133-724: The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( Arabic : مجلس التعاون لدول الخلیج العربية ), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council ( GCC ; Arabic: مجلس التعاون الخليجي ), is a regional , intergovernmental , political, and economic union comprising Bahrain , Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , and the United Arab Emirates . The council's main headquarters is located in Riyadh ,
266-575: A collection of related dialects that constitute the precursor of Arabic, first emerged during the Iron Age . Previously, the earliest attestation of Old Arabic was thought to be a single 1st century CE inscription in Sabaic script at Qaryat al-Faw , in southern present-day Saudi Arabia. However, this inscription does not participate in several of the key innovations of the Arabic language group, such as
399-435: A corpus of poetic texts, in addition to Qur'an usage and Bedouin informants whom he considered to be reliable speakers of the ʿarabiyya . Arabic spread with the spread of Islam . Following the early Muslim conquests , Arabic gained vocabulary from Middle Persian and Turkish . In the early Abbasid period , many Classical Greek terms entered Arabic through translations carried out at Baghdad's House of Wisdom . By
532-1081: A dialect of Arabic and written in the Latin alphabet . The Balkan languages, including Albanian, Greek , Serbo-Croatian, and Bulgarian , have also acquired many words of Arabic origin, mainly through direct contact with Ottoman Turkish . Arabic has influenced languages across the globe throughout its history, especially languages where Islam is the predominant religion and in countries that were conquered by Muslims. The most markedly influenced languages are Persian , Turkish , Hindustani ( Hindi and Urdu ), Kashmiri , Kurdish , Bosnian , Kazakh , Bengali , Malay ( Indonesian and Malaysian ), Maldivian , Pashto , Punjabi , Albanian , Armenian , Azerbaijani , Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog , Sindhi , Odia , Hebrew and African languages such as Hausa , Amharic , Tigrinya , Somali , Tamazight , and Swahili . Conversely, Arabic has borrowed some words (mostly nouns) from other languages, including its sister-language Aramaic, Persian, Greek, and Latin and to
665-487: A lesser extent and more recently from Turkish, English, French, and Italian. Arabic is spoken by as many as 380 million speakers, both native and non-native, in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the fourth most used language on the internet in terms of users. It also serves as the liturgical language of more than 2 billion Muslims . In 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked Arabic
798-572: A men's World Cup. Frappart previously oversaw the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final . They were joined by three female assistant referees, Neuza Back, Kathryn Nesbitt, and Karen Díaz Medina. Frappart then officially became the first-ever female referee to officiate a World Cup match when she worked the Costa Rica vs Germany match in Group E on 1 December. Gambian referee Bakary Gassama and Argentine assistant referee Juan Pablo Belatti were among
931-690: A millennium before the modern period . Early lexicographers ( لُغَوِيُّون lughawiyyūn ) sought to explain words in the Quran that were unfamiliar or had a particular contextual meaning, and to identify words of non-Arabic origin that appear in the Quran. They gathered shawāhid ( شَوَاهِد 'instances of attested usage') from poetry and the speech of the Arabs—particularly the Bedouin ʾaʿrāb [ ar ] ( أَعْراب ) who were perceived to speak
1064-489: A nominal medium of exchange. Plans to introduce a single currency had been drawn up as far back as 2009, however due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008 and political differences, the UAE and Oman withdrew their membership. Companies and investors from GCC countries are active in mergers and acquisitions . Since 1999, more than 5,200 transactions with a known value of US$ 573 billion had been announced. Investors include
1197-456: A number of sovereign wealth funds . The GCC launched common economic projects to promote and facilitate integration and to increase resilency. The GCC Interconnection Grid connects the power grids of member states. In 2009, it initiated operations and by 2013, all six members were connected. A water interconnection project has been discussed but, as of January 2023, there have been no notable developments. Unlike other leading aviation regions like
1330-667: A record for the highest number of goals scored in the 32-team format, with every participating team scoring at least one goal. The choice to host the World Cup in Qatar attracted significant criticism , with concerns raised over the country's treatment of migrant workers , women , and members of the LGBT community , as well as Qatar's climate, lack of a strong football culture , scheduling changes, and allegations of bribery for hosting rights and wider FIFA corruption . The FIFA World Cup
1463-594: A result, many European languages have borrowed words from it. Arabic influence, mainly in vocabulary, is seen in European languages (mainly Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese , Catalan , and Sicilian ) owing to the proximity of Europe and the long-lasting Arabic cultural and linguistic presence, mainly in Southern Iberia, during the Al-Andalus era. Maltese is a Semitic language developed from
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#17327655352721596-462: A script derived from ASA attest to a language known as Hasaitic . On the northwestern frontier of Arabia, various languages known to scholars as Thamudic B , Thamudic D, Safaitic , and Hismaic are attested. The last two share important isoglosses with later forms of Arabic, leading scholars to theorize that Safaitic and Hismaic are early forms of Arabic and that they should be considered Old Arabic . Linguists generally believe that "Old Arabic",
1729-614: A second successive World Cup for the first time in their history, losing in the qualification play-off semi-finals . The Italians were the only former champions and the highest ranked team in the FIFA Men's World Rankings that failed to qualify. Italy were also the fourth team to have failed to qualify for the upcoming World Cup after having won the previous UEFA European Championship , following Czechoslovakia in 1978 , Denmark in 1994 , and Greece in 2006 . The previous World Cup hosts, Russia , were disqualified from competing due to
1862-513: A single currency. Kuwait's finance minister stated that a currency should be implemented without delay. Negotiations with the UAE and Oman to expand the monetary union were renewed. The GCC Patent Office was approved in 1992, and established soon after in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Applications are filed and prosecuted in the Arabic language before it and grants patents valid in all GCC member states, but
1995-470: A single language, despite mutual incomprehensibility among differing spoken versions. From a linguistic standpoint, it is often said that the various spoken varieties of Arabic differ among each other collectively about as much as the Romance languages . This is an apt comparison in a number of ways. The period of divergence from a single spoken form is similar—perhaps 1500 years for Arabic, 2000 years for
2128-579: A team's quota of regular substitutions. Iranian goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand suffered a concussion in his country's opening match against England and was replaced by Hossein Hosseini . This was the first use of a dedicated concussion substitute during a World Cup. The bidding procedure to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups began in January 2009. National associations had until 2 February 2009 to register interest. Initially, 11 bids were made for
