PAUL Ryan is everywhere! Nobody can talk about anything but the congressman from Wisconsin. We now know he is the intellectual, spiritual and moral centre of the House of Representatives, who keeps his body fat below 8 percent and excels at a sport that involves sticking your hand inside a catfish, grabbing it by the tonsils and pulling it out of the water. ...
MADRID SPANISH infrastructure and construction company Ferrovial said on Friday that Qatar Holding has agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in UK airport operator BAA for 900 million pounds ($1.41 billion)...
DOHA THE Indonesian community in Qatar celebrated Independence Day of Indonesia in the premises of the country's embassy in Doha on Friday. The occasion was used to commemorate 67 years of Indonesia as an independent, sovereign nation....
QATAR was the top sovereign wealth buyer of European property in the last 12 months, spending 3.5 billion euros ($4.3 billion) on eight deals including the London Olympic athlete's village and a mall on Paris' Champs Elysees...
JONNY Bairstow hit the highest score of the match to lead an England fightback against South Africa on day two of the third and final test on Friday, keeping alive their hopes of the win they need to square the series...
HOT cars and outlandish car chases, check. Longtime pals Tom Arnold, Jason Bateman, Joy Bryant and Bradley Cooper as co-stars, check. Offscreen fiancee Kristen Bell as his leading lady, check on that one too...
DOHA THE announcement of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in Qatar has garnered interest from various organisations that offered to contribute in-kind and other services to GEW events. These events will take place between November 12 and 18, 2012. Qatar-based social initiative Silatech, which focuses on youth employment and entrepreneurship, is the official host organisation for Qatar, and chairs the GEW Qatar Board. First held in 2007, the GEW aims to promote job creation, innovation and economic advancement through entrepreneurship...
DOHA THE Qatar Islamic Bank organised a workshop for its wholesale banking customers, namely institutional large corporates, corporate clients, small and medium size clients as well as microfinance clients. The purpose of this informative workshop was to present QIB trade finance products and focus on the operational guidelines for the same in an effort to enhance awareness amongst QIB clients, existing and potential. Doha's Four Seasons Hotel was the venue for the daylong event, hosted by QIB General Manager (Wholesale Banking) Bert de Ruiter....
DOHA QDVC recently organised a Garangao party, for its employees and their children. Garangao is the traditional festival for children celebrated in the middle of the Holy Month of Ramadan. Gathering after iftar, the attendees took part in several handcraft workshops where the children coloured and designed traditional Ramadan lanterns and Garangao bags. At the end of the evening, the Garangao bags were filled with the typical sweets-and-nuts mix and handed over to the children. ...
CONSUMER sentiment improved in early August to its highest level in three months as sales at retailers and low mortgage rates spurred Americans to boost their buying plans, a survey released on Friday showed. But concerns about rising food prices caused a jump in both short- and long-term inflation expectations, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey showed. The preliminary reading on the index on consumer sentiment rose to its highest level since May at 73.6 from 72.3 last month, topping economists' forecasts for a slight uptick to 72.4...
BRENT crude oil fell to around $114 on Friday after the United States said it was considering the possible release of oil reserves to dampen prices and the Israeli president spoke out against any lone Israeli attack on Iran. News the White House was 'dusting off old plans' for a potential release of strategic oil stocks helped knock more than $1 per barrel off Brent, which hit a three-month high on Thursday. The global benchmark has risen more than a third in less than two months on worries that conflict over Iran's disputed nuclear programme could lead to war, disrupting oil supplies from the Middle East...
NEW DELHI A COMBINATION of power blackouts, uncertain tax rules and contracts that are not honoured make India a difficult place to do business, a senior Dell Inc executive said on Friday in unusually blunt comments by a foreign investor. India's economy is growing at its slowest pace in nearly a decade, with stubborn inflationary pressures and high interest rates. But what global firms often find hardest is the red tape and the policy paralysis that has stalled major reforms....
DOHA REIGNING Sheikh Jassim Cup champions Al Rayyan on Thursday announced that Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano would join the ranks of the club to boost its title challenge in the new season of Qatar Stars League, which starts on September 15. A Club official Ali Salem made the announcement after completing the one-year deal with the Brazilian. The club did not disclose financial details pertaining to the transfer and the player's wages. After a season and a half spent in Sao Paulo in the Brazilian championship, the Brazilian's arrival means Al Rayyan's foreign contingent is complete for the new football season....
MIAMI BEACH, FLA ALL LEBRON James has done so far this year is win the NBA's MVP award for the third time, an NBA Finals MVP trophy to go along with that one, his elusive first championship and a second Olympic gold medal. Dwyane Wade thinks his Miami Heat teammate is just getting started. With the start of Heat training camp now just six weeks away, Wade said on Friday that he expects James to be even better this coming season now that the will-he-everwin- a-championship question has been forever put to rest...
THE first truly tense moments of the NHL's collective bargaining negotiations have arrived. With NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL Players' Association head Donald Fehr not scheduled to sit across from one another until the middle of next week and the sides unable to even agree on the core issues that need to be addressed, a sense of uneasiness has suddenly enveloped the talks. After Wednesday's session, in which the NHL dismissed the union's initial proposal, Fehr set off for pre-scheduled player meetings in Chicago. ...
SINGER Cheryl Cole has finally buried her past and is reportedly dating US dancer Tre Holloway. This is the singer's first relationship after split from footballer Ashley Cole in 2010. The 29-year-old was photographed leaving a restaurant with Tre. "It's early days but they are an item. It's going well. They really like each other," thesun.co.uk quoted a source as saying....
ACTRESS Kristen Stewart has apparently just been dropped from the Snow White and the Huntsman sequel. Reportdely Universal is set to cut Snow White out of the script and focus purely on the Huntsman. Whether or not Rupert Sanders will direct the film is unclear, but he's certainly on the short list and it's likely that he would get picked. "The studio is currently exploring options to continue the franchise," mirror.co.uk quoted a Universal spokeswoman as saying....
BOLLYWOOD actor Sanjay Dutt adopted his father Sunil Dutt's dacoit avatar from 1963 film Mujhe Jeene Do for upcoming movie Son Of Sardar (SOS). The actor had plans of remaking his father's film Mujhe Jeene Do, but the plan has been incorporated in the Ajay Devgn-starrer SOS. If a reliable source is to be believed, Sanjay's clothes and make-up have been modelled around his father's look. However, this wasn't the original plan...
BEIJING CHINA'S President Hu Jintao on Friday met the powerful uncle of North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-un, in a clear show of support for the impoverished ally as it takes tentative steps to rebuild its shattered economy.
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MARIKANA (SOUTH AFRICA) THE police killing of 34 striking platinum miners in the bloodiest security operation since the end of white rule cut to the quick of South Africa's psyche on Friday...