Latest Qatar News

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2020 file photo, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters. Abbas has announced that the first presidential and parliamentary elections since 2006 will be held later in 2021. The voting is seen as a key step in mending a rift between Abbas’ Fatah party that rules the West Bank and the Islamic militant group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip. ( (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Explainer: Road to Palestinian vote full of obstacles

Jan. 16, 2021 12:02 PM EST

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has announced that the first presidential and parliamentary elections since 2006 will be held later this year. But the road to the vote — key to advancing Palestinian statehood and mending a rift between Abbas' Fatah party and the...

FILE - In this Dec. 22, 2020 file photo, a Qatar Airways plane prepares to take off at San Francisco International Airport during the coronavirus pandemic in San Francisco. Egypt on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021, opened its airspace to Qatari flights with a Qatar Airways jetliner is expected to land in Cairo later this week, airport officials said. The flight on Friday would be the first commercial one between the two countries since Egypt joined three other Gulf countries in boycotting Qatar in 2017. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Airport officials: Egypt reopens airspace to Qatar flights

Jan. 12, 2021 6:00 AM EST

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Tuesday reopened its airspace to Qatar flights after regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia reopened its airspace and border with the Gulf Arab state last week, Egyptian airport officials said. A Qatar Airways plane is due to land in Cairo on Friday, the officials said, speaking on...

A Saudi waits for the arrival of relatives from Qatar in front of a screen displaying a Qatar Airways flight for the first time in 3 years, at King Khalid Airport in Ryadh, Saudi Arabia, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, ended a three-year dispute with Qatar following a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in AlUla last week. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Qatar-Saudi Arabia direct flights resume amid Gulf detente

Jan. 11, 2021 9:28 AM EST

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Qatar Airways jetliner landed in Saudi Arabia on Monday, completing the first direct flight from Doha to Riyadh since the kingdom’s boycott of the tiny, energy-rich state in 2017. The resumption of direct flights came after regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia...

Afghan security officers inspect the site of a bombing attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2021. A roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan's capital Sunday, killing at least a few people in a vehicle, the latest attack to take place even as government negotiators are in Qatar to resume peace talks with the Taliban. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghan officials: Bomb kills 3 in Kabul amid peace talks

Jan. 10, 2021 10:45 AM EST

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan's capital Sunday, killing at least three people in a vehicle. It was the latest attack to take place as government negotiators in Qatar resume peace talks with the Taliban. Tariq Arian, spokesman for the interior minister, said a spokesman...

FILE - In this Nov. 21, 2020 file photo, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center left, and his aides meet with Afghanistan's State Minister for Peace Sayed Sadat Mansoor Naderi, center right, and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan's peace negotiation team amid talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban, in Doha, Qatar. Afghan negotiators are to resume talks Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, even as hopes are waning, and frustration and fear is growing over a spike in violence that has combatants on both sides blaming the other. The change in the U.S. administration is likely to drag out the opening days of the talks as both sides wait to see whether Biden will stick to the deal brokered by Trump. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool, File)

New round of Afghan-Taliban peace talks off to a slow start

Jan. 8, 2021 1:01 PM EST

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The latest round of peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government negotiators that began this week in Qatar has been off to a slow start as concerns grow over a recent spike in violence across Afghanistan. The talks, which are taking place in Qatar where the Taliban maintain a...

FILE - In this Tuesday March 3, 2020 file photo, FIFA President Gianni Infantino addresses a meeting of European soccer leaders at the congress of the UEFA governing body in Amsterdam, Netherlands. A special prosecutor in Switzerland on Thursday Dec. 10, 2020, has recommended opening  a criminal investigation against FIFA President Gianni Infantino for using a private jet in 2017. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

Amnesty critical of FIFA leader starring in Saudi PR video

Jan. 8, 2021 7:06 AM EST

Human rights activists are denouncing FIFA President Gianni Infantino's starring turn in a promotional video for the Saudi Arabian government in which he claims the kingdom has made important changes. The slick 3½-minute PR campaign was posted on Twitter by the Saudi ministry of sport on Thursday, featuring...

Journalists chat as video of a plane carrying Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is shown on a screen while landing at at Al Ula airport, where the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting takes place, in Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021. Al Thani's arrival in the kingdom’s ancient desert city of Al-Ula on Tuesday was broadcast live on Saudi TV. He was seen descending from his plane and being greeted with a hug by the Saudi crown prince. The diplomatic breakthrough comes after a final push by the outgoing Trump administration and fellow Gulf state Kuwait to mediate an end to the crisis. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Easing dispute, UAE announces reopening of borders to Qatar

Jan. 8, 2021 6:24 AM EST

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates announced on Friday that it would reopen its borders and airspace to Qatar after boycotting the tiny energy-rich country alongside its Gulf allies since 2017. The decision to restart commerce and travel would take effect on Saturday, Foreign...

Covered bodies of civilians lie in the back of a vehicle in front of the Helmand Provincial Government Office in Lashkar Gah, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021. Officials said separate attacks in Afghanistan have left over 20 civilians and security forces dead, even as Afghan negotiators were in Qatar to resume talks with the Taliban aimed at finding an end to decades of conflict. In southern Helmand province, on the outskirts of Lashkar Gah, casualties included children and women in a suspected airstrike late Wednesday, according to Attaullah Afghan, head of the provincial council. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaliq)

Officials: Attacks around Afghanistan kill at least 23

Jan. 7, 2021 6:16 AM EST

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Attacks in Afghanistan left at least 23 civilians and security forces dead, officials said Thursday, even as Afghan negotiators were in Qatar to resume talks with the Taliban aimed at finding an end to decades of conflict. In southern Uruzgan province, a suicide car bomber...

FILE - In this May 5, 2018, file photo, the images of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani hang on the towers in Doha, Qatar. Qataris awoke to a surprise blockade and boycott by Gulf Arab neighbors 3 1/2 years ago, and this week were jolted again by the sudden announcement that it was all over. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

Qatar emerges from Gulf spat resolute and largely unscathed

Jan. 6, 2021 3:29 PM EST

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Qataris awoke to a surprise blockade and boycott by Gulf Arab neighbors 3 1/2 years ago, and this week were jolted again by the sudden announcement that it was all over. The period in between was bitter, with mud-slinging by both sides and viscous media blitzes, social...

In this photo provided by the Saudi Royal Court, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right, welcomes Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani upon his arrival to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council's 41st Summit in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021. (Saudi Royal Court via AP)

Gulf Arab leaders sign declaration to ease rift with Qatar

Jan. 5, 2021 4:21 PM EST

AL-ULA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Gulf Arab leaders signed a declaration Tuesday to ease a rift with Qatar, following Saudi Arabia’s decision to end a 3 1/2-year embargo of the tiny energy-rich country that deeply divided regional U.S. security allies and frayed social ties across the Arabian Peninsula....

LOADING MORE STORIES