Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat described on Saturday his meeting with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani as “friendly and positive,” reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.

He told the daily: “The talks focused on the ongoing developments in the Arab world and Qatar’s role in supporting youth movements striving for freedom and democracy.”

Iraq said it would try to convince neighboring Syria to accept an Arab League deal to end unrest and head off sweeping economic sanctions, during a visit by the group's chief to Baghdad on Thursday.

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi told journalists in the Iraqi capital that "the ball is in the Syrian court" but warned that if Damascus wanted to avoid sanctions, it would have to sign on to the initiative.

Russia is downgrading its relations with the Gulf state of Qatar following an airport attack on its ambassador, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

The ministry said Moscow's ambassador to Doha "was attacked by security and customs personnel" who were trying to strip him of his diplomatic bag.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has stressed upon his return from Doha the importance of respect for agreements signed between Lebanon and Syria.

In remarks to As Safir daily published Tuesday, Mansour said he would return to Cairo on Wednesday to participate in the extraordinary meeting of the Arab League’s initiative committee to solve the situation in Syria.

Qatar opened on Tuesday its annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival with "Black Gold," a movie by French director Jacques Annaud partly shot in the gas-rich Gulf country.

Starring Antonio Banderas and Freida Pinto, Black Gold tells the story of two emirs locked in a feud after the discovery of oil, as a young leader emerges to unite the desert tribes.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas meets on Tuesday the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, in Doha as Washington presses the Palestinians to abandon plans to bid from UN membership next month, an Arab diplomat said.

The meeting will take place as several Arab foreign ministers convene after a request by the Palestinian Authority "to maintain cohesion in the Arab stand," the diplomat told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Riyadh has informed Prime Minister Najib Miqati that he is not welcome in Saudi Arabia, revealed opposition sources to the daily Ad Diyar on Sunday.

They added that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat was charged with relaying this message to the premier.

Al-Jazeera journalist Dorothy Parvaz who went missing on her arrival in Syria last month is free and back in Doha, the news channel said on its website Wednesday.

"Al-Jazeera network confirmed... that she has been released, and is safe and in good health," said a statement on the website.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has reportedly held a telephone conversation with Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri, the first contact between the two men since the Druze leader named Najib Miqati as premier-designate more than two months ago.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted informed sources as saying on Tuesday that Jumblat called Hariri and stressed to him the need to return to the national dialogue table.

World Trade Organization Chief Pascal Lamy said Saturday that the chances of closing the long-delayed Doha round of talks on a new free trade pact are much better than a year ago.

"We are now in a go period after two years of stop, or at least of very slow progress," Lamy said at a meeting of agriculture ministers in Berlin.