Abu Dhabi: Three people were killed in a suspected drone attack that set off a blast and a fire in Abu Dhabi on Monday, officials said, as Yemen's rebels announced military operations in the United Arab Emirates.

Two Indians and a Pakistani died as three petrol tanks exploded near the storage facility of oil giant ADNOC, while a fire ignited in a construction area at Abu Dhabi airport.

Police said "small flying objects" were found at both places, suggesting the sort of deliberate attack that is unheard of in the wealthy UAE, a renowned safe haven in the volatile Middle East.

"Preliminary investigations indicate the detection of small flying objects, possibly belonging to drones, that fell in the two areas and may have caused the explosion and fire," police said in a statement, adding that the incidents were under investigation.

Yemen's Huthi rebels did not claim the attacks. But the Huthis military spokesman announced a "military operation" in the UAE, a partner in Yemen's pro-government coalition, in what would be a major escalation in the seven-year war.

Yahya Saree tweeted that the rebels' armed forces had said they would "announce an important military operation in the UAE in the coming hours".

Drone attacks are a hallmark of the Huthis' assaults on Saudi Arabia, the UAE ally which is leading the coalition fighting for Yemen's government in a grinding civil war.

The rebels have previously threatened to target Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the gleaming crown jewels of the UAE which last year opened its first nuclear power plant.

The Huthis' latest statement comes two weeks after they seized a UAE-flagged ship, the Rwabee, off the Yemen coast, and released footage purporting to show military equipment on board.

The UAE said the Rwabee, whose 11 crew are now hostages, was a "civilian cargo vessel" and called the hijacking a "dangerous escalation" in the busy Red Sea shipping route.

The rebels later rejected a UN Security Council demand for the ship's immediate release, saying it was "not carrying... toys for children but weapons for extremists".

SOUCE: AFP

Beijing: China’s birth rate dropped to a record low of 7.52 per 1,000 people in 2021, National Bureau of Statistics data showed Monday.

China scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit to try and counter a rapidly ageing population, but many couples do not want to have more children because of the high cost of urban living.

Country’s birth rate was the lowest since 1949 when the statistics bureau began collating the data.

The natural growth rate of China’s population, which excludes migration, was only 0.034% for 2021, the lowest since 1960.

As per chief economist at Pinpoint Asset management, Zhiwei Zhang, “The demographic challenge is well known but the speed of population ageing is clearly faster than expected”.

“This suggests China’s total population may have reached its peak in 2021. It also indicates China’s potential growth is likely slowing faster than expected,” added Zhang.

As per official data, there were 10.62 million births in 2021.

Twitter said on Monday it will expand its test feature which allows users to flag misleading content on its social media platform to Brazil, Spain and the Philippines.

The company had introduced the pilot test of the feature in August last year, as a part of its effort to reduce misinformation on its platform.

It was first tested in the United States, Australia and South Korea.

Since it was first announced, Twitter said it has received around 3 million reports from users who have used it to flag tweets which they believe are in violation of its policies.

The social media giant last year launched another program called Birdwatch, which lets participants write notes and provide additional context to misleading tweets, though those notes are held on a separate website.

SOURCE: REUTERS