Timeline Qatar
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Qatar covers 11,427 sq. km., less than half the
size
of Belgium. The capital is Doha.
(Econ, 3/20/04, p.65)(Econ, 9/9/06, p.48)
632-661 The
Rashidun Caliphate, also known as the Rightly Guided Caliphate,
comprising the first four caliphs in Islam's history, was founded
after Muhammad's death. At its height, the Caliphate extended from
the Arabian Peninsula, to the Levant, Caucasus and North Africa in
the west, to the Iranian highlands and Central Asia in the east. It
was the one of the largest empires in history up until that time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashidun_Caliphate)
1952 Qatar’s Sheikh Hamad bin
Khalifa al Thani was born. The population of Qatar at this time was
under 40,000. In 1995 he ousted his father in a bloodless coup.
(Econ, 6/7/08, p.61)
1971 Sep 3, Qatar declared
independence from Britain.
(www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-11034.html)
1971 Sheik Khalifa Bin Hamad
Al-Thani wrested power from his vacationing uncle. His family came
from the conservative Wahhabi sect of Islam.
(WSJ, 3/21/96, p.A-6)
1971 The world’s biggest known
gas field was discovered in Qatar. Faisal Al Suwaidi (b.1954), head
of Qatargas, later began construction of Ras Lafan gas plant to
liquefy the gas for export. The plant, the largest man-made
structure in centuries, was to be finished in 2010.
(Econ, 7/18/09, p.64)
1980 Arab nations in the
Persian Gulf set a minimum age of 15 for camel jockeys.
(WSJ, 10/3/05, p.A1)
1981 May 25, Sheik Zayed bin
Sultan Al Nahyan (1918-2004), United Arab Emirates President, urged
in 5 other Arab monarchies (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi
Arabia) to form the Gulf Cooperation Council. The unified economic
agreement between the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council was
signed on 11 November 1981 in Riyadh.
(Econ, 11/20/04,
p.90)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Cooperation_Council)
1982 Bahrain and Qatar had a
territorial dispute over a man-made island. The dispute was settled
when Saudi Arabia decreed that the island be dismantled.
(WSJ, 3/21/96, p.A-6)
1984 Qatar Liquefied Gas Co.
(Qatargas) was founded. Its 1st sales agreement was signed in 1992
and exports began in 1997.
(Econ, 3/20/04, p.69)
1984 Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) members (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, UAR)
agreed on the creation of a two-brigade (10,000 troops) Peninsula
Shield Force, based in Saudi Arabia near the Kuwaiti and Iraqi
borders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peninsula_Shield)
1995 Jun, In Qatar Sheik Hamad
Bin Khalifa al-Thani (b.1952) ousted his father, Sheik Khalifa Bin
Hamad al-Thani, as emir. Sheik Khalifa is suspected of having made
off with $4 billion in the form of unpaid personal loans. The new
Emir soon abolished the information ministry that controlled
newspapers and broadcasting. Sheik Hamad also gave women the right
to vote and introduced satellite television.
(WSJ, 3/21/96, p.A-1)(SFEC, 7/4/99, p.A21)(SFC,
6/19/00, p.A5)(WSJ, 10/24/02, p.A12)
1996 Nov, The independent Arab
Al-Jazeera TV news network began operating as the 1st all-news
Arabic satellite channel from Doha, Qatar. It was financed by Sheik
Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, emir of Qatar. In 2002 Mohammed
El-Nawawy and Adel Iskandar authored "Al-Jazeera: How the Free Arab
News Network Scooped the World and Changed the Middle East."
(SFEC, 7/4/99, p.A21)(SSFC, 5/19/02, p.M1)(SSFC,
8/18/02, p.D1)(WSJ, 4/30/04, p.A4)
1997 Jul 20, It was reported
that as many as 30% of Qatari women work. Some 6,000 graduated each
year from the Univ. of Qatar.
(SFEC, 7/20/97, p.A20)
1997 IslamOnline began as a
student project at the Univ. of Qatar with cash from Sheika Mozah, a
wife of Qatar’s emir, and with an endorsement from Egyptian-born
scholar, Yussuf al-Qaradawi.
(Econ, 4/10/10, p.51)
1998 In Qatar Abdul-rahman Al
Nuaimi, a religious scholar, was arrested and imprisoned for 3 years
for opposing government modernization programs.
(WSJ, 10/24/02, p.A12)
1999 Jul, After 30 months on
the air Al Jazeera broadcasts reached 22 Arab countries free of
censorship.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, p.A21)
1999 Nov 21, In Jordan King
Abdullah pardoned 25 Hamas members and expelled 4 of them to Qatar.
(SFC, 11/22/99, p.A13)
1999 Qatari women were allowed
to vote and stand as candidates for municipal councils for the 1st
time.
