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An American Navy ship fired on a boat in the Persian Gulf today, killing one person and injuring three others aboard the craft, U.S. naval officials told ABC News. Lt. Greg Raelson, a spokesperson for the Navy's 5th Fleet, which is based in nearby Bahrain, said that a security team aboard the oil supply ship U.S.N.S. Rappahannock fired a .50 caliber machine gun at a "small motor vessel after it disregarded warnings and rapidly approached the U.S. ship" off the coast of Jebel Ali, a city approximately 30 miles from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

An American vessel fired on a boat Monday off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, killing one person and injuring three, according to a U.S. consular official in Dubai. The official gave no further details, but it appeared the boat could have been mistaken as a threat in Gulf waters not far from Iran's maritime boundaries. Dozens of police and other Emirati officials crowded around the white-hulled boat, which sat docked after the incident in a small Dubai port used by fishermen and sailors. The boat appeared to be a civilian vessel about 30 feet (9 meters) long and...

The UAE is keen on strengthening relations with Egypt, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, welcoming newly elected President Mohamed Morsi's pledge not to "export" his country's revolution. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahayan's statement came days after Egypt's foreign ministry summoned the UAE ambassador over comments made by Dubai police chief General Dahi Khalfan offering "condolences" on Morsi's victory. "We are keen on strengthening these historical and brotherly relations during the upcoming period politically and economically," Sheikh Abdullah said in a statement published on state news agency WAM. He welcomed Morsi's remarks pledging "to not meddle in the affairs of...

Researchers have discovered the world’s oldest natural pearl in Umm Al Quwain, UAE, which is believed to be originated between 5547 and 5235 BC, Discovery News said in a report. The report said that the pearl was discovered not from the sea but grave. Researchers said that findings at local necropolis revealed that pearls were often placed on the deceased's face, often above the upper lip. The research was carried out by French researchers. The discovery suggests that pearl oyster fishing first started in Gulf Arab peninsula not in Japan - as previously believed by researchers. In 5,000 BC, half-drilled...

Migrant workers in Qatar risk forced labour, human rights group says Report highlights range of labour issues amid construction boom for 2022 World Cup AFP Published: 00:00 June 13, 2012 Doha: Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned on Tuesday that migrant construction workers in Qatar, which is preparing to host the 2022 World Cup, risk serious abuse amounting to ‘forced labour’. “The government needs to ensure that the cutting edge, high-tech stadiums it’s planning to build for World Cup fans are not built on the backs of abused and exploited workers,” said HRW Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson in a...

The U.S. is selling one of the most advanced missile systems on the planet to a country with an abysmal human rights records. Lockheed Martin's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is the most effective weapon when it comes to shooting incoming missiles right out of the sky. As of yesterday, a total of 138 of these launchers are headed to the United Arab Emirates. Lockheed Martin will be getting $2 Billion for the contract. The UAE is a federation of absolute monarchies. It's comprised of seven principalities, each with its own absolute monarch. It's got the sixth largest...

The United Arab Emirates embassy in the U.S. a little while ago bragged in a tweet that "UAE participated with US in 5 coalition actions in 20 years: Afghanistan, Libya, Somalia, Bosnia-Kosovo, Gulf War." U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor in response poses the question, "Does that possibly explain why the U.S. Agency for International Development is planning to build a 47 km. pipeline extension in the former Soviet republic of Georgia -- a project whose goal is to promote the UAE-owned Poti Free Industrial Zone near the Black Sea?" Just a thought. Related: "U.S.-Financed Pipeline Benefiting UAE Royal Family Moves...

The U.S is moving forward with plans to help finance a gas pipeline-extension benefiting United Arab Emirate royals. As U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor reported late last year, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) intends to provide an unspecified level of financial support to build the 47 kilometer natural-gas pipeline in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. The agency claims that the Kutaisi-Abasha project, as it is known, will provide “energy security” in the region. The endeavor as originally described was to promote the development of the Poti Free Industrial Zone on the Black Sea coast, “and secure power...

European and Asian deny charge but witness said he saw them kissing on the mouthAn appeals court in Abu Dhabi upheld a previous court verdict and sentenced a European and an Asian man to six months in prison and ordered their deportation after they were convicted of kissing each other on the mouth in a public place, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. The court supported the previous sentence after a witness confirmed again that he saw them hugging and kissing each other on the mouth in a street in Abu Dhabi, the Arabic language daily Alittihad said. The two unnamed...

Airbus completes qualification of Mirage 2000 and F-16 for UAE in flight refuelling Posted 26 March 2012 · Add Comment Airbus Military has successfully completed receiver qualification of the two primary aircraft-types that the UAE Air Force will refuel from the three A330 MRTT multi role tanker transports that it currently has on order. In an extensive series of flight tests in Abu Dhabi, the compatibility of the new generation A330 MRTT with UAE Air Force Mirage 2000 and F-16 Block 60 fighters was fully demonstrated. Operating from Al Dhafra airbase, the aircraft performed air-to-air refuelling at speeds throughout the...

