Qatar's alignment with Hamas, first reported in early 2012, has drawn criticism from Israel, the United States, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, "who accuse Qatar of undermining regional stability by supporting Hamas." However, the Foreign Minister of Qatar has denied supporting Hamas, stating "We do not support Hamas but we support the Palestinians." Following a peace agreement, Qatar pledged $1 billion in humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Qatar has hosted academic, religious, political, and economic conferences. The 11th annual Doha Forum recently brought in key thinkers, professionals of various backgrounds, and political figures from all over the world to discuss democracy, media and information technology, free trade, and water security issues. In addition, the forum has featured the Middle East Economic Future conference since 2006. In more recent times, Qatar has hosted peace talks between rival factions across the globe. Notable among these include the Darfur Agreement. The Doha Declaration is the basis of the peace process in Darfur and it has achieved significant gains on the ground for the African region. Notable achievements included the restoration of security and stability, progress made in construction and reconstruction processes, return of displaced residents and uniting of Darfur people to face challenges and push forward the peace process. Qatar donated £88.5million in funds to finance recovery and reconstruction in Darfur.
The Qatar Armed Forces are the military forces of Qatar. The country maintains a modest military force of approximately 11,800 men, including an army (8,500), navy (1,800) and air force (1,500). Qatar's defence expenditures accounted for approximately 4.2% of gross national product in 1993. In 2008 Qatar spent US$2.355 billion on military expenditures, 2.3% of the gross domestic product. Qatari special forces have been trained by France and other Western countries, and are believed to possess considerable skill. They also helped the Libyan rebels during the 2011 Battle of Tripoli.
Qatar has signed defence pacts with the United States and United Kingdom, as well as with France earlier in 1994. Qatar plays an active role in the collective defence efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council; the other five members are Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE, and Oman. The presence of a large Qatari Air Base, operated by the United States and several other UN nations, provides a guaranteed source of defence and national security.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, found that in 2010–14 Qatar was the 46th largest arms importer in the world. However, SIPRI writes, Qatar's plans to transform and significantly enlarge its armed forces have accelerated. Orders in 2013 for 62 tanks and 24 self-propelled guns from Germany were followed in 2014 by a number of other contracts, including 24 combat helicopters and 3 AEW aircraft from the USA, and 2 tanker aircraft from Spain.
Qatar's military participated in Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Shia Houthis. In 2015, "Al Jazeera America" reported: "Numerous reports suggest that the Saudi-led coalition against opposition groups in Yemen has indiscriminately attacked civilians and used cluster bombs in civilian-populated areas, in violation of international law."
Since 2004, Qatar has been divided into seven municipalities (Arabic: baladiyah).
For statistical purposes, the municipalities are further subdivided into 98 zones (), which are in turn subdivided into blocks.
Qatar is a peninsula (a strip of land sticking out into the sea). It is joined to Saudi Arabia to the south, and all the other sides of it are surrounded by the waters of the Arabian Gulf.
Qatar is quite a small country and has an area of only 10,360 km². The peninsula is 160 km long. Much of the country is a low, barren plain, covered with sand. The Jebel Dukhan area has Qatar’s main onshore oil deposits. The natural gas fields lie offshore, to the northwest of the peninsula.
The capital of Qatar is Doha. Over 90% of the people live in Doha. The other large city is Al Wakrah.
Qatar has an unelected, monarchic, emirate-type government. The position of emir is hereditary.
The Emir is the only one who can appoint and remove the prime minister and cabinet ministers. Together the ministers make up the Council of Ministers. They are the highest executive authority in the country.
People from Qatar are called Qataris. They are Arabs. The official language of Qatar is Arabic, but many people also speak English, especially when they are doing business.
About 2.6 million people live in Qatar; however, about 88% of these are "guest workers" (people from another country who are living and working there for a short time), mostly coming from South Asia, South East Asia and other Arab countries. 650,000 are Indians, 350,000 Nepalis, 260,000 Filipinos among a lot of other nationalities.
Nearly all of Qatar's economy comes from producing petroleum and natural gas.
The currency of Qatar is called the Qatari Riyal.
Almost all Qataris follow the religion of Islam. However, many of the guest workers follow other religions.
Football is the most popular sport in Qatar, closely followed by cricket. The Qatar under-20 national football team finished second in the 1981 FIFA World Youth Championship.
The Asian Football Confederation's 2011 AFC Asian Cup finals were held in Qatar in January 2011. It was the second time it has been hosted by Qatar, the other being the 1988 AFC Asian Cup.
Doha, Qatar, is also home to Qatar Racing Club a Drag Racing facility.
Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar, hosted the WTA Tour Championships in women's tennis between 2008 and 2010. Doha holds the WTA Premier tournament Qatar Ladies Open each year.
On December 2, 2010, Qatar won their bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar won the 2011 Dakar Rally and the Production World Rally Championship in 2006. In addition, he has also won gold medals at the 2002 Asian Games and 2010 Asian Games as part of the Qatari skeet shooting team.
Since 2002, Qatar has hosted the yearly Tour of Qatar, a cycling race in six stages. Every February, riders are racing on the roads across Qatar's flat land for six days. Each stage covers a distance of more than 100 km.
Salt water
Saline water (also called salt water, salt-water or saltwater) is water with a high amount of salt in it. It often means the water from the seas (sea water) and oceans. Almost all the water on Earth is saline.
Salt water used for making or preserving food, is usually saltier than sea water and is called brine. Drinking sea water alone is dangerous. A summary of 163 life raft voyages showed the risk of death at 39% for those who drank seawater, compared to 3% for those who did not. Experiments on rats showed the danger.
When scientists measure salt in water, they usually say they are testing the salinity of the water: salinity is measured in "parts per thousand" or "ppt". Most sea water is about 35 ppt salt. Salt lakes can be up to ten times as salty. Above that level precipitation creates a salt plain.
Brackish water, in contrast, is less salty than seawater.
Salt water is more dense than fresh water. This means that it has more matter per its volume. Fresh water has a density of 1 g/ml, while salty seawater has an average density of about 1.025 g/ml.
Oceanography
Oceanography (also called oceanology or marine science) is the study of the ocean, its properties and its characteristics. This can include, and is not limited to, studying the marine life, the geography of the ocean floor, and the water itself. Many sciences are useful in oceanography, so it is a multidisciplinary field. Oceanographers spend much time on boats.
The study of oceanography may be divide branches:
Diamanto Manolakou