(SFEC, 7/4/99, p.A21)(WSJ, 10/24/02, p.A12)
2000 Dec 31, Six Persian Gulf
nations (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United
Arab Emirates) signed a regional defense pact.
(SFC, 1/1/01, p.A10)
2001 May 15, Fidel Castro
arrived in Syria from Qatar for a 2-day visit.
(SFC, 5/16/01, p.D14)
2001 Sep 23, The 6-member
Persian “Gulf Cooperation Council” (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia, UAR) met in Jidda and pledged support for an int’l.
coalition against terrorism.
(SFC, 9/24/01, p.A7)
2001 Sep Yusuf Qaradawi (75),
an Egyptian Muslim scholar living in Qatar, took part in a
conference in Rome aimed at promoting Muslim-Christian dialogue.
(WSJ, 10/15/01, p.A19)
2001 Oct 7, The Al-Jazeera TV
network from Qatar showed video footage of Osama bin Laden praising
Allah for the Sep 11 terrorist attacks.
(SFC, 10/8/01, p.G1)
2001 Oct 11, The Pentagon
confirmed the 1st US death in Operation Freedom. Air Force Sgt.
Evander Earl Andrews was killed in a fork lift accident in Qatar.
(SFC, 10/12/01, p.A16)(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A8)
2001 Nov 9, A WTO meeting was
scheduled to start in Qatar. A Sep 27 blueprint called for
concessions from the US, EU and Japan in opening markets for
textiles, steel and agriculture.
(WSJ, 9/28/01, p.A12)
2001 Oct 20, It was reported
that Nat’l. Sec. Advisor, Condoleezza Rice, and Sec. of Defense,
Donald Rumsfeld, had made appearances in the past week on the Al
Jazeera network to repeat that the war on terrorism is not a war on
Islam.
(SFC, 10/20/01, p.A10)
2001 Nov 7, Abdullah Mubarak
al-Hajiri was killed after he opened fire on US and Qatari troops
guarding the Al Adid air base.
(SFC, 11/8/01, p.A13)
2001 Nov 10, China officially
joined the WTO after ministers in Qatar approved its membership. The
protocol became effective on Dec 11, 2001.
(SSFC, 11/11/01,
p.A14)(www.china-un.ch/eng/qtzz/wto/t85612.htm)
2001 Nov 14, In Doha, Qatar,
142 nations agreed to launch a new round of world trade (WTO) talks
in negotiations that went 24 hours past the scheduled end. The
centerpiece of the round was freer trade in farm goods.
(WSJ, 11/15/01, p.A1)(Econ, 9/20/03, p.11)(Econ,
10/11/08, SR p.30)
2001 Dec 12, Ali-al-Marri, a
citizen of Qatar, was arrested in Peoria, Ill. He had reportedly
entered the USA legally with his wife and five children on 10
September 2001 to pursue post-graduate studies at Bradley Univ. 18
months later, as he was on the verge of trial for credit card fraud
and other charges, Pres. Bush declared him an enemy combatant and
moved him into military detention. In 2008 the US Supreme Court
agreed to decide whether the president may order that people seized
in the US be held indefinitely and without criminal charges.
(www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21383.htm)(WSJ, 12/6/08,
p.A1)
2002 Jun 9, Iraq and Qatar
signed a free-trade agreement to drop customs duties and ease the
flow of goods between the two Arab countries, further mending
relations damaged by the 1990-91 Gulf War.
(AP, 6/9/02)
2002 Jun 22, A bin Laden
spokesman said in audiotaped remarks from Qatar that Osama bin Laden
and his No. 2 man are both alive and well and their al-Qaida network
is ready to attack new U.S. targets.
(AP, 6/23/02)(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.A22)
2002 Dec 21, In Qatar some
Persian Gulf leaders opened a summit by calling for regional unity
and fast inspections by U.N. experts searching for weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq.
(AP, 12/21/02)
2003 Mar 24, Al-Jazeera went
live with its English-based web site, for an alternative perspective
from Western media: http://english.aljazeera.net
(WSJ, 3/25/03, p.A12)
2003 Apr 28, The US moved an
air operation center from Saudi Arabia to Qatar.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 Apr 29, Qataris voted on
their first permanent constitution.
(AP, 4/29/03)
2003 Jun 5, Speaking to U.S.
soldiers in Qatar, President Bush argued the U.S.-led invasion of
Iraq was justified and pledged that "we'll reveal the truth" on
Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction.
(AP, 6/5/04)
2003 Sep 10, The first
video image of Osama bin Laden in nearly two years was broadcast on
Al-Jazeera TV.
(AP, 9/10/08)
2004 Jan 10, A conference on
U.S.-Islamic relations began in Qatar. Washington's support for
Israel is at the root of differences between the United States and
Islamic nations.
(AP, 1/10/04)
2004 Jan 24, Qatar signed a
$2.5 billion deal with Bechtel to begin construction of a new
airport near Doha.
