The latest developments since several countries, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, cut ties with Qatar on June 5. (All times local Doha time).

08:50pm – Saudi-led bloc will discuss more sanctions on Qatar: newspaper

• Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain are expected to discuss imposing new economic sanctions on Qatar when they meet in the Bahraini capital Manama on Sunday, according to the pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper.
• Foreign ministers of the four countries “are expected to impose sanctions that will gradually affect the Qatari economy”, al-Hayat newspaper said, citing unidentified Gulf sources, without giving any further details.

9:50pm – Qatar reiterates cooperation with UN on fighting terrorism

• Qatar reiterates its cooperation with various UN bodies related to the fight against terrorism, Qatar’s Permanent Representative to the UN Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani tells the UN General Assembly.
• “The State of Qatar attaches great importance to working within regional and international mechanisms to eradicate all forms of terrorism and address their causes,” Sheikha Alia said.
• “Qatar has been keen to fully implement measures to address conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism, enhance international cooperation in the field of prevention and combating of terrorism and to fully comply with the international obligations of the UN Security Council relating to the fight against terrorism and its financing.”
• She stressed Qatar’s keenness to continuously update its national laws and regulations related to the fight against terrorism and its financing to cope with any emerging terrorist challenges.

7pm – France’s Vinci says Gulf rift not hurting its Qatar business

• French construction group Vinci has said that its Qatar business had seen no disruption at this stage after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar last month.
• Vinci operates in Qatar through its 49 percent-owned Qatari unit QDVC. It also counts the wealthy Arab state as its third-largest shareholder, with a stake of nearly 4 percent, according to Reuters data.
• “For the moment, no disruption. Our projects are not disturbed. Qatar is rather looking for friends and this facilitates discussions on some projects,” Chief Executive Xavier Huillard told an interim results news conference.

3:30pm – UAE: Gulf dispute more philosophical than diplomatic

• UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef Al Otaiba, has suggested that the Gulf dispute  is  more philosophical than diplomatic.
• In an interview with America’s PBS on Tuesday, he  said the Saudi-led group blockading Qatar wanted to see “more secular, stable” governments in the region, an order he claimed Qatar “fundamentally opposed”.
• “What we’ve seen Qatar do for the last 10 to 15 years, [is] support groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas, Taliban, Islamist militias in Syria, Islamist militias in Libya, exactly the opposite direction we think our region needs to go,” he said. “So our disagreement is about what the future of the Middle East should look like.”

3:15pm – Qatar accuses Saudi Arabia of politicising Hajj

• Qatar has filed a complaint with the UN protesting new restrictions imposed by Saudi Arabia against Qatari nationals planning to travel to Mecca for the annual Muslim pilgrimage.
• Qatar’s National Human Rights Commission said on Saturday that its citizens have been told they can only enter Saudi Arabia through two airports, and that they must travel via Doha to be allowed in.
• This would be challenging for Qataris who do not live in Doha, such as those studying abroad.

10:10am – ‘Differing views over future of Arab people at heart of Gulf crisis’

• The differences between how Qatar and the Saudi-led bloc view the future of the Arab people is at the heart of the Gulf crisis, a senior Qatari official said on Friday.
• Fahad bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, Qatar’s ambassador to Russia, told a radio station in Moscow that his country supported the Arab people’s aspirations in the wake of uprisings that began in Tunisia in 2010, Qatar News Agency reported.
• Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, however, chose to go against that current, he said, adding that the four states wanted Qatar to punish those who oppose their governments and brand them terrorists.
• “This in itself is terrorism,” he said. “The siege countries are trying to reproduce the regimes that produced terrorism, and they want to convince us that these regimes will fight terrorism.”

2am – Arab states to meet in Bahrain on Sunday

• Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain will meet in Manama on Sunday to discuss the latest developments on their blockade of Qatar.
• In the two-day meeting, the four countries will press Qatar to comply with their demands, which include stopping alleged interference in their internal affairs.

11:15am – Qatar refuses to ‘outsource foreign policy’ 

• Qatar said it refuses to bow to Saudi-led demands to “outsource” its foreign policy to resolve the Gulf crisis.
• Government spokesman Sheikh Saif bin Ahmed Al-Thani told AFP in an interview that Qatar’s sovereignty and independence is behind the dispute.
• “It (the crisis) is about… outsourcing our foreign policy so that decisions are not made in Qatar, and that is something that will never be acceptable,” he said.

12:05am – Qatar says UN should play role in resolving Gulf crisis

• Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani called on the UN to help resolve the Gulf crisis, adding that the Saudi-led group blockading Qatar has violated international law.
• Speaking after a meeting with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the foreign minister said that Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain are showing “stubbornness” and have not taken any steps to solve the crisis.
• He vowed that Qatar will spare no effort to overcome what he called “violations” and said “the United Nations is the right platform to start from”.