United Arab Emirates

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Fire Hits One of World's Tallest Apartment Towers

No deaths reported at Dubai building called 'The Torch'

(Newser) - One of the world's tallest residential towers—with the unfortunate name of "The Torch"—caught fire early today in Dubai's Marina district, sending hundreds of residents pouring into the streets as flames raged several stories high. No one was reported killed. The fire broke out about...

Nightmare Flight: Fliers Stuck on Plane for 28 Hours

12 of those hours spent on the tarmac in Abu Dhabi

(Newser) - Passengers flying from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates landed Saturday evening in San Francisco—but only after a grueling 28 hours on the plane, only 16 of which were spent in flight. They sat on the Abu Dhabi tarmac stranded by dense fog, unable to deplane, for 12...

Saudi Oil Chief: Cheap Oil Isn't a Conspiracy

As neighbors worry Saudis are depressing prices

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia's oil chief today dismissed allegations that his kingdom conspired to bring down oil prices in order to harm other countries and told a summit of Arab energy leaders that he was confident the market would stabilize. The kingdom, which is dependent on oil revenues, is able to...

UAE Cops Arrest Woman in American Teacher's Murder

Abu Dhabi police say suspect also put bomb outside another American's home

(Newser) - The United Arab Emirates' interior minister says that police have arrested a female suspect in the stabbing death of an American schoolteacher in the country's capital and reveals that the attacker also planted a bomb outside the home of another American. Interior Minister Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan said...

Man Escapes Alimony After Wife Admits She's a Genie

So rules a court in United Arab Emirates

(Newser) - This story about a divorce in the United Arab Emirates begins in not-so-unusual fashion: A wife refuses to sleep with her husband, and he is not pleased. Then it gets weird: She tells him to talk to her parents, who explain that their daughter can't have sex with him...

Female Pilot Led UAE Airstrikes Against ISIS

Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri, 35, was first woman to join Emirates' air force

(Newser) - If a country's going to send military pilots to fight ISIS, it's going to send its very best. Which is why the United Arab Emirates selected Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri, 35—the first female fighter pilot in the Emirates air force—to lead one of its airstrike missions...

Tripoli Bombing Is 'Game-Changer' in Fight Against ISIS

Egypt, UAE teaming up for airstrikes is an Arab milestone: Quartz writer

(Newser) - Neither nation is admitting it exactly, but it seems that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates joined forces earlier this month to bomb sites held by Islamist militants inside Libya. This is actually a huge milestone in the Arab world, writes Bobby Ghosh at Quartz , and one that should cause...

Dubai Unveils Plans for World's Largest Mall

It will include 100 hotels, a theme park, and a climate-controlled network of streets

(Newser) - Being home to one of the world's largest malls is apparently not enough for the rulers of the United Arab Emirates, even just five years after Dubai was crippled by a massive debt crisis. The nation’s ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, says his planned Mall of the...

UAE Brings in Conscription
 UAE Brings in Conscription 
Jun 9, 2014 12:30 AM CDT

UAE Brings in Conscription

Gulf nation worried about 'difficult neighbors'

(Newser) - Does the United Arab Emirates spy trouble ahead? The Gulf nation has introduced a law requiring all males over 18 to serve at least nine months in the military, or two years if they haven't finished high school, Al Jazeera reports. Officials say the conscription law, which follows a...

Middle East Sees Spike in Cases of Lethal Virus

92 have died since 2012

(Newser) - A respiratory virus identified in 2012 has since claimed 92 lives—and recent days have seen cases soar. Last week, Saudi Arabia reported 15 new cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome within four days; this weekend, the United Arab Emirates announced that paramedics were the victims in six additional cases....

Imams Forbid Muslims From Traveling to Mars

Fatwa in UAE likens it to suicide

(Newser) - Muslims in the United Arab Emirates hoping to colonize the red planet have had their hopes dashed by the country's General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment, which has issued a fatwa against them doing that very thing. The group was specifically concerned about the one-way trip to Mars...

In This Country, Not Breastfeeding Now Illegal

United Arab Emirates passes law despite strong opposition

(Newser) - Sure, the pope supports it , but a new clause added to a children's rights law in the United Arab Emirates doesn't just encourage mothers to breastfeed—it requires it until children are at least two years old, the Guardian reports. While those who passed the law late last...

UAE Releases American Jailed Over Comedy Video

Shezanne Cassim set to arrive in US today

(Newser) - An American man has been released from prison in the United Arab Emirates where he had been held for nine months for posting a parody video online , a rep for his family said today, noting he will arrive at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this afternoon. It was not immediately clear...

American Gets Prison Sentence for Comedy Video

Verdict for Shezanne Cassim and friends not actually read

(Newser) - The UAE is very bad at taking a joke. The state security court in Abu Dhabi today sentenced three men—including American citizen Shezanne Cassim—to a year in prison for a goofy video they put online last year. The video, titled "Satwa G" is a mockumentary poking fun...

Airport Takes Step Toward Being World's Biggest

1st commercial passengers landed at Dubai's Al Maktoum yesterday

(Newser) - When Al Maktoum International Airport is finished, it's expected to be the biggest hub in the world—and it began seeing commercial passengers yesterday. Cargo flights have been operating at the airport since 2010, but that completion date likely won't occur until 2027, a roughly 10-year delay spawned...

Mosque Boots Too-Racy Rihanna

Singer asked to leave Abu Dhabi's Grand Mosque

(Newser) - Rihanna wore a headscarf and black jumpsuit for a weekend photo shoot in Abu Dhabi but her presence was still considered inappropriate for the location—the world's eighth-biggest mosque. The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre says she was asked to leave after she arrived at "a gate that...

Dubai Pardons Woman Facing Jail Over Rape Claim

But Marte Deborah Dalelv has lost job

(Newser) - A Norwegian woman who reported she had been raped only to find herself sentenced to 16 months in a Dubai jail has been pardoned by the emirate's leader, Norwegian officials say. Marte Dalelv had been sentenced for having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol; following Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid...

Woman Jailed in Dubai After Reporting Rape

24-year-old Norwegian charged for sex outside marriage, drinking

(Newser) - Marte Deborah Dalelv was looking to have her alleged attacker arrested when she reported she had been raped by a colleague. Instead, the 24-year-old Norwegian woman working in Qatar was arrested herself, and has now been sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges of sex outside of marriage, making...

Overreaction? UAE Jails Dozens in 'Coup Plot'

Activists say mass trial was just designed to clamp down on dissenters

(Newser) - More than 65 suspects accused of plotting an Islamist coup in the United Arab Emirates received prison sentences of up to 15 years today in a mass trial that underscored the widening crackdowns on perceived Arab Spring-inspired dissent across the Gulf Arab region. Rights groups have accused the UAE of...

UAE Beaches: No Bikinis, Please

Even if you've got it, flaunting it can get you fined

(Newser) - Tourists hoping to strut their stuff on certain sands in the United Arab Emirates will sadly have to keep those bikinis and Speedos packed tightly in their suitcases: Beaches in the UAE's northernmost emirate, Ras al-Khaimah, now sport signs warning of possible fines for revealing swimwear such as two-piece...

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