Qatar's decision to commit to sweeping labor reforms may head off an international investigation into its treatment of hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, but rights groups wonder if the 2022 World Cup host will stick to its pledges.

Iraq's Kurdish region said on Thursday it had offered a joint Kurdish-Iraqi deployment at a strategic crossing into Turkey with the participation of U.S.-led international forces as part of a compromise aimed at ending a stand-off with Baghdad.

Iraqi forces captured the Akkas gas field from Islamic State on Thursday, Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi told reporters in Baghdad.

Yields on Bahrain's international bonds inched up after a report that the kingdom was seeking financial aid from its Gulf allies but traders said there was no panic in the market, suggesting investors believe Manama can count on help from other states.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General, Abdul Latif Al-Zayani, broke his silence regarding the Qatari crisis and attacked the Qatari media, denouncing their criticism against the GCC Secretariat.

Deputy Secretary-General of Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society Sheikh Hussein Al-Daihi stressed that Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani was a mediator in a joint Saudi-US initiative to settle the political dispute in Bahrain.

Kuwait's emir reappointed Sheikh Jaber al-Sabah as prime minister on Wednesday, two days after he handed his resignation.

The Bahraini opposition figure Ali Al-Aswad said that the Qatari mediation, which Sheikh Ali Salman is now being accused of, was done with the knowledge of Saudi Arabia and organized by its foreign minister (Saud Al-Faisal).

Bahraini opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman said that the Public Prosecution had interrogated him about his previous phone calls made to Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani.

A Bahraini court sentenced on Wednesday (November 1, 2017) Shiite cleric Mohiddin Al-Mashaal to one year in prison on charges of "insulting the (Prophet’s) companions."

Activists on Wednesday asked the United States to suspend a diplomatic visa for a Bahrain prince over allegations that he tortured prisoners during the island kingdom's 2011 Arab Spring protests.

Bahrain has charged jailed Shiite opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman with "spying" for Qatar, state prosecutors said Wednesday, after allegations he whipped up protests at Doha's request.

Bahrain prevented on Thursday (November 2, 2017) reporting in the first of its kind case in which civilians are being tried before military courts.

Bahrain’s High Appeals Court upheld 15-year jail verdict against an appellant, accused, within group of 6 suspects, of stealing a car and blasting it through a gas cylinder near City Center Mall.

The First High Appeals Court upheld a 3-month jail verdict against a Bahraini woman (39 years) over the charge of attacking a female officer and 3 policewomen in Isa Town police station.

Bloomberg website specified in economic affairs revealed that Bahrain has asked Gulf allies for financial assistance as financial crisis in the country aggravates.

A Saudi-led coalition air strike killed 29 people at a crowded marketplace in the heartland of the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels in northern Yemen on Wednesday, Huthi health authorities said.

Iraq plans to hold parliamentary elections on May 15 to choose a prime minister, a statement from the prime minister’s office said late on Tuesday.

Iraqi forces threatened on Wednesday to resume operations to capture northern Kurdish-held territory after accusing authorities there of delaying handing over control of Iraq’s borders with Turkey, Iran and Syria.

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $1.1 billion sale of support services and facilities to Qatar for its F-15QA fighter aircraft program, a Pentagon agency said on Wednesday.