(SFC, 1/27/04, p.B1)
2004 Feb 13, In Qatar Zelimkhan
Yandarbiyev (51), Chechnya's exiled former president, was
assassinated when a bomb blew apart his car as he left a mosque with
his teenage son (13). He was wanted by Russia for terrorism and ties
to al-Qaida.
(AP, 2/13/04)
2004 Feb 26, Russian Foreign
Minister Igor Ivanov said that three Russian intelligence agents had
been arrested in Qatar on suspicion of involvement in the killing of
former Chechen President Zelimkhan Yandarbiyev. Ivanov said they
were innocent and demanded their release. On June 30 Qatar sentenced
2 of the Russian agents to 25 years in jail.
(AP, 2/26/04)(WSJ, 7/1/04, p.A1)
2004 Feb 28, Qatar accused
Russia of detaining two of its nationals in Moscow, after two
Russians were charged with murdering a former rebel Chechen leader
in Qatar.
(AP, 2/28/04)
2004 Dec 5, It was reported
that the Norwegian firm Hydro and Qatar's state energy company
signed a deal to build one of world's largest aluminium plants in
the gas-rich Gulf state at a cost of three billion dollars.
(AFP, 12/5/04)
2004 Qatar and the UAR raised
the minimum age for camel jockeys from 15 to 18.
(WSJ, 10/3/05, p.A1)
2004 Qatar offered the Swiss
robotics firm K-Team SA a $1.37 million contract to design a robot
jockey for camel racing. A 59-pound robot was set to premier in
October 2005.
(WSJ, 10/3/05, p.A1)
2005 Jan 16, Qatar Gas
Transport planned the country’s largest share flotation. They
recently unveiled a large LNG project with Exxon.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.54)
2005 Feb 15, It was reported
that major energy firms had committed $20 billion to build a new
gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar to develop the huge natural gas
reserves there.
(WSJ, 2/15/05, p.A1)
2005 Feb 27, Qatar signed an
agreement with Royal Dutch/Shell to develop a liquefied natural gas
plant. Qatar Petroleum and Exxon Mobil launched their 12.8 billion
Qatar Gas II joint venture to export LNS to the United Kingdom.
(WSJ, 2/28/05, p.B2)
2005 Mar 19, In Qatar a suicide
car bomb attack on a Doha theater killed one Briton. The next day
Qatar blamed an Egyptian for the attack.
(AP, 3/20/05)
2005 May 11, Qatar's first hard
look at its own human rights shortcomings produced a catalogue of
abuses that include prolonged detentions, mistreatment of foreign
workers and the use of children as jockeys in camel races.
(AP, 5/11/05)
2005 Mar, Sheik Saud al-Thani
(38), a member of the royal family of Qatar, was arrested on
allegations of misappropriating state funds and buying art for
himself with money designated for Qatari museums. He was later
released. Auction sales in Islamic art soon plunged.
(WSJ, 7/29/05, p.W1)
2005 Jul 4, Al-Jazeera
announced plans to launch an international, a satellite channel by
march, 2006, that will beam English-language news to the US, and
much of the rest of the world, from its base in tiny Qatar.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Sep 3, The Gulf emirate of
Qatar announced it will donate 100 million dollars to relief efforts
for the US victims of Hurricane Katrina. The funds included a $17.5
million grant to Xavier University in New Orleans, which serves
mostly black Americans.
(AFP, 9/3/05)(Econ, 9/9/06, p.48)
2005 Sep 15, Israel called for
wider meetings with Arab nations and said efforts were under way to
arrange summit talks with Qatar, a day after Qatar urged the Arab
world to open up to the Jewish state following its Gaza Strip
withdrawal.
(AP, 9/15/05)
2006 Mar 10, Tamer Yusri
Yassin, who worked in Qatar and is considered the founder of a group
of 14 people involved in terrorist attacks, was allegedly extradited
to Egypt from Qatar. The next day Qatar denied that Yassin was
extradited. Yassin was one of 14 people referred for trial by the
public prosecutor this week for involvement in two Cairo bombings on
April 7 and April 30, 2005.
(AFP, 3/11/06)(Reuters, 3/11/06)
2006 Mar, Persian Gulf stock
markets suffered their 1st serious correction after years of 6-7%
annual gains. Stock market reversals in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the
UAR, along with Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia triggered outrage
among local small investors.
(WSJ, 3/27/06, p.C1)
2006 Apr 17, Qatar said it
would give the Palestinian government $50 million in aid to help
make up for a shortfall after the US and the EU cut off funding.
(AP, 4/17/06)
2006 Apr 29, A Qatar newspaper
reported that Qatar has frozen bilateral free trade talks with the
US, saying Washington was imposing preconditions that were not in
Doha's interest.
