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Tag: United Arab Emirates

  • Sudan strikes deal with UAE firms for $6 billion port

    Sudan strikes deal with UAE firms for $6 billion port

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    CAIRO — Sudan’s military government signed a $6 billion preliminary agreement with two firms from the United Arab Emirates Tuesday to construct a new port on the Red Sea coast, Sudanese state media said.

    According to the SUNA news agency, Abu Dhabi Ports Group and Invictus Investment will build and manage the new port of Abu Amama, about 200 kilometers (about 124 miles) north of Sudan’s only other port, Port Sudan.

    The announcement comes a week after Sudan’s ruling military generals signed a “framework agreement” with the country’s main pro-democracy group, among other political forces, which could spur a new civilian government and military removed from power.

    But the framework agreement offers only a rough outline of how the country expects to resume its road to democracy and has been rejected by several major political forces. Further talks for a second more inclusive deal are expected soon.

    The port of Abu Amama will include an international airport, a network of internal roads and a power station, among other features, said Sudanese Finance Minister Gibreel Ibrahim, who was at the signing.

    The site will be a ‘’special economic zone” for trade and business between the Sudanese government and the two UAE businesses. No time frame for Abu Amama’s construction was provided.

    The UAE, along with the United States, The United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia helped broker last week’s framework deal after facilitating months of cross-party talks. The Gulf state has been a leading investor in Sudan in recent years, an ally of its military generals and a large consumer of Sudanese gold.

    Sudan has been plunged into turmoil since the country’s leading military figure, Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, led a coup in October 2021 that upended the country’s democratic transition following three decades of autocratic rule by Omar al-Bashir.

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  • Japanese company’s lander rockets toward moon with UAE rover

    Japanese company’s lander rockets toward moon with UAE rover

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Tokyo company aimed for the moon with its own private lander Sunday, blasting off atop a SpaceX rocket with the United Arab Emirates’ first lunar rover and a toylike robot from Japan that’s designed to roll around up there in the gray dust.

    It will take nearly five months for the lander and its experiments to reach the moon.

    The company ispace designed its craft to use minimal fuel to save money and leave more room for cargo. So it’s taking a slow, low-energy path to the moon, flying 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth before looping back and intersecting with the moon by the end of April.

    By contrast, NASA’s Orion crew capsule with test dummies took five days to reach the moon last month. The lunar flyby mission ends Sunday with a Pacific splashdown.

    The ispace lander will aim for Atlas crater in the northeastern section of the moon’s near side, more than 50 miles (87 kilometers) across and just over 1 mile (2 kilometers) deep. With its four legs extended, the lander is more than 7 feet (2.3 meters) tall.

    With a science satellite already around Mars, the UAE wants to explore the moon, too. Its rover, named Rashid after Dubai’s royal family, weighs just 22 pounds (10 kilograms) and will operate on the surface for about 10 days, like everything else on the mission.

    In addition, the lander is carrying an orange-sized sphere from the Japanese Space Agency that will transform into a wheeled robot on the moon. Also flying: a solid state battery from a Japanese-based spark plug company; an Ottawa, Ontario, company’s flight computer with artificial intelligence for identifying geologic features seen by the UAE rover; and 360-degree cameras from a Toronto-area company.

    Hitching a ride on the rocket was a small NASA laser experiment that is now bound for the moon on its own to hunt for ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar south pole.

    The ispace mission is called Hakuto, Japanese for white rabbit. In Asian folklore, a white rabbit is said to live on the moon. A second lunar landing by the private company is planned for 2024 and a third in 2025.

    Founded in 2010, ispace was among the finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition requiring a successful landing on the moon by 2018. The lunar rover built by ispace never launched.

    Another finalist, an Israeli nonprofit called SpaceIL, managed to reach the moon in 2019. But instead of landing gently, the spacecraft Beresheet slammed into the moon and was destroyed.

    With Sunday’s predawn launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ispace is now on its way to becoming one of the first private entities to attempt a moon landing. Although not launching until early next year, lunar landers built by Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology and Houston’s Intuitive Machines may beat ispace to the moon thanks to shorter cruise times.

    Only Russia, the U.S. and China have achieved so-called “soft landings” on the moon, beginning with the former Soviet Union’s Luna 9 in 1966. And only the U.S. has put astronauts on the lunar surface: 12 men over six landings.

    Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of astronauts’ last lunar landing, by Apollo 17’s Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on Dec. 11, 1972.

    NASA’s Apollo moonshots were all “about the excitement of the technology,” said ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada, who wasn’t alive then. Now, “it’s the excitement of the business.”

    “This is the dawn of the lunar economy,” Hakamada noted in the SpaceX launch webcast. “Let’s go to the moon.”

    Liftoff should have occurred two weeks ago, but was delayed by SpaceX for extra rocket checks.

    Eight minutes after launch, the recycled first-stage booster landed back at Cape Canaveral under a near full moon, the double sonic booms echoing through the night.

    ———

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Japanese company’s lander rockets toward moon with UAE rover

    Japanese company’s lander rockets toward moon with UAE rover

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    CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A Tokyo company aimed for the moon with its own private lander Sunday, blasting off atop a SpaceX rocket with the United Arab Emirates’ first lunar rover and a toylike robot from Japan that’s designed to roll around up there in the gray dust.

    It will take nearly five months for the lander and its experiments to reach the moon.

    The company ispace designed its craft to use minimal fuel, to save money and leave more room for cargo. So it’s taking a slow, low-energy path to the moon, flying 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from Earth before looping back and intersecting with the moon by the end of April.

    By contrast, NASA’s Orion crew capsule with test dummies took five days to reach the moon last month. The lunar flyby mission ends Sunday with a Pacific splashdown.

    The ispace lander will aim for Atlas crater in the northeastern section of the moon’s near side, more than 50 miles (87 kilometers) across and just over 1 mile (2 kilometers) deep. With its four legs extended, the lander is more than 7 feet (2.3 meters) tall.

    With a science satellite already around Mars, the UAE wants to explore the moon, too. Its rover, named Rashid after Dubai’s royal family, weighs just 22 pounds (10 kilograms) and will operate on the surface for about 10 days, like everything else on the mission.

    In addition, the lander is carrying an orange-sized sphere from the Japanese Space Agency that will transform into a wheeled robot on the moon. Also flying: a solid state battery from a Japanese-based spark plug company; an Ottawa, Ontario, company’s flight computer with artificial intelligence for identifying geologic features seen by the UAE rover; and 360-degree cameras from a Toronto-area company.

    Hitching a ride on the rocket is a small NASA laser experiment that will fly to the moon on its own to hunt for ice in the permanently shadowed craters of the lunar south pole.

    The ispace mission is called Hakuto, Japanese for white rabbit. In Asian folklore, a white rabbit is said to live on the moon. A second lunar landing by the private company is planned for 2024 and a third in 2025.

    Founded in 2010, ispace was among the finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition requiring a successful landing on the moon by 2018. The lunar rover built by ispace never launched.

    Another finalist, an Israeli nonprofit called SpaceIL, managed to reach the moon in 2019. But instead of landing gently, the spacecraft Beresheet slammed into the moon and was destroyed.

    With Sunday’s predawn launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, ispace is now on its way to becoming one of the first private entities to attempt a moon landing. Although not launching until early next year, lunar landers built by Pittsburgh’s Astrobotic Technology and Houston’s Intuitive Machines may beat ispace to the moon thanks to shorter cruise times.

    Only Russia, the U.S. and China have achieved so-called “soft landings” on the moon, beginning with the former Soviet Union’s Luna 9 in 1966. And only the U.S. has put astronauts on the lunar surface: 12 men over six landings.

    Sunday marked the 50th anniversary of astronauts’ last lunar landing, by Apollo 17’s Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on Dec. 11, 1972.

    NASA’s Apollo moonshots were all “about the excitement of the technology,” said ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada, who wasn’t alive then. Now, “it’s the excitement of the business.”

    Liftoff should have occurred two weeks ago, but was delayed by SpaceX for extra rocket checks.

    ———

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • World Cup fans overcome strict hurdles to find booze in Qatar

    World Cup fans overcome strict hurdles to find booze in Qatar

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    In a dusty neighborhood on the outskirts of Qatar’s capital, guards stand duty at a gated compound ringed with razor wire, carefully checking passports and permits before allowing anyone inside. But this isn’t a prison or a high-security area associated with the ongoing World Cup.

    It’s the liquor store.

    Rigid limits on alcohol are a fact of life in this conservative Muslim nation on the Arabian Peninsula, which follows the same strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam as its neighbor Saudi Arabia. Soccer fans coming to Qatar for the World Cup got a taste of that just before the tournament as authorities cancelled beer sales at stadiums.

