The United Arab Emirates struggled on Thursday to recover from the heaviest recorded rainfall ever to hit the desert nation, as its main airport worked to restore normal operations even as floodwater still covered portions of major highways and roads.

Majid al-Suwaidi, COP28 Director-General, said Monday night's draft was meant to get countries to start talking and presenting what are deal-killers for them, which are called “red lines.”

A new draft released Monday afternoon on what's known as the global stocktake — the part of talks that assesses where the world is at with its climate goals and how it can reach them — called for countries to reduce “consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres returned to the summit on Monday and said it was “time to go into overdrive, to negotiate in good faith, and rise to the challenge.”

Participants at the United Nations' COP28 climate talks on Sunday found themselves greeted by the rarest sights in the United Arab Emirates — public protests.

While Ukrainian diplomats take part in negotiations at the United Nations COP28 climate talks, Russia’s war on the country lurks just in the background — even as the United Arab Emirates has seen its business ties to Moscow surge despite Western sanctions.

The Emirati president-designate for the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate talks forcefully denied on Wednesday a report alleging his nation planned to use the summit to strike oil and gas deals, a day before the summit was due to begin.

Dubai prepared to host the COP28 climate talks on Tuesday as world leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden signaled they would not be attending the negotiations that come during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war roiling the wider Middle East.

The United Arab Emirates' pick to lead the upcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai called on the world on Tuesday to “fight climate change, not each other,” directly addressing the anger activists have felt over his selection.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry backs the United Arab Emirates' decision to appoint the CEO of a state-run oil company to preside over the upcoming U.N. climate negotiations in Dubai, citing his work on renewable energy projects.