2261-411: A timetable and action plan for establishing a central bank and chose a currency regime , met for the first time on 30 March 2010. Kuwaiti foreign minister Mohammad Sabah Al-Sabah said on 8 December 2009 that a single currency may take up to ten years to establish. Oman and the UAE later announced their withdrawal from the proposed currency. In 2014, major moves were taken to ensure the launch of
2394-507: A type of Arabic. Cypriot Arabic is recognized as a minority language in Cyprus. The sociolinguistic situation of Arabic in modern times provides a prime example of the linguistic phenomenon of diglossia , which is the normal use of two separate varieties of the same language, usually in different social situations. Tawleed is the process of giving a new shade of meaning to an old classical word. For example, al-hatif lexicographically means
2527-507: A variety of regional vernacular Arabic dialects , which are not necessarily mutually intelligible. Classical Arabic is the language found in the Quran , used from the period of Pre-Islamic Arabia to that of the Abbasid Caliphate . Classical Arabic is prescriptive, according to the syntactic and grammatical norms laid down by classical grammarians (such as Sibawayh ) and the vocabulary defined in classical dictionaries (such as
2660-476: A wider audience." In the wake of the industrial revolution and European hegemony and colonialism , pioneering Arabic presses, such as the Amiri Press established by Muhammad Ali (1819), dramatically changed the diffusion and consumption of Arabic literature and publications. Rifa'a al-Tahtawi proposed the establishment of Madrasat al-Alsun in 1836 and led a translation campaign that highlighted
2793-737: Is a Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world . The ISO assigns language codes to 32 varieties of Arabic , including its standard form of Literary Arabic, known as Modern Standard Arabic , which is derived from Classical Arabic . This distinction exists primarily among Western linguists; Arabic speakers themselves generally do not distinguish between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic, but rather refer to both as al-ʿarabiyyatu l-fuṣḥā ( اَلعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ "the eloquent Arabic") or simply al-fuṣḥā ( اَلْفُصْحَىٰ ). Arabic
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#17327655352722926-590: Is a minimum level of comprehension between all Arabic dialects, this level can increase or decrease based on geographic proximity: for example, Levantine and Gulf speakers understand each other much better than they do speakers from the Maghreb. The issue of diglossia between spoken and written language is a complicating factor: A single written form, differing sharply from any of the spoken varieties learned natively, unites several sometimes divergent spoken forms. For political reasons, Arabs mostly assert that they all speak
3059-468: Is a professional football tournament held between national football teams, organised by FIFA . The tournament, held every four years, was first played in 1930 in Uruguay, and has been contested by 32 teams since the 1998 event . The tournament was contested with eight round-robin groups followed by a knockout round for 16 teams. The defending champions were France , who defeated Croatia 4–2 in
3192-569: Is a separate office from the Saudi Arabian Patent Office. The first GCC patent was granted in 2002. As of 2013, it employed about 30 patent examiners . Amidst the Bahraini uprising , Saudi Arabia and the UAE sent ground troops to Bahrain in order to protect vital infrastructure such as the airport and highway system. Kuwait and Oman refrained from sending troops. Instead, Kuwait sent a navy unit. The secretary-general of
3325-559: Is a sister language rather than their direct ancestor. Arabia had a wide variety of Semitic languages in antiquity. The term "Arab" was initially used to describe those living in the Arabian Peninsula , as perceived by geographers from ancient Greece . In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside the Ancient South Arabian family (e.g. Southern Thamudic) were spoken. It
3458-497: Is an emerging hotspot for events, including the 2006 Asian Games in Doha , Qatar . Doha also submitted an unsuccessful application for the 2016 Summer Olympics . Qatar would later host the 2022 FIFA World Cup . Recovery plans have been criticized for crowding out the private sector, failing to set clear priorities for growth, failing to restore weak consumer and investor confidence, and undermining long-term stability. The logo of
3591-478: Is believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages (non-Central Semitic languages) were spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hejaz , Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages. In Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested. In eastern Arabia, inscriptions in
3724-457: Is composed of the heads of state of the member states. It is the highest decision-making entity of the GCC, setting its vision and goals. Decisions on important issues require unanimous approval, while issues on procedural matters require a majority. Each member state has one vote. The presidency rotates based on the Arabic alphabetical order of the names of the member states. The Ministerial Council
3857-557: Is composed of the Foreign Ministers of all the member states. It convenes every three months. It formulates policies, and makes recommendations to promote cooperation and achieve coordination among the member states, when implementing ongoing projects. Decisions are submitted in the form of recommendations, which the Supreme Council can approve. The Ministerial Council is also responsible for preparations of meetings of
3990-408: Is credited with establishing the rules of Arabic prosody . Al-Jahiz (776–868) proposed to Al-Akhfash al-Akbar an overhaul of the grammar of Arabic, but it would not come to pass for two centuries. The standardization of Arabic reached completion around the end of the 8th century. The first comprehensive description of the ʿarabiyya "Arabic", Sībawayhi's al - Kitāb , is based first of all upon
4123-472: Is credited with standardizing Arabic grammar , or an-naḥw ( النَّحو "the way" ), and pioneering a system of diacritics to differentiate consonants ( نقط الإعجام nuqaṭu‿l-i'jām "pointing for non-Arabs") and indicate vocalization ( التشكيل at-tashkīl ). Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (718–786) compiled the first Arabic dictionary, Kitāb al-'Ayn ( كتاب العين "The Book of the Letter ع "), and
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4256-470: Is currently in progress. The interoperability of professional qualifications, insurance certificates and identity documents is also underway. In 2014, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia took major steps to ensure the creation of a single currency. Kuwait's finance minister said the four members are pushing ahead with the monetary union but said some "technical points" need to be cleared. He added, "A common market and common central bank would also position
4389-574: Is not present in the spoken varieties, but deletes Classical words that sound obsolete in MSA. In addition, MSA has borrowed or coined many terms for concepts that did not exist in Quranic times, and MSA continues to evolve. Some words have been borrowed from other languages—notice that transliteration mainly indicates spelling and not real pronunciation (e.g., فِلْم film 'film' or ديمقراطية dīmuqrāṭiyyah 'democracy'). The current preference