(AP, 4/29/06)
2006 Jun 6, Qatar Petroleum and
South Africa’s Sasol unveiled a new plant in Qatar to transform
natural gas into a synthetic fuel similar to diesel by a process
knows as gas-to-liquids (GTL). Sasol was also building a GTL plant
in Nigeria with Chevron Texaco.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.58)
2006 Jul 12, Acting on behalf
of Arab nations, Qatar circulated a revised draft UN Security
Council resolution demanding Israel end its offensive in the Gaza
Strip and release the Palestinian officials it has arrested.
(AP, 7/12/06)
2006 Sep 4, In Lebanon US civil
rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson met with Hezbollah officials and
called on them to show proof that two captured Israeli soldiers are
still alive. A UN spokesman said Secretary-General Kofi Annan has
agreed to requests by Hezbollah and Israel that he mediate in
negotiations over the release of two abducted Israeli soldiers.
Qatar announced that it would contribute 200 to 300 troops to the UN
peacekeeping force in Lebanon, making the Persian Gulf state the
first Arab country to commit soldiers to the peace effort in
Lebanon.
(AP, 9/4/06)
2006 Dec 1, The 15th Asian
Games exploded into life in Doha, Qatar, with the most spectacular
opening ceremony ever staged.
(www.dohaasiangames.org/)
2006 Dec 6, In Doha, Qatar,
Midway through day five of the Asian Games, China had 67 gold medals
to Japan's 18 and South Korea's 14. Kazakhstan, thanks to its
shooters and weightlifters, had 10.
(AFP, 12/6/06)
2006 Dec 8, The MAP news agency
said Qatar will invest 335 million dollars in tourist development
schemes in the northern Moroccan city of Tangiers.
(AFP, 12/8/06)
2006 Dec 10, The oil-rich Arab
states on the Persian Gulf said that they will consider starting a
joint nuclear program for peaceful purposes. The six-nation Gulf
Cooperation Council included Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab
Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
(AP, 12/10/06)
2006 Qatar citizens number
about 150,000 of a total population of 750,000.
(Econ, 9/9/06, p.48)
2007 Feb 12, In Qatar Russia’s
Putin and Qatari Emir Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani announced
they would explore the creation of a natural gas cartel to represent
the interests of producer countries. Qatar sits atop the world's
single largest gas field.
(AP, 2/12/07)
2007 Apr 3, Qatar's PM Sheik
Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned and the country's emir
appointed the foreign minister as replacement.
(AP, 4/3/07)
2007 May 1, Japan and Qatar
stressed their solid energy partnership and agreed to launch initial
negotiations on moves to stimulate Japanese investment in the Gulf
state.
(AP, 5/1/07)
2007 Jun 15, The Gulf state of
Qatar tightened its grip on J Sainsbury, Britain's third biggest
supermarket chain, by raising its stake to 25%, sparking speculation
it may launch a takeover.
(AP, 6/15/07)
2007 Jun 21, In London,
England, Damien Hirst’s “Lullaby spring” sold for $19.1 million, the
highest price paid at auction for a work by a living artist. The
work consisted of a stainless steel cabinet containing 6,136
hand-crafted and painted pills. It was purchased by Sheikha
al-Mayassa al-Thani, the daughter of the emir of Qatar.
(SFC, 6/23/07, p.E4)(Econ, 9/11/10, p.99)
2007 Jul 24, Five Bulgarian
nurses and a Palestinian doctor, sentenced to life in prison in
Libya for allegedly infecting children with HIV, came home to
Bulgaria and were greeted with tears and hugs, and a presidential
pardon that allowed them to walk free after 8 1/2 years behind bars.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Qatar mediated the release and
hinted the Gulf country may have had a broader role in resolving the
crisis.
(AP, 7/24/07)
2007 Jul 28, Libya said the
Czech Republic, Qatar and Bulgaria contributed to an international
fund to support hundreds of children who contracted HIV at a Libyan
hospital in the 1990s. Libya also denounced a decision by Bulgaria's
president to pardon six medics from life jail terms in an AIDS case
as a "betrayal" and an "illegal procedure."
(Reuters, 7/28/07)(AFP, 7/28/07)
2007 Oct 7, Qatar's Diar real
estate investment company announced it has agreed to buy phase two
of the Grosvenor Waterside residential development in the upmarket
London district of Chelsea.
(AP, 10/7/07)
2007 Dec 3, In Qatar Iran’s
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reached out to Gulf Arab states,
proposing security and economic pacts free of "foreign influence" in
the first appearance by an Iranian leader before a summit of a key
group of Persian Gulf nations. The six-member Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) was formed shortly after the outbreak of the 1980
Iran-Iraq war, partly to counter the spread of Iran's Islamic
revolution.
(AP, 12/4/07)
2008 Mar 15, Qatar-based
investment company IAS International said it was undertaking a
series of development projects in Central African Republic worth 1.6
billion dollars.
