Taiwan's state-owned CPC Corporation on Tuesday signed a 20-year contract with Qatar's RasGas to buy 1.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year.

The sales and purchase agreement was signed by Taiwan's sole importer of LNG and RasGas subsidiary Ras Laffan Liquefied Natural Gas Co Limited (3), or RL3, on the sidelines of the 20th World Petroleum Congress held in Doha.

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.

The emir of energy-rich Qatar moved on Monday to reassure consuming countries that energy supplies from the Middle East will not be disrupted by political upheavals sweeping the region.

"Events in the Arab region raised concern over energy supply... I would like to stress on the commitment made ... to maintain oil supply," Emir Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani said at the opening of an energy forum in Doha.

Bahrain and Qatar on Sunday called on their citizens to leave unrest-swept Syria after the United Arab Emirates also advised its citizens to stay away.

The call, issued on the day the Arab League was deciding on sanctions against Damascus over its deadly crackdown on dissent, was issued because of instability in Syria, said Bahrain's foreign ministry.

Turkey and members of the Arab League called Wednesday for "urgent measures" to protect Syrian civilians from violent repression by the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

In a statement issued after a Turkish-Arab cooperation forum in the Moroccan capital Rabat, they also declared they were "against all foreign intervention in Syria."

Women who delay pregnancy until a later age are placing themselves at increased risk of stroke, according to Dr. Matthew Fink, Professor of Clinical Neurology and Interim Chairman and Neurologist-in-Chief of the Department of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

Speaking at the monthly community health seminar, Medicine & U moderated by Professor Basim M. Uthman at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Doha, Dr. Fink said the increasing prevalence of hypertension, cardiac disease, obesity and diabetes also adds to the risk of stroke for mothers.

Leaders of the world's biggest gas suppliers ended their first summit on Tuesday by reiterating the need for a fair gas price while Iran, whose president was absent, warned that Western taxation will derail the energy market.

The 12-member Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) expressed in a declaration they issued after the one-day summit "the need to reach a fair price for natural gas based on gas to oil ... prices indexation."

Massive pro-regime crowds vented their anger on Sunday as international pressure mounted on President Bashar Assad after an Arab League decision to suspend Syria and over its bloody protest crackdown.

In central Damascus, tens of thousands of people turned out in support of Assad, waving Syrian flags and portraits of the embattled leader, said an AFP reporter at the scene.

The ringleader of the gang that kidnapped the seven Estonian tourists, Wael Abbas, stayed in the custody of the Syrian authorities for 20 days before being handed over to Lebanon’s General Security Department last week, official sources said.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published Monday that Syrian authorities questioned Abbas over his fake Venezuelan passport and other documents after Qatar arrested him at Doha airport and deported him to Syria.

Qatar reveled Sunday in the AFC Champions League title win of its unfancied standard-bearer Al Sadd and eyed further footballing trophies before it hosts the 2022 World Cup.

"We hope that this historic victory marks the beginning and will lead to other achievements for Qatari football in the future," said Qatar Football Association chairman Sheikh Hamad al-Thani.