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.

DOHA: Advancing the understanding of diabetes, obesity and metabolic syndrome, the three-day XVII International DALM Symposium hosted by Qatar Foundation and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, and the Giovanni Lorenzini Medical Foundation in Milan, Italy and Houston, Texas, opened here yesterday.

DOHA: Qatar continues to go one notch higher and improve its efficiency to be viewed globally and regionally as among the top 20 least corrupt countries in the world. According to Corruption Perception Index 2010 (CPI 2010) released by Transparency International, Qatar has improved its rank to 19th place globally among the 178 countries last year from 22nd in 2009.

FUKUSHIMA: Japan scrambled to avert a meltdown at a nuclear plant yesterday after a hydrogen explosion at one reactor and exposure of fuel rods at another, days after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people. Roads and rail, power and ports have been crippled across much of Japan’s northeast and estimates of the cost of the disasters have leapt to as much as $170bn.

Manama: Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani yesterday called on the Bahraini opposition to heed their government’s call for dialogue while expressing the hope that Bahrain would continue to be an oasis of security and stability.

In its drive to implement new technologies as part of its commitment to preserve the environment RasGas has embarked on a wide ranging programme to convert all its Trains 1 through 4 and bringing them to the best available technology in the market to reduce the nitrogen oxide (NOx) level.

DOHA: The Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani joined the hundreds of mourners attending the last rites for Ali Hassan Al Jaber, the Al Jazeera cameraman who was killed in Libya on Saturday.

stock markets in the Arabian Gulf rallied yesterday as planned protests in Saudi Arabia over the weekend failed to materialise and as the Gulf Co-operation Council states approved a $20bn economic aid package for Bahrain and Oman.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan describes the crisis as Japan’s worst since 1945