President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t think much of Joe Biden’s foreign policy record.

The Syrian government fell early Sunday in a stunning end to the 50-year rule of the Assad family after a sudden rebel offensive sprinted across government-held territory and entered the capital in 10 days.

President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy recently visited Israel and Qatar for high-level talks on landing a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza.

A Hamas official says that after a weekslong hiatus international mediators have resumed negotiating with the militant group and Israel over a ceasefire in Gaza, and that he was hopeful a deal to end the 14-month war was within reach.

Jill Biden has used a tour of the United Arab Emirates’ capital to praise efforts to fight cancer and call for more attention on women’s health issues as part of her final solo foreign tour as first lady.

Dubai International Airport has seen a record 44.9 million travelers pass through its terminals in the first half of this year.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and leading officials from several Middle Eastern countries in Madrid a day after Spain, Ireland and Norway recognized a Palestinian state.

Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, will move its operations to the city-state’s second, sprawling airfield in its southern desert reaches “within the next 10 years” in a project worth nearly $35 billion.

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

The head of a Lebanese Sunni political and militant group that has joined the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel on Lebanon’s border says the conflict has helped strengthen cooperation between the two groups.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the Middle East’s first traditional stone-built Hindu temple, internationalizing both his reelection campaign and his effort to push secular and multicultural India into a Hindu state.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in the United Arab Emirates on his seventh trip to the nation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says four key Arab nations and Turkey have agreed to begin planning for the reconstruction and governance of Gaza once Israel’s war against Hamas ends.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in a one-day lightning tour intended to raise Russia’s profile as a Middle East power broker, even as his war Ukraine grinds on.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s national security adviser says a planned hostage-for-prisoner swap with Hamas has been delayed until at least Friday.

The Emirati president-designate for the upcoming United Nations COP28 climate conference has offered a full-throated defense of his nation hosting the talks.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the United Arab Emirates as part of a swing through the Arab Gulf states focused on energy and commerce.

The United Arab Emirates plans to triple its supply of renewable energy and invest up to $54 billion over the next seven years to meet its growing energy demands.

The president of the United Arab Emirates has met with Iran’s visiting foreign minister in the latest sign of improving relations between Arab Gulf countries and the Islamic Republic.

The United Nations says International donors have promised Monday almost $1.5 billion in additional aid to conflict-stricken Sudan.

The supreme leader of the Taliban met in Afghanistan with Qatar’s prime minister this month.

The United Arab Emirates has unveiled plans to send a spaceship to explore the galaxy’s main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020.

Ukraine’s first lady has offered spirited support to her nation’s people while visiting the United Arab Emirates, a country that still remains open to Russia despite Western sanctions.

The United Arab Emirates’ pick to lead the upcoming COP28 climate talks in Dubai has called on the world to “fight climate change, not each other.”.

Dubai again is planning for the takeoff of flying taxis in this futuristic city-state on the Arabian Peninsula.

Long-haul carrier Emirates has successfully flown a Boeing 777 on a test flight with one of its two engines entirely powered by so-called sustainable fuel.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has received an honor guard welcome on a trip to the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan’s prime minister says that the United Arab Emirates agreed to extend a $2 billion loan to his country and provide a additional $1 billion as his nation struggles to recover from devastating floods this summer and a dire economic crisis.

The United Arab Emirates has named a veteran technocrat who both leads Abu Dhabi’s state-run oil company and oversees its renewable energy efforts to be the president of the upcoming United Nations climate negotiations in Dubai.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed a recent decision by OPEC, Russia and other oil producing nations to limit production as key to stabilizing the global energy market, as he met the leader of the United Arab Emirates for talks on fostering economic ties.

Rex Tillerson, who served as secretary of state under former president Donald Trump, has testified against the former chair of Trump’s inaugural committee.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has planted a tree at a mangrove park in the United Arab Emirates, a token nod to environmentalism during a two-day visit to the Gulf region focused mainly on securing new fossil fuel supplies and forging fresh alliances against Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has arrived in Saudi Arabia for the first stop of a two-day, three-country visit aimed at striking new energy deals and forging fresh alliances.

The United Arab Emirates will launch its first lunar rover in November.

France and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement on energy cooperation to ensure oil and gas supplies from the Gulf country.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia have declared their readiness to start a “new era of cooperation.”.

Vice President Kamala Harris has led a high-powered American delegation to the United Arab Emirates to pay respects to the federation’s late ruler and meet with the newly ascended president.

An array of presidents and prime ministers were descending on the United Arab Emirates from around the world to pay their respects to the federation’s late ruler and greet his successor, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Rulers in the United Arab Emirates have announced that they unanimously appointed Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the president of this hereditarily ruled nation on the Arabian Peninsula.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan — when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk — has begun in much of the Middle East, where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent energy and food prices soaring.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is visiting Morocco to discuss recent shifts in the diplomatic dynamic in the Middle East and North Africa that could upend some of the region's long-standing disputes.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will try to use his three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa to reassure wary Israelis and Arabs that the Biden administration is committed to the region’s security at a time when Washington is confronting multiple foreign policy challenges.

