Head of Mexican immigration agency charged after fatal fire
April 12, 2023 GMTMEXICO CITY (AP) — The head of Mexico’s National Immigration Institute will face criminal charges for a fire that killed 40 migrants in a locked cell, the federal Attorney General’s Office said Tuesday night.
US deploys guided-missile submarine amid tensions with Iran
April 8, 2023 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy has deployed a guided-missile submarine capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk missiles to the Middle East, a spokesman said Saturday, in what appeared to be a show of force toward Iran following recent tensions.
QatarEnergy to acquire 25% stake in major Iraqi gas project
April 5, 2023 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — QatarEnergy, the Gulf country's state-run petroleum firm, said Wednesday it has agreed to buy a 25% stake in a massive gas project in Iraq, marking the rare entry of a major producer into a market that Western firms have pulled back from in recent years.
Bahrain sentences 3 for questioning Islamic teachings
March 30, 2023 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Prosecutors in the Arab Gulf nation of Bahrain on Thursday have handed down yearlong prison sentences to three people for debating Islamic theology in a series of blog posts and online videos.
Their world was the oyster: Oldest pearl town found in UAE
March 20, 2023 GMTSINIYAH ISLAND, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Archaeologists said Monday they have found the oldest pearling town in the Persian Gulf on an island off one of the northern sheikhdoms of the United Arab Emirates.
Syria’s Assad in UAE to mark ongoing thaw in relations
March 19, 2023 GMTBEIRUT (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, his first visit to the wealthy Gulf country since the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last month.
State news: Kuwait court annuls 2022 parliamentary election
March 19, 2023 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Kuwaiti court on Sunday annulled the results of a parliamentary election held last year, saying it would reinstate the previous slate of lawmakers elected in 2020.
China denies hidden motives after hosting Iran-Saudi talks
March 11, 2023 GMTBEIJING (AP) — After hosting talks at which Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, China said Saturday it has no hidden motives and isn’t trying to fill any “vacuum” in the Middle East.
Bayern Munich back in Qatar amid sponsorship uncertainty
January 6, 2023 GMTBERLIN (AP) — The Bayern Munich team flew to Qatar on Friday for its winter training camp amid uncertainty over the club’s contentious sponsorship agreement with the Persian Gulf country.
State-owned Qatar Airways’ lucrative advertising deal is due to expire at the end of the season and there is pressure on the Bavarian powerhouse from its own fans not to extend it.
As young Gazans die at sea, anger rises over leaders’ travel
January 6, 2023 GMTJERUSALEM (AP) — Khaled Shurrab had been waiting more than half his life to get out of Gaza.
The 27-year-old had never left the coastal enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel and Egypt since 2007.
Saudi Arabia says its oil pipeline was hit by drones
May 15, 2019 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An oil pipeline that runs across Saudi Arabia was hit Tuesday by drones, the Saudi energy minister said, as regional tensions flared just days after what the kingdom called an attack on two of its oil tankers near the Persian Gulf...
Global worries flare over whether US sliding toward Iran war
May 15, 2019 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — International worries that the Trump administration is sliding toward war with Iran flared into the open Tuesday amid skepticism about its claims that the Islamic Republic poses a growing threat to the U...
Analysis: Persian Gulf tensions, unclear threats raise risks
May 14, 2019 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Murky claims of sabotage to oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates...
The Latest: Khamenei says Iran won’t negotiate with US
May 14, 2019 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on developments in the Persian Gulf, elsewhere in Mideast, amid heightened tensions between the U...
UAE says 4 ships targeted by ‘sabotage’ off its east coast
May 12, 2019 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates said Sunday that four commercial ships off its eastern coast "were subjected to sabotage operations," just hours after Iranian and Lebanese media outlets aired false reports of explosions at a nearby Emirati port...
AP EXPLAINS: Why send a US aircraft carrier to the Gulf?
May 12, 2019 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group is being deployed to the Persian Gulf to counter an alleged but still-unspecified threat from Iran, the latest in a long line of such deployments to the strategic region...
US deployments across Mideast factor in Iran tensions
May 11, 2019 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group rushes toward the Persian Gulf...
Iraq pursuing $53B megaproject with ExxonMobil, PetroChina
May 7, 2019 GMTBAGHDAD (AP) — The prime minister of Iraq says he has instructed his country's Oil Ministry to finalize an agreement with global energy giants ExxonMobil and PetroChina to lead a $53 billion megaproject to boost oil production...
AP Interview: Karzai worries Pakistan talks risk peace pact
February 16, 2019 GMTKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that previously unscheduled peace talks between the Taliban and the United States in Pakistan risk engulfing the country in regional rivalries...
US aircraft carrier enters Persian Gulf after long absence
December 21, 2018 GMTABOARD THE USS JOHN C. STENNIS IN THE PERSIAN GULF (AP) — — A U.S. aircraft carrier sailed into the Persian Gulf on Friday, becoming the first since America's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in May and breaking the longest carrier absence in the volatile region since at least the Sept...
1991 Gulf War looms large over Bush’s Mideast legacy
December 1, 2018 GMTAL-JAHRA, Kuwait (AP) — On the outskirts of Kuwait City, the love Kuwaitis have for former U.S. President George H...
Iran says it has added 2 mini submarines to its naval fleet
November 29, 2018 GMTTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's navy has acquired two new mini submarines designed for operations in shallow waters such as the Persian Gulf, the Iranian state TV reported on Thursday...
FIFA asks Qatar emir about World Cup share with bitter foes
October 31, 2018 GMTDOHA, Qatar (AP) — Adding 16 teams to the 2022 World Cup is about far more than sports. The head of world soccer thinks the proposal can help solve the bitter diplomatic fight between host Qatar and a Saudi Arabian-led coalition trying to isolate the tiny nation...