    Yet corks continue to be popped in luxury boxes at games. Fans are filling pints from beer towers at dozens of hotel bars, lounges and nightclubs with liquor licenses. Sales of $14 Budweisers at Doha’s FIFA Fan Zone continue unabated.

    “Not to say that you need alcohol to fuel your life, but it’s a good time,” said Ed Ball, an American who created an online map for imbibers in Doha to find bars. “The idea being passed around that you can’t drink in Qatar is wrong. There are places.”


    Ecuador fans erupt in “We want beer” chants during opening match against Qatar

    00:11

    One state-owned liquor store

    In addition to the bars, there’s the liquor store where non-Muslim residents and visitors can shop after applying for a government-issued license. Located next to an Indian school in Doha’s dusty Abu Hamour neighborhood, it is run by the Qatar Distribution Co., a state-owned enterprise under the umbrella of Qatar Airways, which holds exclusive rights to distribute alcohol and pork in the country.

    The store — currently the only one selling liquor in Qatar — operates on an appointment system, harkening back to the strict coronavirus regulations that governed this country prior to just before the World Cup.

    On a recent visit, guards twice checked an Associated Press reporter’s identifications and appointments. Razor wire tops the compound’s high walls, which bar the public from a peek inside. Signs warn that any abuse aimed at the guards can result in an alcohol license being revoked. Empty silver-colored beer kegs are piled up in the parking lot.

    At the end of a chlorine-scented walkway, customers reach the entrance to the store. Inside, the shelves and stands are stocked with bottles of wine largely running from $12.50 up to $45. A liter of Absolut vodka goes for $42, while a liter of Jack Daniels whiskey sets a shopper back $70. A 24-pack of standard Budweiser cans costs nearly $52.


    World Cup kicks off amid mounting pressure over Qatar’s LGBTQ views

    04:16

    “Not that big of a deal”

    A small section of the store offers frozen pork pepperoni pizzas, slabs of bacon, Spam and cans of pork and beans.

    Customers filled their carts or carried bottles and cans in their hands, checking against shopping lists or texting family members to double check what was needed. Several wore FIFA passes for the tournament around their necks.

    Outside the shop, a 31-year-old British woman who works as a school teacher in Qatar, filled the trunk of her car. She declined to offer her name, given the connotations drinking can carry in Qatari society, but dismissed criticism surrounding drinking and the tournament.

    “It’s really not that big of a deal,” she said of the licensing system in Qatar. “It’s like going to the supermarket — for alcohol.”

    She added that she thought the restrictions on sales for the matches also made sense. “I’m British. I know what it’s like to to be around drunk people all the time.”

    Complex history

    Across the wider Persian Gulf, alcohol remains banned in Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the sheikhdom of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. Drinking alcohol is considered haram, or forbidden, in Islam. Imams point to a verse in the Quran calling wine “the work of Satan.”

    But the region as a whole has a long history with alcohol, itself an Arabic word. The 8th century poet Abu Nawas even was known for his “khamriyyat,” or “wine poems.”

    Both alcohol and pork face a 100% import duty. Qatar says it uses the tax revenue to improve health care, infrastructure, education and other public services.

    Visitors are not allowed to bring alcohol into the country. Many hotels are dry and prohibit guests from bringing alcohol to their rooms.


    Qatar accused of labor abuses of migrant workers ahead of World Cup

    03:08

    Millions of liters sold despite restrictions

    Even with those restrictions, Qatar sold 23.2 million liters of alcoholic drinks in 2021, according to data from Euromonitor International. Though dwarfed by the United Arab Emirates’ 115 million liters sold in the same period, Qatar’s numbers show a 14.6% growth as the pandemic waned.

    Meanwhile, Ball’s online map of bars in Qatar has been viewed over 875,000 times. An accompanying Twitter account shows him downing two pints of beer in 10 seconds.

    “For me, drinking is just like eating. It just goes along with the culture,” Ball told the AP after returning home to Seattle, where he works for Boeing Co. “I know it’s not part of Qatar … but it’s also part of the World Cup. One of the biggest sponsors is Budweiser so it just goes to show you it kind of goes hand in hand.”

    Bars in Qatar typically scan IDs of those heading in, with many working on a voucher system during the tournament to make sure fans spend at least certain amount.

    On Saturday night, a group of Russians screamed expletives at the U.S. team during its match with the Netherlands as they downed shots and posed for photographs with servers at Doha’s Irish Harp.

    Dermot O’Callaghan, a 66-year-old soccer fan from Dublin, Ireland, enjoyed a much calmer pint at the bar, swaying along to the Cuban band Chicas Melao.

    “It’s very enjoyable, you can get a drink here if you want in the evenings,” O’Callaghan said. “You do have a cohort of fans roaming around, looking for a drink.”

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  • Dubai airport chief says passengers top pre-pandemic level

    Dubai airport chief says passengers top pre-pandemic level

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai International Airport passenger numbers surpassed pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in the third quarter of 2022, the airport’s chief executive said, causing the airport to revise its annual forecast by another 1 million passengers.

    Paul Griffiths, who oversees the world’s busiest airport, told The Associated Press the annual forecast at Dubai International, or DXB, is more than 64 million. The airport saw 18.5 million passengers in the third quarter of this year, up from 17.8 million during the first quarter of 2020 — prior to and at the dawn of the pandemic.

    Most of the growth, Griffith said, comes from the traditional markets of India, the U.K., Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. He added that the end of COVID-19 testing requirements and people’s eagerness to travel have contributed to the increase.

    “Recovery is very much on the agenda and has been a phenomenon here ever since the end of the pandemic,” Griffiths said.

    The new numbers are welcome news for the tourism-driven economy of Dubai, which accounts for about 12% of the tiny nation’s GDP. A year ago in the third quarter, 6.7 million came through the airport.

    Still the figure is nowhere near the pre-pandemic milestone of 86.4 million in annual traffic logged by the airport in 2019.

    The 46 million passengers who traveled through DXB in the first nine months of this year represent 72% of the airport’s pre-pandemic levels. Griffiths says they expect to reach pre-pandemic levels annually by 2023.

    The largest share of traffic to Dubai came from India, with 6.8 million travelers, followed by Saudi Arabia, with 3.4 million travelers this year. A key growth market for travel to and from Dubai is Pakistan and the United States.

    The United Arab Emirates is home to more than 100,000 British citizens. Dubai’s main airport logged 3.2 million passengers from the U.K. up to September this year, making it the third largest share of traffic numbers.

    Around 60% of Dubai’s airport traveler figures this year represent arrivals, with the rest transiting through.

    The first World Cup in the Middle East, currently taking place in Qatar, says Griffiths, is expected to add 494,000 passengers to Al Maktoum International Airport, or DWC, during the fourth quarter of the year. Currently, 120 daily flights are operational from DWC for FIFA fans to shuttle between matches in Doha and Dubai.

    Qatar Airways has 60 daily flights to shuttle soccer fans to the tournament, while the other 60 are operated by low-cost carrier FlyDubai, he said.

    Ambitious plans to turn the airfield in Dubai’s southern desert into a mega-aviation hub, first unveiled by Dubai before the 2008 global financial crisis, have sputtered in recent years. Long-haul carrier Emirates, based in Dubai, parked many of its double-decker Airbus A380s there during the pandemic as commercial flights halted.

    Now, Griffiths says the air travel market continues to rebound around the world, with more people traveling as mobility returns to the world.

    This year, 275,000 flights went through DXB, up 159% from 2021.

    The widespread lifting of pandemic restrictions in Dubai triggered a rapid increase in air travel demand, filling Dubai’s hub. Griffiths says that has also contributed positively to the city’s economy.

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  • Iran arrests outspoken player amid World Cup scrutiny

    Iran arrests outspoken player amid World Cup scrutiny

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran has arrested a prominent former member of its national soccer team over his criticism of the government as authorities grapple with nationwide protests that have cast a shadow over the team as it competes in the World Cup before a global audience.

    The semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported Thursday that Voria Ghafouri was arrested for “insulting the national soccer team and propagandizing against the government.”

    Ghafouri, who was not chosen to go to the World Cup, has been an outspoken critic of Iranian authorities throughout his career, objecting to a longstanding ban on women spectators at men’s soccer matches as well as Iran’s confrontational foreign policy, which has led to crippling Western sanctions.

    More recently, he expressed sympathy for the family of a 22-year-old woman whose death while in the custody of Iran’s morality police ignited the latest protests. In recent days he also called for an end to a violent crackdown on protests in Iran’s western Kurdish region.

    The reports of his arrest came ahead of Friday’s World Cup match between Iran and Wales. At Iran’s opening match, a 6-2 loss to England, the members of the Iranian national team declined to sing along to their national anthem and some fans protested.

    The protests were ignited by the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish woman arrested by the morality police in the capital, Tehran. They rapidly escalated into nationwide demonstrations calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The western Kurdish region of the country, where Amini was from, has seen particularly intense protests and a deadly crackdown by security forces.

