Some flights at Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) have been cancelled or delayed due to airspace closures over Iran, Iraq, and Syria.

“We’re working to manage the disruption and support affected guests,” DXB said in a statement posted on its official X account.

Read-Flightradar data shows airline diversions as Israel strikes Iran

Passengers are advised to check with their airlines for the latest updates and rebooking options before heading to the airport, and to allow extra time for arrival. DXB added that field teams are on-site to assist and thanked travelers for their patience and understanding.

Sharjah Airport has also urged passengers to regularly monitor their flight status, as several cancellations and delays have been reported due to the airspace closures in the region.

A WAM report noted that passengers should contact their airlines directly to confirm flight status before heading to the airport to ensure a smooth travel experience.

Sharjah Airport reassured travelers that it is closely monitoring the situation in coordination with relevant authorities and is implementing all necessary operational measures to maintain the highest standards of safety and service.

According to Flightradar24 data, airlines cleared out of the airspace over Israel, Iran, Iraq, and Jordan on Friday after Israel launched attacks on targets in Iran. Carriers have diverted or cancelled flights to ensure the safety of passengers and crew.

Israel stated on Friday that it had targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories, and military commanders at the start of what it described as a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defense forces remain on high alert for potential retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines announced it had suspended flights to and from Israel and was relocating some aircraft out of the country. Israir Airlines also stated it was evacuating planes from Tel Aviv and anticipated the airport would remain closed through the weekend.

Many global airlines had already suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels landed near the airport on May 4.

(With inputs from Reuters)

A fire that broke out late Friday in a 67-storey residential tower in Dubai’s Marina district has been brought under control, the Dubai Media Office (DMO) said on Saturday.

Dubai Civil Defence teams worked for six hours to extinguish the blaze, evacuating all 3,820 residents from the building’s 764 apartments without any reported injuries, according to DMO.

Authorities confirmed that all residents had been safely evacuated and the situation was under control.

Dubai Marina fire: Residents’ safety a priority

Images shared by Dubai Media Office on social media platform X showed smoke continuing to rise from the tower hours after the fire had been contained.

The authorities said on X: “control measures remain in place and the situation is fully managed by the firefighting teams.”

Authorities are now working with the building’s developer to secure temporary housing for displaced residents. The authorities have said that the safety and wellbeing of those affected remained the top priority.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Read: Air India Ahmedabad-London flight crash – 241 confirmed fatalities, one survivor

G42, the Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence and advanced technology group has launched G42 Europe & UK, a new subsidiary headquartered in London.

The entity will focus on providing tailored AI solutions to the private sector and collaborating with governments and industry partners to develop critical AI infrastructure across the UK and continental Europe.

G42 Europe & UK will be co-chaired by two technology leaders: Omar Mir, an international board member at World Wide Technology, and Marty Edelman, group general counsel of G42.

Mir brings over two decades of global tech industry experience, having led initiatives in 5G, edge computing, cloud, and AI services across the UK, Europe, the US, and the Middle East.

Edelman oversees legal and compliance strategy for G42’s global operations and has been key in shaping the group’s governance as it expands into new markets.

Read: Stargate UAE: G42, OpenAI, Oracle, NVIDIA, SoftBank, Cisco to build AI cluster

Leveraging G42’s expertise

“Our goal is to harness G42’s proven AI expertise and localise it for European and UK businesses — fuelling digital transformation, enhancing competitiveness, and building resilient, sovereign AI infrastructure in partnership with public and private stakeholders,” said Omar Mir, co-chair of G42 Europe & UK.

Marty Edelman, also co-chair, added, “UK and Europe represents a dynamic market with immense opportunity for AI-driven innovation. By establishing a dedicated hub in London, we strengthen our ability to serve clients with deep regulatory understanding and world-class technology solutions.”

The establishment of the new entity follows G42’s increasing presence in Europe, which includes recent announcements of data centres and compute clusters in France and Italy, alongside growing interest from other regional countries.

G42 Europe and UK plans to leverage G42’s global network of supercomputing nodes, data centres, and AI capabilities. It aims to deliver scalable, secure, and end-to-end AI services, ranging from strategic advisory and model development to infrastructure deployment and managed services.

These services will target sectors such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and energy. The new subsidiary will also work with national and regional authorities to advance data-sovereignty initiatives and support the deployment of next-generation AI infrastructure.

Airlines cleared out of the airspace over Israel, Iran, Iraq and Jordan on Friday after Israel launched attacks on targets in Iran, Flightradar24 data showed, with carriers diverting and cancel flights to keep passengers and crew safe.

Read more: Oil soars more than 6% after Israel’s strike on Iran alarms market

Israel on Friday said it targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders at the start of what it warned would be a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice, and Israel’s air defence units stood at high alert for possible retaliatory strikes from Iran.

Israeli flag carrier El Al Airlines said it had suspended flights to and from Israel and was moving some of its planes out of the country.

Israeli carrier Israir said it was evacuating its planes from Tel Aviv’s airport, which it said was expected to remain closed through the weekend.

Many global airlines had already halted flights to and from Tel Aviv after a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels towards Israel on May 4 landed near the airport.

Iranian airspace has been closed until further notice, according to state media and notices to pilots.

Air India, which overflies Iran for its Europe and North American flights, said several flights were being diverted or returned to their origin, including ones from New York, Vancouver, Chicago and London.

Lufthansa said its flights to Tehran have been suspended until further notice, and it would avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Israeli airspace for the time being.

Emirates, which cancelled flights to and from Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iran after Israel’s attack, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iraq early on Friday closed its airspace and suspended all traffic at its airports, Iraqi state media reported.

Eastern Iraq near the border with Iran contains one of the world’s busiest air corridors, with dozens of flights crossing between Europe and the Gulf, many on routes from Asia to Europe, at any one moment.

