United Arab Emirates | featured news

Three British men have claimed they were beaten and electrocuted after being imprisoned in Dubai for possession of a cannabis substitute, the latest in a string of expatriates and holidaymakers to fall foul of the law in the United Arab Emirates.

A Dubai court has sentenced an Irish man and British woman to three months in jail for an intimate tryst in the back of a taxi. The sentence Thursday is the latest case of Westerners running afoul of the social codes in the United Arab Emirates, which maintains strict laws on sex-related issues although it often turns a blind eye.

The United Arab Emirates opens and begins operating a key overland pipeline which bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, controlled by Iran. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the strait at the mouth of the Gulf, a vital oil-trade route.

An Egyptian couple has been charged with putting their child at risk and attempted smuggling after security officers at an airport in the United Arab Emirates found their 5-month-old boy hidden in a small handbag.

U.S. open water swimmer Francis 'Fran' Crippen, a world championship bronze medalist, died during a Marathon Swimming World Cup 10km event in the United Arab Emirates on Saturday, world governing body FINA said.

The United Arab Emirates said it had reached an agreement with the maker, Research In Motion.

The United Arab Emirates will suspend use of Blackberry services in October, citing concerns about security risks, the state news agency said on Sunday.

Iran said on Monday that Germany, Britain and the United Arab Emirates were refusing to provide fuel to Iranian passenger planes following unilateral U.S. sanctions on the Islamic state, the ISNA news agency reported.

The world's tallest skyscraper has unexpectedly closed to the public a month after its lavish opening, disappointing tourists headed for the observation deck and casting doubt over plans to welcome its first permanent occupants in the coming weeks.

A Korean-led consortium won a landmark contract, valued at around $20.4 billion, to build four nuclear reactors in the U.A.E., in what officials in this Persian Gulf country have said is the region's largest-ever energy deal.