Qatar

07 June 2023; MEMO: QatarEnergy has signed a 15-year supply deal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) with Bangladesh's state-owned PetroBangla for 1.8 million tonnes a year starting in 2026, CEO Saad Al-Kaabi said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

According to the report, the latest contract with an Asian customer by the world's top LNG exporter comes when Western countries, including Germany, push to win a chunk of the Qatari gas, as competition ramped up following the Ukraine war.

DOHA, Jun 2 (NNN-WAM) – United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s recent move to quit a U.S.-led maritime coalition, revealed Abu Dhabi’s disappointment at U.S. reluctance to actively protect its partners and rebuild its deterrence in the Gulf region, Al Jazeera reported.

The UAE Foreign Ministry, announced on Wednesday that, the country had stopped participating in the Combined Maritime Forces, two months ago, “as a result of our ongoing evaluation of effective security cooperation with all partners.”

DOHA, May 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said Wednesday that the US showdown over government debt was “unnecessary” for the world economy but a default could be avoided.
 
   Georgieva and the head of Blackstone, one of the world’s biggest investment funds, expressed exasperation to the Qatar Economic Forum over the spending standoff between US President Joe Biden and opposition Republicans with an early June deadline looming.
 

22 May 2023; MEMO: Qatargas' massive North Field Expansion (NFE) is progressing construction activities and expected to be completed by 2027, DMS Projects reports.

According to the report, the $30 billion development project involves four liquefaction mega-trains at 8 (million tons per annum) mtpa each, resulting in 32 mtpa of new LNG production.

North Field East will be the largest LNG project by liquefaction capacity undertaken to date by the industry, the report added.

DOHA, May 18 (Reuters) - The Arab League's welcoming back of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad into its ranks highlights how far behind Qatar has fallen in its bid to be a diplomatic voice that carries weight in the Middle East.

Earlier this month Qatar reluctantly withdrew its opposition to Saudi Arabia's initiative to readmit Syria. It made clear it opposed normalizing its own ties with Damascus but said it would not stand in the way of an Arab consensus.

DOHA, May 5 (NNN-QNA) – Qatar started to use AI speech-to-text technology, in public prosecution, to boost efficiency, local media reported yesterday.

The system will be used in criminal investigations and editing legal documents, in addition to manual input. It will speedily extract useful information from speech and put them down in text, according to Gulf Times’ report.

It would enable the Qatar Public Prosecution to better play its role and ensure the timely delivery of justice, the report added.

01 May 2023; MEMO: Qatar yesterday arrested a foreign network of eight Indians allegedly for spying for the Israeli state.

Hebrew media quoted local sources as saying that the defendants were "recent graduates of the Indian navy," adding that they were working for "Dehara Trading Company."

30 Apr 2023; MEMO: Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the son of Qatar's former prime minister, submitted his final bid for the entirety of Manchester United just before Friday's deadline, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.

DOHA, April 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UN chief Antonio Guterres will gather international envoys at a secret location in Doha on Monday in an increasingly desperate bid to find ways to influence Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers.

Considered the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis by the United Nations, Guterres’ quandary has been deepened by the Taliban administration’s move to stop girls going to school and most women from working, even for UN agencies.

20 Apr 2023; MEMO: Eight former Indian naval personnel are currently facing trial in Qatar on charges of espionage. They are accused of gathering intelligence on Qatar's secret project to acquire high-tech submarines manufactured in Italy, which are designed to be difficult to detect by adversaries.