4522-855: Is official in Mali and recognized as a minority language in Morocco, while the Senegalese government adopted the Latin script to write it. Maltese is official in (predominantly Catholic ) Malta and written with the Latin script . Linguists agree that it is a variety of spoken Arabic, descended from Siculo-Arabic , though it has experienced extensive changes as a result of sustained and intensive contact with Italo-Romance varieties, and more recently also with English. Due to "a mix of social, cultural, historical, political, and indeed linguistic factors", many Maltese people today consider their language Semitic but not
4655-572: Is the third most widespread official language after English and French, one of six official languages of the United Nations , and the liturgical language of Islam . Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities around the world and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, governments and the media. During the Middle Ages , Arabic was a major vehicle of culture and learning, especially in science, mathematics and philosophy. As
4788-590: Is the variety used in most current, printed Arabic publications, spoken by some of the Arabic media across North Africa and the Middle East, and understood by most educated Arabic speakers. "Literary Arabic" and "Standard Arabic" ( فُصْحَى fuṣḥá ) are less strictly defined terms that may refer to Modern Standard Arabic or Classical Arabic. Some of the differences between Classical Arabic (CA) and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) are as follows: MSA uses much Classical vocabulary (e.g., dhahaba 'to go') that
4921-413: Is to avoid direct borrowings, preferring to either use loan translations (e.g., فرع farʻ 'branch', also used for the branch of a company or organization; جناح janāḥ 'wing', is also used for the wing of an airplane, building, air force, etc.), or to coin new words using forms within existing roots ( استماتة istimātah ' apoptosis ', using the root موت m/w/t 'death' put into
5054-524: Is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the industrial and post-industrial era , especially in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, which is construed as a multitude of dialects of this language. These dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are usually acquired in families, while
5187-445: The Lisān al-ʻArab ). Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) largely follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic and uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties and has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties. Much of the new vocabulary
5320-548: The 2018 FIFA World Cup , but Mexico withdrew from proceedings, and Indonesia's bid was rejected by FIFA in February 2010 after the Indonesian Football Association failed to submit a letter of Indonesian government guarantee to support the bid. After UEFA were guaranteed to host the 2018 event, members of UEFA were no longer in contention to host in 2022. There were five bids remaining for
5453-569: The 2018 FIFA World Cup Final . The event was scheduled to take place under a reduced length, from 20 November to 18 December in Qatar. Being held in Qatar, it was the first World Cup tournament to be held in the Arab world . Spectators were not required to follow most COVID-19 restrictions such as social distancing, wearing masks, and negative tests. Unlike previous FIFA World Cups, which are typically played in June and July, because of Qatar's intense summer heat and often fairly high humidity ,
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5586-499: The 2023 AFC Asian Cup . Since Qatar reached the final stage as winners in their group, Lebanon , the fifth-best second place team, advanced instead. France , the reigning World Cup champions , qualified for the event through European qualification. Saint Lucia initially entered CONCACAF qualification but withdrew from it before their first match. North Korea withdrew from the AFC qualifying round due to safety concerns related to
5719-510: The COVID-19 pandemic . Both American Samoa and Samoa withdrew before the OFC qualification draw due to travel restrictions following the pandemic. Tonga withdrew after the 2022 Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha'apai eruption and tsunami . Due to COVID-19 outbreaks in their squads, Vanuatu and Cook Islands also withdrew because of the travel restrictions . Of the 32 nations qualified to play at
5852-552: The European Union , members have not agreed to an open skies policy. As such, GCC airlines do not have unlimited market access rights to member states and compete to capture international air traffic flows. The GCC has also launched major rail projects to connect the peninsula. The railways are expected to fuel intra-regional trade while helping reduce fuel consumption. Over US$ 200 billion will be invested to develop about 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) of rail network across
5985-542: The Russian invasion of Ukraine . Chile , the 2015 and 2016 Copa América winners, failed to qualify for the second consecutive time. Nigeria were defeated by Ghana on away goals in Confederation of African Football (CAF) final playoff round, having qualified for the previous three World Cups and six out of the last seven. Egypt , Panama , Colombia , Peru , Iceland , and Sweden , all of whom qualified for
6118-559: The UAE , they announced their withdrawal from the monetary union project in May ;2009. The name Khaleeji has been proposed as a name for this currency. If realized, the GCC monetary union would be the second-largest supranational monetary union in the world, measured by the GDP of the common-currency area. Other stated objectives include: The area has some of the fastest-growing economies in
6251-568: The Xth form , or جامعة jāmiʻah 'university', based on جمع jamaʻa 'to gather, unite'; جمهورية jumhūriyyah 'republic', based on جمهور jumhūr 'multitude'). An earlier tendency was to redefine an older word although this has fallen into disuse (e.g., هاتف hātif 'telephone' < 'invisible caller (in Sufism)'; جريدة jarīdah 'newspaper' < 'palm-leaf stalk'). Colloquial or dialectal Arabic refers to
6384-532: The capstone of his career, with the win fulfilling for some commentators a previously unmet criterion to be regarded as the greatest player of all time. Teammates Emiliano Martínez and Enzo Fernández won the Golden Glove , awarded to the tournament's best goalkeeper ; and the Young Player Award , awarded to the tournament's best young player, respectively. With 172 goals, the tournament set
6517-494: The northern Hejaz . These features are evidence of common descent from a hypothetical ancestor , Proto-Arabic . The following features of Proto-Arabic can be reconstructed with confidence: On the other hand, several Arabic varieties are closer to other Semitic languages and maintain features not found in Classical Arabic, indicating that these varieties cannot have developed from Classical Arabic. Thus, Arabic vernaculars do not descend from Classical Arabic: Classical Arabic
6650-419: The "learned" tradition (Classical Arabic). This variety and both its classicizing and "lay" iterations have been termed Middle Arabic in the past, but they are thought to continue an Old Higazi register. It is clear that the orthography of the Quran was not developed for the standardized form of Classical Arabic; rather, it shows the attempt on the part of writers to record an archaic form of Old Higazi. In
6783-739: The "purest," most eloquent form of Arabic—initiating a process of jamʿu‿l-luɣah ( جمع اللغة 'compiling the language') which took place over the 8th and early 9th centuries. Kitāb al-'Ayn ( c. 8th century ), attributed to Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi , is considered the first lexicon to include all Arabic roots ; it sought to exhaust all possible root permutations —later called taqālīb ( تقاليب ) — calling those that are actually used mustaʿmal ( مستعمَل ) and those that are not used muhmal ( مُهمَل ). Lisān al-ʿArab (1290) by Ibn Manzur gives 9,273 roots, while Tāj al-ʿArūs (1774) by Murtada az-Zabidi gives 11,978 roots. 2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup
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#17327655352726916-454: The 11th and 12th centuries in al-Andalus , the zajal and muwashah poetry forms developed in the dialectical Arabic of Cordoba and the Maghreb. The Nahda was a cultural and especially literary renaissance of the 19th century in which writers sought "to fuse Arabic and European forms of expression." According to James L. Gelvin , " Nahda writers attempted to simplify the Arabic language and script so that it might be accessible to
7049-454: The 2014 Saudi–Qatari rift as a tangible political sign of a growing economic rivalry between oil and natural gas producers, which could "have deep and long-lasting consequences" beyond MENA. On 5 June 2017, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt had officially cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. Saudi Arabia said it took the decision to cut diplomatic ties due to Qatar's "embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilising
7182-428: The 2018 World Cup, did not qualify for the 2022 tournament. Ghana were the lowest ranked team to qualify, ranked 61st. The qualified teams, listed by region, with numbers in parentheses indicating final positions in the FIFA Men's World Ranking before the tournament were: AFC (6) CAF (5) CONCACAF (4) CONMEBOL (4) OFC (0) UEFA (13) Before submitting their final squad for
7315-801: The 2022 FIFA World Cup, 24 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2018. Qatar were the only team making their debut in the FIFA World Cup, becoming the first hosts to make their tournament debut since Italy in 1934 . The Netherlands , Ecuador , Ghana , Cameroon , and the United States returned to the tournament after missing the 2018 tournament. Canada returned after 36 years, their only prior appearance being in 1986 . Wales made their first appearance in 64 years—the longest-ever gap for any team, their only previous participation having been in 1958 . Italy , four-time winners and reigning European champions , failed to qualify for
7448-534: The 2022 FIFA World Cup: Australia, Japan, Qatar, South Korea, and the United States. The 22-member FIFA Executive Committee convened in Zürich , Switzerland, on 2 December 2010 to vote to select the hosts of both tournaments. Two FIFA executive committee members were suspended before the vote in relation to allegations of corruption regarding their votes. The decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which
7581-540: The 2022 World Cup was played in November and December. As a result, the World Cup was unusually staged in the middle of the seasons of many domestic association football leagues, which started in late July or August, including all of the major European leagues, which had been obliged to incorporate extended breaks into their domestic schedules to accommodate the World Cup. Major European competitions had scheduled their respective competitions group matches to be played before
7714-472: The 32 national squads to stay and train before and during the World Cup tournament. In July 2022, FIFA announced the hotels and training sites for each participating team. This World Cup was the most compact since the inaugural edition in 1930 , with 24 of the 32 teams being within a 10 km radius of each other, and are concentrated within the Doha area. It was the first Cup since 1930 in which players did not need to take flights to matches and could remain at
7847-571: The 4th to the 6th centuries, the Nabataean script evolved into the Arabic script recognizable from the early Islamic era. There are inscriptions in an undotted, 17-letter Arabic script dating to the 6th century CE, found at four locations in Syria ( Zabad , Jebel Usays , Harran , Umm el-Jimal ). The oldest surviving papyrus in Arabic dates to 643 CE, and it uses dots to produce the modern 28-letter Arabic alphabet. The language of that papyrus and of
7980-834: The 8th century, knowledge of Classical Arabic had become an essential prerequisite for rising into the higher classes throughout the Islamic world, both for Muslims and non-Muslims. For example, Maimonides , the Andalusi Jewish philosopher, authored works in Judeo-Arabic —Arabic written in Hebrew script . Ibn Jinni of Mosul , a pioneer in phonology , wrote prolifically in the 10th century on Arabic morphology and phonology in works such as Kitāb Al-Munṣif , Kitāb Al-Muḥtasab , and Kitāb Al-Khaṣāʾiṣ [ ar ] . Ibn Mada' of Cordoba (1116–1196) realized
8113-991: The EU to take advantage of the first summit with Gulf leaders, and challenge the involvement of the UAE and other neighbouring states in the Sudan civil war . The EU director for HRW, Phillippe Dam said the union leaders should “publicly press” the UAE to stop arms supply to the RSF and push the militia to end the war. Since the creation of the council in 1981 its membership has not expanded, with all members being Arab monarchies. Some GCC countries have land borders with Iraq, Jordan or Yemen, and sea borders with Iran, Egypt , Sudan , Eritrea or Somalia . Arabic language Arabic (endonym: اَلْعَرَبِيَّةُ , romanized : al-ʿarabiyyah , pronounced [al ʕaraˈbijːa] , or عَرَبِيّ , ʿarabīy , pronounced [ˈʕarabiː] or [ʕaraˈbij] )
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#17327655352728246-625: The GCC as one entity that would have great influence on the international financial system". The implementation of a single currency and the creation of a central bank is overseen by the Monetary Council. There is currently a degree to which a nominal GCC single currency already exists. Businesses trade using a basket of GCC currencies, just as before the Euro was introduced, the European Currency Unit (ECU) had been used as
8379-477: The GCC consists of two concentric circles. On the upper part of the larger circle, the phrase Bismillah - "in the name of God" - is written in Arabic , and on the lower part of the circle is written the council's full name. The inner-circle contains an embossed hexagonal shape representing the six countries. The inside of the hexagon shows a map encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, on which the areas of
8512-894: The GCC strongly endorsed the use of international force in Libya . GCC member states joined coalition efforts to enforce the no-fly zone. In September 2014, GCC members Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Qatar, and pending member Jordan commenced air operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. Saudi Arabia and the UAE, however, are among the states that oppose the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, whereas Qatar has historically supported it. They also pledged other support including operating training facilities for Syrian rebels, in Saudi Arabia, and allowing
8645-422: The GCC, according to Oman's Minister of Transport and Communications. According to Ramiz Al Assar, Resident World Bank advisor for the GCC, it will link the six member states as a regional transport corridor, further integrating with the national railway projects, deepening economic social and political integration, and it is developed from a sustainable perspective. The project, estimated to be worth $ 15.5 billion,
8778-703: The Joint Action Plan for Strategic Dialogue (2022-26). In September 2023, the GCC and Pakistan signed a preliminary deal on a free trade agreement. On 16 October 2024, the first GCC and the European Union summit was held in Brussels, Belgium. It was co-chaired by Charles Michel and the rotating GCC President Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani , under the theme “Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity”. The Human Rights Watch requested
