THE National Health Authority (NHA) plans to operate the air ambulance service round the clock from September following the purchase of two MD 902 helicopters, which proved to be the most suitable for Qatar’s hot weather.

A Syrian expatriate has been sentenced to five years in jail for bringing in counterfeit currency from his country and trying to use it in Qatar’s shops in November 2007. His two brothers and an Indian shopkeeper were also convicted for not informing the police and destroying evidence.

GULF Helicopters Company (GHC), a 30% subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum, plans to buy fire-fighting choppers to tackle blazes in towers, a senior official at the company told the Arrayah daily.

A fast-depleting water table and the challenges posed by desertification are shrinking arable land in Qatar. Rapid deterioration in the quality of water has resulted in agriculturists abandoning several farms located adjacent to the coastal strip. This has followed the overexploitation of resources in the country.

Qatar has large gas reserves and considerable oil reserves, but in the absence of much else in the way of natural resources, the government is aiming for an economic diversification programme that will allow the country to develop as a knowledge-based rather than commodity-based economy, according to Oxfords Business Group’s latest report.

A team of medical volunteers from Hamad Medical Corporation returned to Doha after conducting 55 heart surgeries in Yemen, recently. The team of seven surgeons and support staff visited Yemen for one week to offer Qatar's expertise in cardiology.

The Anti-Narcotics Department of the Ministry of Interior successfully aborted an attempt to smuggle drugs into the country via the sea route recently.

Al Jazeera Network has unveiled a new contract with TSF On Sat that will take the channel’s service to over 3.2 million households across Spain on the Hispasat satellite network. Al Jazeera English programming will be broadcast on TSF’s satellite platform and on digital terrestrial television services in Northern Spain and Southern France (including Barcelona, the whole Pyrennes and touristic Costa Brava area); on cable in all Spanish and French major cities and on the station’s Internet channel