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The deal for the Chancery building in London’s Grosvenor Square with Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment was agreed by the US Ambassador to the UK, Louis Susman.

The joy of tennisCan someone tell me why end of season women tennis championship is held in Doha?? Ah yes, that is to "further women's rights" in Qatar and supposedly in the Middle East in general.For the uninitiated, the girl on the left is Caroline Wozniacki, Danish tennis star. On the right is a lady whose rights are about to be furthered by the said event. Utterly ridiculous. posted by Bravecat @ 2:27 PM 2 Comments: At 28/10/09 22:52, Snake said… It is her "choice" to wear what she is wearing right now. At 28/10/09 22:59, Bravecat said… Yep....

WASHINGTON — A new Jewish lobby that claims to be supportive of Israel has been linked to Qatar. ShareThis A former Israeli diplomat has asserted that J Street has been connected to Qatar through the U.S. public relations firm of Fenton Communications. Lenny Ben-David, a former diplomat and now consultant, said J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami, a senior vice president at Fenton until the lobby's establishment in 2008, could have been involved in a March 2009 project by Qatar to undermine support for Israel in the United States. The Fenton contract with Qatar was disclosed as J Street, regarded as...

SNIPPET: "In an amazing bit of irony, a Qatari government fund is creating the Al-Qaradawi Centre for Islamic Moderation and Renewal, named after leading Sunni scholar and self-proclaimed "Mufti of martyrdom operations" Yousef Al-Qaradawi. Its director claims that the center will direct its "moderation" towards "politicians and economists," train imams, and show the "huge difference between terrorism and jihad." Yet all of these stated goals directly contradict Al-Qaradawi's statements in support of terrorism, his desire to overthrow capitalism, and his position as a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood." SNIPPET: "With all of his radical statements and hate speech, it...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=95333&id=813391903&l=d3b2aaa2ff Hope you enjoy these pics as much as I enjoyed this get-a-way... I am currently on a 4-day pass in Qatar then back to Iraq

Note: The following blog entry is a quote: Blog Details Syrian Journalists To Train At Al-Jazeera Qatari Culture Minister Hamad ibn Abd Al-'Aziz Al-Kuwari has responded to a request by Syrian Information Minister Muhsen Bilal to have Syrian journalists train at the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV. At a June 17 meeting between the two in Damascus, Bilal said that his country was interested in utilizing the experience of the Al-Jazeera training center. Source: Teshreen, Syria, June 18, 2009 Posted at: 2009-06-19

The Christian community of Qatar is celebrating the opening of a new Church. The ceremony of consecration took place June 11th last and was presided over by Metropolitan Joseph Mar Thoma, leader of the Marthoma church. Vice Metropolitan Zacharias Mar Theophilos, five pastors and more than one thousand faithful also took part in the ceremony. The place of worship is the latest addition to the Inter-Denominational Church Complex, (Idcc) in Mesaimeer, in the southern suburbs of Doha. Marthoma Church belongs to a Christian Protestant denomination, based in Kerala, India, and in communion with the Anglican and Independent Syro-Malabar Churches. 2500...

For the past eight years, the Muslim world has heard and seen relentless hostility from the Bush/Cheney administration. In a welcome change, President Barack Obama’s masterfully written, artfully delivered recent speech in Cairo was filled with just what the Muslim world had been waiting to hear: an intelligent, respectful address calling for normalised relations with the Muslim world, including former “betes noires” Iran and Syria, co-operation, and advancement of democracy and human rights. Very nice, to a point. But the Muslim world was not as taken by Obama’s silver-tongued oratory as many Americans. The general response was, “actions speak louder...

Report: Germany sells tanks to Qatar, delays on subs to Pakistan Europe News May 16, 2009, 11:04 GMT Berlin - Germany is to sell main battle tanks to Qatar , ending a long ban on selling the heavy weapons to Arabian peninsula nations, the news magazine Der Spiegel said Saturday. But a sale of stealth submarines to Pakistan was on hold till after Germany's general election in September, the magazine reported, without citing sources. Under German law, the manufacturers must obtain clearances from Chancellor Angela's Merkel's national security council for the sales. The council, an inner cabinet of ministers with...

Note: The following text is a quote: YOU ARE HERE: Home > Reports > Consular Affairs Bulletins > Report Warden Message: U.S. Embassy Doha, Qatar, Temporary Closure CONSULAR AFFAIRS BULLETINS Middle East / N. Africa - Qatar 18 May 2009 RELATED REPORTS 13 Jan 2009 WARDEN MESSAGE: DOHA, QATAR, PROTEST JANUARY 13 U.S. Embassy Doha issued the following Warden Message on May 18: At approximately 9:00 a.m, on May 18 a suspicious powder was discovered at the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar. The suspicious substance is being sent to a laboratory for analysis. Until the results are received and a...