8911-412: The Middle East and North Africa have become a badge of sophistication and modernity and ... feigning, or asserting, weakness or lack of facility in Arabic is sometimes paraded as a sign of status, class, and perversely, even education through a mélange of code-switching practises." Arabic has been taught worldwide in many elementary and secondary schools, especially Muslim schools. Universities around
9044-407: The Muslim Brotherhood across the Middle East-North Africa ( MENA ) region, Hamas and radical Islamists in Libya, has led to increasing tensions with other Arab states of the Persian Gulf . These tensions came to a head during a March 2014 meeting of the GCC, after which the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain recalled their ambassadors to Qatar. Some financial economists have interpreted
9177-399: The Qatar–Saudi land border. Later that evening, it was announced that Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt agreed to restore ties with Qatar. On 4 January 2021, it was made official at the Al-Ula summit , where the blockading countries, along with Qatar, signed an official agreement and ended the rift after three years and seven months. In January 2022, the GCC and Pakistan finalised
9310-474: The Qur'an is referred to by linguists as "Quranic Arabic", as distinct from its codification soon thereafter into " Classical Arabic ". In late pre-Islamic times, a transdialectal and transcommunal variety of Arabic emerged in the Hejaz , which continued living its parallel life after literary Arabic had been institutionally standardized in the 2nd and 3rd century of the Hijra , most strongly in Judeo-Christian texts, keeping alive ancient features eliminated from
9443-413: The Romance languages. Also, while it is comprehensible to people from the Maghreb , a linguistically innovative variety such as Moroccan Arabic is essentially incomprehensible to Arabs from the Mashriq , much as French is incomprehensible to Spanish or Italian speakers but relatively easily learned by them. This suggests that the spoken varieties may linguistically be considered separate languages. With
9576-665: The Supreme Council and its agenda. The voting procedure in the Ministerial Council is the same as in the Supreme Council. The Secretariat is the executive arm of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It takes decisions within its authority, and implements decisions approved by the Supreme or Ministerial Council. The Secretariat also compiles studies relating to cooperation, coordination, and planning for common actions, and occasionally releases reports regarding
9709-674: The United Arab Emirates, or Bahrain, unless they had a spouse living there, in which case they were required to carry a visa in order to enter these countries. Qatar Airways aircraft were not allowed to fly over these countries. Saudi Arabia stated that they would turn its land border with Qatar into a canal, known as the Salwa Canal , in 2018. The plan was abandoned in 2019. On 4 January 2021, Kuwait National TV announced that Saudi Arabia would restore all diplomatic ties with Qatar, reopen air space to Qatari aircraft and reopen
9842-476: The World Cup, to avoid playing group matches the following year. The match schedule was confirmed by FIFA on 15 July 2020. The group stage was set to begin on 21 November, with four matches every day. Later, the schedule was tweaked by moving the Qatar vs Ecuador game to 20 November, after Qatar lobbied FIFA to allow their team to open the tournament. The final was played on 18 December 2022, National Day , at Lusail Stadium . Unlike previous tournaments where
9975-462: The banking industry of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), diversity is increasingly recognized as a strategic asset that goes beyond mere corporate social responsibility. This shift towards embracing a diverse workforce is driven by the recognition that varied perspectives and experiences spur innovation, improve decision-making, and expand market reach in the fast-paced world of finance, increasing market share and profitability. The GCC Supreme Council
10108-519: The best seven teams. Pot 2 contained the next best eight teams, with the next best eight teams into pot 3. Pot 4 contained the five lowest-ranked teams, along with the placeholders for the two inter-confederation play-off winners and the UEFA Path A play-off winner. Teams from the same confederation could not be drawn into the same group except for UEFA teams, for which there was at least one and no more than two per group. This principle also applied to
10241-482: The capital of Saudi Arabia. The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution. All current member states are monarchies , including three constitutional monarchies (Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain), two absolute monarchies (Saudi Arabia and Oman), and one federal monarchy (the United Arab Emirates, which is composed of seven member states, each of which is an absolute monarchy with its own emir ). There have been discussions regarding
10374-574: The conversion of Semitic mimation to nunation in the singular. It is best reassessed as a separate language on the Central Semitic dialect continuum. It was also thought that Old Arabic coexisted alongside—and then gradually displaced— epigraphic Ancient North Arabian (ANA), which was theorized to have been the regional tongue for many centuries. ANA, despite its name, was considered a very distinct language, and mutually unintelligible, from "Arabic". Scholars named its variant dialects after
10507-639: The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council was signed on 11 November 1981 in Abu Dhabi, UAE. These countries are often referred to as "the GCC states". In 2001, the GCC Supreme Council set the following goals: Oman announced in December 2006 that it would not be able to meet the 2010 target date for a common currency. Following the announcement that the central bank for the monetary union would be located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, rather than in
10640-425: The draw are shown below. The eight groups were formed randomly, selecting one team from each of the four pots. Two teams from the same confederation could not be placed into the same group, with the exception of UEFA teams, where up to two teams could be in the same group. The only team whose position in the draw was predetermined was the host Qatar, who were placed into position A1. In May 2022, FIFA announced
10773-531: The eight stadiums were built (some in place of older, outdated venues) and the Khalifa International Stadium was renovated for the tournament. Of these eight stadiums, all but two have since been either dismantled, or have been moderately or heavily modified. The Stadium 974 is used to be dismantled after the tournament, however as of November 2024, this has not happened and the stadium has sat abandoned in its original site—this stadium
10906-587: The emergence of Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of
11039-728: The eve of the conquests: Northern and Central (Al-Jallad 2009). The modern dialects emerged from a new contact situation produced following the conquests. Instead of the emergence of a single or multiple koines, the dialects contain several sedimentary layers of borrowed and areal features, which they absorbed at different points in their linguistic histories. According to Veersteegh and Bickerton, colloquial Arabic dialects arose from pidginized Arabic formed from contact between Arabs and conquered peoples. Pidginization and subsequent creolization among Arabs and arabized peoples could explain relative morphological and phonological simplicity of vernacular Arabic compared to Classical and MSA. In around