The Syrian presidency says President Bashar Assad has travelled to the United Arab Emirates, marking his first visit to an Arab country since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011.

Dubai has unveiled an architecturally stunning building housing the new Museum of the Future.

Turkey's red flag is illuminating major buildings in the United Arab Emirates and flew high in a ceremony in Dubai.

A special judicial committee has been appointed to decide on potential legal disputes over the estate of Emirati billionaire Majid Al Futtaim.

A clan-based militia government in the Arab world’s poorest country is presenting the Biden administration with its latest foreign policy frustrations.

Israel’s figurehead president has met the powerful crown prince of Abu Dhabi on the first official visit to the United Arab Emirates by the country’s head of state.

Jakarta is congested, polluted, prone to earthquakes and rapidly sinking into the Java Sea.

The president of South Korea has reached a preliminary multibillion-dollar deal to sell Seoul’s surface-to-air missiles to Abu Dhabi and pledged deeper cooperation with the United Arab Emirates during a visit to the Gulf Arab state.

The ruler of Dubai has been ordered to pay his ex-wife and their children close to 550 million pounds ($730 million).

The national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates has met with Iran's hard-line president in Tehran.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he plans to pay a return visit to the United Arab Emirates in February.

A UK court says the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, hacked the phones of his ex-wife Princess Haya and her attorneys during the legal battle over custody of their two children.

The Middle East’s first world's fair has opened in Dubai, after eight years of planning and billions of dollars spent.

Dubai is opening Expo 2020 in an extravagant ceremony that was delayed a year by the coronavirus pandemic.

A judge and lawyers in the case against the only person ever convicted in a U.S. court in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks recalled the difficulties in bringing that case to trial.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Known Agenda owner Vincent Viola kept asking trainer Todd Pletcher the same question over the last few days. “Do you think we really have a shot in the Florida Derby?" Known Agenda ran away from the field in the Florida Derby on Saturday, and might keep on going all the way to Churchill Downs to start the Triple Crown season. Pletcher won the Florida Derby for a record sixth time, and Known Agenda covered the 1 1/8 miles on the dirt in 1 minutes, 49.45 seconds. Viola had to be talked out of a plan to send Known Agenda to the Santa Anita Derby, simply because he didn't think the horse was ready for the Florida Derby.

A woman enters the face and iris-recognition gate to board a plane, during a media tour at Dubai Airport, in the United Arab Emirates, Sunday, March 7, 2021. In recent years, airports across the world have accelerated their use of timesaving facial recognition technology to move passengers to their flights. ”But in a democratic country, if the surveillance technology is used transparently, at least there’s an opportunity to have a public conversation about it." Iris scans, requiring people to stare into a camera as though they're offering a fingerprint, have become more widespread worldwide in recent years as questions have arisen over the accuracy of facial recognition technology. AdDespite concerns about overzealous surveillance in the UAE, the country's vast facial recognition network only shows signs of expanding.

In the last year, four men implicated in the 1993 bombing have won reductions to their sentences after one part of their convictions was dropped to be consistent with a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Nidal Ayyad, 53, Mohammad A. Salameh, 53, and Mahmud Abouhalima, 61, could be freed if they each live to be 100. AdThe bombers who had their sentences reduced were arrested in the intense FBI probe that followed the blast. In a 2012 memorandum, Duffy called Yousef “a cold-blooded killer, completely devoid of conscience.”AdIn a second trial, he was convicted as the mastermind of the 1993 bombing. Eyad Ismoil, 49, also convicted in the 1993 attack, is serving a 210-year sentence.

FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attends the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, FILE)BERLIN – The U.N. human rights office said Friday that it has asked the United Arab Emirates for evidence that an Emirati princess held against her will for almost three years is still alive. “We requested more information and clarification about Sheikha Latifa’s current situation.”Ad“We did ask for proof of life,” she added. The 35-year-old princess is the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the hereditary ruler of Dubai who also serves as prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates. Throssell stressed that it was standard practice for the U.N. human rights office to inquire about individual cases within its mandate.

FILE - In this file photo dated Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2019, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum attends the 40th Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Sheikha Latifa was detained by commandos off the coast of India in 2018 after she tried to flee Dubai in a yacht. The 35-year-old princess is the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the hereditary ruler of Dubai who also serves as prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates. Sheikh Mohammed is the founder of the successful Godolphin horse-racing stable and is on friendly terms with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. In the videos, the princess says she is “worried about my safety and my life.”“They want propaganda from me.

Earlier Wednesday, Netanyahu welcomed the first shipment of doses of the Pfizer vaccine, calling it a “big day of celebration” for the country. In an evening news conference, Netanyahu said a public vaccination campaign would begin on Dec. 27, with the capacity to innoculate 60,000 people a day. While questions remain about the Sinopharm shot, already at least one country outside China plans to roll it out in a mass-vaccination campaign. The Sinopharm vaccine has been approved for emergency use in a few countries and the company is still conducting late-stage clinical trials in 10 countries. Morocco is gearing up for an ambitious COVID-19 vaccination program, aiming to vaccinate 80% of its adults in an operation starting this month that’s relying initially on the Sinopharm vaccine.

