A key moment for Ireland will not only dictate the supply of energy for our economic growth, but will also be an international barometer of our openness to business

Qatar World Cup organisers feel they have been unfairly treated since winning the right to host the tournament in 2022.

The biggest story in sport this week was not really a story about sport. At least, not on the surface.

It may be just coincidental that as parts of the country were battered by Lorenzo yesterday Ireland’s rugby players made unexpectedly heavy weather of beating Russia in the tremendous heat and draining humidity in Kobe’s sweatbox to keep the World Cup dream alive.

Qatar’s economy looks far from top form as it wraps up a flurry of building projects for the 2022 World Cup.

The US monitors everyone, apart from Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, so this exception for a militarily ambition nation is a ‘dereliction of duty’, writes Aram Roston

Former UEFA president Michel Platini has been released after being questioned by police over the awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar.

Former UEFA president Michel Platini has been detained for questioning by French police over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Colombia got their Copa America campaign off to a flying start by securing a long-awaited win over Argentina.

Stephen Kenny insists his U21 heroes will relish their Toulon Tournament semi-final against Brazil.

After years of turmoil for Fifa, Gianni Infantino is this week getting a fresh four-year presidential term to lead world football in relative calm.

Uefa are making their top finance man available to the FAI as the organisation seeks to move on from the current crisis.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be a 32-team tournament as originally planned, FIFA has announced.

Former Chelsea, Holland, and Real Madrid manager Guus Hiddink is in charge of the Chinese Under-21 side.

Deutsche Bank is facing resistance from top Qatari shareholders to its planned merger with Commerzbank.

Qatar stays in focus this week with a second successive five-star fixture in Doha following on from last weekend’s opening round of the Global Champions Tour.

This week’s story about a British man who was arrested in the UAE after wearing a Qatari football shirt might give some people ideas, writes Tommy Martin.

Oil prices are likely to remain priced around $60 per barrel for the best part of the next decade before increased use of renewable energies starts pushing prices down consistently, a leading UK economic think-tank has said.

Investors stunned by Saudi Arabia’s unpredictable foreign policy under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are unlikely to drop their guard even if the kingdom succumbs to US pressure to resolve its conflict with neighbouring Qatar and end the war in Yemen.

At the height of the debate about opening up Croke Park to ‘foreign’ games, a hurling aficionado of my acquaintance offered up a soundbite for the ages.

They’ll need to score if they want to win. That would have been a goal if it had gone in the net. To win a game, you can’t lose. They’ll want their best players on. At the end of the day. Make no mistake, mistakes will be made.

It is a triumph to either the human spirit or man’s capacity for self-delusion that the tournament continues to be the repository of dreams...tune in, tun on and drop out, writes Michael Clifford

Staging the 2026 World Cup in North America will be “transformative” for football in the region and worldwide, leaders of the joint bid said after their crushing win over Morocco.

Derby are in the hunt for their sixth manager in three years following Gary Rowett's departure to Stoke.

Barclays has said a London court has dismissed all the charges against the bank and its parent company over a 2008 capital raising with Qatar, in a big win for the lender that has been dogged by legal issues for a decade.

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has claimed that the process for choosing where the 2026 World Cup will be played is the fairest, most objective and most transparent in world sport.

It’s quite a state of affairs when Real Madrid wield the sword of righteous justice in any particular contest. This is, after all, the club of General Franco’s favour, shady training ground construction deals, and gaudy Galactico excess, writes Tommy Martin.

The United Arab Emirates has claimed Qatari fighter jets intercepted two of its commercial airliners in international airspace on the way to Bahrain.

From spectacular fireworks in Hong Kong and Australia to a huge LED light show at the world's tallest building in Dubai, here is a look at how revellers around the world have welcomed in 2018:

French president Emmanuel Macron is using instability in the Middle East to cast himself in the role of honest broker and position France as Europe’s top player, says Maysam Behravesh.

The line-up for the 2018 World Cup in Russia is close to completion after Australia became the 31st nation to book their place at the finals.

The Qatari authorities are still not doing enough to protect migrant workers from the country's extreme heat and humidity, even those working on World Cup stadiums, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

What happens to the price of oil in the coming months will be critical to the global inflation outlook, and, of course, to the monetary policy of the world’s major central banks.

Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged Qatar and the four other Arab countries opposing it to negotiate an end to the crisis dividing them as he wrapped up a two-day Gulf tour.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has met the king of Saudi Arabia and officials from other countries lined up against Qatar as he works to end a rift that has left the tiny, energy-rich state isolated from its neighbours.

US secretary of state Rex Tillerson has departed for Qatar as he tries to mediate a dispute between the energy-rich country and a quartet of Arab nations.

Doha's response, they said, was "not serious" and betrayed Qatar's "failure" to realise the gravity of the situation.

The England 2018 World Cup bid team made a determined effort to win over former Fifa vice-president Jack Warner and “often accommodated his wishes, in apparent violation of bidding rules”, the Garcia report has found.

The England 2018 World Cup bid team made a determined effort to win over former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner and "often accommodated his wishes, in apparent violation of bidding rules", the Garcia report has found.

FIFA has taken the dramatic step of publishing a controversial internal report into the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process after it was leaked to a German newspaper this week.

Qatar's successful bid for the 2022 World Cup looks set to become mired in fresh controversy after the leaking of a secret FIFA report into the 2010 bidding contests.

The Arab countries isolating Qatar do not seek to force out the country's leadership but are willing to cut ties if it does not agree to their demands, a top United Arab Emirates official has said.

American Airlines has said that Qatar Airways, the Gulf country’s state-owned airline, has expressed interest in buying as much as a 10% stake, worth at least €724m ($808m), in the US airline.