TEHRAN:Iranon Tuesday warned against any “provocations” in the Gulf as a US-led international naval force began a massive minesweeping exercise. “Any movement in the region will be fully monitored by our defence forces,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told ...

manamaNaval forces from more than 41 countries gathered in Bahrain -- across the Gulf from Iran -- on Monday to prepare for a massive minesweeping exercise, the US Fifth Fleet said.The International Mine Countermeasures Exercise (IMCMEX) "is the largest exercise of its kind in the region and will ...

DUBAI Reuters Iran test-fired a new land-to-sea ballistic missile in the Gulf, a senior official said on Tuesday, days before an annual ceremony meant to showcase its military muscle at a time of rising tension with the West over its nuclear activity. Israel has publicly warned of possible air ...

DUBAI/DOHA (Reuters) - Gulf Arab OPEC oil producers do not see the need to change production levels to support crude prices, OPEC delegates said after benchmark Brent touched nine-month lows on Friday.A sell-off in commodities saw Brent contracts fall from around $106 a barrel on Wednesday to lows ...

WASHINGTON — The US Navy is deploying a solid-state laser weapon to the Persian Gulf, a top Naval official disclosed Monday, saying the move was aimed at deterring Iran from using small boats to attack American warships.Unveiling the plans to place the laser cannon aboard a US ship in the ...

MANAMA - The annual summit of Arab monarchs in the Gulf opened in Manama on Monday with a call for closer economic integration and unity in the face of the turmoil which has swept much of the Middle East.King Hamad of host country Bahrain called for the Gulf Cooperation Council to provide “a ...

MANAMA  - The six Gulf states sharpened their tone against their neighbour Iran on Tuesday, demanding an immediate halt to its ‘interference’ in their internal affairs while urging a rapid political transition in its ally Syria.Concluding a two-day summit in Manama, the Gulf ...

MANAMA  - The annual summit of Arab monarchs in the Gulf opened in Manama on Monday with a call for closer economic integration and unity in the face of the turmoil which has swept much of the Middle East.King Hamad of host country Bahrain called for the Gulf Cooperation Council to provide ...

DUBAI - Most Arab oil exporting countries in the Gulf should plan to reduce growth in government spending to make their budgets more sustainable, as their combined surplus could turn into a deficit around 2017, the International Monetary Fund said on Monday.“While expansionary fiscal policies ...

DUBAI  - When Abu Dhabi’s biggest bank issued a $750 million bond in August, strong investor demand underlined how well most Gulf banks are riding out the global financial crisis. The issue also sent another signal: that the region’s debt market is growing strongly and, ...

WASHINGTON — One of the American Navy’s oldest transport ships, now converted into a “floating base” has arrived off the coast of Bahrain to support counter-mine operations in the Persian Gulf as U.S. steps up military pressure on Iran, The New York Times reported ...

DUBAI - The decision by world footballing authorities to overturn a ban on women soccer players wearing the Islamic headscarf was welcomed by several Arab states Thursday.The International Football Association Board (IFAB), custodians of the rules of football, overturned its 2007 ban on the Islamic ...

M K BHADRAKUMARRebuff the United States’ entreaties regarding sanctions against Iran, then nonchalantly cross the Sunni-Shi’ite divide in the Persian Gulf while sidestepping the Arab Spring altogether and vaguely greeting Islamism, and all this as solo acts - Chinese diplomacy is on a ...

TEHRAN  - Iran has not stored oil on tankers in the Gulf, and its crude exports have not been disrupted due to mounting international pressure over its disputed nuclear programme, an oil official told the semi-official Mehr news agency on Saturday.On Tuesday shipping sources told Reuters the ...

LONDON - Britain's newest warship is heading to the Gulf for its first mission at a time of tensions over Iran's threat to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key transport route for oil.The Royal Navy's Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring, which has a "stealth" design to help avoid detection by ...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran Monday tested missiles near the Strait of Hormuz, underlining its threats to close the vital oil-transit waterway as the West prepares to impose more economic sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear drive. The launch of two missiles took place on the final day of war games in ...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran would find it "really easy" to close the world's most important oil transit channel, the Strait of Hormuz at the Gulf's entrance, but would not do so right now, Iran's navy chief said Wednesday."Shutting the strait for Iran's armed forces is really easy -- or as we say (in Iran) ...

NEW YORK - President Barack Obamas announcement earlier this month that the United States will pull out all its forces from Iraq by the end of the year appears to be just a political stunt as a leading newspaper reported Sunday that plans were underway to bolster its military presence in the ...

RIYADH (AFP) - Gulf troops sent to back Bahraini security forces in their crackdown on Shiite-led protests are to be "redeployed" but will not withdraw completely, a Saudi official said on Tuesday. "It is normal to redeploy the Peninsula Shield force but the danger is not over yet and these forces ...

While Tunisians and Egyptians are enjoying their newfound freedoms, forming political parties and holding passionate debates on their countries' futures, across the six Arab states along the Persian Gulf, a counterrevolutionary pushback against the Arab Spring is steadily gaining steam. Autocratic ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) Transocean Ltd. has given its executives pay raises, bonuses and stock options after the companys best year for safety, despite a deadly oil platform explosion and massive leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an ...

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) - Energy rich Gulf states plan to launch a massive Marshall-style plan to assist Bahrain and Oman which have been hit by unrest, Kuwait's Al-Qabas newspaper reported on Wednesday. Citing unnamed senior sources, the daily said the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council states were ...

Doyle McManus The Obama administration now finds itself in the awkward position of promoting democracy and defending monarchies at the same time in the Arab world. Its not easy promoting democracy and defending monarchies at the same time. But thats the awkward position the Obama administration ...

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - Bill Gates and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi pledged $100m Wednesday to deliver vaccines to children in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan will each give $50m to provide vaccinations for five common but deadly ...

LAHORE - Amid speculations about any upcoming change on the political scenario, some factions of the Pakistan Muslim League, descendents of the same political pedigree, have started making efforts to merge themselves into one party, ostensibly to prepare themselves to play an effective role in the ...

NEW YORK (AFP) Australias Greg Norman, Fijis Vijay Singh and American David Duval - all former world number ones - are joining with the US PGA Tour in a Golfers for the Gulf bid to help the Gulf of Mexico. The stars are backing the move to help endangered wildlife in ecologically damaged marshes ...

WASHINGTON (Agencies) - The deepwater drilling moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico costs at least 23,000 jobs, according to a federal document that weighed the economic impact and alternatives to the drilling ban. A six-month suspension would directly put 9,450 people out of work and indirectly affect ...

DUBAI (AFP) - The oil-rich Gulf economies are recovering along with crude prices nearly two years after the global financial crisis hit the region, but Dubai, stricken by its debt, is still picking up the pieces. When the financial woes struck the desert states in the autumn of 2008, Dubais ...

LONDON (AFP) - BPs vilified chief executive Tony Hayward resigned Tuesday as the British oil giant revealed the Gulf of Mexico disaster will cost over 32 billion dollars after causing a record quarterly loss. Hayward, whose PR gaffes handling the oil spill made him a target of US fury, will be ...

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Pakistan plans to expand its Shariah-compliant banking industry and attract more investors from the Gulf by boosting sales of 'Sukuk bills. Spokesman State Bank of Pakistan Syed Wasimuddin told gulf news that Pakistan is seeking to sell sukuk maturing in a year or less in the ...