The U.S. Treasury Department fined the U.S. branch of Qatar’s largest private commercial bank $5 million Tuesday to settle charges that it failed to report transactions potentially tied to terrorism. Doha Bank failed to file regulatory suspicious activity reports (SARs) more than 500 times, and poorly audited its compliance program, according to the department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The bank also had an antiquated wire transfer system that prevented it from finding and aggregating suspicious transactions, according to a consent order.

WHEN the Qataris asked Robert Ménard to run what they heralded as the world’s first press freedom centre, in Doha, their capital, they were probably asking for trouble. An intrepid Frenchman who had previously run a Paris-based lobby, Reporters Without Borders, Mr Ménard is famous for courting controversy. Last year he disrupted a torch-lighting ceremony in Greece that was meant to be a dignified prelude to the Olympic games in China. Later he scaled Notre Dame Cathedral and unfurled a protest banner as the torch was carried through Paris. Now, only months after becoming head of the Doha Centre for...

Note: The following text is a quote: Ali Al-Marri Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to Al-Qaeda Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, 43, a dual national of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaeda. Al-Marri entered his guilty plea at a hearing this afternoon before Judge Michael M. Mihm in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. In so doing, al-Marri admitted that he agreed with others to provide material support or resources to al-Qaeda in the form of personnel, including himself, to work under al-Qaeda’s...

This week Qatar hosted the annual Arab Summit in its capital Doha. It was dubbed the reconciliation summit after months of serious rifts in the Arab World. The tiny country had put the noses of some of the big players out of joint by trying to adopt the role of regional mediator, traditionally played by heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Our Middle East correspondent Katya Adler reported on the summit and set out to find out more about Qatar, one of the region's richest nations.

As usual, Libyan leader raised eyebrows Monday with his incendiary but hilarious remarks at the Arab summit in Doha. As the Emir of host Qatar welcomed Saudi King Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz al Saud, Libyan President Moammar Kadafi interrupted him addressing the Saudi king, saying: "I seize the opportunity to tell my brother Abdullah, you have been evasive and scared of confrontation for six years. I want to assure you today not to be scared. I am telling you after six years it was proved that lies stand behind you and your grave awaits you. You were created by Britain and...

When Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir arrived in Cairo yesterday noon for talks with President Hosni Mubarak it was his second overseas trip since the arrest warrant indicting him for war crimes and crimes against humanity was issued on 4 March by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The message Al-Bashir is sending by making consecutive trips to Asmara and Cairo is, his aides say, one of "defiance" against the ICC warrant. Official Sudanese statements suggest Al-Bashir's defiance may well extend to the annual Arab summit in Doha on 30 March despite orchestrated appeals by the masses and an unprecedented religious edict...

Middle East Miracle? by: Heather Latham, March 23, 2009 On March 15, 2008, a miracle occurred. Mass was held for the first time in the first church in Doha, Qatar. Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church is the first Christian church in the predominately Muslim country. Qatar is in an area famous for religious injustice. Its biggest neighbor, Saudi Arabia has no religious freedom. Islam is the official religion, and those from other religions are not allowed to worship publicly. Other surrounding nations carry laws or policies that “protect” non-Muslim religions, but do not act when groups discriminate...

Markus Junianto Sihaloho Defense Says ‘Thanks, but No Thanks’ to Qatari Jets The government has turned down a grant offer of 10 Mirage 2000 jet fighters from the Qatari government due to a lack of funds for maintenance, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said on Thursday. Juwono said Qatar offered the jets six months ago through Indonesia’s ambassador in Doha. The government needed only to send a letter requesting the aircraft. “I have not sent a letter,” Juwono said. “But had I sent one, I would have told them that our state budget is focused on infrastructure and improving the people’s...

PORTLAND - Tests indicated explosives residue on the luggage of a local Islamic religious leader arrested at the Portland International Airport on charges of document fraud, a federal prosecutor said Monday at the man's arraignment. Sheik Mohamed Abdirahman Kariye, 41, was arrested at the airport without incident around noon Sunday and booked at the Multnomah County Jail. Kariye on Monday pleaded innocent to two felony charges of using false information - including a changed name - while applying for and receiving three different Social Security cards between 1983 and 1995. The federal indictment also alleges that Kariye used an altered...