    Ghafouri, who is also a member of Iran’s Kurdish minority, has criticized government policies in the past. Officials have not said whether that was a factor in not choosing him for the national team. He plays for the Khuzestan Foolad team in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

    The protests show no sign of waning, and mark one of the biggest challenges to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that brought them to power. Authorities have blamed the unrest on hostile foreign powers, without providing evidence.

    The protesters say they are fed up after decades of social and political repression, including a strict dress code imposed on women.

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  • Iran protests rage on streets as officials renew threats

    Iran protests rage on streets as officials renew threats

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Protests in Iran raged on streets into Thursday with demonstrators remembering a bloody crackdown in the country’s southeast, even as the nation’s intelligence minister and army chief renewed threats against local dissent and the broader world.

    Meanwhile, a top official in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed it had “managed to achieve” having so-called hypersonic missiles, without providing any evidence.

    The protests in Iran, sparked by the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by the country’s morality police, have grown into one of the largest sustained challenges to the nation’s theocracy since the chaotic months after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    At least 328 people have been killed and 14,825 others arrested in the unrest, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests over their 54 days. Iran’s government for weeks has remained silent on casualty figures while state media counterfactually claims security forces have killed no one.

    As demonstrators now return to the streets to mark 40th-day remembrances for those slain earlier — commemorations common in Iran and the wider Middle East — the protests may turn into cyclical confrontations between an increasingly disillusioned public and security forces that turn to greater violence to suppress them.

    Online videos emerging from Iran, despite government efforts to suppress the internet, appeared to show demonstrations in Tehran, the capital, as well as cities elsewhere in the country. Near Isfahan, video showed clouds of tear gas. Shouts of “Death to the Dictator” could be heard — a common chant in the protests targeting Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    It wasn’t immediately clear if there were injuries or arrests in this round of protests, though Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged the demonstrations near Isfahan. They commemorated the Sept. 30 crackdown in Zahedan, a city in Iran’s restive Sistan and Baluchestan province, in which activists say security forces killed nearly 100 people in the deadliest violence to strike amid the demonstrations.

    Meanwhile Thursday, Guard Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in a speech that his forces acquired hypersonic missiles. However, he offered no photograph, video or other evidence to support the claim and the Guard’s vast ballistic missile program is not known to have any of the weapons in its arsenal.

    Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound, could pose crucial challenges to missile defense systems because of their speed and maneuverability.

    China is believed to be pursuing the weapons, as is America. Russia claims to already be fielding the weapons and have said it used them on the battlefield in Ukraine.

    “This system is very, very fast, and is capable of maneuvering both inside and beyond the atmosphere,” Hajizadeh claimed. “This means the Islamic Republic of Iran’s new missile can pass through both terrestrial air defense systems and the super-expensive extraterrestrial systems that could target missiles beyond the earth atmosphere.”

    Iranian officials have kept up their threats against the demonstrators and the wider world. In an interview with Khamenei’s personal website, Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib renewed threats against Saudi Arabia, a nation along with Britain, Israel and the U.S. that officials have blamed for fomenting unrest that appears focused on local grievances.

    Khatib warned that Iran’s “strategic patience” could run out.

    “Throwing stones at powerful Iran by countries sitting in glass houses has no meaning other than crossing the borders of rationality into the darkness of stupidity,” Khatib said. “Undoubtedly, if the will of the Islamic Republic of Iran is given to reciprocate and punish these countries, the glass palaces will collapse and these countries will not see stability.”

    Iran blames Iran International, a London-based, Farsi-language satellite news channel once majority-owned by a Saudi national, for stirring up protesters. The broadcaster in recent days said the Metropolitan Police warned that two of its British-Iranian journalists faced threats from Iran that “represent an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families.”

    Last week, U.S. officials said Saudi Arabia shared intelligence with America that suggests Iran could be preparing for an imminent attack on the kingdom. Iran later called the claim “baseless,” though the threats from Tehran continue.

    The commander of the ground forces of Iran’s regular army, Brig. Gen. Kiumars Heydari, separately issued his own threat against the protesters, whom he called “flies.”

    “If these flies are not dealt with today as the revolutionary society expects, it is the will of the supreme leader of the revolution,” he reportedly said. “But the day he issues an order to deal with them, they will definitely have no place in the country.”

    ———

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP

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  • Ukraine: Photos show cemetery expansion near occupied city

    Ukraine: Photos show cemetery expansion near occupied city

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Satellite photos analyzed Tuesday by The Associated Press show a rapid expansion of a cemetery in southern Ukraine in the months after Russian forces seized the port city of Mariupol.

    The images from Planet Labs PBC highlight the changes in the cemetery in Staryi Krym, an occupied town located northwest of the city. Comparing images from March 24, when Mariupol was under attack by the Russians, to one taken Oct. 14, months after the city’s fall, shows significant growth to the cemetery’s southern fringes.

    An area of some 1.1 square kilometers (less than half a square mile) appears to have been freshly dug over that period in the cemetery’s southwestern corner. Another area of just over half a square kilometer was dug in the southeast corner.

    It remains unclear how many people were buried in the cemetery during the roughly seven-month period.

    The Center for Information Resilience, a London-based nonprofit that specializes in digital investigations and has monitored the Staryi Krym cemetery, estimated that more than 4,600 graves have been dug since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

    The center said it could not estimate the number of bodies interred. The BBC’s Panorama program first reported on the center’s analysis.

    The suffering of Mariupol’s residents and the stiff fight Ukrainian forces put up from inside a huge steel plant to keep the seaside city from ending up in Russian hands became early touchstones in the war.

    During a nearly three-month siege, a maternity hospital and a theater serving as a shelter were among the sites reduced to ruins. When they finally surrendered, the Ukrainian troops were taken prisoner by the Russians.

    The British Defense Ministry reported Tuesday that Russia has started building defensive structures around the occupied city, including what were likely pyramid-shaped anti-tank structures known as “dragon’s teeth” between Mariupol and Staryi Krym.

    The ministry did not give the source of its information, but it said Russian forces were “making a significant effort” to fortify their lines throughout occupied Ukrainian territories, “likely to forestall any rapid Ukrainian advances in the event of breakthroughs.”

    A Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in late August has picked up momentum in the country’s south in recent weeks.

    ———

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Dubai fire races up high-rise near world’s tallest building

    Dubai fire races up high-rise near world’s tallest building

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A fire broke out early Monday morning at a 35-story high-rise building in Dubai near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

    It wasn’t immediately clear if there were any injuries in the blaze at the apartment building, which had been extinguished by the time an Associated Press journalist reached the site.

    Black char marks from the blaze could be seen stretching up the building that’s part of a series of towers called 8 Boulevard Walk by Emaar, the state-backed developer in the emirate.

    Dubai police and civil defense did not immediately acknowledge the blaze. Emaar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    A series of fires in tall buildings in skyscraper-studded Dubai in recent years has revived questions about the safety of cladding and other materials used in the country.

    On New Year’s Eve in 2015, a blaze raced through the Address Downtown, one of the most upscale hotels and residences in Dubai near the Burj Khalifa.

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  • EXPLAINER: Qatar’s vast wealth helps it host FIFA World Cup

    EXPLAINER: Qatar’s vast wealth helps it host FIFA World Cup

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qatar is home to some 2.9 million people, but only a small fraction — around one in 10 — are Qatari citizens. They enjoy massive wealth and benefits fueled by Qatar’s shared control of one of the world’s largest reserves of natural gas.

    The tiny country on the eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula juts out into the Persian Gulf. There lies the North Field, the world’s largest underwater gas field, which Qatar shares with Iran. The gas field holds approximately 10% of the world’s known natural gas reserves.​

    Oil and gas have made the 50-year-old country fantastically wealthy and influential. In a matter of decades, Qatar’s roughly 300,000 citizens have been pulled from the hard livelihood of fishing and pearl diving.

    The country is now an international transit hub with a profitable national airline, a force behind the influential Al Jazeera news network and is paying for the expansion of the largest U.S. military base in the Mideast.

    Here’s a look at Qatar’s economy and how this tiny country was able to spend so much to host the FIFA World Cup:

    QATAR’S ECONOMIC STRENGTH

    For most of its existence, the tribes of Qatar relied on pearl diving and fishing for survival. Like other parts of the Gulf, it was a harsh and bare existence. The discovery of oil and gas in the mid-20th century changed life in the Arabian Peninsula forever.

    While much of the world grapples with recession and inflation, Qatar and other Gulf Arab energy producers are reaping the benefits of high energy prices. The International Monetary Fund expects Qatar’s economy to grow by about 3.4% this year.

    Despite a massive spending spree to prepare for the World Cup, the country still earned more than it spent last year, giving it a cushy surplus that is continuing into 2022. Qatar’s riches are likely to grow as it expands capacity to be able to export more natural gas by 2025.

