The State of Qatar welcomed 2.338 million visitors through its land, air, and sea ports during the first eight months of 2026.Data released on Wednesday by Qatar Tourism showed that the number of visitors to Qatar in August rose 6.3 percent to 303,000, compared with 285,000 visitors in July.The data revealed a diverse mix of visitors arriving in Qatar from January through August. Visitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries ranked first, accounting for 41 percent of the total, or 958,000 visitors. Visitors from Asia and Oceania ranked second at 20.9 percent, totaling 489,000.Europe placed third with 486,000 visitors, or 20.8 percent of the total, while the Americas ranked fourth at 7.2 percent, with 169,000 visitors.Other Arab countries ranked fifth with 162,000 visitors, representing 6.9 percent of the total. Other African countries placed sixth, recording 73,000 visitors, or about 3.1 percent of the total.

Qatar has ranked fourth in the world for standard of living in the 2026 Legatum Prosperity Index, the highest placing of any country in the Middle East and North Africa.The country also came eighth globally on the index's development measure, a composite of standard of living, health and education that gauges how well a state provides the essential services underpinning daily life.Together the two placings point to sustained gains in quality of life for citizens and residents alike, and to the depth of the infrastructure built to deliver health, education and social services.The results follow the rollout of the Third National Development Strategy, the executive instrument for delivering Qatar National Vision 2030, which puts social and human development at the centre of the country's path to a sustainable future.Qatar's showing in this year's index stands as evidence that those integrated development policies are working.

Qatar has condemned in the strongest terms the renewed attacks launched by Iran against Jordan, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait, describing them as a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of those countries and a blatant breach of international law, the UN Charter and the principles of good neighbourliness.The condemnation, renewed at the outset of the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday, was accompanied by a demand for the immediate and complete cessation of all military actions and for restraint from any step that could widen the scope of escalation.The meeting was chaired by HE Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani at the Amiri Diwan. HE Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ibrahim bin Ali al-Mohannadi briefed reporters on its outcomes afterwards.The Cabinet approved a draft law on cloud computing and referred it to the Shura Council. Prepared by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in co-ordination with the Communications Regulatory Authority and other competent entities, it establishes a comprehensive legislative framework governing the storage and disclosure of digital data, strengthens its protection and security, and sets controls for lawful access in a manner balancing law enforcement requirements against the safeguarding of individual privacy.The draft is also intended to strengthen frameworks for international co-operation in the field, support digital transformation, and consolidate Qatar's position as an attractive destination for investment in data centres and cloud services, and as a trusted regional home for data hosting. It sets out the obligations of data and telecommunications service providers, ensuring open and neutral access, fair pricing, non-discrimination, interoperability and customers' freedom to choose their providers, alongside rules on transparency and mutual legal assistance. **media[486784]**A second draft law, on the regulation of competition, was likewise approved and referred to the Shura Council. Prepared by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, it would replace Law No 19 of 2006 on the protection of competition and the prevention of monopolistic practices, bringing the regulatory framework for economic activity into line with comparative best practice.The draft aims to protect and promote free and fair competition, combat monopolistic practices and curb conduct that may harm, restrict or undermine competition, while regulating the oversight of economic concentration — measures expected to improve market efficiency and the business and investment environment in line with international standards and the objectives of the Third National Development Strategy (2024-2030).It provides for the establishment of a Competition Regulation Committee and defines its competencies; covers prohibited agreements, acts and practices; abuse of dominance; exemption applications; the notification and review of economic concentration transactions within specified timeframes; complaints and investigation procedures; measures and financial penalties; appeals against the committee's decisions before the Investment and Trade Court; settlement; and exemption from penalties.The Cabinet reviewed the findings of a study of the Shura Council proposal titled "Enhancing Parental Care and Supporting Family Cohesion" and took the appropriate decision. Relevant entities signalled their intention to develop and implement a package of family programmes, policies and initiatives, including expanded parenting support services, benefits and measures supporting work-life balance, improved nursery and kindergarten services, stronger partnerships between families and educational institutions, and intensified awareness and media efforts to reinforce sound upbringing, family values and national identity.Among the agreements approved were a draft letter of intent on co-operation between the Ministry of Interior and its Spanish counterpart on security arrangements for the FIFA World Cup 2030; a draft letter of intent on security co-operation in training and the exchange of expertise with the Federal Ministry of the Interior of Germany; a draft memorandum of understanding on labour co-operation with the Ministry of Economy and Labour of North Macedonia; a draft MoU on tourism co-operation with Serbia; a draft executive programme for sports co-operation with the Office of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2026-2027; and an extension of the memoranda of understanding between the OECD and 20 governments, Qatar among them, on the OECD's hosting of the secretariat of the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network.The Cabinet closed by reviewing the 63rd report of the National Committee for the Prohibition of Weapons, covering January 1 to April 30, 2026; the 2025 annual report of the General Tax Authority; a report on the finance minister's participation in the annual meetings of the Islamic Development Bank Group in Azerbaijan in June; a report on the municipality minister's visit to The Netherlands and participation in GreenTech 2026; and a report on his participation in the 39th session of the general assembly of the Arab Organization for Agricultural Development in Kuwait. It took the appropriate decisions on each.