WE all know the facts: In
1949 when the Communist
Party took over, China had
been mired in civil wars
and dismembered by foreign
aggressions; its people had suffered
widespread famine; average lifeexpectancy
was a mere 41 years.
Today, it is the second largest economy
in the world, a great power with global
influence, and its people live in
increasing prosperity; average life
expectancy has reached 74 years.
But the assessment has to go deeper
than that, for reasons none other than
the apparent discomfort, if not outright
disapproval, Western political
and intellectual elites feel toward the
Communist Party´s leadership. Five
misconceptions dominate...
PETER Oborne, writing in
the conservative Daily
Telegraph, recently suggested
that the
Conservative British Prime
Minister, David Cameron, was not
merely in a mess, he "is in a sewer."
That seems about right. Cameron
lost it over Rupert Murdoch. He
showed staggering lack of judgment
in hiring Andy Coulson, the former
News of the World editor, as his first
director of communications at
Downing Street, a hubristic decision
made against the best advice and
apparently with a dual aim: to show
he was not an old Etonian "toff" and
to get favourable treatment from the
37 percent of the British print media
owned by Murdoch.
He then spent a fair chunk of time
during his first year in office in 26
meetings with various News Corp
honchos, including Rebekah
Brooks, who was...
IN a development that reinforces
Qatar's status as the regional
leader in the use and development
of "green building" concepts
and technology, Gulf
Organisation for Research and
Development (GORD), has
signed an agreement...
OVER 140 exhibitors from the GCC region, including 50 Qatari exhibitors, comprising local designers, are taking part in the Hya Exhibition, which opened at the Doha Exhibitions Center on Wednesday. The exhibition...
EU LEADERS must find a convincing solution to Greece's debt crisis at a summit on Thursday or the global economy will pay the price, the head of the European Commission said...
TEST cricket will celebrate its 2,000th match with a series opener between England and India at Lord's that promises to delight both statisticians and Sachin Tendulkar should the 'Little.
PLEASE God, no more red lipstick!' Hayley Atwell drops her head into her hands in mock despair. When she looks up again, the beautiful mouth that is the source of so much frustration has split her face...
PARCO Mall, the first eco friendly shopping mall in the country, will open at Mamoura area on Friday. The opening will come with a week-long festival of games, fashion show for children, magic show, puppet show and painting competition for children. Abdul Rahman al Ansari, a prominent businessman, will inaugurate the mall. Speaking at a press conference, Moncy Thomas, general manager of the mall, said, "Parco Mall is the first green mall in Doha with...
SUMMER Activities organised by the Qatar Police Sports Federation (QPSF) for Ministry of Interior (MoI) officers´ children are continuing with various recreational, cultural and sports activities. The programme will end on July 28. Children between eight and 12 years of age are participating in the activities. As part of the programme, 58 children visited Sports Excellence Academy...
TWENTY-five high school students have successfully completed summer programme titled, ´Northwestern Connect: Journey,´ recently. The programme by the Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) was held for two weeks. It gave students an insight into full-time university study and a brief introduction into the curriculum at the NU-Q, spending a week studying journalism and communication. The students learnt about the theory and ethics.
AMERICAN Airlines on Wednesday announced multi-billion-dollar agreements to buy 460 singleaisle passenger jets in an order split between the US aerospace giant Boeing and European rival Airbus. American described the deals for 200 Boeing 737s and 260 Airbus A320 jets, for planes to be delivered between 2013 and 2022, as the ´largest aircraft order in history.´ The split...
THE global Takaful market could reach US$12 billion by December, up from US$9.15 billion in 2010, experts at the recent International Takaful Summit 2011 in London said. It is expected to reach US$25 billion at the end of 2015 they predicted basing their calculation on the 31 percent growth of the market in 2009. Moreover, the market is likely to expand to new areas, the experts from Ernst.
