The head of the French-Qatar businessmen Club, Claude de Kimulria, has said that the state visit of HH Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to Paris comes at the right time to enhance the very special relationship between Qatar and France that began when the two countries established diplomatic relations in the early seventies.

The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO) will perform a film music programme, Hollywood: A Musical Celebration, on June 27 at 7.30pm at the Aspire Hall. This will be the last evening concert of the season by QPO.

The Coasts and Borders Security Department (CBSD), popularly known as the Coast Guard, have recently manufactured a speed boat locally, and using it for the first time in an anti-smuggling operation, caught two cross-border drug traffickers who had hidden 81 packets of narcotics on Qatar’s shores.

One hundred and sixty-five students who successfully completed their secondary education proudly received their diplomas during the graduation ceremony of the Omar bin Al Khattab Educational Complex for Boys Secondary School, at the Sheraton Doha yesterday.

The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has announced the closure of Al Khaleej Street from Qasr Diyafa Roundabout (near Olympic Village) up to Jaidah Flyover, passing through the underpass at Mannai Roundabout.

In a consumer-friendly move, Qatar has asked all retailers and wholesalers in the country not to raise the prices of any commodity without prior permission of the authorities.

The Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation, located near Shahaniya to the west of Doha, has announced the successful hatching of three critically endangered Spix’s Macaws Cyanopsitta spixii.

With no cycle lanes to travel through Doha’s busy roads, Qatar’s many cyclists are becoming a more obvious and numerous danger to themselves and motorists alike as they tend to take the law into their own hands and follow their own rules regarding their chosen method of transport.

The Paris-based non- governmental organisation, World Health Fund (Fonds Mondial de La Sante) is planning to open a regional office in Doha.