    Its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, manages and invests the country’s financial reserves.

    QATAR’S WORLD CUP SPENDING

    Qatar has spent some $200 billion on infrastructure and other development projects since winning the bid to host the five-week long World Cup, according to official statements and a report from Deloitte.

    Around $6.5 billion of that was spent on building eight stadiums for the tournament, including the Al Janoub stadium designed by the late acclaimed architect Zaha Hadid.

    Billions were also spent to build a metro line, new airport, roads and other infrastructure ahead of the matches.

    The London-based research firm Capital Economics said ticket sales suggest that around 1.5 million tourists will visit Qatar for the World Cup. If each visitor stayed for 10 days and spent $500 a day, spending per visitor would amount to $5,000, the research firm said. That could amount to a $7.5 billion boost to Qatar’s economy this year. However, some fans may fly in just for the matches while staying in nearby Dubai and elsewhere.

    QATAR’S LAVISH BENEFITS

    Like other rich petro-states in the Gulf, Qatar is not a democracy. Decisions are made by the ruling Al Thani family and its chose advisors. Citizens have little say in their country’s major policy decisions.

    The government, however, provides citizens with vast perks that have helped to ensure continued loyalty and support. Qatari citizens enjoy tax-free incomes, high-paying government jobs, free health care, free higher education, financial support for newlyweds, housing support, generous subsidies that cover utility bills and plush retirement benefits.

    The country’s citizens rely on laborers from other countries to fill jobs in the service sector, such as drivers and nannies, and to do the tough construction work that built modern-day Qatar.

    QATAR’S MIGRANT LABOR FORCE

    The country has faced intense scrutiny for its labor laws and treatment of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, mostly from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal and other South Asian countries. These men live in shared rooms on labor camps and work throughout the long summer months, with just a few hours of midday respite. They often go years without seeing their families back home.

    The work is often dangerous, with Amnesty International saying dozens may have died from apparent heat stroke.

    Rights groups have credited Qatar with improving its labor laws, such as by adopting a minimum monthly wage of around $275 in 2020, and for dismantling the “kafala” system that had prevented workers from changing jobs or leaving the country without the consent of their employers.

    Human Rights Watch, however has urged Qatar to improve compensation for migrant workers who suffered injury, death and wage theft while working on World Cup-related projects.

    ___

    Follow Aya Batrawy on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ayaelb.

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  • Iran Revolutionary Guard launches rocket amid more protests

    Iran Revolutionary Guard launches rocket amid more protests

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Saturday launched a new satellite-carrying rocket, state TV reported, seeking to demonstrate the hard-line force’s prowess even as anti-government protests rage across the country.

    Iranian state TV said the Guard successfully launched the solid-fueled rocket — what it called a Ghaem-100 satellite carrier — and aired dramatic footage of the rocket blasting off from a desert launch pad into a cloudy sky. The report did not reveal the location, which resembled Iran’s northeastern Shahroud Desert.

    The state-run IRNA news agency reported that the carrier would be able to put a satellite weighing 80 kg (176 pounds) into orbit some 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Earth.

    Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Guard’s aerospace division, said he hoped the Guard would soon use the rocket to put a new satellite, named Nahid, into orbit.

    Iran says its satellite program, like its nuclear activities, is aimed at scientific research and other civilian applications. The United States and other Western countries have long been suspicious of the program because the same technology can be used to develop long-range missiles. Previous launches have drawn rebukes from the U.S.

    The Guard operates its own space program and military infrastructure parallel to Iran’s regular armed forces and answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

    Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The program has seen recent troubles, however. There have been five failed launches in a row for the Simorgh program, another satellite-carrying rocket.

    A fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 killed three researchers, authorities said at the time. A launchpad rocket explosion later that year drew the attention of former President Donald Trump.

    The Guard’s announcement came in the seventh week of protests sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained after allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.

    The protests embroiling the country first focused on the state-mandated headscarf, or hijab, but swiftly morphed into one of the biggest challenges to the government since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Protesters chant for overthrowing the clerical rule and the death of Khamenei.

    Security forces, including paramilitary volunteers with the Revolutionary Guard, have violently cracked down on the demonstrations, killing over 300 people, including 41 children, according to the Oslo-based Iran Human Rights.

    On Saturday, student unions in Iran reported protests in at least six major universities across the country. Universities have been hubs for unrest, fueling the protest movement despite the crackdown.

    Anger over Iran’s sickly economy, suffocated by U.S. sanctions and years of mismanagement, has also driven people into the streets. Talks to revive Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, which granted Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for strict curbs on its atomic program, hit a deadlock months ago.

    On Saturday, Iran’s currency, the rial, plunged to its lowest value ever against the dollar. Iran’s currency was trading at 360,000 rials to the dollar, compared to 32,000 rials to the dollar at the time of the 2015 nuclear accord.

    The southeastern Sistan and Baluchestan province was gripped by unrest on Friday, drawing a lethal response from security forces. Advocacy group HalVash claimed security forces killed at least 16 people.

    Iran’s prominent Sunni cleric Mowlavi Abdolhamid Esmailzehi on Saturday condemned the violence in Sistan and Baluchestan as another “bloody disaster,” saying that security forces opened fire on protesters who were only “chanting slogans and throwing stones” outside the governor’s office.

    The judiciary of Sistan and Baluchestan announced Saturday that 620 people had been arrested in the province during the unrest, with 45 people sentenced so far on charges of damaging public property and encouraging youth on social media to join protests.

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  • Christian monastery possibly pre-dating Islam found in UAE

    Christian monastery possibly pre-dating Islam found in UAE

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    SINIYAH ISLAND, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An ancient Christian monastery possibly dating as far back as the years before Islam spread across the Arabian Peninsula has been discovered on an island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, officials announced Thursday.

    The monastery on Siniyah Island, part of the sand-dune sheikhdom of Umm al-Quwain, sheds new light on the history of early Christianity along the shores of the Persian Gulf. It marks the second such monastery found in the Emirates, dating back as many as 1,400 years — long before its desert expanses gave birth to a thriving oil industry that led to a unified nation home to the high-rise towers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

    The two monasteries became lost to history in the sands of time as scholars believe Christians slowly converted to Islam as that faith grew more prevalent in the region.

    Today, Christians remain a minority across the wider Middle East, though Pope Francis arrived in nearby Bahrain on Thursday to promote interfaith dialogue with Muslim leaders.

    For Timothy Power, an associate professor of archaeology at the United Arab Emirates University who helped investigate the newly discovered monastery, the UAE today is a “melting pot of nations.”

    “The fact that something similar was happening here a 1,000 years ago is really remarkable and this is a story that deserves to be told,” he said.

    The monastery sits on Siniyah Island, which shields the Khor al-Beida marshlands in Umm al-Quwain, an emirate some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Dubai along the coast of the Persian Gulf. The island, whose name means “flashing lights” likely due to the effect of the white-hot sun overhead, has a series of sandbars coming off of it like crooked fingers. On one, to the island’s northeast, archaeologists discovered the monastery.

    Carbon dating of samples found in the monastery’s foundation date between 534 and 656. Islam’s Prophet Muhammad was born around 570 and died in 632 after conquering Mecca in present-day Saudi Arabia.

    Viewed from above, the monastery on Siniyah Island’s floor plan suggests early Christian worshippers prayed within a single-aisle church at the monastery. Rooms within appear to hold a baptismal font, as well as an oven for baking bread or wafers for communion rites. A nave also likely held an altar and an installation for communion wine.

    Next to the monastery sits a second building with four rooms, likely around a courtyard — possibly the home of an abbot or even a bishop in the early church.

    On Thursday, the site saw a visit from Noura bint Mohammed al-Kaabi, the country’s culture and youth minister, as well as Sheikh Majid bin Saud Al Mualla, the chairman of the Umm al-Quwain’s Tourism and Archaeology Department and a son of the emirate’s ruler.

    The island remains part of the ruling family’s holdings, protecting the land for years to allow the historical sites to be found as much of the UAE has rapidly developed.

    The UAE’s Culture Ministry has sponsored the dig in part, which continues at the site. Just hundreds of meters (yards) away from the church, a collection of buildings that archaeologists believe belongs to a pre-Islamic village sit.

    Elsewhere on the island, piles of tossed-aside clams from pearl hunting make for massive, industrial-sized hills. Nearby also sits a village that the British blew up in 1820 before the region became part of what was known as the Trucial States, the precursor of the UAE. That village’s destructions brought about the creation of the modern-day settlement of Umm al-Quwain on the mainland.

