Qatar says Gulf alliance needs replacing

Qatar called Saturday for a new regional alliance following the failure of the four-decade-old Gulf Cooperation Council to resolve an 18-month rift between the emirate and its neighbours.Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said that the boycott imposed on the emirate by Saudi Arabia and its allies had irreparably damaged the existing six-nation structure set up at the height of the Iran-Iraq war in 1981."The regional alliance has been undermined by the crisis," Sheikh Mohammed tol