Kuwait’s emir meets with Qatari leader amid diplomatic rift

Kuwait's emir traveled to Qatar on Wednesday evening to help mediate an end to a crisis that has seen Arab nations cut ties to the energy-rich country but Emirati officials have warned there is "nothing to negotiate".

Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah was met planeside by Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, when he arrived on Wednesday night.

The Qatari foreign ministry said in a statement the two held talks on how to "restore the normal relations" with the Gulf as the 2022 FIFA World Cup host and international air travel hub now finds itself isolated by land, sea and air.

But the visit came after Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told the Associated Press that Qatar has "chosen to ride the tiger of extremism and terrorism" and now needed to pay the price, despite Qatar long denying the allegation.

Gargash said Qatar "definitely" should expel members of Hamas, stop its support of terror groups "with al-Qaeda DNA", and rein in Doha-funded media outlets, chief among them the Doha-based satellite news network Al-Jazeera.

Their "fingerprints are all over the place" in terror funding, Gargash claimed.

Qatari officials declined to comment on Gargash's comments.

Its foreign minister has struck a defiant tone in interviews, even after worried residents emptied grocery stores in its capital of Doha as Saudi Arabia has blocked trucks carrying food from entering the country.

Its flag carrier Qatar Airways now flies increasingly over Iran and Turkey after being blocked elsewhere over the Middle East. Emirati officials also shut down the airline's offices in the UAE on Wednesday.

Al-Jazeera offices also have been shut down by authorities in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Meanwhile, Turkey's parliament approved sending troops to an existing Turkish base in Qatar as a sign of support.

The international agency Standard and Poors announced Wednesday that it lowered its rating on Qatar's long-term debt to AA-minus because of the country’s dispute with its neighbours.

S&P said those countries' severing of diplomatic and business links "will exacerbate Qatar's external vulnerabilities and could put pressure on economic growth and fiscal" stability.

The Gulf countries have ordered their citizens out of Qatar and gave Qataris abroad 14 days to return home. The countries also said they would eject Qatar’s diplomats.

The Gulf countries have ordered their citizens out of Qatar and gave Qataris abroad 14 days to return home. The countries also said they would eject Qatar's diplomats.

The crisis began in part over what Doha described as a false news report planted during a hack of its state-run news agency.

An initial report on the hack from Qatar's interior ministry late Wednesday said the website of the Qatar News Agency was initially hacked in April with "high techniques and innovative methods".

It said hackers installed a file and then published a fake news item attributed to Sheikh Tamim just after midnight 24 May.

The ministry did not say who it suspected carried out the attack, though it thanked the FBI and the British National Commission for Combating Crime for assisting it in its investigation.

Russia has denied it hacked the agency after a CNN report quoted anonymous US officials saying they suspected Russian hackers.

The UAE did not hack the Qatari news agency, Gargash said.

However, he did acknowledge the authenticity of recently leaked emails from Emirati Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba in Washington, which several media outlets described as including criticism of Qatar.