    Historians say early churches and monasteries spread along the Persian Gulf to the coasts of present-day Oman and all the way to India. Archaeologist have found other similar churches and monasteries in Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

    In the early 1990s, archaeologists discovered the first Christian monastery in the UAE, on Sir Bani Yas Island, today a nature preserve and site of luxury hotels off the coast of Abu Dhabi, near the Saudi border. It similarly dates back to the same period as the new find in Umm al-Quwain.

    However, evidence of early life along the Khor al-Beida marshlands in Umm al-Quwain dates as far back as the Neolithic period — suggesting continuous human inhabitance in the area for at least 10,000 years, Power said.

    Today, the area near the marshland is more known for the low-cost liquor store at the emirate’s Barracuda Beach Resort. In recent months, authorities have demolished a hulking, Soviet-era cargo plane linked to a Russian gunrunner known as the “Merchant of Death” as it builds a bridge to Siniyah Island for a $675 million real estate development.

    Power said that development spurred the archaeological work that discovered the monastery. That site and others will be fenced off and protected, he said, though it remains unclear what other secrets of the past remain hidden just under a thin layer of sand on the island.

    “It’s a really fascinating discovery because in some ways it’s hidden history — it’s not something that’s widely known,” Power said.

    ___

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • EXPLAINER: Traveling to, around Qatar during FIFA World Cup

    EXPLAINER: Traveling to, around Qatar during FIFA World Cup

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Some 1.2 million people are expected to pour into Qatar during the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup that begins this month.

    With fans coming from all over the world, reaching Qatar on the Arabian Peninsula, as well as getting around once there, remains a concern. Estimates suggest that as many as half a million people may be in the country each day during the height of the competition.

    However, fans have a variety of transportation options to choose from ahead of the tournament.

    Here’s a look at how to get there, where to go and how to move around.

    FLYING TO QATAR

    Qatar has become a hub for East-West travel, thanks to its long-haul carrier Qatar Airways. Already, the airline is offering tailored flight, hotel and ticket options for its customers. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is gearing up to have its low-cost carrier FlyDubai run as many as 30 trips a day into Doha to allow spectators to watch a match and then shuttle back to hotels in the emirate. Those flying in will land at Doha’s Hamad International Airport, a massive airport that Qatar built for $15 billion and opened in 2014. The airport has plans to expand further in 2022 to handle 58 million passengers a year. Passengers will clear immigration and customs checks before heading out into the city. Note that during the tournament, Qatar won’t be issuing normal visas and those coming for the matches must have a Qatari-issued Hayya Card. The card verifies you have housing for the time you’re in the country or will travel in just for the match you’re watching. The Hayya Card also is required for entry into stadiums. Also keep in mind that Qatar has only one land border, with Saudi Arabia, if you’re thinking about driving.

    CORONAVIRUS CONSIDERATIONS

    Qatar has had strict rules regarding travel and the coronavirus since the pandemic began, but they were loosened as of Nov. 1. Qatar has dropped a requirement for PCR testing prior to your trip to the country, and said it’s no longer required to download its Ehteraz contact-tracing app.

    HOW TO GET AROUND QATAR

    As you walk out of the airport, you have several options on how to get around. Qatar’s state-owned Mowasalat transportation company offers taxi cabs at curbside. Major ride-hailing apps like Uber also work in Qatar. Mowasalat runs a bus service at the airport, too. Doha also has a recently built metro service, which will take you from the airport to most areas in the capital. The metro also connects to a tram now running in Lusail. You can rent a car at the airport, though officials are urging those coming to the tournament to take mass transit. On match day, public transport will be free to those holding tickets. Keep in mind that Qatar’s riyal currency trades at $1 to 3.64 riyals. There are 100 dirhams in each riyal.

    WHAT TO SEE WHILE IN QATAR

    Outside of the tournament, Doha has several cultural sites to visit. Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art offers both interesting views inside its galleries and a view outside of the city’s skyline. Nearby is Doha’s Souq Waqif, which has traditional storefronts and gifts for sale — including even a falcon section. The National Museum of Qatar, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, is a take on the desert rose. Qatar’s National Library also is renowned for its design. Doha’s Mall of Qatar has some 500,000 square meters (5.3 million square feet) for shopping. There are also beachfront resorts and tour companies offer trips into Qatar’s desert expanses as well.

    ___

    Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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  • ‘We’re not against profits,’ White House presidential coordinator says after Biden’s tax threats on energy companies

    ‘We’re not against profits,’ White House presidential coordinator says after Biden’s tax threats on energy companies

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    ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — President Joe Biden is making no secret of his frustration with high gas prices and the oil companies making record profits as a result. With the support of Democratic allies in Congress, he is threatening to levy windfall taxes on energy firms, a prospect that’s prompted backlash from the industry.

    The president on Monday tweeted: “The oil industry has a choice. Either invest in America by lowering prices for consumers at the pump and increasing production and refining capacity. Or pay a higher tax on your excessive profits and face other restrictions.”

    The language sets up what looks like a standoff between the U.S. oil industry and the Biden administration at a time of high energy prices, soaring inflation and worries of a global crude supply shortage after years of under-investment in the industry and several months of sanctions on Russian commodities for its war in Ukraine.

    But reports of animosity between the White House and America’s energy giants are overhyped, says Amos Hochstein, Biden’s special presidential coordinator, who liaises closely with energy industry leaders domestically and around the world.

    The Biden administration is not anti-profit or anti-free market, he stressed; rather, it wants to see oil companies reinvest their profits in improving crude production and the country’s energy security.

    “I talk to the CEOs, other senior members of the administration talk to the CEOs on a regular basis,” Hochstein told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble Monday, when asked about the administration’s relationship with industry executives.

    “People know that. I don’t think that’s the issue. The issue is this: we want them to increase their capex, increase investment,” he said. “The price environment for the last year, over a year now, lends itself to investment. So take those profits that you’re making. We’re not against profits. What we do want, and the president said this last week — take those profits and invest them.”

    Watch CNBC's full interview with U.S. Presidential Coordinator Amos Hochstein

    Congressional Democrats argue that oil executives are prioritizing shareholder returns over reinvesting profits toward boosting production that could lower consumer prices. Hochstein held the position that shareholder returns are not an issue in themselves, but that increasing America’s energy supplies should be the priority.

    “You want to pay some back to shareholders? Some is fine,” he continued. “But not excessively. You want to take these profits, that’s fine too. But not excessively. We’re in a war and you can do more to increase production.”

    Record-breaking oil company profits

    Several major oil companies have raked in record profits this year as consumers grappled with soaring gas and energy bills. ExxonMobil reported a record $19.7 billion net profit for the third quarter, and Biden this week accused the Texas-based company of using that to reward shareholders and buy back its own stock rather than investing in production improvements that could ease prices at the pump.

    California-based Chevron made $11.23 billion in profits in the third quarter, just shy of the record it hit in the previous quarter. In the last two quarters, Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Britain’s BP, Shell and France’s TotalEnergies reportedly made over $100 billion in profits — more than they earned in the entirety of 2021.

    Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods, speaking to CNBC last week, said his company was committed to addressing both shareholder returns and improving production, regardless of who was in the White House.

    “We don’t really look to satisfy one administration or the other. We look to make sure we’re doing the best we can using our shareholders’ money appropriately, finding advantaged projects that allow us to grow production and grow value. We’re also looking at reducing our emissions,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

    Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods: OPEC is leveraging its pricing power

    But Hochstein says he doesn’t see sufficient investment on a broad scale.

    “All I see is record profits that are not translating to sufficiently increased investment and where investments are not keeping up with average ratios of investment-to-price increase,” he said.

    Many in the oil industry argue that a windfall tax is counterproductive and would harm production and investment. Still, the threat of such taxes from the Democratic leadership is likely more of a pressure tactic than a plausible policy proposal in the near-term since Congress is not in session. And it could even become impossible to carry out if Republicans, who largely oppose such a move, win one or both houses in the November midterm elections.

    A changing White House tone on fossil fuels

    Biden came into office campaigning hard for an end to fossil fuel use and a transition to renewables as part of his climate-focused agenda, laying out a bevy of regulations on oil and gas exploration and production. Supporters of Biden’s green energy goals say this aggressive push was needed to reverse what they describe as damage done by former President Donald Trump, who rolled back years of work on environmental protections and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accords.

    But it was that policy push, those in the fossil fuel industry argue, that helped throttle investment in oil and gas production and subsequently led to the energy supply shortages and higher prices we see today. Now, faced with a tightening global oil and gas market, climbing demand, and a war in Europe, the administration is taking a different tone.

    “Look, it’s no secret that the Biden administration and oil industry do not see eye-to-eye on the long term role that oil will play in the economy,” Hochstein said. “However, we have to do two things. We need more investment in oil production and refining, now.”

    Energy security is not a 'short-term thing,' IEF secretary general says

    The longtime energy policy veteran pointed out that much of the initial regulations and restrictions have eased — and noted that under this administration, the U.S. is approaching pre-pandemic highs in oil production levels, even despite what he says is insufficient activity from oil companies.