SAMSUNG Galaxy S2 with software that will allow for the use of Arabic characters will be available at Starlink stores from Thursday. The handset comes bundled with a funky case, a leather pouch and a 50QR voucher to be redeemed against any other Starlink purchase, the company, Qatar´s leading communications and media retail and logistics business said in a press release on Wednesday. It has been priced at QR 2,599 inclusive of the bundle package. Customers...
IT´S a privilege for anyone to step on the hallowed turf at the ´Home of Cricket´ and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no exception as he prepares to lead his bunch of world beaters in the first Test at Lord´s on Thursday. Dhoni says that the experience of leading his team out at Lord´s on Thursday will be an honour to rank with anything he has achieved in his glorious career. "It´s obviously big, leading 15 people who have the expectation of 1.2 billion," Dhoni told...
URUGUAY reached the Copa America final on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Peru to book a showdown with either giantkiller Venezuela or Paraguay. Liverpool star Luis Suarez scored both goals in the second half at La Plata as the Uruguayans, who put out host Argentina in the quarters, kept on course for what would be a record 15th win in the world´s oldest international football tournament. "It was.
DEFENDING champion Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Spanish clay court ace Juan Carlos Ferrero both fell at the first hurdle to German challengers at the ATP Hamburg tournament on Tuesday. Last weekend´s Stuttgart winner Ferrero fell 6-3, 6-2 to German wild card Cedrik- Marcel Stebe while Golubev, a surprise winner here last year, crashed out 7-5, 6-3 in his first round match to Philipp...
"THERE´S a curiosity about Islam and a curiosity about who Muslims are — and a lot of the fear that we´re seeing comes from only hearing one story or these constant negative stories," said Hollywood liaison Deana Nassar. "Most of the time it´s innocent oversight, and they´re very happy to get our take on what they´re doing, to get our feedback." Aspiring writers were recently invited to attend a Screenwriting Workshop for Film and Television "to really...
FORMER Friends star Lisa Kudrow is back on television this coming Tuesday in Showtime´s new series, Web Therapy, — the first time a show created for the Internet has moved to a 30- minute comedy on television. Kudrow, who won an Emmy and two Screen Actors Guild awards for her portrayal of ditsy masseuse Phoebe Buffay on Friends, plays Dr Fiona Wallice in this new program. Wallice is a selfinvolved online therapist who attempts to solve her patient.
SHAHID Kapoor is flying high…literally. After all, he is playing an Indian Army pilot in his father Pankaj Kapur´s directorial debut film Mausam. The actor chats up Sreya Basu after releasing the first look of the film in Mumbai. What is Mausam all about? Mausam is about seasons of love. It is about the different emotions and situations that the two principal characters –Harinder Singh (me) and Aayat (Sonam Kapoor)- undergo…what seasons of love they go is...
QIB has announced a net profit of
QR703 million for the first half of
2011, an increase of 17% compared
to the same period in 2010.
The core business of the bank has
grown strongly, leading to a 14%
increase in operating income
which reached QR1.3 billion in
the first half of 2011 compared to
QR1.1 billion in the corresponding
period last year.
THE UN officially declared famine
in two parts of southern Somalia
on Wednesday as the world slowly
mobilised to save the 12 million
people battling hunger in the
region’s worst drought in 60 years.
The United States urged the Al
Qaeda-inspired rebels controlling
the area to allow the return of the
relief groups they expelled two
years ago while aid groups warned
many would die without urgent
action and funding.
PARCO Mall, the first eco friendly shopping mall in the country, will open at Mamoura area on Friday. The opening will come with a week-long festival of games, fashion show for children, magic show, puppet show and painting competition for children. Abdul Rahman al Ansari, a prominent businessman, will inaugurate the mall. Speaking at a press conference, Moncy Thomas, general manager of the mall, said, "Parco Mall is the first green mall in Doha with... 
SUMMER Activities organised by the Qatar Police Sports Federation (QPSF) for Ministry of Interior (MoI) officers´ children are continuing with various recreational, cultural and sports activities. The programme will end on July 28. Children between eight and 12 years of age are participating in the activities. As part of the programme, 58 children visited Sports Excellence Academy...