BEIRUT, Lebanon — On Thursday, nearly three weeks into Israel’s war on Hamas, reporters gathered here to ask whether the Lebanese president would be attending a proposed Arab summit meeting to address the issue. The answer, delivered by the Lebanese information minister, Tarek Mitri, was that Lebanon would follow “Arab consensus” in deciding whether to attend. No one laughed, but the comment could have passed for black humor. Arab leaders remain cripplingly divided on how to respond to the crisis, which has left more than 1,100 dead in Gaza. Despite a rush of diplomatic meetings — two simultaneous ones on...

Clinton for sale By posting this am I saying that Bill Clinton is different from any other powerful politician, in taking money from foreign donors who obviously hope to influence the political process? No, in this Bill Clinton is not singular. But look at this list: $10 million to $25 million from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Between $1 million and $5 million each from Saudi businessman Nasser Al-Rashid, Friends of Saudi Arabia, the Dubai Foundation, and the governments of Kuwait, Qatar, Brunei and Oman. And the New York Post here is worried about money from India keeping Hillary from...

The 13 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumped an average 32.26 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil in October, according to a Platts survey of OPEC and oil industry officials just released. This is a 210,000 b/d decline from the September level of 32.47 million b/d. Excluding Iraq, production from the 12 members hitherto bound by output agreements fell by 220,000 b/d, to 29.96 million b/d from 30.18 million b/d, the survey showed. When Indonesia, which will leave OPEC at year end is also excluded, the survey shows a 210,000 b/d drop in...

Osama bin Laden's son Omar and his British wife arrived in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday after being refused entry to Egypt, Al Jazeera television reported. The Qatar-based television said Omar bin Laden arrived in the Gulf Arab state on an Egyptian passenger aircraft. It gave no further details. Omar bin Laden and his wife arrived on Saturday in Egypt from Madrid after the Spanish authorities refused his request for asylum. The couple, who lived in Egypt for several months in 2007 and 2008, have also been denied entry to Britain.

OSAMA bin Laden's son Omar arrived in Qatar after being deported from Egypt today following his return from a failed bid to secure political asylum in Spain, his English-born wife said...."We have finally found somewhere where we can stay and we thank the government. We cannot thank them enough," she said.

For years, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has exasperated Western governments by acting as a cartel to control oil production. Now, the West may have a new foe: Gas OPEC. Yesterday, Russia, Iran and Qatar, the world's three leading natural gas producers, said that they were forming a "big gas troika" that could become a permanent body. It's not clear what role the group will have; Alexei Miller, chief executive officer of Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, said the body would meet up to four times a year to discuss pricing issues. However, Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari said he...

Iran’s oil minister says the Islamic republic, Russia and Qatar discussed the formation of an OPEC-style cartel of gas exporting countries. Iranian Oil Minister Gholam Hossein Nozari says that the top three countries with natural gas reserves will “seriously pursue the formation of an organization of gas exporting countries.” Nozari spoke on state TV today after a joint meeting with his Qatari counterpart Abdulla Bin Hamad al-Attiya and the head of Russia’s Gazprom Alexei Miller.

YouTube - aljazeera channel is an example of racism in the ARAB WORLD...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p94t2YkoGQo This Arab admits on video that: "the Arabs are the most racist people in the world".  

NEW YORK (AFP) - Boeing on Monday signed a contract with Qatar for C-17 military airlift planes, the US aerospace giant said, without revealing how many of the long-range troop and cargo aircraft were ordered. ADVERTISEMENT The government of Qatar's purchase of the C-17 Globemaster III airlifter will provide "new strategic-airlift mobility capabilities" for the Qatar Armed Forces (QAF), Boeing said. The company did not give the value of the order but said it would begin deliveries from its Long Beach, California-based C-17 factory in summer 2009.

There are fewer than a million people in the tiny Gulf state of Qatar and fewer than 200,000 of them are ethnic Qataris. Yet this week a state fund that invests on behalf of the Qatari people and a private fund owned by the country's prime minister and his family agreed to buy nearly 8pc of Barclays, a bank with a market cap of almost £20bn. And for the state fund, a billion or so on Barclays is small change. The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) already has $60bn (£29bn) of assets and expects to spend billions of pounds more overseas...

Prehistoric settlement found in Qatar 6/23/2008 2:25:18 DOHA • A prehistoric settlement in what is now Qatar may confirm alternative theories on how early humans emigrated from the African continent, a report in a Danish newspaper said. Danish archaeologists have uncovered a settlement they believe may be over 700,000 years old, making it the oldest organised human community ever found, reported Berlingske Tidende newspaper. Eight dwellings in the desert region of Qatar indicate that an early human species crossed what is now the Red Sea to leave their origins in Africa, according to the scientists. There is still uncertainty within...

