March 17th 2011: The eagerly-anticipated Qatar Marine Festival (QMF) opens today at the eastside beachfront of Cultural Village Foundation (KATARA) in Doha.

DOHA: The gallery at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar will present ‘Animal Pharm’ curated by Interaction Design Lab (ID-Lab) in Milan with Line Ulrika Christiansen, Stefano Mirti and Elio Caccavale today.

DOHA: Marking World Kidney Day, Al Khor Hospital conducted a health camp and awareness campaign from March 6 to 10, for the benefit of patients, visitors and medical staff. The activities included free check up of blood sugar and blood pressure. The visitors were also informed about their Body Mass Index (BMI) and were asked to follow up with their doctors in case they were suspected to have been suffering from chronic kidney disease (CKD).

MANAMA: Frenzied clashes swept Bahrain yesterday, as the kingdom declared a three-month state of emergency that gave the state’s military chief wide authority to battle protesters demanding political reforms and equal rights for Shias.

DOHA: Qatar’s 2011-2012 budget which starts on April 1 is expected to exceed the 2010-2011 target with 40 percent allocated to infrastructure projects, Minister of Finance and Economy H E Yousuf Hussein Kamal said yesterday.