Jordan, which sits between Israel and Iraq, closed its airspace several hours after the Israeli campaign began.

Flight diversions

“Traffic is now diverting either south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia, or north via Turkey, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan,” according to Safe Airspace, a website run by OPSGROUP, a membership-based organisation that shares flight risk information.

Flights from six airlines including Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines were diverted to Baku, Azerbaijan according to its Heydar Aliyev International Airport.

An Emirates flight from Manchester to Dubai was diverted to Istanbul and a flydubai flight from Belgrade diverted to Yerevan, Armenia.

Budget carrier flydubai said it had suspended flights to Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Iran and Israel and a number of other flights had been cancelled, rerouted or returned to their departure airports.

Qatar Airways cancelled its two scheduled flights to Damascus on Friday, Flightradar24 data shows.

Airspace in the Middle East last year was crossed daily by 1,400 flights to and from Europe, Eurocontrol data show.

Whether you’re closing a deal from a café in DIFC, fielding investor calls from the back seat of a Hala or Uber cab, or editing an article or presentation on the flight to Riyadh — work today doesn’t wait for the right setting. It moves with you, taps your shoulder mid-lunch, and expects a response even at 30,000 feet in the air or in the Metro.

Enter the HP OmniBook X — a sleek, AI-powered business laptop. It’s nimble, lightweight, and ‘smart’ enough to deliver your needs.

For entrepreneurs building businesses between meetings, consultants flying city to city, or creatives managing back-to-back Zoom calls while the kids are home — this is a device that adapts as fluidly as you do.

Ultra-portable, but ready for business

At just 1.34 kg and only 14mm thin, the OmniBook X is built for those who pack light but work heavy. The aerospace-inspired aluminum chassis gives it a premium, polished feel. It slips easily into a tote, backpack, or laptop sleeve, and feels just as at home in a sleek boardroom as it does perched on a bar-height airport desk.

Its 14-inch 2.8K OLED display with 120Hz refresh rate offers razor-sharp visuals, rich colours, and an anti-glare coating — making it equally adept at handling high-stakes presentations or back-to-back Teams calls in tricky lighting. Bonus: the edge-to-edge panel makes the whole thing feel larger than it is.

AI-first performance for the way you work now

Under the hood, the device is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 — HP’s first consumer PC to feature this 12-core processor, clocked at up to 3.4 GHz. It’s paired with a neural processing unit (NPU) and GPU capable of delivering up to 70 trillion operations per second (TOPS) in combined AI performance, though HP lists 47 TOPS as the standard NPU output. That’s serious on-device intelligence — and it makes a difference.

Everything from real-time transcription, smart noise filtering, AI-assisted image editing, to Copilot+ features like Recall and Live Captions runs smoothly without calling out to the cloud.

Running Windows 11 Home, the OmniBook X offers seamless access to Microsoft’s latest AI experiences — enhanced by on-device performance, not just cloud processing. HP’s first AI assistant is built in, offering contextual suggestions, performance tuning, and productivity tools that evolve with how you use the device.

With up to 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, the OmniBook X handles multitasking with ease — no stutter, no sweat. The integrated Qualcomm Adreno GPU supports light video editing and graphic work, and the system runs whisper-quiet thanks to its fanless design.

Battery life that actually keeps up

Forget carrying a charger everywhere “just in case”. HP advertises up to 26‑28 hours of battery life, though real-world testing yields around 16–17 hours — still excellent, but more realistic, thanks to the power efficiency of the ARM-based Snapdragon chip and smart AI tuning.

Whether you’re powering through spreadsheets on the road or running back-to-back meetings, it’s built to last a full workday — and more.

And if you do need to plug in? HP Fast Charge takes you from 0 to 50 per cent in just 30 minutes, making it easy to top up between meetings or during a layover.

Calls, sound, and the WFH upgrade you deserve

Let’s face it: audio and camera quality matter just as much as processing power when your office is a screen. The 5MP IR camera with auto-framing, AI noise reduction, and backlight adjustment means you’ll look and sound sharp, even in low light or noisy cafes. Whether you’re running a webinar, client pitch, or check-in with the team, the experience feels polished — no fiddling, no apologies.

Poly Studio audio tuning with dual speakers ensures crystal‑clear sound, making remote conversations feel present and professional — even in noisy environments. HP Audio Boost further enhances volume and clarity, unplugged.

Built-in security and connectivity

For professionals handling sensitive data, HP’s Wolf Security Suite offers enterprise-grade protection out of the box — isolating threats before they reach your system. Windows Hello via IR facial recognition and a fingerprint sensor makes logging in quick, seamless, and secure.

And if you opt for the HP SureView Reflect privacy screen, you’ll have an extra shield against wandering eyes on planes or in cafés.

The Snapdragon‑powered OmniBook X is well‑equipped for connectivity, featuring two USB‑C ports (one at 40 Gbps, one at 10 Gbps), a USB‑A port, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. It supports Wi‑Fi 7 via the FastConnect 7800 chipset.

What about gamers?

While this isn’t a dedicated gaming laptop, casual gamers can enjoy titles like Fortnite, Minecraft, or Valorant on low-to-medium settings with surprisingly good results thanks to the Adreno GPU and high refresh OLED screen. Think of it as a bonus feature, not a selling point — and one that adds more versatility to an already capable machine.

Verdict: Smart, swift, adaptable and dependable

The HP OmniBook X is what happens when sleek design, intelligent computing, and real-world mobility meet. It’s not just built for business. It’s built for people who move fast, think faster, and need a device that understands both.

Another bonus: The HP OmniBook X PCs are designed using recycled metals and post-consumer recycled plastics.

Read: Empowering innovation and inclusion: An interview with HP’s Helena Herrero