Oil-rich Abu Dhabi on Sunday officially opened the world's largest concentrated solar power plant, which cost $600 million to build and will provide electricity to 20,000 homes.

The 100-megawatt Shams 1 is "the world's largest concentrated solar power plant in operation" said Sultan al-Jaber, the head of Abu Dhabi's Masdar, which oversees the emirate's plan to generate seven percent of its energy needs by 2020 from renewable sources.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel pointed out on Friday that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are keen to preserve the “historic” and “exceptional” ties with Lebanon and to welcome the expats on their territories.

“I have discussed the conditions of the Lebanese community in Saudi Arabia and UAE during talks with the two country's interior ministers,” Charbel said after a meeting with Lebanese businessmen in Riyadh.

Abu Dhabi struck deals worth billions of dollars with Malaysia on Tuesday, a state-owned company announced, as Kuala Lumpur seeks investment to boost the economy before polls due by June.

The deals were announced after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak met United Arab Emirates (UAE) Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan in the administrative capital of Putrajaya, just outside Kuala Lumpur

The UAE has replaced its energy minister, created a ministry of development and international cooperation, and merged foreign trade and economy into one ministry, in a cabinet reshuffle announced on Tuesday.

Energy Minister Mohammed al-Hamili has been replaced by Suhail al-Mazrouie, a prominent businessman, according to state news agency WAM and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum on his Twitter account.

The Federal Supreme Court of Abu Dhabi on Monday heard the lawyers of 94 Islamists accused of plotting to seize power in the United Arab Emirates before scheduling the next sessions to March 18 and 19.

Eighty-five Islamists including 12 women appeared in court, for the second hearing in the largest trial in the history of the UAE, state news agency WAM reported quoting the justice ministry.

The United Arab Emirates reiterated warnings to its citizens not to travel to Lebanon over security fears, media reports said on Thursday.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper, UAE called on citizens who wish to head to Lebanon to fill an application that confirms that their visit to Beirut is on their own responsibility.

Iran rejected Tuesday claims by the Gulf Cooperation Council that it is interfering in the grouping's internal affairs, insisting that Tehran stays away from domestic issues of other countries.

"Iran's intervention in Bahrain's affairs is a claim contrary to reality and it is made in order to escape from the real problems and will bear no results," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly press conference.

The trial of 94 Islamists accused of plotting against the United Arab Emirates began Monday in the absence of rights activists and foreign reporters, who according to witnesses were barred from the court.

The Federal Supreme Court, which also acts as state security court, convened in Abu Dhabi to try the activists arrested between March and December last year.

Oil-rich UAE will channel $500 million this year into development projects in neighboring Oman as part of a $2.5 billion pledge within a Gulf aid program, a top Emirati official said on Wednesday.

"The UAE government will pump $0.5 billion this year through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development," said the fund's chief Mohammed al-Swaidi in Oman.

A UAE appeals court on Monday upheld life imprisonments handed in May last year to 10 pirates convicted of hijacking a ship east of Oman in the Arabian Sea in 2011, state news agency WAM reported.

The sentences, which equates to 25 years in jail, will be followed by deportation, WAM said.