DUBAI, Sept 30, 2007 (AFP) - Private sector salaries in the booming oil-producing Gulf countries have risen by an average of nine percent in 2007 amid an increasing cost of living and shortage of talent, a study said Sunday.

'Continued economic growth and intense competition for talent... (are the) key drivers of pay rises, along with spiralling living costs in parts of the region,' said the study entitled Gulf Compensation Trends in 2007.

DUBAI, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Friday condemned a US Senate non-binding resolution to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines, saying it would complicate matters further in the war-torn country.

The Bosnia-style plan, which was touted as a way out of the sectarian strife which has risen steadily since the 2003 US-led invasion, 'would add new complications to the already difficult Iraqi situation,' GCC chief Abdulrahman al-Attiyah said in a statement.

NEW YORK, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks here Wednesday with her counterparts of pro-Western Arab countries on Iran's 'hegemonistic' ambitions in the Gulf region, a senior State Department official said.

The talks in a posh New York hotel brought together foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- plus Egypt and Jordan.

KUWAIT CITY, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - A senior US human rights official on Wednesday criticised laws in the oil-rich Gulf states that restrict migrant workers under a system that some campaigners say is akin to slave labour.

Mark Lagon, director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, said during a visit to Kuwait that the so-called sponsorship laws restrict the choice of migrant workers and their control over their own lives.

RIYADH, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - Pro-Western Gulf Arab states do not want the Middle East peace conference called by Washington to be aimed at helping get it out of 'the Iraqi impasse,' the oil-rich bloc's chief said on Tuesday.

Gulf Cooperation Council member states 'welcome any attempt to reach a just and comprehensive solution of the Palestinian issue and settle the Arab-Israeli conflict,' Abdulrahman al-Attiyah said in remarks released at GCC headquarters in Riyadh.

DUBAI, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - French warnings of a possible war over Iran's nuclear drive have set alarm bells ringing in the neighbouring Arab monarchies of the Gulf, a region which has endured three major conflicts since 1980.

Several Gulf newspapers on Tuesday accused France's Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner of following in the footsteps of Britain's former premier Tony Blair and playing into the hands of the United States.

TEHRAN, Sept 5, 2007 (AFP) - Iran has arrested 25 members of a gang that trafficked 100 women from Central Asia to the Gulf countries, a police commander was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Iranian police had the gang under surveillance for three months and worked in coordination with the international police agency, Interpol, commander Ahmad Roozbahani from Tehran police told the semi-official Fars news agency.

SINGAPORE, Sept 3, 2007 (AFP) - A Singapore Navy transport ship has left for the Gulf to support coalition forces, the defence ministry said in a statement.

The RSS Persistence and 180 personnel left Saturday for a three-month deployment.

The vessel will provide logistic support, protect the waters around key oil terminals and conduct patrol and boarding operations, the ministry said.

Since 2003, Singapore has deployed Landing Ship Tank vessels, a Hercules C-130 aircraft and refuelling tankers to the Gulf.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Pro-Western Gulf Arab states on Saturday reiterated their backing for a planned US-sponsored Middle East peace conference, but insisted it should revive the peace process on all tracks.

Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers who met in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah 'support the convening of the international conference recently called by US President George W. Bush' for later this year, they said in a statement.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Sept 1, 2007 (AFP) - Pro-Western Gulf Arab monarchies have agreed to an Iranian offer to launch talks on a possible free trade pact, the secretary general of their oil-rich bloc said on Saturday.

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah discussed a letter from their Iranian counterpart 'regarding Iran's readiness to reach a free trade agreement with GCC member states,' Abdurrahman al-Attiyah told reporters after their meeting.

MIAMI, Aug 21, 2007 (AFP) - Hurricane Dean emerged over the oil-rich Gulf of Mexico Tuesday afternoon after slamming ashore on Mexico's Caribbean coast before dawn as a monstrous storm and swirling across the Yucatan Peninsula, US forecasters said.

The storm, which hit land at the topmost category five, lost much of its punch as it traveled overland but could regain power over the warm Gulf waters, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

MUSCAT, Aug 6, 2007 (AFP) - The annual summit of oil-rich Gulf Arab states will be held in Qatar in early December, not in Oman as previously planned, the secretary general of the pro-Western Gulf Cooperation Council said on Monday.

Qatar and its Gulf partners have agreed to a request by Oman that the GCC summit take place in Doha, on the understanding that Muscat will host the 2008 gathering, Abdulrahman al-Attiyah told AFP by telephone.

MANAMA, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - The USS Enterprise aircraft carrier arrived in Gulf waters on Wednesday to conduct security operations and provide air support to ground troops operating in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US Navy said.

The nuclear-powered Enterprise and its strike group have replaced the USS Nimitz and USS Stennis, which both left the region in July, a spokesperson told AFP.

In January the United States said it planned to keep two carrier battle groups in the Gulf for months -- the first such deployment since 2003.

MANAMA, July 25, 2007 (AFP) - Tony Blair held talks on Wednesday with the crown prince of Bahrain on his first regional tour as an international envoy for Middle East peace, the BNA state news agency reported.

Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa assured the former British prime minister of Bahrain`s 'commitment to the Arab peace initiative' first adopted in Beirut in 2002, BNA said.

The Saudi-inspired plan, which was re-adopted at an Arab summit in March, 'represents the Arab stance towards achieving peace,' BNA added.

MANAMA, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - The chief executive of struggling airline Gulf Air, Andre Dose, resigned on Monday following disagreements with the board of directors, an aviation source told AFP.

The Bahrain-based company had said in an earlier statement that the board and Dose have 'mutually decided that Mr. Andre Dose will leave the company in accordance with the terms of his employment contract.'

But the aviation source, who requested anonymity, said that 'many disputes between the board and Dose led to his resignation' just a few months after he was appointed.