Kuwait is trying to mediate in the Gulf crisis in which Arab countries have cut diplomatic ties to Qatar and moved to isolate the kingdom from the outside world, Qatar’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. The row is the biggest diplomatic crisis in the Persian Gulf since the 1991 US-led war against Iraq and has seen shoppers in Doha panic buying food and other supplies after Saudi Arabia imposed a de facto blockade.

Qatar – an energy-rich travel hub – shares its only land border with Saudi Arabia and relies heavily on importing food, much of it from Gulf countries.Queues up to 25 people deep formed in the Carrefour supermarket in Doha’s City Center mall, one of the busiest shopping areas in the Qatari capital, hours after five Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, cut diplomatic ties with the kingdom, accusing it of supporting extremism.(guardian)…[+]