    Figures released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Monday revealed domestic crude oil production hitting 11.98 barrels per day in August, the highest since March 2020 and nearing the U.S.’s all-time record of 12.3 million barrels set in 2019.

    Occidental Petroleum CEO Vicki Hollub contradicted the narrative that the Biden administration was ignoring oil companies. Speaking to CNBC in Abu Dhabi, she said she indeed communicates with U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a vocal climate policy advocate.

    “I do hear from Secretary Granholm — she is focused on tech, she’s enthusiastic about the climate transition, she listens, she [communicates with] the National Petroleum Council and has sent us requests for studies to be conducted to help her in making her decisions” concerning clean energy investments, Hollub said.

    Whatever the disagreements on the longer-term role of the fossil fuel industry in the U.S., oil executives and White House officials appear to agree on one thing — they will need to communicate properly to ensure future energy security for the country at a time of severe economic and geopolitical risk.

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  • BP rakes in quarterly profit of $8.2 billion as oil majors post another round of bumper earnings

    BP rakes in quarterly profit of $8.2 billion as oil majors post another round of bumper earnings

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    Shares of BP are up over 45% year-to-date.

    Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

    Oil and gas giant BP on Tuesday reported stronger-than-expected third-quarter profits, supported by high commodity prices and robust gas marketing and trading.

    The British energy major posted underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $8.2 billion for the three months through to the end of September. That compared with $8.5 billion in the previous quarter and marked a significant increase from a year earlier, when net profit came in at $3.3 billion.

    Analysts polled by Refinitiv had expected third-quarter net profit of $6 billion.

    BP announced another $2.5 billion in share repurchases and said net debt had been reduced to $22 billion, down from $22.8 billion in the second quarter.

    It reported a net loss for the quarter of $2.2 billion, compared with a profit of $9.3 billion in the previous quarter. BP said this third-quarter result included inventory holding losses net of tax of $2.2 billion and a charge for adjusting items net of tax of $8.1 billion.

    The world’s largest oil and gas majors have reported bumper earnings in recent months, benefitting from surging commodity prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

    Combined with BP, oil majors Shell, TotalEnergies, Exxon and Chevron have posted third-quarter profits totaling nearly $50 billion.

    This has renewed calls for higher taxes on record oil company profits, particularly at a time when surging gas and fuel prices have boosted inflation around the world.

    U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday called on oil majors to stop “war profiteering” and threatened to pursue higher taxes if industry giants did not work to cut gas prices.

    Oil and gas industry groups have previously condemned calls for a windfall tax, warning it would fail to resolve a sharp upswing in energy prices and could ultimately deter investment.

    Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

    “This quarter’s results reflect us continuing to perform while transforming,” BP CEO Bernard Looney said in a statement.

    “We remain focused on helping to solve the energy trilemma – secure, affordable and lower carbon energy. We are providing the oil and gas the world needs today – while at the same time – investing to accelerate the energy transition,” Looney said.

    Shares of London-listed BP rose nearly 1% during morning deals. The firm’s stock price is up over 45% year-to-date.

    Windfall tax ‘now a necessity’

    Environmental campaign groups said BP’s third-quarter results underscored the need for a windfall tax, describing the results as “a slap in the face” for the millions of Britons facing a deepening cost-of-living crisis.

    “The case for a bigger, bolder windfall tax is now overwhelming,” said Sana Yusuf, energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth. “This must address the ridiculous loophole that undermines the levy by enabling companies to pay the bare minimum if they invest in more planet-warming gas and oil projects.”

    “Some of the billions of pounds raised should be used to pay for a street-by-street, home insulation programme to cut energy bills and reduce emissions,” Yusuf said.

    The burning of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas, is the chief driver of the climate crisis.

    “A proper windfall tax on the profits of big polluters is no longer a far cry, it is now a necessity,” said Jonathan Noronha-Gant, senior fossil fuels campaigner at Global Witness.

    “But the new U.K. Government must also urgently put us on track for a rapid transition away from dirty fossil fuels and onto renewables and decent home insulation, so we can fix this broken energy system once and for all.”

    Our job is to ‘pay our taxes’

    Speaking at the ADIPEC conference in the United Arab Emirates on Monday, BP CEO Bernard Looney said on a panel moderated by CNBC that he understood the public scrutiny on oil majors’ record profits, but sought to defend the firm’s record when it comes to investing and paying taxes.

    “We are facing a very difficult winter ahead in the U.K., in Europe and right across the world,” Looney said.

    “Our job is to pay our taxes; our job is to invest. We just announced a $4 billion acquisition in the United States just last week in renewable natural gas so that’s what our job is to do. We will continue to do that and do the very best that we can,” he added.

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  • Oil CEOs say this winter is not the season to worry about when it comes to the energy crisis

    Oil CEOs say this winter is not the season to worry about when it comes to the energy crisis

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    PCK Schwedt oil refinery in Schwedt, Germany on Monday, May 9, 2022.

    Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images

    ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Politicians and governments around the world are bracing for potential civil unrest as many countries grapple with mounting energy costs and rising inflation. 

    The global economy is facing an onslaught from multiple sides — a war in Europe, and shortages of oil, gas and food, and high inflation, each of which has worsened the next.

    Concerns are centered on the coming winter, especially for Europe. Cold weather, combined with an oil and gas shortage stemming from Western sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, threatens to upend lives and businesses.

    But as much concern as there is ahead of this winter, it’s really the winter of 2023 that people should be worried about, major oil and gas executives have warned.

    Energy prices “are approaching unaffordability,” with some people already “spending 50% of their disposable income on energy or higher,” BP CEO Bernard Looney told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble during a panel at the Adipec conference in Abu Dhabi.

    We are in good shape for this winter. But as we said, the issue is not this winter. It will be the next one, because we are not going to have Russian gas.

    Claudio Descalzi

    CEO of Eni

    But through a combination of high gas storage levels and government spending packages to subsidize people’s bills, Europe may be able to manage the crisis this year.

    “I think it has been addressed for this winter,” Looney said. “It’s the next winter I think many of us worry, in Europe, could be even more challenging.” 

    The CEO of Italian oil and gas giant Eni expressed the same worry.

    For this winter, Europe’s gas storage is around 90% full, according to the International Energy Agency, providing some assurance against a major shortage.

    But a large proportion of that is made up of Russian gas imported in previous months, as well as gas from other sources that was easier than usual to buy since major importer China was buying less due to its slower economic activity. 

    “We are in good shape for this winter,” Eni chief Claudio Descalzi said during the same panel. “But as we said, the issue is not this winter. It will be the next one, because we are not going to have Russian gas – 98% [less] next year, maybe nothing.”

    Protests have already begun

    This could lead to serious social unrest — already, small to medium-sized protests have cropped up around Europe.

    Anti-government protests in Germany and Austria in September and in the Czech Republic last week — the latter of which has seen household energy bills surge tenfold — may be a small taste of what’s to come, analysts have warned. Some energy executives agreed.

    Yes, there is a real risk that governments without a steady hand on policy shaping in Asia can deal with unrest.

    Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik

    CEO of Petronas

    “We’ve seen that any shocks to the price at the pump, or something as simple as LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] for cooking, can cause unrest,” the CEO of Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas, Datuk Tengku Muhammad Taufik, said. 

    He described how a strengthening dollar and rising fuel prices pose a serious risk to many Asian economies – massive populations that are some of the biggest oil and gas importers in the world. And this is happening while subsidies are already in place to help ease prices for citizens.

    Inflation in the euro zone remains extremely high. Protestors in Italy used empty shopping trolleys to demonstrate the cost-of-living crisis.

    Stefano Montesi – Corbis | Corbis News | Getty Images

    Many Asian economies were already reeling from the pandemic, which caused “vast swaths of [small and medium enterprises] in Asia to just collapse,” Taufik said. “So, yes, there is a real risk that governments without a steady hand on policy shaping in Asia can deal with unrest.” 

    Anger at oil companies’ massive profits

    Much of the anger of protesters is also directed at the energy companies, which have been making record profits as bills get higher and higher.

    Responding to this, many of the CEOs who spoke to CNBC said it’s an issue of market supply and demand, and that it’s up to governments to implement policies more conducive to energy investment. That investment, they stressed, has taken a hit in recent years as countries push for the transition to renewables.    

    BP CEO: A more diversified energy system is a more affordable system

    The world has to face “the practicalities and realities of today and tomorrow,” BP’s Looney said, stressing the need to “invest in hydrocarbons today, because today’s energy system is a hydrocarbon system.”

    Many policymakers and institutions still decry the use of fossil fuels, warning the far bigger crisis is that of climate change. In June, United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for abandoning fossil fuel finance, and called any new funding for exploration “delusional.” 

