Egypt sent a top official to the UAE for talks on Wednesday, a day after reports that 10 members of a group linked to President Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood party were arrested there.

Essam el-Haddad, Morsi's adviser for foreign affairs and international cooperation, held talks with UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, WAM state news agency said.

UAE security forces have arrested more than 10 people linked to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood who recruited members in the Gulf state, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

"United Arab Emirates security services have arrested a cell of more than 10 people belonging to the leadership of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood," Al-Khaleej reported, quoting what it said was an informed source.

Explosions of color shot out of the world's tallest building, Dubai's Burj Khalifa, illuminating the Gulf city state's sky as the huge expatriate and tourist hub celebrated the New Year.

Fireworks engulfed the 828-meter (2,716-foot) tower, synchronized and choreographed to a live performance by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

An Iranian cargo ship sank in UAE waters due to rough weather, while its crew of six was airlifted to safety by a rescue helicopter, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

The Al-Jasourah went down on Friday some 10 nautical miles off the coast of the northern emirate of Umm Al-Quwain soon after it had left the neighboring emirate of Sharjah, said Gulf News.

UAE authorities on Wednesday announced busting a cell of Saudi and Emirati members plotting "terror" attacks in the two countries and other states.

The suspects "imported material and equipment with the aim of committing terror acts," said an official statement on WAM state news agency. The arrests came after coordination between security authorities in the two Gulf states.

The UAE supports a "non-sectarian" change in power in war-hit Syria, the WAM official news agency quoted the Gulf state's foreign minister as saying after he met with a top Syrian opposition leader.

"The United Arab Emirates supports a non-sectarian future change of government in Syria," Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan said late Tuesday after he met with the opposition National Coalition's chief, Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib in Abu Dhabi.

The Army Command stressed on Sunday its keenness on the security of foreigners in Lebanon.

It urged in a statement “foreigners and Arabs to visit Lebanon as they will enjoy the utmost level of protection.”

The United Arab Emirates called its citizens on Saturday to refrain from traveling to Lebanon except in case of utmost necessity.

“We have taken this decision because of the political situation in Lebanon and in surrounding countries,” the Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Butti al-Hamed told Emirates News Agency - WAM , explaining that the ministry is keen on protecting people's safety outside the country.

Iran on Tuesday brushed away a renewed call from the United Arab Emirates for the two countries to resolve through discussion their vying claims to three strategic islands in the Gulf.

"Repeating baseless claims will not have any influence on existing realities. The three Iranian islands have been and will remain an integral part of the Islamic Republic of Iran's territory," Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said in a statement.

The governor of the United Arab Emirates central bank said Friday it intends to buy the sovereign debt of bailed-out eurozone member Portugal.

"Portugal has taken steps towards recovery. Ireland has successfully overcome the crisis and now the second country to do it in Europe will be Portugal," Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi was quoted as saying in the Portuguese business daily Diario Economico.