Iran’s president blames US after attack on military parade
September 23, 2018 GMTTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's president on Sunday accused an unnamed U.S.-allied country in the Persian Gulf of being behind a terror attack on a military parade that killed 25 people and wounded 60, further raising regional tensions...
US Navy seizes 1,000 smuggled rifles off war-torn Yemen
August 31, 2018 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military said early Friday it seized over 1,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles being smuggled by small ships in the Gulf of Aden amid the ongoing war in nearby Yemen...
30 years later, US downing of Iran flight haunts relations
July 3, 2018 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Mourners tossed flowers from a helicopter and a ferry into the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran on Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the U...
Philippines makes ban on workers going to Kuwait permanent
April 30, 2018 GMTMANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday that a ban on Filipino workers from heading to Kuwait that's been in effect since February would now be permanent, inflaming a dispute sparked by complaints of the abuse of Filipina housemaids and workers in the Persian Gulf country...
Witness in Mueller probe aided UAE agenda in Congress
March 26, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — A top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to U...
Mueller probe witness secretly backed UAE agenda in Congress
March 26, 2018 GMTA top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to U...
Mueller probe witness secretly backed UAE agenda in Congress
March 26, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — A top fundraiser for President Donald Trump received millions of dollars from a political adviser to the United Arab Emirates last April, just weeks before he began handing out a series of large political donations to U...
Qatar, UAE extend oil field concession to Japan amid crisis
March 13, 2018 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar and the United Arab Emirates each extended a concession to an offshore oil field they share to a Japanese consortium on Tuesday despite a diplomatic crisis between the two of them tearing at the region...
Trump to Persian Gulf: Resolve Qatar crisis or no Camp David
March 2, 2018 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump wants to bring feuding Persian Gulf leaders to Camp David for a show of solidarity with the United States...
New hunting law falls prey to old habits in Lebanon
January 26, 2018 GMTBRITAL, Lebanon (AP) — To bird lovers, the scenes are upsetting. Dozens of dead buzzards lie on a carpet of feathers on a rocky hill in northern Lebanon...
AP Analysis: Iran angered by Trump, but needs nuclear deal
October 15, 2017 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump angered Iran with his speech on refusing to re-certify the nuclear deal, but Tehran is unlikely to walk away from the agreement in retaliation.
Trump’s speech sparks a new war of words between US, Iran
October 15, 2017 GMTTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — President Donald Trump's refusal to certify the Iran nuclear deal has sparked a new war of words between the Islamic Republic and America, fueling growing mistrust and a sense of nationalism among Iranians...
Business ties complicate Muslim states’ response to Rohingya
September 21, 2017 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — When Rohingya Muslims fled persecution and slaughter in Myanmar in past decades, tens of thousands found refuge in Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites...
On ships far from the McCain crash, a renewed safety focus
August 27, 2017 GMTABOARD THE USS NIMITZ (AP) — Half a world away from two deadly U.S. Navy accidents, sailors on America's massive USS Nimitz aircraft carrier reflect on the shipmates they knew who are gone...
In the Persian Gulf, Iran’s drones pose rising threat to US
August 25, 2017 GMTABOARD THE USS NIMITZ (AP) — High above the Persian Gulf, an Iranian drone crosses the path of American fighter jets lining up to land on the USS Nimitz...
Qatar crisis grinds on as top US diplomat leaves the Gulf
July 13, 2017 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The top U.S. diplomat concluded a week of shuttle diplomacy in the Persian Gulf crisis on Thursday bearing no promise of an imminent breakthrough, but he voiced optimism that Qatar and its four Arab neighbors might soon at least be willing to talk face to face.
Tillerson aims to ease Qatar crisis with shuttle diplomacy
July 10, 2017 GMTKUWAIT CITY (AP) — The Trump administration tossed aside its aversion to mediating a weeks-long Persian Gulf dispute Monday, as the top U...
After demands aired, solution to Qatar crisis seems far off
June 24, 2017 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Faced with a sweeping set of demands, Qatar insisted Friday it can indefinitely survive the economic and diplomatic steps its neighbors have taken to try to pressure it into compliance, even as a top Emirati official warned the tiny country to brace for a long-term economic squeeze.
Qatar’s neighbors issue steep list of demands to end crisis
June 23, 2017 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries that have cut ties to Qatar issued a steep list of demands Thursday to end the crisis, insisting that their Persian Gulf neighbor shutter Al-Jazeera, cut back diplomatic ties to Iran and sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood...
AP Analysis: Saudi shakeup, Qatar crisis show a Gulf on edge
June 22, 2017 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — There was a time when the mention of the Persian Gulf brought to mind images of pampered societies ruled by aging monarchs content to preside quietly over their oil money and fantastical skyscrapers while the U...
Crisis sees air travel hub Qatar cut off from local routes
June 20, 2017 GMTFLYING OVER THE PERSIAN GULF (AP) — Sitting on an airplane from Qatar trying to get home to Dubai, I could only watch frustrated as a scrolling map showed my flight pass overhead of my skyscraper-studded city and continue further east...
Kuwait tries to mediate crisis between Qatar, Arab nations
June 6, 2017 GMTDUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Kuwait tried to mediate a resumption of diplomatic and commercial ties between Qatar and several of its Arab neighbors Tuesday, while U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to back those isolating the energy-rich nation over allegations it supports terror groups and Iran...
First US aircraft carrier of Trump presidency enters Gulf
March 22, 2017 GMTABOARD THE USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (AP) — American sailors watched as the first Revolutionary Guard vessels appeared on the horizon of the Strait of Hormuz, beginning a daylong face-off that has become familiar to both Iranian paramilitary and U...