(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Mar 15, In Qatar the
consecration of the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary was held. This
became Qatar’s first Roman Catholic church, ending decades of
clandestine worship for tens of thousands of foreign workers. The
$15 million, 2,700-seat church was built on land donated by Qatar's
emir, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani.
(AP, 3/14/08)(AP, 3/15/08)
2008 Apr 21,
The Ethiopian government announced it was severing diplomatic
relations with Qatar, accusing the Gulf Arab state of destabilizing
the Horn of Africa region.
(AFP, 4/21/08)
2008 May 13, In Qatar the 6th
Doha Interfaith Dialogue Conference opened. More than a dozen
rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance. This
conservative Muslim sheikdom recently opened the Doha International
Centre for Interfaith Dialogue, one of the Gulf's first scholarly
centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue.
(AP, 5/16/08)
2008 May 21, Lebanon's feuding
factions reached a breakthrough deal, following talks in Qatar, to
end the country's 18-month political stalemate. The deal gives the
militant Hezbollah group and its allies veto over any government
decision.
(AP, 5/21/08)
2008 Sep 12,The Sudanese
government army and Janjaweed militias launched new attacks in a
mountainous area of south Darfur according to rebel claims made the
next day. UN boss Ban Ki-moon welcomed the establishment of an Arab
League panel led by Qatar that will work with the African Union and
United Nations to sponsor peace talks in Sudan's Darfur region.
(AFP, 9/12/08)(AFP, 9/13/08)
2008 Oct 10, In Qatar the Doha
Center for Media Freedom opened under the leadership of Robert
Menard of France. Menard had previously led the Paris-based
Reporters Without Borders.
(Econ, 5/16/09, p.52)(http://tinyurl.com/rxkzzh)
2008 Oct 21, Iran, Russia and
Qatar discussed the formation of an OPEC-style cartel among some of
the largest natural gas producing nations, a prospect that has
unnerved energy-importing nations in Europe and the United States.
(AP, 10/21/08)
2008 Oct 31, Middle East
investors will own up to one third of Barclays Plc after Abu Dhabi
and Qatar provided most of 7.3 billion pounds ($12.1 billion) raised
by the bank to repair damage from the global financial crisis and
avoid taking UK government rescue funds.
(Reuters, 10/31/08)
2008 Nov 9, Egyptian
authorities denied entry to one of Osama bin Laden's sons and put
him on a plane to Qatar, becoming the third country to reject the
self-proclaimed "ambassador for peace." Omar Osama bin Laden (27)
and his British wife, Zaina Alsabah (52), arrived at Cairo
International Airport over the weekend after he unsuccessfully tried
to seek political asylum in Spain.
(AP, 11/9/08)
2008 Nov 22, Qatar unveiled its
new Museum of Islamic Art, designed by I.M. Pei.
(Econ, 11/22/08, p.95)
2008 Nov 26, Qatar based Al
Jazeera launched Sharek, a website where photos and videos can be
submitted for use, once verified, in Al Jazeera’s television and
online reports.
(Econ, 7/9/11, SR
p.10)(http://tinyurl.com/5hsj2k)
2008 Nov 29, In Qatar French
President Nicolas Sarkozy told Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir to
take action to end the conflict in Darfur.
(AFP, 11/29/08)
2008 Qatar and Sudan set up a
joint venture for investments in Sudan, which focused on developing
agricultural land.
(Econ, 5/23/09, p.62)
2009 Jan 16, Mauritania and
Qatar suspended contacts with Israel to protest the Gaza bloodshed
at an Arab summit that deepened the divisions between pro-US Arab
nations and their rivals in the Middle East.
(AP, 1/17/09)
2009 Mar 29, Sudan's Pres. Omar
al-Bashir, who is sought by an international court on charges of war
crimes in Darfur, received a warm welcome in Qatar, where he will
attend this week's Arab League summit.
(AP, 3/29/09)
2009 Mar 30, In Qatar Libyan
leader Moammar Gadhafi stormed out of an Arab summit after
denouncing the Saudi king and declaring himself "the dean of Arab
rulers."
(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Mar 31, In Qatar
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sought Arab support for a proposed
oil-backed currency to challenge the US dollar in his latest swipe
at Washington's dominance in global financial affairs.
(AP, 3/31/09)
2009 Apr 30, In Illinois Ali
al-Marri (43) pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to provide
material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization. A
second charge of providing material support or resources to a
foreign terrorist organization was dropped. His case had sparked a
legal debate over whether the government can hold terrorism suspects
indefinitely. The Qatar native faced up to 15 years in prison and a
$250,000 fine at his July 30 sentencing.
(AP, 5/1/09)
2009 May 15, Polish gas firm
PGNiG announced that it had signed a deal with the Qatari firm
Qatargas for the supply of one million tons of liquefied natural gas
(LNG) per year.
(AP, 5/30/09)
2009 Jun 1, China's special
envoy to Darfur met with Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir and
pledged three million dollars in humanitarian aid for the volatile
region. Liu Guijin "greeted the president for the beginning of talks
in Doha between the JEM and the government."
