The Qatar Investment Promotion Department (IPD) is planning to set up an office in the Chinese capital Beijing next year to facilitate mutual investments between the two countries, state-run newspaper China Daily reported yesterday. The Chinese office will help Qatari investors, including Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, to seek investment opportunities. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=July2009&file=Local_News2009070463416.xml

For children, students and adults who want to spend their summer mostly at home, books can be the best way to make the most of their free time and enrich their knowledge by exploring the world through the printed word.

Qatar saw its population fall by more than 40,000 people in June from May, after witnessing growth for the first five months of the year, official data showed yesterday. As of June 30, the country’s population stood at 1.61 million people, compared with 1.65 million in May, data released by the Qatar Statistics Authority showed.

The Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is developing a new design scheme for three of its hospitals to address a space crunch and provide a better environment and experience to patients and visitors.

The second hand car market in Qatar has become alive with the onset of summer, as a number of vacationers as well as laid-off employees are trying to sell out their cars before heading home.

A foreign doctor has been accused of illegal practice after he fraudulently obtained a licence from the Ministry of Health by presenting fake certificates and documents, reports Al Sharq.

ILQ has a new news poster! Orwa! He'll be providing translated news from the Arabic newspapers. I think it'll be handy for those who want to know what's in them!

The Al Waab Signal will be partially closed from today for up to a week for urgent maintenance work on irrigation lines, the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) announced yesterday.

The Ministry of Culture and Arts and Heritage yesterday announced details of the summer activities planned for this year.

A Qatari philanthropist has come to the rescue a five-member family in Gaza which lost its breadwinner in Israeli attacks.