Boeing expects Qatar to announce “within a few days� an order for two C-17s plus two purchase options, in a deal that will mark the first sale of the military transport aircraft to a Middle Eastern customer. If Qatar confirms the purchase, it will receive its two firm aircraft in August 2009, says Boeing’s C-17 business development director Dan Page. The manufacturer has delivered 174 of the 190 aircraft ordered by the US Air Force, will hand over a sixth aircraft to the UK Royal Air Force this week, and has also delivered four aircraft each to Canada and Australia....

Al Jazeera English’s only bureau in the western hemisphere occupies five floors of a nondescript office building on Washington, D.C.’s K Street. The lobby is drab — just a hallway and two elevators. There is no sign on the door, no gold symbol affixed on the wall. In fact, the name Al Jazeera does not appear anywhere. If you didn’t know better, you might think the building was home to dentist’s offices or mid-level lobbying firms, instead of the most controversial news channel in the world. To get upstairs, a non-employee must have an escort, and on a cold day...

The latest Big Apple trophy being coveted by oil-rich sovereign wealth funds is the landmark Chrysler Building. Sources say the super-rich Abu Dhabi Investment Council is negotiating an $800 million deal for a 75 percent stake in the Art Deco treasure that has defined the Midtown skyline since 1930. The Chrysler assets would be purchased from TMW - the German arm of an Atlanta-based investment fund that's been eager to cash out of its Chrysler stake. The deal follows last month's sale of the GM Building and three other Macklowe/Equity Portfolio properties for $3.95 billion to a group of investors...

Dubai: Roped in for a massive project to create 99 paintings on Arab culture by Qatar royal family, eminent painter M F Hussain, in self-exile after drawing the ire of Hindu outfits for his works, insists that art is India's "soul" and has the depth that is lacked by the West which has only "junk culture" to offer. In the last 60 years, India has emerged as a major force in many fields, including art, the 92-year-old artist said after inauguration of an exhibition in Omani capital Muscat. In India, art has a unique position. "It is our soul, a...

For Iran, it's a no-brainer: Qatar hosts the largest U.S. base in the Middle East (8,000 U.S. soldiers are stationed there) and is also viewed by some as being friendly with Israel... Also, while Qatar is the only country [besides] Iran, heavily investing in Syria, and thereby propping up the Assad regime, it does not seem to pay off. Quite the contrary. In June 2006 the Kuwaiti daily Al Seyassah reported that Qatar had foiled a destabilization plot against the regime and that Qatari authorities had arrested about 100 Syrian workers and five Syrian intelligence officers. This plot was reportedly...

Prince William has made a secret visit to meet British troops in Afghanistan. The prince, 25, who has been awarded his RAF pilot's wings, flew a military transport plane for part of the journey from the UK to Kandahar. He spent three hours with UK service personnel at the airfield on Monday before returning to the UK. A Clarence House spokesman said the Prince of Wales and the Queen had given their permission for the confidential trip, which he declared a "success". The prince flew in a C-17 Globemaster plane which left RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, on Sunday and...

The foreign minister of the Sultanate of Oman, Yusef Bin Alawai Bin Abdulla, agreed to hold a short photo-op at the beginning of his meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Monday at the Sheraton Doha hotel. In the last eight years, since the Al-Aqsa intifada led to severing of relations between the two countries, Israeli and Omani foreign ministers have met mostly in secret, in European capitals or on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. When it comes to Israel's ties with the Arab world, progress is measured in millimeters. Therefore, although it might seem to be...

An Arab citizen of Israel and member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament) Monday listed himself as a representative of "Palestine" at a high-profile conference in Qatar. Ahmed Tibi listed himself on the registry at the Doha Forum, which was attended by an Israeli delegation headed by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, as heading up a six-man team from Palestine - a state which never has, and still does not exist, but which the international community headed by the US is working to create on ancient Jewish lands. At the conference, Tibi smeared the country that had elevated him to position of...

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was to leave for Qatar Sunday for a two-day visit during which she is scheduled to speak at the opening of the Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade. In her speech, Livni is expected to call on Arab nations to assist in the Israel-Palestinian peace process by promoting "gradual" normalization of ties with Israel, among other things. The foreign minister is scheduled to meet with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, as well as Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamed bin Jassem al-Thani. During her meetings with senior Qatari officials, Livni is...