    The oil executives argued that this approach simply isn’t realistic, nor is it an option if countries want economic and political stability.

    Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

    At the same time, however, they admitted that the energy transition itself does need greater focus and investment in order to avert a larger crisis next year and beyond, when there is no Russian gas in storage and other options are increasingly expensive.

    “In Europe, we pay at least six, seven times to [as much as] 15 times the energy costs with respect to the U.S.,” ENI’s Descalzi said. 

    “So what we have done in Europe, each country, gave incentive subsidies to try to reduce the cost for industry and for citizens. How long that can continue?” he asked. 

    “I don’t know, but it’s impossible that it can continue forever. All these countries have a very high debt,” he said. “So they have to find a structural way to solve this issue. And the structural way is what we said until now — we have to increase and be faster on the transition. That is true.” 

    “But,” he added, “we have to understand, from a technical point of view, what is affordable and what is not.”

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  • Iran plans public trials for 1,000 protesters in Tehran

    Iran plans public trials for 1,000 protesters in Tehran

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian authorities announced on Monday they will hold public trials for 1,000 people in the capital, Tehran, over the protests that have convulsed the country. The mass indictments mark the government’s first major legal action aimed at quashing dissent since unrest erupted over six weeks ago.

    Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted judicial officials as saying that a thousand people who had a central role in the protests would be brought to trial in Tehran alone over their “subversive actions,” including assaulting security guards, setting fire to public property and other accusations.

    The nationwide protests first erupted over the Sept. 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police. She was detained for allegedly violating Iran’s strict dress code for women. Although the protests first focused on Iran’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, they have since transformed into one of the greatest challenges to the ruling clerics since the chaotic years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    “Those who intend to confront and subvert the regime are dependent on foreigners and will be punished according to legal standards,” said Iran’s judiciary chief, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei, indicating that some protesters would be charged with collaborating with foreign governments. Tehran officials have repeated unsupported claims that Iran’s foreign enemies have fomented the unrest.

    “Without a doubt, our judges will deal with the cases of the recent riots with accuracy and speed,” he said.

    Security forces have dispersed gatherings with live ammunition and tear gas over the weeks of sustained protests. At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 arrested, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran. Demonstrations have continued — even as the feared paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has warned young Iranians to stop.

    Ejei claimed that prosecutors sought to differentiate between angry Iranians who merely sought to vent their grievances on the streets and those who wanted to take down the theocracy.

    “Even among the agitators, it should be clarified who had the attention of confronting the system and overthrowing it,” he said.

    Judicial authorities have announced charges against hundreds of people in other Iranian provinces. Some have been accused of “corruption on earth” and “war against God,” offenses that carry the death penalty.

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  • Violent clashes grip Iran universities as protests persist

    Violent clashes grip Iran universities as protests persist

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranian students clashed with security forces at universities across Iran on Sunday, Iranian media reported, as videos showed security forces firing tear gas and live ammunition at students.

    Sunday’s violence came as nationwide protests gripped the country despite threats from the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The Guard’s chief had warned young Iranians that Saturday would be the last day of the protests first sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police.

    Clashes escalated at Azad University in Tehran, where Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported that some groups attacked a protest staged during a memorial ceremony for the victims of a deadly attack at a major Shiite holy site in southern Iran. Several students were injured in the clashes, Tasnim reported, without elaborating.

    Videos on social media purportedly showed security forces firing tear gas at students shouting against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. University campuses have emerged as central hotbeds of opposition, playing a central role in the protest movement.

    A video posted by the Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights showed a member of the Basij, the Guard’s force of paramilitary volunteers, firing a pistol at close range at students protesting.

    The human rights group said it strongly condemned, “the encroachment of university campuses by armed plainclothes forces and violent crackdown on peaceful student protests.”

    Hardline, pro-government students in several universities across the country had gathered to commemorate a deadly Islamic State-claimed attack on a mosque in Shiraz that killed 13 people on Wednesday, including women and children. The ceremonies also drew masses of antigovernment protesters, including at Azad University.

    “Freedom, freedom, freedom!” they chanted.

    The Iranian government has repeatedly alleged that foreign powers have orchestrated the protests, without providing evidence. The protests have become one of the most serious threats to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

    The protests first focused on the state-mandated hijab, or headscarf, for women but quickly grew into calls for the downfall of Iran’s theocracy itself. At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 have been arrested in the protests that have swept over 125 Iranian cities, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

    Since October 24, the country’s authorities started hearing the cases of at least 900 protesters charged with “corruption on earth” — a term often used to describe attempts to overthrow the Iranian government that carries the death penalty.

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  • Gunman who attacked holy shrine in Iran dies from injuries

    Gunman who attacked holy shrine in Iran dies from injuries

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    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The gunman who killed 15 people at a major Shiite holy site in southern Iran earlier this week died on Saturday, Iranian media reported. The attack was claimed by the militant Islamic State group but Iran’s government has sought to blame it on the protests roiling the country.

    Iranian authorities have not disclosed details about the assailant, who died in a hospital in the southern city of Shiraz on Saturday from injuries sustained during his arrest, according to Iran’s semiofficial Fars and Tasnim news agencies.

    The funeral for the victims would be held later on Saturday, officials said. It is unusual that authorities have not elaborated on the gunman’s nationality or provided any details about him following Wednesday’s deadly attack at Shah Cheragh in Shiraz, the second-holiest Shiite shrine in Iran.

    The attack came as unrest — sparked by the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country’s morality police — have rocked the Islamic Republic.

    The protests first focused on the state-mandated hijab, or headscarf, for women but quickly grew into calls for the downfall of Iran’s theocracy itself. At least 270 people have been killed and 14,000 have been arrested in the protests that have swept over 125 Iranian cities, according to the group Human Rights Activists in Iran.

    Iranian officials have blamed protesters for paving the way for the assault on the shrine in Shiraz, but there is no evidence linking extremist groups to the widespread, largely peaceful demonstrations engulfing the country. Security forces have violently cracked down on demonstrations with live ammunition, anti-riot pellets and tear gas.

    The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack on the shrine — its first such claim in Iran in four years. Iran’s religious sites have previously been targeted by IS and other Sunni extremists.

    The Iranian government has repeatedly alleged that foreign powers have orchestrated the protests, without providing evidence. The protests have become one of the most serious threats to Iran’s ruling clerics since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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  • London-based TV channel sparks Iranian leaders’ ire amid protests | CNN

    London-based TV channel sparks Iranian leaders’ ire amid protests | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.


    Abu Dhabi
    CNN
     — 

    A top Iranian military official issued a warning to Saudi Arabia last week as his government continued to face off against protesters at home. “You are involved in this matter and know that you are vulnerable, it is better to be careful,” he said at the sidelines of a military drill.

    Major General Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was referring to what state news outlets called a “media war” that they say is being waged against “the Iranian youth and nation” by foreign conspirators seeking to create unrest in the country by supporting protesters there.

    Then, on Thursday Iran again warned Saudi Arabia, as well as the United States and the United Kingdom, to “stop interfering in the country’s internal affairs.”

    Iran last week said it sanctioned a number of media outlets in the UK for “supporting terrorism” and “inciting violence”, reported Tasnim news agency The sanctioned entities include, among others, Volant Media, Global Media, and DMA Media, as well as the “anti-Iranian TV channels” that the companies support, such as Iran International, reported Tasnim agency.

    Now in their sixth week, protests have swept through the Islamic Republic following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died on September 16 after being detained by “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center,” allegedly for not abiding by the country’s conservative dress code.

    As the protests rage, Iran is turning up the heat on its adversaries, mainly the United States and Israel. But last week, Saudi Arabia found itself in the line of fire, which risks further complicating attempts by the two regional rivals to mend ties.

    Riyadh hasn’t publicly commented on the protests. The kingdom’s foreign minister refused to give his view when asked to during an interview with Al Arabiya news channel on October 12.

    “Saudi Arabia has a fixed policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of states,” he said. “Surely, we are following [the situation] and we wish Iran and its people the best.”

    Iran and Saudi Arabia severed ties in 2016 and both parties have backed opposite sides in proxy conflicts across the Middle East. Last year, they began direct talks in an attempt to improve relations. Baghdad has hosted five rounds of talks so far, the last of which was held in April.

    At the heart of Iran’s most recent accusations against Saudi Arabia may be Iran International, a Persian-language news channel that broadcasts from London. The channel has become one of the go-to sources for many Persian speakers looking for news on the protests. It has been at the forefront of covering the demonstrations, getting breaking news and exclusive footage of the events on the ground. Its Twitter account has over a million followers.

    Founded in 2017, Iran International has previously come under scrutiny by the Iranian government. Some say it is due to their coverage of the protests at home, which in recent weeks have rocked the Islamic Republic.