11172-554: The event. FIFA's six continental confederations organised their own qualifying competitions . All 211 FIFA member associations were eligible to enter qualification. The Qatari national team , as hosts, qualified automatically for the tournament. However, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) obliged Qatar to participate in the Asian qualifying stage as the first two rounds also act as qualification for
11305-607: The fact that they participate in the innovations common to all forms of Arabic. The earliest attestation of continuous Arabic text in an ancestor of the modern Arabic script are three lines of poetry by a man named Garm(')allāhe found in En Avdat, Israel , and dated to around 125 CE. This is followed by the Namara inscription , an epitaph of the Lakhmid king Imru' al-Qays bar 'Amro, dating to 328 CE, found at Namaraa, Syria. From
11438-597: The first player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final since Geoff Hurst in the 1966 final and won the Golden Boot as he scored the most goals (eight) during the tournament. Mbappé also became the first player to score in two consecutive finals since Vavá of Brazil did the same in 1958 and 1962. Argentine captain Lionel Messi was voted the tournament's best player, winning his second Golden Ball . The tournament has been considered exceptionally poetic as
11571-424: The five stadium projects launched were designed by German architect Albert Speer & Partners . The Al Bayt and Al Wakrah stadiums were the only indoor stadiums of the eight used. In an April 2013 report by Merrill Lynch , the organisers in Qatar requested that FIFA approve a smaller number of stadiums due to the growing costs. Bloomberg said that Qatar wished to cut the number of venues to eight or nine from
11704-443: The following stadiums: FIFA confirmed the group stage venue and kick-off times on 1 April 2022, following the draw. In April 2022, FIFA announced the prizes for all participating nations. Each qualified team received $ 1.5 million before the competition to cover preparation costs with each team receiving at least $ 9 million in prize money. This edition's total prize pool was $ 440 million, $ 40 million greater than
11837-458: The fourth most useful language for business, after English, Mandarin Chinese , and French. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet , an abjad script that is written from right to left . Arabic is usually classified as a Central Semitic language . Linguists still differ as to the best classification of Semitic language sub-groups. The Semitic languages changed between Proto-Semitic and
11970-574: The future membership of Jordan , Morocco , and Yemen . During the Arab Spring in 2012, Saudi Arabia proposed to transform the GCC into a "Gulf Union" with tighter economic, political and military coordination, a move considered to be intended to counterbalance Iranian influence in the region, however objections were raised by other countries. In 2014, Bahraini prime minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa said that current events in
12103-437: The host's national team, alongside 31 teams determined by the qualification process . Argentina were crowned the champions after winning the final against the title holder France 4–2 on penalties following a 3–3 draw after extra time. It was Argentina's third title and their first since 1986 , as well as being the first nation from outside of Europe to win the tournament since 2002 . French player Kylian Mbappé became
12236-597: The inclusion of new words into their published standard dictionaries. They also publish old and historical Arabic manuscripts. In 1997, a bureau of Arabization standardization was added to the Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization of the Arab League . These academies and organizations have worked toward the Arabization of the sciences, creating terms in Arabic to describe new concepts, toward
12369-613: The language. Software and books with tapes are an important part of Arabic learning, as many of Arabic learners may live in places where there are no academic or Arabic language school classes available. Radio series of Arabic language classes are also provided from some radio stations. A number of websites on the Internet provide online classes for all levels as a means of distance education; most teach Modern Standard Arabic, but some teach regional varieties from numerous countries. The tradition of Arabic lexicography extended for about
12502-604: The late 6th century AD, a relatively uniform intertribal "poetic koine" distinct from the spoken vernaculars developed based on the Bedouin dialects of Najd , probably in connection with the court of al-Ḥīra . During the first Islamic century, the majority of Arabic poets and Arabic-writing persons spoke Arabic as their mother tongue. Their texts, although mainly preserved in far later manuscripts, contain traces of non-standardized Classical Arabic elements in morphology and syntax. Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali ( c. 603 –689)
12635-420: The latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children. The relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Classical Latin and Vulgar Latin vernaculars (which became Romance languages ) in medieval and early modern Europe. MSA
12768-424: The likes of Cafu (Brazil), Lothar Matthäus (Germany), Adel Ahmed Malalla (Qatar), Ali Daei (Iran), Bora Milutinović (Serbia/Mexico), Jay-Jay Okocha (Nigeria), Rabah Madjer (Algeria), and Tim Cahill (Australia). For the draw, 32 teams were allocated into four pots based on the FIFA Men's World Rankings of 31 March 2022. Pot 1 contained host Qatar (who were automatically assigned to position A1) and
12901-425: The list of 36 referees, 69 assistant referees, and 24 video assistant referees for the tournament. Of the 36 referees, FIFA included two each from Argentina, Brazil, England, and France. For the first time women referees officiated games at a major men's tournament. France's Stéphanie Frappart , Salima Mukansanga from Rwanda, and Yoshimi Yamashita from Japan became the first female referees to be appointed to
13034-883: The many national or regional varieties which constitute the everyday spoken language. Colloquial Arabic has many regional variants; geographically distant varieties usually differ enough to be mutually unintelligible , and some linguists consider them distinct languages. However, research indicates a high degree of mutual intelligibility between closely related Arabic variants for native speakers listening to words, sentences, and texts; and between more distantly related dialects in interactional situations. The varieties are typically unwritten. They are often used in informal spoken media, such as soap operas and talk shows , as well as occasionally in certain forms of written media such as poetry and printed advertising. Hassaniya Arabic , Maltese , and Cypriot Arabic are only varieties of modern Arabic to have acquired official recognition. Hassaniya
13167-471: The match venues and kick-off times for each fixture were set prior to the draw, the assignment of group fixtures for each matchday to a specific venue and kick-off time was only made after the final draw, with the teams of each specific fixture known. This was due to the close proximity of the venues, which allowed the organizers to optimize stadium allocation for spectators and kick-off times for television audiences. The matches for each group were allocated to
