Saudi Arabia to lift Qatar blockade, open borders — Kuwait minister

FIFA held an official ceremony on Sunday (November 21) to mark one year to go until the opening match of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with the tournament, played for the first time in a northern hemisphere winter, rapidly taking shape. The opening match will take place on Nov. 21 in the 60,000 capacity Al Bayt Stadium. Kickoff will no doubt come as some relief to organizers as the football takes centre stage, shifting the limelight away from the numerous off-pitch issues, such as labour rights for migrant workers, that have surrounded the event.

Architects from Spain have completed a novel design for the upcoming FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Named the 974 Stadium, the 40,000-seater facility it's designed to be relatively easy to disassemble and rebuild, and was constructed using almost 1,000 shipping containers.⁣

A Yemeni Houthi rebel attack on the Saudi Arabian town of Jizan resulted in two casualties and seven injured. Among the dead from the Houthi-fired projectile are a Saudi and a Yemeni national.

"King, the terrorist is the one who has exported ... Daeshi ideology to the world, and it is you," Nasrallah said in a speech, using an acronym for Islamic State, the hardline Islamist group that declared a caliphate straddling parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014. His comments were criticised by Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati who said the criticism of Saudi Arabia did not serve the national interest or represent the country's official stance. Saudi Arabia and a number of other Gulf Arab states withdrew ambassadors and expelled Lebanese envoys in October and November over what the kingdom later said was arch-foe Hezbollah's dominance of the Lebanese state.

A new women's football league is all set to launch on Monday (November 22) across Saudi Arabia. Sixteen teams will take part in the league.

Amnesty International on Monday called on football's global governing body FIFA to put more pressure on 2022 World Cup hosts Qatar to improve conditions for workers in the Gulf country. But the rights group said Qatar was at risk of slipping backwards.

A judge in Canada has ordered protesters to stop blocking a bridge between Canada and the US city of Detroit. The dayslong demonstration has snarled trade and sparked worries from Washington.

Saudi Arabia steps up its green ambitions by planting thousands of trees in the world's largest saxaul botanical garden, winning itself a Guinness record.

The coalition fighting in Yemen said Houthi hit several economic facilities in Saudi Arabia. This comes days after the rebels rejected a GCC invitation for talks on the conflict.

Germany has vowed to wean itself off Russian gas imports in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine. Economy Minister Robert Habeck is visiting Qatar, one of the world's largest exporters of liquified natural gas (LNG).

A recent high-profile strike on an oil depot in Jeddah by Houthi rebels has underlined Saudi Arabia's military defense vulnerability — and threatens its reputation as a global investment location.

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