on Thursday, which U.S. President Donald Trump helped to broker, is seen as aimed at bolstering opposition to regional power Iran.

In his televised speech, Rouhani warned the UAE against allowing Israel a “foothold in the region”.

DUBAI/RIYADH (Reuters) - As media and people in the United Arab Emirates hailed the Gulf state’s deal to normalise relations with Israel as a diplomatic victory that helps the Palestinians, silence reigned in Saudi Arabia, longtime figurehead of regional policy towards Israel.

Analysts see the surprise UAE-Israel agreement announced on Thursday as a strategic boost for the UAE’s regional and global standing that could put it ahead of its powerful Saudi neighbour and ally, especially in critical relations with Washington.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iranian authorities have arrested five Iranians on charges of spying for Israel, Britain and Germany, convicting and handing down prison sentences on at least two of them, the judiciary said on Tuesday.

“In recent months, five Iranians who were spying for foreign intelligence services have been arrested,” judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in a virtual news conference.

Shahram Shirkhani spied for British intelligence services and tried to recruit some Iranian officials for Britain’s MI6 agency, Esmali said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran will not compensate Ukraine International Airlines for its plane Tehran accidentally downed in January because the passenger jet was insured by European firms, the head of Iran’s Central Insurance Organisation said on Monday.

“The Ukrainian plane is insured by European companies in Ukraine and not by Iranian (insurance) companies,” said Gholamreza Soleimani, according to the Young Journalists Club news website affiliated with state TV. “Therefore, compensation should be paid by those European companies.”

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Aramco’s Chief Executive Amin Nasser said on Sunday that he sees oil demand recovering in Asia as economies gradually open up after the easing of coronavirus lockdowns.

“Look at China, their gasoline and diesel demand is almost at pre-COVID 19 levels. We are seeing that Asia is picking up and other markets (too),” he told reporters on a conference call after Aramco reported results. “As countries ease the lockdown, we expect the demand to increase”

DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi state oil group Aramco’s profit plunged 73% in the second quarter of the year, as a slump in energy demand and prices due to the coronavirus crisis hit sales at the world’s biggest oil exporter.

All major oil companies have taken a hit in the second quarter as lockdowns to contain the coronavirus limited travel, which reduced oil consumption and sent prices tumbling to levels not seen in nearly two decades.

DUBAI (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 struck the province of Kermanshah in western Iran on Sunday, Iranian state TV reported.

It gave no immediate information on possible casualties or damage from the quake, which it said jolted the Gilan-e Gharb county in the province.