British business pins Gulf hopes on mega fighter jet deal Wednesday, 21 March 2012 By Carina Kamel Al Arabiya / London As the British defence sector prepares to submit what could be one of the most significant deals in defence contracting with the UAE Air force, the British government is stepping up efforts to court its Gulf partners. Al Arabiya was granted exclusive access to a private meeting of more than 50 British CEOs and executives from leading companies, including defence contracting giant BAE Systems, where the UK’s Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Stephen Green, made the...

Comoros man confesses to murder but says he did not intend to kill herA Comoros man who murdered an Emirati woman reputed for her benevolence got away with it for nearly 10 years before he was caught by Dubai’s police, the emirate’s deputy police chief said. Major General Khamis MatarAl Mazinah said the 51-year-old man murdered the woman, in her 50s, in 2002 after she caught him trying to rob her safe at her house in Satwa area. Investigation into the murder failed to produce results during that time but Dubai’s police did not give up efforts to unravel the...

Racist comments, vulgar drawings, messages supporting terrorism deface mosque washroomsMosque washrooms in Dubai and Sharjah are being defaced by racist slurs, vulgar remarks and hate messages, a random XPRESS survey revealed. The offensive posts — mostly too graphic to be shown or talked about here — were found scribbled behind toilet doors in restrooms attached to mosques. XPRESS visited several restrooms at mosques in Dubai, including those in Deira, Bur Dubai, Karama, Mankhool, Satwa and Al Safa, and also mosques in Rolla and Abu Shagara in Sharjah. On an average, only four out of around 15 were found to be...

Abu Dhabi plans to build stealth ships Haseeb Haider 7 March 2012 ABU DHABI - A new joint venture shipyard in Abu Dhabi will construct stealth vessels and in the future plans to build upgraded marine engines in collaboration with Italy’s Fincantieri, which builds naval and merchant ships. Etihad Ship Building (ESB), in a joint venture deal with Abu Dhabi’s Al Fattan Ship Industries, weapons suppliers Melara Middle East of Dubai and Italy’s Fincantieri, will construct, refit and carry out maintenance of stealth vessels for the UAE Navy and regional navies. Initially, the joint venture shipyard will install the Rolled...

The U.S. Treasury Department disrupted a Dubai-based banking operation that Washington believes had become Tehran's primary conduit for evading international sanctions and processing its oil sales, according to people briefed on the operation. The effort was particularly sensitive because the targeted institution in the United Arab Emirates is partly owned by the local government of Dubai, a close U.S. ally. The chairman of the bank, called the Noor Islamic Bank, is the son of Dubai's ruler.

Warships made in Abu Dhabi to be sold abroad Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) is in advanced talks to secure orders for its new Baynunah class of multipurpose missile corvettes from other regional navies. "The Baynunah class is a unique and very sophisticated warship and it has attracted the attention of a number of navies in the region and around the world," Mohamed Salem Al Junaibi, the ADSB chief executive, said after the launch of the Mezyad, the fourth ship in the class at ADSB's yard yesterday. He declined to name the interested navies, but it is already known that...

The oil minister of the United Arab Emirates has announced that a new oil pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz is nearly complete. The Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline project would ship crude from the UAE’s main oil producing region to the port of Fujairah on the country’s eastern coast, bypassing the vital Strait. The timing of the announcement could not be more prescient; Iranian officials have recently made their most threatening remarks to date about “closing” the Strait of Hormuz as fresh U.S. and international sanctions have put the regime on the defensive. In recent weeks alone, the head...

The United States has signed a $3.5 billion sale of an advanced antimissile interception system to the United Arab Emirates, part of an accelerating military buildup of its friends and allies near Iran. The deal, signed on December 25 and announced on Friday night by the U.S. Defense Department, "is an important step in improving the region's security through a regional missile defense architecture," Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement. The U.S. Congress had been notified of the proposed sale in September 2008 by former President George W. Bush's administration. At that time, the system built by...

#DXB11: Certain victory for Rafale turns uncertain So much for the rampant rumours (well, rampant throughout France anyway) that the UAE's long-delayed fighter contract was a done-deal for the Rafale. Everything we know about the United Arab Emirates fighter modernisation plans have turned upside down within the first 24h of the Dubai Air Show. Quick summary: Dassault Rafale still in, Saab Gripen still out, Eurofighter Typhoon made a surprise entrance, Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 60 is now lurking and Boeing throws F-15 Silent Eagle into the mix. And the UAE Air Force, meanwhile, confirmed it wants to buy a "next...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai's fast-growing airline Emirates kicked off the Middle East's biggest airshow Sunday with a huge order for 50 Boeing 777s, marking the U.S. aircraft maker's biggest-ever single order in dollar terms.