A spokesperson for the US Air Force Central Public Affairs Office, South West Asia, said: “The US Air Force B-1, while taxiing after landing at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, was involved in a ground incident and caught fire at 21.10 local time on April 4. “The crew evacuated the aircraft and is safe. The fire was contained. A board of inquiry has been appointed and will investigate the incident.” At the time of going to print, officials in Qatar were not confirming the incident and the Air Force Public Affairs Office was looking into local reports that a number...

Reporting it crashed at a military base. No further details.

22:08 Al-Jazeera: U.S. B52 bomber explodes on landing at Qatar base (DPA)

WASHINGTON - The U.S. military says a B-1 bomber has crashed at an American Air Force base in the Middle East. A military official says that details remain sketchy but the bomber crashed in the nation of Qatar at al-Udeid Air Base, the headquarters of all American air operations in the Middle East.

The U.S. Treasury is struggling with how to handle any political or Islamic ramifications as Persian Gulf sovereign wealth funds look to make substantial investments in capital-poor American banks and securities firms. The crisis in mortgage-backed securities has created a need for new capital to enter financial markets after major financial institutions such as Bear Stearns and Carlyle Capital Corp. failed over the weekend. The crisis is an opportunity for sovereign wealth funds that have prospered as the price of oil has soared over $110 a barrel. WND previously reported sovereign wealth funds in six Persian Gulf countries, including Kuwait,...

The Vatican is in negotiations with Saudi Arabia to open the first Catholic church in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia's camel love affairArchbishop Mounged El-Hachem, the papal envoy to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates said talks had started a few weeks ago, in the wake of King Abdullah’s visit to Pope Benedict last November. advertisement Currently, all Saudi citizens are required by law to be Muslim, and the Mutaween, or religious police, strictly prohibits the public practice of non-Muslim religions. The last Christian priest was expelled from the kingdom in 1985. However, the Vatican’s relationship with the...

DOHA (AFP) — Thousands of Christians took part on Saturday in the first mass at Muslim Qatar's only church, opened this week despite threats from Islamists.Vatican envoy Cardinal Ivan Dias presided over the eucharist attended by around 15,000 worshippers at Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic church in Doha, thanking "God and Qatar for this great gift".The church, which like elsewhere in the Gulf Arab region has no bells or crosses on its exterior, opened on Friday ahead of western Christianity's celebration of Easter, which this year falls on March 23.It is the first of five to be constructed...

DOHA, Qatar —  Qatar's first Christian church has no cross, no bell and no steeple. And when 5,000 faithful flock to Our Lady of the Rosary to celebrate its historic consecration this weekend, they pray no one will notice. Father Tom Veneracion, the parish priest, is worried about a backlash. "The idea is to be discreet because we don't want to inflame any sensitivities," he says. "There isn't even a signboard outside the church. No signs at all." Qatar's fledgling Catholic community considers its sprawling $15 million saucer-shaped facility a victory. A 15-minute drive into barren desert, it has been...

DOHA, Qatar - This tiny, wealthy Arab Gulf country is opening its first Roman Catholic church, ending decades of clandestine worship for tens of thousands of foreign workers. The consecration of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary, planned for Saturday, appears to be a sign of Qatar's efforts to open up to the West as it seeks a bid for the Olympic Games in 2016. Qatar's ruler has also approved five churches for other Christian denominations, all under construction next to the Catholic one. Attracted by a booming oil economy, expatriate workers make up at least 70 percent...

DOHA -- A bitter debate has broken out in the tiny, oil-rich Gulf state of Qatar over construction of the Muslim country's first Christian church, set to open next month in time for Easter. Critics have branded the concept as "repulsive" while supporters said building places of worship for other religions is a right guaranteed by Islam. One former minister insisted there should have been a public referendum. "The cross should not be raised in the sky of Qatar, nor should bells toll in Doha," wrote columnist Lahdan bin Issa al-Muhanadi in the Doha daily Al-Arab -- adding an apology...

DOHA, Qatar — On a hot October evening, hundreds of families flocked to the sumptuous Ritz Carlton here in this Persian Gulf capital for an unusual college fair, the Education City roadshow. Qataris, Bangladeshis, Syrians, Indians, Egyptians — in saris, in suits, in dishdashis, in jeans — came to hear what it takes to win admission to one of the five American universities that offer degrees at Education City, a 2,500-acre campus on the outskirts of Doha where oil and gas money pays for everything from adventurous architecture to professors’ salaries. Education City, the largest enclave of American universities overseas,...