(AFP, 6/2/09)
2009 Jun 7, Bahrain, Kuwait,
Qatar and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement paving the way for a
monetary union and plans for a unified regional currency.
(SFC, 6/8/09, p.C1)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six
African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people,
and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea,
Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in
the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria,
and Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun 30, As many as 30
people were feared dead after the MV Demas Victory capsized and
quickly sank in choppy Persian Gulf waters off the Qatari capital
Doha. Five crew members were rescued. The ship was carrying 9 crew,
along with 24 employees of the charterer HBK Power Cleaning and two
caterers working for a company hired by HBK.
(AP, 7/2/09)
2009 Nov 13, A UN official said
an agreement has been reached for sweeping anti-corruption reviews
on how countries account for their public assets. The pact came
after talks in Qatar's capital, Doha, between the United Nations,
World Bank and watchdog groups.
(AP, 11/13/09)
2009 Nov 18, Qatar hosted what
it billed as the ceremonial launch of Darfur peace talks, but
neither Sudanese government nor rebel representatives took part.
(AFP, 11/18/09)
2009 Dec 15, In Kuwait Gulf
Arab nations put into force a monetary pact, moving a step closer
toward the elusive goal of a single regional currency and greater
integration between the mainly oil-rich states. The announcement was
made by Kuwait's finance minister came as leaders from the
six-member Gulf Cooperation Council nations were wrapping up a
two-day summit in which they launched a regional electricity
project. The GCC groups Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab
Emirates, Oman and Bahrain.
(AP, 12/15/09)
2009 Yusuf al-Qaradawi (82), an
Egyptian scholar living in Qatar, authored “The Jurisprudence of
Jihad.”
(Econ, 8/8/09, p.52)
2010 Jan 9, Humam Khalil Abu
Mulal al-Balawi, the Jordanian doctor who killed 7 CIA employees in
a suicide attack in Afghanistan, said in video clips broadcast
posthumously today that all jihadists must attack US targets to
avenge the death of Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Speaking in Arabic in the video shown on al-Jazeera, the Arabic
network, and Aaj, a Pakistani channel, al-Balawi noted that the
Pakistani Taliban had given shelter to "emigrants" — Muslim fighters
from abroad.
(AP, 1/9/10)
2010 Feb 24, Qatar signed a
defense pact with Iran.
(Econ, 5/29/10,
p.47)(www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=214868)
2010 Feb 25, In India a Hindu
newspaper said India's best-known painter M.F. Husain (94), who went
into exile after death threats from Hindu hardliners, has been
granted Qatari citizenship, sparking new soul-searching about his
persecution at home. Husain, known as the "Picasso of India," had
angered hardline Hindus by portraying Hindu deities in the nude or
in a sexually suggestive manner.
(AFP, 2/25/10)
2010 Mar 10, Qatar's PM Sheikh
Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani said Arab states will respond to Israel's
recent decision to expand an east Jerusalem settlement.
(AFP, 3/10/10)
2010 Mar 13, In Qatar a two
week UN conference opened with a focus on the Atlantic bluefin tuna
and other marine life in the world's overfished oceans. The
175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
(CITES) discussed new proposals on regulating the trade in number of
plant and animal species.
(AP, 3/13/10)
2010 Mar 15, At the CITES
conference in Qatar a top official with the UN wildlife agency said
the world has "failed miserably" at protecting tigers in the wild,
bringing an animal that is a symbol for many cultures and religions
to "the verge of extinction."
(AP, 3/15/10)
2010 Mar 16, At the CITES
meeting in Qatar a marine conservation group, Oceana, said surging
demand for shark fin soup among Asia's booming middle classes is
driving many species of these big fish to the brink of extinction.
(AP, 3/16/10)
2010 Mar 18, In Qatar the CITES
convention said consumer appetite for caviar is pushing sturgeon to
the brink of extinction. Fishing nations led by Japan rejected a US
backed proposal to ban export of the Atlantic bluefin tuna. A
proposal to ban the int’l. sale of polar bear skins also failed to
pass.
(SFC, 3/19/10, p.A2,5)
2010 Mar 21, Conservationists
at the CITES meeting in Qatar said the Internet has emerged as one
of the greatest threats to rare species, fueling the illegal
wildlife trade and making it easier to buy everything from live baby
lions to wine made from tiger bones.
(AP, 3/21/10)
2010 Mar 23, At the CITES
convention in Qatar Asian nations blocked US-backed proposals to
protect the heavily fished hammerhead and oceanic whitetip sharks on
concerns that regulating the booming trade in fins could hurt poor
coastal nations.
