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The Gulf Studies Centre at College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University (QU), organised the 10th edition of its annual multidisciplinary conference, bringing together researchers, policymakers, and experts from academic institutions across the Gulf region and beyond.Under the theme ‘Bridging Tradition and Progress’, this year’s conference featured more than 10 speakers from QU and other regional and international universities, including Kuwait University, Abu Dhabi University, Bahrain University, Lebanese University, Colombia University, Oxford University, and the University of Edinburgh, in addition to experts from Unesco.Through seven specialised academic sessions, participants discussed topics related to family, artificial intelligence (AI), cultural diplomacy, law, language, and other issues connected to social transformations in the region.The sessions addressed themes related to national identity amid globalisation, the role of the family in social and economic development, and the relationship between modernisation and cultural continuity.The discussions highlighted the challenges faced by Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries as they work to balance modernisation requirements with the preservation of heritage and social traditions.In her remarks, Dr Fatima Ali al-Kubaisi, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at QU, noted that culture, national identity, and the role of the family form essential pillars of national development, making the integration of cultural discourse into development strategies a necessity across the region. She said the college’s commitment to expanding research efforts focused on national identity in the context of rapid global change. She added that the conference deepens understanding of developmental trajectories in Gulf societies and strengthens the exchange of expertise while drawing on international models in identity and cultural studies.This, she said, reinforces QU’s standing as a leading research destination in the region. Dr Maryam al-Kuwari, director of the Gulf Studies Centre at QU, noted that the conference themes address a wide range of issues, including national identity in the context of globalisation, the role of the family in social and economic development, and the relationship between modernisation and cultural continuity.

Qatar Foundation’s (QF) Lawh Wa Qalam: M F Husain Museum, set to open on November 28, will be the newest addition to Education City’s vibrant arts scene. Dedicated to the life and work of the renowned Maqbool Fida Husain, the museum will bring the pioneering modern artist’s creativity to life through multimedia storytelling and diverse art forms including paintings, films, tapestry, and photography.**media[380673]**Seeroo Fi Al Ardh – Husain’s final masterpiece, opened at Education City in 2019 – will now form part of Lawh Wa Qalam: M F Husain Museum. It highlights the progress of humanity, and its inclination to utilise the surrounding resources to achieve its goals.Alongside Lawh Wa Qalam: M F Husain Museum, QF has over 100 artworks within its portfolio of public art, all open for everyone to experience and enjoy.Here are other inspiring artworks, installations, and places at Education City where you can explore art, culture, and creativity: Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art is dedicated to modern and contemporary art of the Arab world. Currently celebrating its 15-year anniversary, exhibitions include we refuse_d, which sees artists explore tensions between resilience and action.**media[380670]**Al Azzm is a sculpture within Education City which symbolises the determination of Qatari women, while also embodying Qatari culture and traditions and the resilience of the nation.Come Together, a public art installation designed by South Korean artist Choi Jeong Hwa, pays tribute to Qatar’s preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. The structure, resembling a dandelion, is made up of workers’ helmets, mirror balls, and traditional Qatari kitchenware.The Media Majlis at Northwestern University in Qatar, a QF partner university, is the first museum in the Arab world dedicated to discussing and examining the content of media, journalism, and communication.Georgetown University in Qatar, a QF partner university, houses a panel of the Berlin Wall, which was brought to the country by Qatar Museums under the Qatar-Germany 2017 Year of Culture, as part of its Public Art Programme. The panel, reinforced with steel bars, is covered in spray painted graffiti that conveys messages of hope, freedom, and change.Damien Hirst’s The Miraculous Journey, which stands outside QF’s women’s and children’s hospital Sidra Medicine, is a series of 14 monumental bronze sculptures that chronicle the gestation of a foetus inside a uterus, from conception to birth.**media[380672]**Louise Bourgeois’ 1999 Maman, housed in Qatar National Convention Centre, is a bronze, stainless steel, and marble sculpture which depicts a spider, and – standing at over 30ft high and over 33ft wide - is among the largest sculptures in the world.

The $55bn take-private of Electronic Arts Inc has evoked several superlatives, including being heralded as the biggest leveraged buyout of all time. Part of that list is JPMorgan Chase & Co’s $20bn of financing — the largest debt commitment ever by a single bank for such a deal.It marks the biggest win yet for Wall Street lenders that have sought to fend off the $1.7tn private credit industry from financing such transactions, which carry some of the juiciest fees in the debt-underwriting business.JPMorgan made the commitment through its leveraged-finance arm, not its private credit strategy, and the biggest US bank is expected to share the risk with rival firms to create a global syndicate of underwriters, according to people familiar with the deal. The debt — expected to be rated in the single-B range — is set to be sold through high-yield bonds and leveraged loans in a cross-border, dual-currency transaction, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential details.The final structure of the sale will depend on market conditions at the time of the launch, the people said.Normally, the buying and selling of companies by private equity firms drives a significant amount of activity in the leveraged-finance debt markets. But these deals have remained muted ever since the Federal Reserve began hiking rates in early 2022.That left investors clamouring for new deals — particularly big-ticket mergers and acquisitions such as Electronic Arts — beyond the refinancing efforts dominating the market that often recycle existing debt into lower margins, sometimes repeatedly.At the heart of the demand for new paper are collateralised loan obligations — the largest buyers of leveraged loans. The rapid creation of CLOs, which package sub-investment grade loans into bonds, is driving demand for debt deals even higher.US-based CLO exchange-traded funds welcomed $674mn of inflows last week, well above the weekly average $446mn recorded over the past year, according to JPMorgan research published on Monday.“The key element, or the connective tissue we need to produce net new issuance, is M&A,” said Tal Reback, global investment strategist at KKR & Co’s credit and markets business. “There is pent-up demand and fleeting opportunities to go to market. But there is a pipeline in the works.”Evidence of that started to emerge in recent weeks. A group of banks led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc launched a $5.5bn leveraged loan to help finance Thoma Bravo’s acquisition of human-resources software provider Dayforce Inc. And the home-care business of Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc raised almost $2.4bn of debt to support its carveout to Advent International.Advent’s deal isn’t just attracting typical CLO buyers for its term loans but also interest from Middle Eastern, Asian and smaller European banks that look set to buy up to $700mn of it.While the desire for a headline deal exists, the last big leveraged buyout was for Elon Musk’s $44bn acquisition of Twitter Inc. in 2022. That left a group of banks led by Morgan Stanley stuck with about $13bn of debt, and it took until this year for them to finally move that off their balance sheets.Separately, credit markets are dealing with two sudden distressed situations that took investors by surprise. Auto-parts supplier First Brands Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and Tricolor Holdings, a used-car seller and subprime lender, filed to liquidate, leaving lenders facing potentially hundreds of millions of dollars of losses.EA is being taken private by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake Management and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners in a deal announced Monday. Representatives for JPMorgan, Silver Lake, PIF and Affinity Partners declined to comment. A spokesperson for EA didn’t reply to requests for comment.The jumbo deal is a welcome development for the broader private equity industry, which has been grappling with a prolonged deal drought, limiting its ability to return capital to investors, according to Jake Mincemoyer, global co-head of debt finance at law firm A&O Shearman.“That flywheel is not fully spinning yet,” Mincemoyer said, referring to a rebound in mergers and acquisitions. “The whole ecosystem needs to start trading assets again.”The debt commitment is made up of $18bn that’s expected to be funded at closing, according to a statement, and $2bn that will be in the form of a liquidity facility, the people familiar with the deal said.