From sports classes and football clinics to computer camps, creative workshops, leadership sessions, and hands-on learning experiences, Qatar Foundation (QF)’s Education City is offering something for everyone this summer – with opportunities to stay active, spark curiosity, and connect with the wider community.Hamad S al-Shaiba, the head of sports programming at QF Communication Initiatives, said: “Education City is more than just a venue – it’s a place where the community can come together to explore new passions, challenge themselves, and build lasting connections.”“Whether through sport, science, or creativity, it’s a destination full of opportunity, discovery, and meaningful experiences,” he said.The sports and recreation programmes include:* PSG Academy Qatar: Weekly camps and a month-long summer programme for boys and girls in two age groups: U6–U10 and U12–U14. Participants will train with world-class coaches, make new friends, and stay active.* QF Community Sports Summer Camps: Featuring gymnastics, swimming, and basketball from June to the end of August – offering a fun and energetic environment for young athletes.* Ability Friendly Programme: Two-week camps for people with disabilities featuring cooking, classroom activities, and sports. Camp one starts on July 6 while camp two begins on July 20.There are also ladies-only activities, which include:* Ladies Night at Education City Stadium: Every Tuesday in July.* Ladies-Only Sports Classes: Sessions in futsal, volleyball, and basketball are open to all skill levels and led by qualified female coaches.There are lectures at Al-Mujadilah Centre and Mosque for Women:* Public lecture, “For the Heart That Awakens” by Dr Hanan Ahmed al-Qattan on July 20.* Two-day programme on “Towards a Balanced Sense of Self”, on July 21-22.* Personal development course on “The Names of Allah in Our Daily Lives” on August 4-25.* “Design Thinking Workshop: Becoming Positive Change Agents” on August 17.* Tatreez course (four sessions) between August 4-25.There are also arts and culture programmes:* Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art: Guided tours of current exhibitions. An Arabic tour will be held on 5 July, while an English tour will be on 12 July. RSVP by e-mailing [email protected]* Mukhayamna Camps: The annual camp at Education City, organised by the QF’s Pre-University Education, will offer young learners the chance to develop a variety of skills. They include:* Leadership Camp (Boys) on July 5-10.* Leadership Camp (girls) on July 20-24.* Sports Camp (boys and girls) from July 6-17.* Quantum Computing Camp from July 6-10.* Cybersecurity Camp from July 13-17.* Business Camp from July 20-24.* Skills Camps from July 27 to August 11 across three different categories: boys (7–13 years), girls (7–13 years), and boys and girls (5–6 years).* Kafo Summer Programme, boys from July 5-21 and girls from July 6-2.

The third edition of Qatar Toy Festival, which opened Sunday at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre (DECC), has Ooredoo as the official telecom sponsor.Running until August 4, the event showcases over 40 international brands and feature interactive zones featuring popular characters, such as Hot Wheels, Shaun the Sheep, and Lilo & Stitch.Families also get to enjoy celebrity appearances, such as AboFlah and ALJ Sisters, live stage shows, mascot parades with up to six parades per day, as well as exciting attractions, including PUBG Battleground, Horror House, and the Sherlock Holmes Escape Room.Spanning over 17,000sq m, the festival features five immersive zones tailored to different age groups and interests, from Fancy Island and Champions Land to the action-packed Hyper Land and centre-stage performances.Attendees can also shop exclusive collections from Build-A-Bear, Labubu, and Haribo, and refuel at popular outlets like Juniors and Pizza Box, adding to the festival’s vibrant atmosphere.For children aged 4-12, daily summer camps, running from 8am to 1pm (except Fridays), will offer creative workshops powered by Science Street and other partners.The camp combines education with fun for up to 150 children per day, culminating in a “Back to School” finale to close the festival on a high note.This diverse lineup promises to captivate audiences of all ages, aligning with Ooredoo’s vision of supporting inclusive, educational, and engaging family events across Qatar.For an elevated experience, premium ticket upgrades offer fast-track entry and exclusive access to select zones and experiences, ensuring unforgettable moments with minimal wait time, with options for every budget and age group.“The Qatar Toy Festival 2025 offers us a platform to not only engage directly with families but also to showcase the innovative capabilities of our services,” said Ooredoo senior marketing and communications director Sabah Rabiah al-Kuwari. “We are thrilled to contribute to what promises to be a spectacular event.”The Qatar Toy Festival 2025 will be open from Sunday to Wednesday, 2pm-10pm, and from Thursday to Saturday, 2pm-11pm.

In an era when Earth is facing the threat of increased deforestation, a new research has given a warning about the importance of present-day tropical forests. The collapse of tropical forests during Earth’s most catastrophic extinction event was the primary cause of the prolonged global warming which followed, it has been found. The Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction — sometimes referred to as the ‘Great Dying,’ happened around 252mn years ago, leading to the massive loss of marine species and significant declines in terrestrial plants and animals. The event has been attributed to intense global warming triggered by a period of volcanic activity in Siberia, known as the Siberian Traps, but scientists have been unable to pinpoint why super-greenhouse conditions persisted for around 5mn years afterward.Now a team of international researchers led by the University of Leeds and the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan has gathered new data which supports the theory that the demise of tropical forests, and their slow recovery, limited carbon sequestration — a process where carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and held in plants, soils or minerals. During extensive field studies, the team used a new type of analysis of fossil records as well as clues about past climate conditions found in certain rock formations to reconstruct maps of changes in plant productivity during the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction.Their results, published in Nature Communications, show that vegetation loss during the event led to greatly reduced levels of carbon sequestration, resulting in a prolonged period where there were high levels of CO2. The paper’s lead author, Dr Zhen Xu, from the School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, said: “Critically, this is the only high-temperature event in Earth’s history in which the tropical forest biosphere collapses, which drove our initial hypothesis. Now, after years of fieldwork, analysis and simulations, we finally have the data which supports it.” The researchers believe their results reinforce the idea that thresholds, or ‘tipping points’ exist in Earth’s climate-carbon system which, when reached, means that warming can be amplified.China is home to the most complete geological record of the Permian-Triassic mass Extinction and this work leverages an incredible archive of fossil data gathered over decades by three generations of Chinese geologists. Dr Xu, the youngest of these, is continuing the work begun by Prof Hongfu Yin and Prof Jianxin Yu (of the China University of Geosciences), who are also authors of the study. Since 2016, Dr Xu and her colleagues have travelled throughout China from subtropical forests to deserts, including visiting areas accessible only by boat or on horseback. Dr Xu came to the University of Leeds in 2020 to work with Professor Benjamin Mills on simulating the extinction event and assessing the climate impacts of the loss of tropical vegetation which is shown by the fossil record. Their results confirm that the change in carbon sequestration suggested by the fossils is consistent with the amount of warming that occurred afterward.According to Prof Mills, if rapid warming causes Earth’s present-day tropical forests to collapse in a similar manner, then we should not expect our climate to cool to preindustrial levels even if we stop emitting CO2. Warming could continue to accelerate in this case even if we reach zero human emissions as we would have fundamentally changed the carbon cycle in a way that can take geological timescales to recover, which has happened in Earth’s past.”Reflecting on the study’s broader mission, Prof Yin and Prof Yu, underscored the urgency of blending tradition with innovation. “Palaeontology needs to embrace new techniques — from numerical modelling to interdisciplinary collaboration — to decode the past and safeguard the future,” explained Prof Yin while Prof Yu urged to ensure that the work transcends academia. “It is a responsibility to all life on Earth, today and beyond. Earth’s story is still being written, and we all have a role in shaping its next chapter.”