Palestinian leader quietly in Qatar for World Cup opening

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — Qatar’s news agency reports that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has arrived in Doha to attend the World Cup opening ceremony. The official Palestinian news agency, which covers the daily activities of Abbas, did not report his trip to Qatar on Saturday. This apparently followed an outcry over leaked documents purportedly showing Abbas traveling to Qatar with a large entourage of close family members and aids. The documents, which appeared earlier this month but were not independently authenticated, also showed hotel bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has increasingly become unpopular over accusations of corruption, silencing of critics, and financial mismanagement.