(AP, 3/23/10)
2010 Mar 25, In Qatar the CITES
UN wildlife meeting rejected efforts to regulate the trade in
overfished porbeagle sharks, reversing an earlier ruling at the
conference and leaving none of the proposed shark species with
protection. Asia nations managed to reopen the debate on the final
day of the conference and voted to kill the proposal.
(AP, 3/25/10)
2010 May 8, It was reported
that Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Al Fayed has sold luxury London
department store Harrods to Qatar Holding, the Gulf royal family's
investment arm.
(AFP, 5/8/10)
2010 May 13, The UN General
Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the
47-member Human Rights Council. Human rights groups criticized the
poor human rights records 7 of the candidates: Angola, Libya,
Malaysia, Mauritania, Qatar, Thailand and Uganda.
(SFC, 5/14/10, p.A2)
2010 Jul 12, A group of 91
Israelis, wounded by Hezbollah rockets during the 2006 war, sued the
Arab news network Al-Jazeera for $1.2 billion in a New York court
for allegedly aiding the Lebanese guerrillas. The suit claimed the
Qatar-based news network intentionally violated Israel's military
censorship regulations and reported the precise locations of rocket
strikes in Israel in live broadcasts during the monthlong 2006 war.
(AP, 7/13/10)
2010 Jul 29, Qatar's PM Sheik
Hamad bin Jassem Al Thani said the Arab nations have endorsed direct
Palestinian talks with the Israelis but left the timing to the
Palestinians themselves.
(AP, 7/29/10)
2010 Jul 31, Qatar's emir made
a high-profile visit to south Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold
destroyed in a 2006 war with Israel and whose rebuilding the emirate
is helping finance.
(AFP, 7/31/10)
2010 Sep 12, Philippine
authorities at Manila's airport found a newborn baby in a garbage
bag that was apparently unloaded from an airplane that landed from
the Middle East. On Sep 16 Rep. Lani Mercado said she met with the
mother, who told her that she had been raped by her employer while
working as a maid in Qatar and became pregnant.
(AP, 9/12/10)(AP, 9/16/10)
2010 Oct 29, Morocco’s
communications ministry said it has suspended the operations of the
Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television news channel in Rabat and
withdrawn the accreditations of its staff. A government official who
declined to be named said the authorities took exception to the way
Al-Jazeera handles the issues of Islamists and Western Sahara.
(AFP, 10/29/10)
2010 Nov 22, Egypt's Orascom
Telecom said it is selling its entire 50% stake in its Tunisian
subsidiary to Qatar Telecom in a deal valued at $1.2 billion.
(AP, 11/22/10)
2010 Dec 2, Qatar was selected
as host of the 2022 World Cup, beating out a bid by the United
States to bring soccer's showcase back to America for the first time
since 1994.
(AP, 12/2/10)
2010 Dec 7, Leaders of six
US-allied Gulf Arab nations, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC),
said they were monitoring with "utmost concern" developments in
Iran's disputed nuclear program and issued a thinly veiled warning
to their Persian neighbor not to meddle in their internal affairs.
The 2-day gathering of leaders from the Emirates, Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman followed the publication of leaked
US diplomatic memos that revealed deeper concern among Gulf Arab
leaders over Tehran's nuclear program than had previously been
known.
(AP, 12/7/10)
2010 Dec 20, Iran and Qatar
pledged to cooperate for greater regional security during a visit to
Tehran by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the emir of the tiny
but energy-rich Gulf state.
(AFP, 12/20/10)
2010 Dec 30, In Qatar Mathaf,
the first Arab Museum of Modern Art, opened.
(Econ, 1/1/11, p.74)
2011 Feb 5, In Qatar an
anti-corruption tribunal of the International Cricket Council banned
former Pakistan captain Salman Butt for ten years, Mohammad Asif for
seven years and Mohammad Aamer for five years for their role in a
spot-fixing betting scam.
(AFP, 2/5/11)
2011 Mar 21, Abdul Rahman bin
Hamad al-Attiyah, secretary general of the six-nation Gulf
Cooperation Council, underscored the commitment of Qatar and the UAR
to the international military coalition striking Libya but stressed
the mission seeks only to protect civilians.
(AP, 3/21/11)
2011 Mar 21, President Barack
Obama, seeking to shore up participation and clarify leadership of
the military attacks on Libyan forces, spoke with Turkish and Qatari
leaders.
(Reuters, 3/22/11)
2011 Mar 25, Qatar flew its
first sortie after joining the forces of 10 other nations enforcing
the no-fly zone over Libya.
(AP, 3/26/11)
2011 Apr 1, A Libyan rebel
official said a plan to sell rebel-held oil to buy weapons and other
supplies has been reached with Qatar.
(AP, 4/1/11)
2011 Apr 13, Libyan rebels
along the eastern front line pleaded again for more NATO airstrikes
and expressed hope that political developments will allow them to
advance on Moammar Gadhafi's territory. Top Western and Arab envoys
gathered in Qatar's capital to discuss ways to end the Libyan
crisis. Members of the Transitional National Council addressed the
contact group as an alternative voice for Libya's people.