TWENTY-five high school students have successfully completed summer programme titled, ´Northwestern Connect: Journey,´ recently. The programme by the Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) was held for two weeks. It gave students an insight into full-time university study and a brief introduction into the curriculum at the NU-Q, spending a week studying journalism and communication. The students learnt about the theory and ethics.
AMERICAN Airlines on Wednesday announced multi-billion-dollar agreements to buy 460 singleaisle passenger jets in an order split between the US aerospace giant Boeing and European rival Airbus. American described the deals for 200 Boeing 737s and 260 Airbus A320 jets, for planes to be delivered between 2013 and 2022, as the ´largest aircraft order in history.´ The split...
THE global Takaful market could reach US$12 billion by December, up from US$9.15 billion in 2010, experts at the recent International Takaful Summit 2011 in London said. It is expected to reach US$25 billion at the end of 2015 they predicted basing their calculation on the 31 percent growth of the market in 2009. Moreover, the market is likely to expand to new areas, the experts from Ernst. 
SAMSUNG Galaxy S2 with software that will allow for the use of Arabic characters will be available at Starlink stores from Thursday. The handset comes bundled with a funky case, a leather pouch and a 50QR voucher to be redeemed against any other Starlink purchase, the company, Qatar´s leading communications and media retail and logistics business said in a press release on Wednesday. It has been priced at QR 2,599 inclusive of the bundle package. Customers... 
IT´S a privilege for anyone to step on the hallowed turf at the ´Home of Cricket´ and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is no exception as he prepares to lead his bunch of world beaters in the first Test at Lord´s on Thursday. Dhoni says that the experience of leading his team out at Lord´s on Thursday will be an honour to rank with anything he has achieved in his glorious career. "It´s obviously big, leading 15 people who have the expectation of 1.2 billion," Dhoni told... 
URUGUAY reached the Copa America final on Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Peru to book a showdown with either giantkiller Venezuela or Paraguay. Liverpool star Luis Suarez scored both goals in the second half at La Plata as the Uruguayans, who put out host Argentina in the quarters, kept on course for what would be a record 15th win in the world´s oldest international football tournament. "It was. 
DEFENDING champion Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Spanish clay court ace Juan Carlos Ferrero both fell at the first hurdle to German challengers at the ATP Hamburg tournament on Tuesday. Last weekend´s Stuttgart winner Ferrero fell 6-3, 6-2 to German wild card Cedrik- Marcel Stebe while Golubev, a surprise winner here last year, crashed out 7-5, 6-3 in his first round match to Philipp... 
"THERE´S a curiosity about Islam and a curiosity about who Muslims are — and a lot of the fear that we´re seeing comes from only hearing one story or these constant negative stories," said Hollywood liaison Deana Nassar. "Most of the time it´s innocent oversight, and they´re very happy to get our take on what they´re doing, to get our feedback." Aspiring writers were recently invited to attend a Screenwriting Workshop for Film and Television "to really... 
FORMER Friends star Lisa Kudrow is back on television this coming Tuesday in Showtime´s new series, Web Therapy, — the first time a show created for the Internet has moved to a 30- minute comedy on television. Kudrow, who won an Emmy and two Screen Actors Guild awards for her portrayal of ditsy masseuse Phoebe Buffay on Friends, plays Dr Fiona Wallice in this new program. Wallice is a selfinvolved online therapist who attempts to solve her patient. 
SHAHID Kapoor is flying high…literally. After all, he is playing an Indian Army pilot in his father Pankaj Kapur´s directorial debut film Mausam. The actor chats up Sreya Basu after releasing the first look of the film in Mumbai. What is Mausam all about? Mausam is about seasons of love. It is about the different emotions and situations that the two principal characters –Harinder Singh (me) and Aayat (Sonam Kapoor)- undergo…what seasons of love they go is... 