13300-412: The member countries are colored in brown, borderless. A common market was launched on 1 January 2008, easing movement of goods and services, with plans to create a fully integrated single market . Implementation later lagged behind, after the 2009 financial crisis. The creation of a customs union began in 2003, and was completed and fully operational by 1 January 2015. In January 2015, the common market
13433-508: The necessary legal measures be taken, so that Yemen would have the same rights and obligations of GCC member states in those institutions. The union has served as a grouping for sports co-operation and competition. The GCC states have an annual meeting of the Youth and Sports Ministers of each state to boost youth and sports initiatives in the region. The promotion of the hosting of international sports events has also served an economic purpose for
13566-782: The need for a lexical injection in Arabic, to suit concepts of the industrial and post-industrial age (such as sayyārah سَيَّارَة 'automobile' or bākhirah باخِرة 'steamship'). In response, a number of Arabic academies modeled after the Académie française were established with the aim of developing standardized additions to the Arabic lexicon to suit these transformations, first in Damascus (1919), then in Cairo (1932), Baghdad (1948), Rabat (1960), Amman (1977), Khartum [ ar ] (1993), and Tunis (1993). They review language development, monitor new words and approve
13699-524: The official establishment of the GCC in 1981, strengthening the collective power and influence of the Gulf countries. The charter was signed in Arabic in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on 21 Rajab 1401 on the Islamic calendar (corresponding to 25 May 1981 on the Gregorian calendar ). The signatory states on the founding document are the only current members of the GCC. An economic agreement between
13832-424: The one whose sound is heard but whose person remains unseen. Now the term al-hatif is used for a telephone. Therefore, the process of tawleed can express the needs of modern civilization in a manner that would appear to be originally Arabic. In the case of Arabic, educated Arabs of any nationality can be assumed to speak both their school-taught Standard Arabic as well as their native dialects, which depending on
13965-537: The organization in 2009. It is headquartered at Doha, Qatar. The organization chart of GOIC includes the board members and the General Secretariat. The Board is formed by member state representatives appointed by their governments. There are six member states of the union: The associate membership of Iraq in certain GCC-related institutions was cancelled after the invasion of Kuwait . Yemen
14098-549: The overhaul of Arabic grammar first proposed by Al-Jahiz 200 years prior. The Maghrebi lexicographer Ibn Manzur compiled Lisān al-ʿArab ( لسان العرب , "Tongue of Arabs"), a major reference dictionary of Arabic, in 1290. Charles Ferguson 's koine theory claims that the modern Arabic dialects collectively descend from a single military koine that sprang up during the Islamic conquests; this view has been challenged in recent times. Ahmad al-Jallad proposes that there were at least two considerably distinct types of Arabic on
14231-451: The placeholder teams, with constraints applying based on the confederation of both potential winners of each play-off tie. The draw started with pot 1 and ended with pot 4, with each team selected then allocated into the first available group alphabetically. The position for the team within the group would then be drawn (for the purpose of the match schedule ), with the pot 1 teams automatically drawn into position 1 of each group. The pots for
14364-434: The prize pool of the previous tournament . The tournament featured new substitution rules whereby teams could make up to five substitutions in normal time, and an additional substitution in extra time . In addition, it was the first World Cup to feature concussion substitutions , whereby each team was permitted to use a maximum of one concussion substitute during a match. A concussion substitution did not count towards
14497-557: The region highlighted the importance of the proposal. The Peninsula Shield Force is the military arm of the GCC, formed in 1984. Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah of Kuwait, alongside the support of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan of the UAE, played a crucial role in fostering the idea of closer cooperation among Gulf states, laying the groundwork for the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Their shared vision for regional unity, security, and economic integration led to
14630-410: The region may be mutually unintelligible. Some of these dialects can be considered to constitute separate languages which may have "sub-dialects" of their own. When educated Arabs of different dialects engage in conversation (for example, a Moroccan speaking with a Lebanese), many speakers code-switch back and forth between the dialectal and standard varieties of the language, sometimes even within
14763-509: The region", including the Muslim Brotherhood, al-Qaeda , ISIL and Iran-supported groups in Saudi Arabia's eastern province of Qatif . Political researcher Islam Hassan viewed this rift as a continuation of Qatar's foreign policy rivalry with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain put a ban on Qataris and their businesses. Qataris were not allowed to enter or live in Saudi Arabia,
14896-458: The same sentence. The issue of whether Arabic is one language or many languages is politically charged, in the same way it is for the varieties of Chinese , Hindi and Urdu , Serbian and Croatian , Scots and English, etc. In contrast to speakers of Hindi and Urdu who claim they cannot understand each other even when they can, speakers of the varieties of Arabic will claim they can all understand each other even when they cannot. While there
15029-537: The same training base throughout the entire tournament. The Qatari government employed about 50,000 security personnel including police departments and military forces from at least thirteen countries, including Poland, Germany, France, Kuwait, Jordan, Italy, Palestine, Spain, Pakistan, Turkey, USA, Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom. The Turkish government provided about 3,000 riot police personnel, whilst Pakistan provided about 4,500 Army troops to Qatar for
15162-458: The sole example of Medieval linguist Abu Hayyan al-Gharnati – who, while a scholar of the Arabic language, was not ethnically Arab – Medieval scholars of the Arabic language made no efforts at studying comparative linguistics, considering all other languages inferior. In modern times, the educated upper classes in the Arab world have taken a nearly opposite view. Yasir Suleiman wrote in 2011 that "studying and knowing English or French in most of
15295-508: The stadium by up to 20 °C (36 °F). Their marketing included statements describing the stadiums as zero waste , and the upper tiers of the stadiums will be disassembled after the World Cup and donated to countries with less developed sports infrastructure. Qatar aspired to be compliant and certified by the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) for all the World Cup stadiums. All of
15428-563: The standardization of these new terms throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and toward the development of Arabic as a world language . This gave rise to what Western scholars call Modern Standard Arabic. From the 1950s, Arabization became a postcolonial nationalist policy in countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, and Sudan. Arabic usually refers to Standard Arabic, which Western linguists divide into Classical Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic. It could also refer to any of