(AP, 4/13/11)(AFP, 4/13/11)
2011 Apr 16, A Qatari
state-controlled gas producer said it has agreed to send Japan more
than 60 extra tanker shipments of liquefied natural gas to help
power the Asian nation in the wake of its tsunami disaster.
(AP, 4/16/11)
2011 May 9, In Libya NATO
planes pounded government weapons depots southeast of the town of
Zintan, in a sign of widening conflict in the Western Mountains
region as rebels battled to unseat Muammar Gaddafi. Rebels were
reported to have found a way to access badly needed cash, selling
oil worth $100 million paid for through a Qatari bank in US dollars.
(Reuters, 5/9/11)
2011 May 10, The Gulf
Co-operation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia,
UAE) said it welcomed Jordan’s request to join the 6-member group.
Jordan had first applied for membership in the mid-1980s. The GCC
said it would encourage Morocco to also join.
(Econ, 5/21/11,
p.54)(http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=13586238)
2011 May 12, Qatar pulled out
of an effort to mediate an end to Yemen's political crisis, blaming
the country's embattled president for the impasse and potentially
leaving his regime even more isolated among his neighbors.
(AP, 5/13/11)
2011 May 18, Missing journalist
Dorothy Parvaz, who was held by Iranian authorities after being
detained in Syria, arrived in her company's home base of Qatar after
winning her freedom.
(AP, 5/18/11)
2011 Jul 18, In Syria the
Qatari embassy in Damascus suspended operations due to recent
protests outside the embassy against Al-Jazeera's coverage of the
Syrian uprising. Al-Jazeera is based in Qatar. Security forces in
Homs killed 10 people in raids.
(AP, 7/18/11)(AP, 7/19/11)
2011 Jul 23, Asian football
supremo Mohamed bin Hammam (62) was banned from the game for life
after being found guilty of corruption following a two-day hearing
of FIFA's ethics committee. The Qatari president of the Asian
Football Confederation (AFC), had been accused of trying to buy
votes in the FIFA presidential election with $40,000 cash gifts to
Caribbean football officials.
(AFP, 7/24/11)
2011 Sep 29, Egyptian security
officials raided the Cairo office of Al Jazeera, roughing up staff
and confiscating equipment. This was the second raid this month by
authorities complaining the station is operating without permits.
(AP, 9/29/11)
2011 Nov 2, Fazle Hasan Abed,
the founder of an anti-poverty group in Bangladesh (BRAC) received
the $500,000 education prize awarded by Qatar's Sheik Hamad bin
Khalifa Al Thani.
(AP, 11/2/11)
2011 Nov 11, Qatar-based Al
Jazeera opened its 2nd foreign language station broadcasting in
Serbo-Croatian from Bosnia. English broadcasts began in 2006.
(Econ, 11/12/11, p.58)
2011 Nov 12, The Bahraini
interior ministry announced that four members of a cell planning
attacks were detained in Qatar and turned over to Manama, while a
fifth suspect was arrested in Bahrain. The Sunni-ruled Arab
monarchies of the Gulf have repeatedly accused mainly Shiite Iran of
meddling in their internal affairs.
(AFP, 11/13/11)
2011 Nov 13, In Qatar energy
ministers of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) met to prepare
for a first summit of the 12-member group which is to discuss prices
and coordination. The meeting welcomed Oman as the newest member of
the forum. Other members included Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt,
Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and
Tobago, and Venezuela. Kazakhstan, Norway and the Netherlands were
observers.
(AFP, 11/13/11)
2011 Dec 6, Taiwan's
state-owned CPC Corporation signed a 20-year contract with Qatar's
RasGas to buy 1.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year.
(AP, 12/6/11)
2011 Dec 14, An Indian
newspaper reported that plans were being finalized for a Taliban
office in the Gulf state of Qatar.
(AP, 12/15/11)
2011 The population of Qatar
numbered about 1.7 million with a GDP per person of $80,000. Fewer
than one in 7 was a native born citizen.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.55)
2012 Jan 18, Syria's
state-owned media accused Qatar of arming and financing opponents of
President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Qatar's emir, Sheikh Hamad Ben
Khalifa al-Thani, said in an interview aired at the weekend that he
backs sending Arab troops to Syria. Activists said Syrian troops
have shelled the mountain resort of Zabadani near the border with
Lebanon, and living conditions are deteriorating there after six
days of siege. By nightfall government tanks and armored vehicles
pulled back from Zabadani to two military barracks on the outskirts.
(AFP, 1/18/12)(AP, 1/18/12)(AP, 1/19/12)
2012 Feb 7, Pakistani PM Yousuf
Raza Gilani held talks with Qatar's emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa
al-Thani, on the 2nd day of an official visit expected to focus on
Afghan peace efforts.
(AFP, 2/7/12)
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