Gulf neighbors the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Tuesday announced a joint committee to confront "regional challenges," in a statement published on official Emirati news agency WAM.

The move came as Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal met UAE Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan in Abu Dhabi.

A UAE court Monday held a new hearing in the trial of an "al-Qaida cell" of nine men accused of supporting Al-Nusra Front, the jihadist network's Syrian affiliate, state news agency WAM said.

The prosecution accused seven of the defendants of "joining the terrorist al-Qaida organization and forming a cell in the UAE to promote its ideas," WAM reported.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq hoped on Monday that Emirati nationals would once again return to Lebanon “after stability in the country has been restored” due to the implementation of the government's security plan.

He said while on a trip to the UAE: “There are positive signs that the emirate may lift the advisory against its citizens traveling to Lebanon, but I have not yet received such a pledge.”

A Gulf rights group has called for the release of thousands of prisoners of conscience in the oil-rich Gulf states as it marked what it called Gulf Detainees Day to highlight their plight.

The Gulf monarchies do not allow political parties and criticism of rulers can easily land someone in jail.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday, in his first official visit abroad since the formation of his cabinet in February.

Salam is expected to meet with Saudi King Abdullah and several top Saudi officials.

Nine suspected al-Qaida members accused of plotting attacks in the United Arab Emirates have gone on trial in Abu Dhabi's state security court, newspapers reported Tuesday.

A first hearing was held Monday, and the case adjourned until May 19 to allow for defense lawyers to be appointed, the reports said.

Qatar's dispute with three fellow Gulf states, which withdrew their envoys from Doha last month, is "over", the Qatari foreign minister said Wednesday, while insisting his country had made no concessions.

"The statement issued in Riyadh on April 17 was clear ... For the brothers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) the dispute is over," Khaled Al-Attiyah told a press conference in Kuwait after a meeting with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah.

The Philippines said Saturday it was stepping up its defenses against the deadly MERS virus, with the large numbers of Filipino workers in the Middle East seen as potential carriers.

"It is important that families, friends and members of their local communities fully understand all that must be known about the MERS coronavirus," Health Secretary Enrique Ona told a news conference.

Three men were remanded in custody by a British court Thursday in connection with a hammer attack at a London hotel on three wealthy tourists from the United Arab Emirates.

The attack happened in the early hours of April 6 in a room on the seventh floor of the four-star Cumberland Hotel, next to Hyde Park and the main Oxford Street shopping area.

Iran's foreign minister held talks Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates in Tehran's latest effort to mend fences with Gulf states suspicious of its nuclear program and regional ambitions.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif met the UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, home to a sizable Iranian community, the WAM state news agency reported.