Qatar's sovereign wealth fund is considering backing a share issue by British bank Barclays, which could raise more than $7.81bn from investors, the Financial Times reported.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture HE Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al-Thani arrived in Spain yesterday.

CONSUMER confidence in Qatar remains high in a MasterCard indicative survey with some 400 respondents expressing ‘optimism’ about employment, economy, regular income and quality of life in the country in the next six months.

Employees of Sharq Village and Spa donated clothing and other essential items to the Qatar Charity Fund as part of the Community Footprints Programme of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.

AN Interior Ministry official has urged the public to report any security-related information to the Al Adeid programme, saying that maintaining a partnership with the community is essential to achieving security in any country.

Absence of democracy is behind the lack of Arab inventiveness and the Arabs' attempts to excel other civilizations have been a failure, renowned Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousuf Al Qaradawi has said.

Qatar Islamic Cultural Centre (Fanar) hosted 60 Filipinos in a basketball programme at Al Sadd Sports Club last Friday.

H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Minister of State for Internal Affairs, and H E Dr Ali bin Muhsin bin Futais Al Murri, the Attorney General of Qatar, inaugurated a project for electronically connecting the archives of the Public Prosecution and Security departments in the Ministry of Interior.

Qatar joined the world in observing World Drugs Prevention Day yesterday with an exhibition organized by the Permanent Committee on Drugs and Alcohol Affairs of the Ministry of Interior. Staff Major-General Saad bin Jassem Al Khulaifi, Director of General Security, formally opened the exhibition at the Villaggio mall.

A young businessman was burnt to death in a fire that broke out at his office in the Industrial Area yesterday.