Qatar ready for talks to end crisis!

• Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone with Sheikh Tamim a week ago in what looked like a breakthrough.

Qatar is ready to sit at the negotiating table to try to end a dispute with its Gulf Arab neighbours, Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said on Friday in Berlin.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade links with Qatar on June 5, for its role in financing terrorism and cosying up to Iran.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke by phone with Sheikh Tamim a week ago in what looked like a breakthrough. But Riyadh promptly suspended any dialogue with Doha, accusing it of "distorting facts" .

"As you know we have had a siege of more than 100 days against Qatar," Sheikh Tamim told a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. "We spoke about Qatar's readiness to sit at the table to solve this issue."

For her part, Merkel said she was concerned that there was still no solution to the crisis, adding she supported efforts by Kuwait and the United States to mediate an end to the dispute.