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Commentator Frank Deford notices how often the European sports masterminds get it wrong, whatever the game. FIFA is dealing with problems with the 2022 World Cup. The Olympics — helmed by a series of Europeans — will be in Russia, where homophobia is enshrined in law. And then there's Formula One: run by an Englishman charged with bribery.

As work begins on the infrastructure, stadiums, hotels and other things being built in Qatar for soccer's 2022 World Cup, a disturbing number of immigrant workers are dying. There are reports of food, water and pay being withheld. Officials vow to change things.

The latest effort, like others before it, has gone nowhere. With American combat troops planning to leave by the end of next year, the opportunities for peace talks are dwindling.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, 33, is now the youngest monarch in the region.

The 11-nation group of foreign ministers are in the Qatari capital, Doha, to discuss the logistics of arming Syrian rebels who are seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

In announcing a new political office in Qatar, the Taliban said it supports a peace process in Afghanistan. U.S. officials said they welcomed the development.

A traveling Greek exhibit on the Olympics included two ancient statues of nude young men. That didn't go over so well in the conservative Muslim emirate.

The tiny Gulf nation of Qatar has been "punching above its weight" diplomatically in the region in recent years. Now, it's taking a prominent role in Syria, arming rebels there. The U.S. wants to see such aid go to moderates. Qatar has its own approach.

Diplomats in Doha, Qatar, are working late into the night to hammer out a deal in the 18th round of U.N. climate talks. Expectations are low as the talks are part of a multiyear process to make a transition from the fading Kyoto climate treaty to something that engages all nations of the world.

Israel said Qatar had "thrown peace under the bus" with the visit. Officially, Emir made the visit to inaugurate a Qatari investment project worth hundreds of millions of dollars.