Last month was the 333rd consecutive month that global temperatures were above the 20th century average, and 2012 will almost certainly be the hottest ever recorded in the US. Hurricanes, heatwaves, wildfires and droughts blistered farmlands and ruined crops from Kansas to Assam, and Britain has had its wettest summer and driest spring to date.

Qatar Museums Authority yesterday launched Qatar UK 2013 to celebrate the long-lasting friendship between the two countries. The celebration is in partnership with the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the British Council, the British embassy in Doha and the Qatari embassy in London.

In a brief visit lasting several hours, Sheikh Hamad was inaugurating a $250 million Qatari investment project to help Gaza rebuild from the damage caused by an Israeli offensive against Hamas in December 2008 to January 2009. The project includes a new housing development that will be named in his honor in the southern city of Khan Younis.

The Qatar Foundation sponsors Barcelona football club, a reminder that in 10 years' time it will play host to the World Cup. Then there is the Doha-based al-Jazeera television, considered the most important Arab news TV channel, owned by Qatar through the Qatar Media Corporation—which last week claimed that it had evidence that the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was poisoned with polonium.

Qatar’s soft power is exercised through its satellite TV station Al-Jazeera. And while some in Washington may object to its editorial slant, there is no denying that this Qatar-owned satellite TV station is equally responsible for the blossoming of the Arab Spring by bringing uncensored news to millions within the Arab world.

Qatar’s Education City is a prime example of the flourishing partnership and dialogue between the US and the Muslim world, a senior US official has said.
Kathleen Stephens, acting under secretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs and former ambassador to South Korea, made the observation.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, was established over six decades ago to be the public diplomacy organization of the West, countering the influences and false promises of Communism.

“The US approach to issues in the Middle East has been very defined and I will say that rather than looking at the words of mouth, which do not really matter, I will suggest that people should look more at actions being taken by the US,"