15561-465: The tournament, teams named a provisional squad of up to 55 players. Teams were required to have their 55-player roster submitted to FIFA by 21 October. Teams were required to name their final squads by 13 November. In August 2022, FIFA increased the final squad size to 26 players from a total of 23 players at the 2018 edition . All teams had a total of 26 players in their final squads except for France and Iran , who chose 25 players. The final draw
15694-501: The towns where the inscriptions were discovered (Dadanitic, Taymanitic, Hismaic, Safaitic). However, most arguments for a single ANA language or language family were based on the shape of the definite article, a prefixed h-. It has been argued that the h- is an archaism and not a shared innovation, and thus unsuitable for language classification, rendering the hypothesis of an ANA language family untenable. Safaitic and Hismaic, previously considered ANA, should be considered Old Arabic due to
15827-521: The true cost was $ 8 billion, and other figures related to overall infrastructure development since the World Cup was awarded to Qatar in 2010. The first five proposed venues for the World Cup were unveiled at the beginning of March 2010. Qatar intended that the stadiums should reflect its history and culture, and for the designs to meet the following terms of reference: legacy, comfort, accessibility, and sustainability. The stadiums were equipped with cooling systems that aim to reduce temperatures within
15960-443: The twelve originally planned. By April 2017, FIFA had yet to finalise the number of stadiums Qatar must have readied in five years' time. Qatar's Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC) said it expected there would be eight in and near Doha , with the exception of Al Khor. Eight stadiums in five Qatarian cities were built or renovated for the FIFA World Cup. Between 2010 (when Qatar were announced as hosts) and 2022, seven of
16093-631: The union's countries, leading to investment and development in the region. The GCC Games, a quadrennial multi-sport event , was established by the union and first held in 2011 . There are numerous long-running GCC Championships for individual sports, including: the Gulf Cooperation Council Athletics Championships (first held in 1986; youth section from 2000) sailing, basketball, swimming, tennis, gymnastics (senior and youth levels), weightlifting, futsal, snooker, and table tennis. Qatar's support for
16226-558: The use of their airbases by other countries fighting ISIL. Some GCC countries also send some troops to fight the opposition government in Yemen. The GCC Standardization Organization is the standardization organization of the GCC. Yemen is also a member of the GCC Standardization Organization. The Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) was founded in 1976 by the six GCC member states; Yemen joined
16359-409: The work done by the GCC as a whole, and the implementation of its own decisions. The current Secretary-General is Nayef Falah Mubarak Al Hajraf, and his deputies include Abdulaziz Al Auwaishig and Khalifa Alfadhel. On 15 December 2009, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia announced the creation of a Monetary Council, to introduce a single currency for the union. The board of the council, which set
16492-451: The world have classes that teach Arabic as part of their foreign languages , Middle Eastern studies , and religious studies courses. Arabic language schools exist to assist students to learn Arabic outside the academic world. There are many Arabic language schools in the Arab world and other Muslim countries. Because the Quran is written in Arabic and all Islamic terms are in Arabic, millions of Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) study
16625-460: The world, mostly due to a boom in oil and natural gas revenues coupled with a building and investment boom backed by decades of saved petroleum revenues. In an effort to build a tax base and economic foundation before the reserves run out, the UAE's investment arms, including Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, retain over US$ 900 billion in assets. Other regional funds have several hundreds of billions of dollars of assets under management. The region
16758-463: Was also further integrated, covering full equality among GCC citizens to work in government and private sectors, the ability to access social insurance and retirement coverage, real estate ownership rights, capital movement, and access to education, health and other social services, in all member states. However, some barriers remained in the free movement of goods and services. The coordination of taxation systems, accounting standards and civil legislation
16891-507: Was graded as having "high operational risk", generated criticism from media commentators. It was criticised by many as being part of the FIFA corruption scandals, which led to the 2015 FIFA corruption case . The voting patterns were as follows: At an estimated cost of over $ 220 billion, it is the most expensive World Cup ever held to date; this figure is disputed by Qatari officials, including organising CEO Nasser Al Khater, who said
17024-600: Was held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Doha , Qatar, on 1 April 2022, 19:00 AST , prior to the completion of qualification . The two winners of the inter-confederation play-offs and the winner of the Path A of the UEFA play-offs were not known at the time of the draw. The draw was attended by 2,000 guests and was led by Carli Lloyd , Jermaine Jenas and sports broadcaster Samantha Johnson, assisted by
17157-882: Was in negotiations for GCC membership in 2007, and hoped to join by 2016. Yemen is already a member of the GCC Standardization Authority, the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC), the GCC Auditing and Accounting Authority, the Gulf Radio and TV Authority, the GCC Council of Health Ministers, the GCC Education and Training Bureau, the GCC Council of Labour & and Social Affairs Ministers, and The Gulf Cup Football Tournament . The Council issued directives that all
17290-432: Was scheduled to be completed by 2021. As of May 2022, railway construction UAE and Saudi Arabia have progressed significantly, but other members' efforts have lagged. Saudi Arabian Railways , Etihad Rail , and their respective national governments have invested 15 billion dollars as of early 2015 into railway infrastructure to create rail networks for transporting freight, connecting cities, and reducing transport times. In
17423-661: Was the 22nd FIFA World Cup , the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA . It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in 2010. It was the first World Cup to be held in the Middle East and Persian Gulf countries , and the second held entirely in Asia after the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan . This tournament
17556-593: Was the first planned temporary stadium ever used for a FIFA World Cup. Lusail Stadium , Al Bayt Stadium , Ahmad bin Ali Stadium , Education City Stadium , Al Thumama Stadium and Al Janoub Stadium will be moderately or heavily modified as reduce their capacity by half. The Khalifa International Stadium (latter along with the Stadium 974 ) are the only largely unmodified stadium that were used for this tournament. Team base camps Base camps were used by
17689-447: Was the last with 32 participating teams, with the number of teams being increased to 48 for the 2026 edition . To avoid the extremes of Qatar's hot climate , the event was held in November and December instead of during the traditional months of May, June, or July. It was held over a reduced time frame of 29 days with 64 matches played in eight venues across five cities . Qatar entered the event—their first World Cup—automatically as
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