Qatar

29 June 2022; MEMO: Hotel operator, Accor, is recruiting 12,000 temporary overseas employees to operate 65,000 empty rooms in apartments and homes in Qatar as temporary fan housing for the 2022 soccer World Cup, its Chairman and CEO, Sébastien Bazin, told Reuters.

Qatar is working to avoid an accommodation shortage during the tournament and has hired Accor, Europe's largest hotel operator, to manage the temporary operation.

27 June 2022; MEMO: QatarEnergy has joined the "Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative", an industry-led initiative that aims to reach near zero methane emissions from operated oil and gas assets by 2030, Reuters reports.

26 June 2022; MEMO: Qatar is most likely to host the upcoming talks between Iran and the US, mediated by the European Union, to close the remaining gaps in efforts to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal.

Nour News, affiliated with Iran's top security body, said in a statement posted on Twitter on Sunday that Doha has a "better chance" of hosting the forthcoming talks than other Gulf countries, given its "ongoing efforts to resume talks on lifting sanctions."

20 June 2022; MEMO: ConocoPhillips will take part in QatarEnergy's North Field LNG expansion as the third partner, energy and commodity consultancy company, S&P Global, said.

A joint venture between QatarEnergy and ConocoPhillips will own 12.5 per cent, or half a train, in the four-train North Field East expansion project, Qatar's Energy Minister, Saad Al-Kaabi, said June 20 at a news conference in Doha.

ConocoPhillips, which has worked on Qatar LNG since 2003, joined France's TotalEnergies and Italy's Eni in the project.

20 June 2022; MEMO: The International Union for Muslim Scholars (IUMS) has called for enacting a law to ban insults against religions and sanctities, Anadolu Agency reported.

In a statement, the Doha-based grouping said it will dispatch a delegation of Muslim scholars to Islamic countries for talks on the increasing insults against the Islamic religion.

IUMS said it will ask the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations to push for drafting legislation to ban any insults against religious sanctities.

14 June 2022; MEMO: Qatar plans to pitch 1,000 "Bedouin style" tents in the desert for World Cup soccer fans, organisers said on Tuesday, as the State hopes to attract 1.2 million visitors, nearly half of its population, for the 28-day tournament in November and December, Reuters reports.

Tents will spring up on the stark desert landscapes surrounding Doha, to offer visitors an authentic taste of Qatari camping, said Omar Al-Jaber, head of accommodation at tournament organiser, The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy.

23 May 2022; MEMO: The 2022 World Cup hosted by Qatar is expected to be watched by five billion people around the world, FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, said on Monday, Reuters reports.

The TV audience for the 2018 World Cup in Russia was a record-breaking 3.5 billion people.

Qatar, a small but wealthy Gulf Arab State, will host the first World Cup in the Middle East, starting late November.

23 May 2022; MEMO: The Chief Editor of Al Jazeera Arabic digital content, Ahmad Ashour, has exposed the 'lie' of a UAE official about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remarks on the Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Quds Al-Araby reported on Sunday.

21 May 2022; MEMO: Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani announced on Wednesday that his country is ready to mediate between Iran, the European Union and the US regarding the nuclear deal, Anadolu Agency reported.

This came during a joint press conference held in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who confirmed that Qatar would play a "central role" in Germany's new energy strategy.

20 May 2022; MEMO: Qatar hopes to welcome the world to Doha for the soccer World Cup but also "we expect and we want people to respect our culture", Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said on Friday in Berlin when asked about gay people attending the tournament, Reuters reports.

The Gulf, Muslim-majority State will host the first World Cup in the Middle East for a month from late November.