DUBAI – Saudi Arabia's top diplomat said Friday that an end to the yearslong boycott of Qatar by the kingdom and three other Arab nations “looks in reach” for all involved, though he offered no details on how this feud would be resolved. The boycott has torn apart the typically clubby Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation group comprised of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Kushner and other American officials have traveled in the waning days of the Trump administration to Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the crisis. Sheikh Mohammed, speaking earlier to the Mediterranean Dialogues, similarly said that “this needless crisis needs to come to an end." Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE cut ties to Qatar on June 5, 2017, just after a summit in Saudi Arabia in which Gulf leaders met with Trump.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday challenged the United States to impose sanctions against his country while also launching a second attack on French President Emmanuel Macron. The beheading earlier this month of a French teacher who had shown caricatures of the prophet in class has once again ignited a debate over such depictions — which Muslims consider blasphemous. The growing confrontation is raising political tensions between France and some Muslim-majority nations and could put pressure on French companies. French President Emmanuel Macron has vigorously defended such depictions as protected under the right to free speech. Pakistan also summoned the French ambassador to lodge a protest over Macron’s condoning of the caricatures.

Sheikh Mohammed made the announcement Tuesday on Twitter that his country plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024. Already, an Emirati space probe is hurtling through space on its way to Mars while last year it sent its first astronaut to the International Space Station. Sheikh Mohammed said the rover would be named “Rashid,” the same name of his late father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. Sheikh Rashid was one of the original founding rulers of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. ___Associated Press writers Isabel DeBre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

But the Supreme Court will rule on that next week, Siddiqi said. “Today the court admitted the appeal and next week it will decide if Sheikh stays in jail” until the appeal is decided. The acquittal stunned the U.S. government, Pearl's family and journalism advocacy groups. The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it is watching the case closely and “stands with the Pearl family during this arduous and painfull process." The Pearl family launched a foundation in Daniel's name following the killing, said his father.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House on Friday, Sept. 11, 2020, in Washington. From left, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Vice President Mike Pence, Trump, Jared Kushner and U.S. special envoy for Iran Brian Hook. "The Trump administration is eager to see this dispute resolved and to open Qatar’s air and land borders currently blocked by other Gulf states. The four countries cut ties to Qatar on June 5, 2017, just after a summit in Saudi Arabia in which Gulf leaders met with President Donald Trump. They say the crisis stems from Qatar’s support for extremist groups in the region, charges denied by Doha.

An official stands at the door of an Israeli El Al airliner after it landed in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Monday, Aug. 31, 2020. King Hamad praised the steadfast, historic stances of the United Arab Emirates in ensuring Palestinian rights, BNA said. Kushner has expressed optimism that other Arab countries will soon follow the UAE in establishing official ties with Israel, even in the absence of a peace deal with the Palestinians. The United Arab Emirates committed treachery against either the Islamic world or Arab nations and regional countries, as well as Palestine," Khamenei said. The treason will not last for long.Both the UAE and Israel share a mutual suspicion of Iran.

Kayakers race in front of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, off the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday, June 19, 2020. Competitions held Friday at the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club were among the first events to be held. As part of the shakeup, the ministries of energy and infrastructure were merged and will be led by current Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei. The UAE is home to airlines Emirates and Etihad Airways, port operator DP World, and the worlds tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa. Dubai's plans to host the EXPO, or World Fair, this year and spur economic growth were delayed until 2021 because of the coronavirus.

Dubais long-haul carrier Emirates said Sunday, May 31, 2020, that it fired an undisclosed number of employees as the coronavirus pandemic has halted global aviation. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)DUBAI Dubai's long-haul carrier Emirates said Sunday it fired an undisclosed number of employees as the coronavirus pandemic has halted global aviation, becoming the latest Mideast airline to shed staff over the outbreak. The carrier said it would treat fired staff with fairness and respect, without elaborating. Previously, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad and Doha-based Qatar Airways similarly fired staff as countries shut down their airspace as the virus spread. Dubai International Airport, the worlds busiest for international passengers that's home to Emirates, has been operating at a fraction of its usual pace.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. The only man ever convicted in a U.S. court for a role in the Sept. 11 attacks now says he is renouncing terrorism, al-Qaida and the Islamic State. In a handwritten court motion Moussaoui filed with the federal court in Alexandria last month, Moussaoui wrote, I denounce, repudiate Usama bin Laden as a useful idiot of the CIA/Saudi. At his final sentencing hearing, he told the judge God save Osama bin Laden you will never get him." Bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces on a compound in Pakistan in 2011. In particular, he says he wants either Rudy Giuliani or Alan Dershowitz to represent him as a lawyer, so he can testify in a civil trial filed by victims of the Sept. 11 attacks.