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Qatar

January 3, 2026

Doha 4:45 am

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Yasir Al-Rumayyan, head of the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia's influential sovereign wealth fund, addresses the opening ceremony of the Future Investment Initiative, in Riyadh, on Oct. 28, 2025.

Gulf accounted for 43% of global sovereign wealth fund investment in 2025

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund was the world's highest spending sovereign wealth fund in 2025, investing some $36.2 billion.

Guests stand at the booth of Saudi AI company Humain during the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh on Oct. 29, 2025.

Analysis

Middle East adapts to Trump’s tech agenda as Gulf AI gamble grows in 2025

This year saw a wave of dealmaking across data centers, chips, critical minerals and AI collaboration as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE eagerly aligned with President Trump’s tech agenda amid sharp swings in US foreign policy.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Traffic moves on Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai on March 24, 2025.

Analysis

Gulf finance hubs race to expand as hedge funds flock to Dubai, Abu Dhabi

The Gulf’s top financial hubs have posted another strong year in 2025, with the UAE spearheading a regional push to attract hedge funds, asset managers, crypto and fintech firms as regional neighbors target growth of their own.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Latest News

Analysis

Trump has upper hand over Netanyahu, but is it enough for Gaza?

US President Donald Trump speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, in Jerusalem on Oct. 13, 2025.

Rina Bassist

By Rina Bassist

In Paris, reporting on Israeli politics and European affairs

Qatar’s prime minister meets US officials as Gaza plan stalls

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (R) shakes hands with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani at the State Department in Washington, on Dec. 17, 2025.

Egypt secures Qatari investment boost, launches first SCZONE industrial deal

Egypt’s Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El Khatib speaking at the Egyptian-Qatari Investment Forum in Cairo, Egypt on Dec. 14, 2025 (State Information Service)

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

Jennifer Gnana

Gulf Correspondent

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

Vanessa Ghanem

In Dubai, reporting on business, energy and politics

Kate Dourian

In Dubai, reporting on energy

Karen Young

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional energy

Intel: Pompeo thanks Qatar for facilitating Afghanistan peace talks

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thanked Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani for agreeing to host peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

Saudi Arabia permanently cancels license of Qatar's beIN Sports

The popular Doha-based sports network had been officially blocked in Saudi Arabia since the 2017 diplomatic row between the two Gulf countries.

This picture taken on September 27, 2019 shows an Airbus A350 of Qatar Airways company after taking off from the Toulouse-Blagnac airport, near Toulouse. (Photo by PASCAL PAVANI / AFP) (Photo by PASCAL PAVANI/AFP via Getty Images)

UN high court sides with Qatar in aviation dispute

The aviation row centers on a years-long air boycott imposed by Qatar's regional rivals.

Men, wearing protective masks, walk on a plastic pier at Katara beach in the Qatari capital Doha on July 1, 2020 as the country moves into the second phase of its four-step plan to lift COVID-19 lockdown. - People in Qatar cautiously returned to beaches as the Gulf nation, which has one of the world's highest total per capita coronavirus infection rates, continued to reopen society.
Sun-lovers and jetski enthusiasts braved temperatures of 39 degrees celsius (102 Fahrenheit) at Doha's Katara Cultural Village

Qatar coronavirus cases top 100,000 as restrictions ease

The Gulf state announced 546 new cases and five more deaths from the virus on Monday.

TOPSHOT - A trader walks by beneath a stock display board at the Dubai Stock Exchange in the United Arab Emirates, on March 8, 2020. - Saudi's stock exchange fell 6.5 percent and other Gulf markets tumbled to multi-year lows at the start of trading after OPEC and its allies failed to clinch a deal over oil production cuts. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP) (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP via Getty Images)

IMF official: Gulf economies to contract by 7.6% in 2020

The International Monetary Fund official's predictions are worse than earlier ones as the Gulf deals with oil price drops and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Israel OK's transfer of Qatari financial aid to Gaza

Israel approved the transfer of $50 million to the Gaza Strip, apparently in exchange for Hamas keeping calm and refraining from resuming incendiary balloon terrorism.

An ATM is seen outside the building of Qatar National Bank in Doha, Qatar January 16, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer - RC15CADB0E00

Qatar National Bank hit with lawsuit over Americans killed by Hamas in Israel

A wrongful death lawsuit was filed in New York by dozens of relatives of 10 Americans killed or wounded by Hamas attacks in Israel and the West Bank.

Workers are seen at the Al Janoub Stadium built for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer championship during a stadium tour in Al Wakrah, Qatar, December 16, 2019. REUTERS/Corinna Kern - RC2EWD9VPND9

COVID-19 crisis returns spotlight to Gulf migrant communities

Contract migration schemes make citizenship acquisition nearly impossible for migrant workers in the Gulf, and recent economic and health crises make any imminent changes further unlikely.

A man looks as the world's biggest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tanker DUHAIL as she crosses through the Suez Canal April 1, 2008. The Qatari tanker, which was built to transfer LNG from Qatar to Europe and the U.S., is on her first trip ever from Qatar to Spain. REUTERS/Stringer (EGYPT) - GM1E44200C701

Qatar makes massive LNG ship order

The purchase by Qatar Petroleum from three South Korean companies comes as oil prices continue to rise from the lows earlier in the year.

A merchant counts Turkish lira banknotes at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey, March 29, 2019. REUTERS/Murad Sezer - RC1DD8429180

Qatar triples swap line with Turkey

Qatar has offered support to Turkey’s central bank, expanding a currency-swap agreement to $15 billion as Ankara seeks to mitigate economic shocks from the coronavirus pandemic.

Residents hang their laundry off the railing on their balconies at their apartment building, to disinfect them under sunlight, in the city of Dubai on May 17, 2020, during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Karim SAHIB / AFP) (Photo by KARIM SAHIB/AFP via Getty Images)

Gulf countries increase virus-related restrictions after new cases

The United Arab Emirates and Qatar registered more than 2,000 coronavirus cases between the two of them on Monday alone.

An Airbus A350-1000 aircraft of Qatar Airways is pictured after a delivery ceremony at the French headquarters of aircraft company Airbus in Colomiers near Toulouse, France, February 20, 2018. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau - RC1B38E43750

Qatar Airways mandates full-body protective gear for flight attendants

Passengers will also be required to wear masks per the Gulf carrier's new onboard safety measures as it looks to expand flights amid the crisis.