Eritrean president arrives today
Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki arrives in Doha today on an official visit to Qatar.
During the visit he will hold talks with HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on bilateral relations.
Advisory Council holds meeting
The Advisory Council held its weekly regular session at the White Palace under HE the Speaker Mohamed bin Mubarak al-Kholeifi.
Council Secretary General Fahd bin Mubarak al-Khayareen read out the agenda which has been approved.
The Council then endorsed the minutes of its previous session.
The Council also discussed a report by the Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee on a draft law on chemical weapons and decided to submit its report to the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, a joint committee comprising the Advisory Council’s Legal and Legislative Affairs Committee and the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee met yesterday under its rapporteur Nasser Rashid Serayye al-Kaabi.
The committee resumed study of a draft law regulating the real estate development and decided to invite representatives of the ministries of Business and Commerce and Municipality and Urban Development to attended its next meeting to listen to the two ministries’ views on the draft law.
Arab peace committee to meet in Doha
Arab League said yesterday that the Arab Peace Initiative Committee will hold a ministerial meeting next Monday in Doha before an Arab delegation travels to Washington as part of efforts aimed at supporting the Palestinian cause.
Arab League spokesman Nassif Hitti said in a press statement yesterday that the meeting is an implementation to a decision taken by the recent Arab Summit which mandated the formation of an Arab delegation to visit Washington to discuss with US administration the stalled peace process and means of reviving it.
Safari Group’s promotion begins
A promotion of goods worth QR10, QR20 and QR30 has begun at the three outlets of Safari Group of Companies namely Safari Mall, Safari Hypermarket and Safari Shopping Centre Umm Salal.
Besides making available a host of items including electronic goods, food items, cosmetics, perfumes, toys, IT products, ready made items, and house hold items for QR10, QR 20 and QR30, the promotion also offers the customers purchasing Yardley products worth QR 30 a chance to win 1,500 gift vouchers of QR 500, QR 100, QR50 and QR25.
Already a promotion “Drive your dream” offering six Mercedes Benz cars to lucky customers are in place at the three Safari outlets.
Nine arrested for tampering with expiry date labels
Police have arrested nine employees of a company while they were manipulating the dates of expiry of a number of consumer goods which were unsuitable for human consumption, a report in a local Arabic daily said.
The arrests were made after information reached the Department of Protective Security that materials invalid for human consumption are found in the premises of a company.
“Intensive inquiries were promptly conducted in order to check the veracity of the information. Following confirmation of its correctness, security men obtained permission from the Public Prosecution for the raid and the arrests. The premises of the company were raided by personnel from the Directorate of Consumer Protection and the Capital Security. Large quantities of expired materials were found,” the report said.
QNRF funding for research projects
Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) has awarded funding to three major research projects aimed at expanding the Qatar Exoplanet Survey, improving solar power conversion systems and evaluating a novel weight management programme for the Qatari schoolchildren.
The projects were selected under the second round of the National Priorities Research Programme - Exceptional Proposal (NPRP-EP), an extension of the QNRF’s National Priorities Research Programme (NPRP).
“NPRP-EP was created to enable scientists with exceptional ideas, approaches, procedures and models to undertake grand projects aimed at solving key issues for Qatar and the world,” Dr Abdul Sattar al-Taie, executive director, QNRF, said.
The programme is open for submissions throughout the year.
Noor al-Merekhi, programme manager, QNRF, said: “Thirteen proposals were initially presented to a panel of experts for this round of the NPRP-EP. Of those, eight were accepted for the second stage of evaluation.”
The QNRF steering committee assessed the reviews before making the final funding decision, awarding three projects a total of $10.4mn over a period of five years. The first grant, awarded to Qatar Environment and Energy Institute, will expand the Qatar Exoplanet Survey, led by Qatari astronomer Dr Khalid Alsubai. In collaboration with scientists from the UK and the US, the survey has already led to the discovery of giant Jupiter-like planets ‘Qatar-1b’, ‘Qatar-2b’ and ‘Qatar-2c’.
With $4.83mn NPRP-EP grant, astronomer’s team is planning to expand the Qatar Exoplanet Survey capabilities by establishing more observing stations in new locations around the world. The second-awarded proposal will attempt to solve problems with integrating up to 1 megawatt of power from photovoltaic power conversion systems into the national utility grid using a silicon
carbide-based inverter.
Professor in electrical engineering at Texas A&M University at Qatar Dr Haitham Abu-Rub, who is a promising researcher in the field of power electronic converters, will lead the project, which has been granted $4.6mn.
Professor and associate dean for research in the College of Arts and Sciences at Qatar University, Dr Mohamed Ahmedna, in collaboration with world-leading surgeon Lord Ara Darzi, of Imperial College London, will lead the project to administer a comprehensive weight management programme.
According to the latest figures from the National Health Strategy 2011-2016, about 75% of Qataris are overweight and 40% are obese, increasing the likelihood of a person developing various diseases and health problems, such as diabetes. This project aims to help address the issue at its source by increasing awareness at an early stage in the Qatari population of how to manage weight and avert the risks associated with being overweight.