    Salami didn’t name the channel in his warning, but government-backed Iranian media last week accused Saudi Arabia of funding it. Saudi Arabia has not addressed the allegations. Karim Sa djadpour, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank in Washington DC, said on Twitter that Iran has demanded the shuttering of the channel in talks with Saudi Arabia, citing a senior Gulf official.

    In 2018, Iran International released a statement denying connections to any government, including Saudi Arabia or Iran after The Guardian reported that it was funded by a firm whose director has ties to Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    Saudi Arabia did not comment on the Guardian report. The Saudi government did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

    “We have heard these accusations before most often promoted by those in whose interests it is to deny a free press,” a spokesperson for Volant Media told CNN.

    “Iran International and its sister channel, Afghanistan International, are editorially independent television channels owned by Volant Media, a company based in London owned by a Saudi Arabian/British citizen; it has no state backing or affiliation,” added the spokesperson.

    Azadeh Moaveni, associate professor of journalism at New York University, described the channel as “one of the most pernicious and damaging forces to enter the Iranian media sphere,” calling it an arm of Saudi foreign policy. “I would not describe Iran International as pro-reform, or organically Iranian in any manner,” she told CNN.

    Mohammad Marandi, a professor at the University of Tehran who was also an adviser to the Iranian nuclear talks negotiating team, said there’s “no doubt” that Iran International is funded by Saudi Arabia. A prominent figure on state-funded Iranian outlets, Marandi added that Iran International spreads rumors, ethnic and sectarian strife “and it tries to use misinformation to create fear, chaos and promote violence.”

    Saudi Research and Marketing Group, a media conglomerate with ties to the Saudi ruling family, has run the Persian language website of the UK’s Independent newspaper since 2018. Its account on Instagram, where many Iranians get their news, has over 600,000 followers.

    CNN’s parent company is Warner Bros. Discovery, which has a partnership with Saudi Research and Media Group, a Saudi joint stock company.

    Saudi Arabia has for years accused Iran of doing the same with its own Arabic-language news channels: targeting Arab audiences with propaganda. State-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting runs Al Alam TV, an Arabic news channel that has interviewed Saudi opposition figures and has been blocked by Arab states. Iran-backed Hezbollah’s Al Manar channel has also been blocked.

    “It’s about time Iran gets a taste of its own medicine,” said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi author and analyst. “Iran has spent decades inciting and funding instability in the Arab world so having them pay the price of such behavior themselves is certainly a source of satisfaction to a lot of people,” he told CNN.

    The channel “is making an impact on public behavior in Iran and they are nervous about their domestic situation,” added Shihabi.

    Analysts say that Iran’s tight grip on domestic media outlets and its lack of freedom of expression have created “fertile ground” for anti-establishment platforms such as Iran International to flourish.

    “It is not so much the broadcasters themselves, but the situation in Iran has provided the possibility for broadcasters outside of Iran to gather a certain degree of popularity in the Iranian context,” said Gholam Khiabany, a reader in media and communications at Goldsmiths, University of London.

    Harun Najafizada, a former journalist at Iran International who is now a director at the sister Afghanistan International news channel, said the parent company Volant Media is privately funded but “I don’t care as long as they do not influence my editorial take,” adding that shareholders never interfere in decision making.

    Iran International stood out from other Western-backed Persian language news outlets “by taking the side of the disenchanted, oppressed, voiceless people,” while competitor Persian channels in the West were focused on bringing balance by giving the Iranian government a voice, he told CNN.

    “They have a vision, of course – they don’t do it for God,” said Najafizada, referring to the shareholders. “That vision is democracy.”

    Just two days after Salami’s first warning, however, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, was quoted saying that the two countries should reopen their embassies to facilitate a rapprochement, according to the semi-official Iranian news agency ISNA.

    “We are neighbors of Saudi Arabia and we must coexist,” he was cited as saying by ISNA. “The embassies of the two countries should reopen in order to solve our problems in a better way.”

    Business owners and factory workers in Iran’s Kurdish region went on strike over the weekend as anti-government protests continued.

    Video shared with CNN by pro-reform activist outlet IranWire shows Sanandaj, the capital of the Kurdish region, quiet at the beginning of the work week as stores remain shut.

    The Norway-based Iranian rights group Hengaw said shopkeepers were on strike in Bukan, Sanandaj and Saqez, as well as Marivan. Strikes and protests have become common in cities and towns across Iran as people unite against the regime.

    The nationwide protests are now in their fifth week, triggered by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died three days after being arrested by the country’s morality police and taken to a re-education center.

    Here’s the latest on this developing story:

    • Iran will file a lawsuit against the United States claiming the US had direct involvement in recent riots, Kazem Gharibabadi, the deputy head of the Iranian judiciary and secretary of the country’s High Council for Human Rights, said on Saturday, according to state news agency IRNA.
    • The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations (CCITTA) on Saturday called for a nationwide strike in protest at the recent deaths and detention of students in the country, according to a statement published on Telegram. The council also announced a period of public mourning for students who have died in recent weeks from Thursday through Saturday, and called for a sit-in on Sunday, October 23 and Monday, October 24.
    • Protests took place in central Berlin on Saturday, with close to 80,000 people standing in solidarity with Iran, German state broadcaster RBB reported, citing police officials.

    Israel and Lebanon could sign maritime border agreement on Thursday, Biden energy adviser says

    Senior US adviser for global energy security Amos Hochstein said on Sunday that Israel and Lebanon could sign their historic maritime borders agreement as early as Thursday.

    • Background: “We’re going to have a deal. We’re going to sign it hopefully this Thursday,” Hochstein said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “And I hope that this continues our commitment to stability in the region and prosperity for both countries,” he added.
    • Why it matters: The US-brokered agreement settles a years-long maritime border dispute involving major oil and gas fields in the Mediterranean. Still technically at war, Lebanon and Israel both have much to gain. Not only does the agreement cool down recent security tensions, it also allows Israel to begin drilling and exporting gas to Europe and offers potential economic relief to Lebanon.

    Human Rights Watch says LGBTQ people subjected to arrest and mistreatment in Qatar ahead of World Cup

    Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Qatar’s security forces of arbitrarily arresting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and subjecting them to ill-treatment in detention ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

    • Background: HRW said in a report issued Monday that it documented six cases of “severe and repeated beatings and five cases of sexual harassment in police custody between 2019 and 2022,” the most recent of which took place in September. Security forces arrested people in public places based solely on their gender expression and unlawfully searched their phones, the HRW report said, adding that as a requirement for their release, security forces mandated that transgender women detainees attend “conversion therapy sessions” at a government-sponsored “behavioral healthcare” center. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar and punishable by imprisonment. A Qatari official told CNN that the HRW allegations “contain information that is categorically and unequivocally false.”
    • Why it matters: Ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which starts November 20, Qatar has said it would welcome LGBT visitors, after concerns were raised from the LGBT community over how safe they will be at the tournament.

    Egypt has ordered the release of prominent activist, presidential pardon committee member says

    Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Monday pardoned a prominent activist and former parliamentarian, Zyad el-Elaimy, according to a presidential pardon committee member.

    • Background: Jailed since 2019, el-Elaimy was one of the key participants in the 2011 uprisings that led to the downfall of former longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak. His release is “in response to calls by political parties and forces,” presidential pardon committee member Tarek el-Khouly wrote on Facebook. Young members of political parties, politicians and the presidential pardon committee also coordinated to help secure his release, added el-Khouly. El-Elaimy was given a five-year sentence last year on charges of spreading false news.
    • Why it matters: The release comes two weeks ahead of November’s COP27 summit in Egypt. The country has come in for sharp criticism in recent months, with activists denouncing global leaders’ attendance in the light of Sisi’s questionable human rights record. Egypt has been promoting moves to improve its rights record, but activists and critics have described recent reforms as mostly cosmetic.

    United Arab Emirates: #Diwali

    Also known as Deepavali, the holiday is widely trending across social platforms in the United Arab Emirates, with many flooding Twitter with colorful photos of candles and wishing joy and prosperity to the world.

    Some are also posting photos of themselves in traditional celebratory garments. Diwali is one of the most important festivals in Hinduism, the largest religion in India. This year, it falls on October 24.

    India and the UAE share a strong political and economic relationship, one that has grown closer in recent years.

    The Indian expatriate community in the UAE is around 3.5 million, according to the Indian embassy in the UAE, adding that it is reportedly the largest ethnic community in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf state. Approximately 15% of the diaspora are in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, added the Indian embassy, while the rest are in six northern Emirates, including business hub Dubai.

    The UAE also accounts for 33% of foreign remittances to India, at more than $20 billion a year.

    Diwali is also significant for Sikhs and Jains. It is celebrated in India, Nepal, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries with South Asian diasporas.

    Palestinian girls wearing traditional embroidered dresses perform during a ceremony marking the start of the olive harvest season in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on Sunday.

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