By Fazeena Saleem Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF), together with shopping malls in Qatar, is giving a valuable and different offering to visitors this summer.  It is encouraging residents to walk the corridors of the malls before the stores open every day.  ‘Walk More, Walk in Malls’ started at Villaggio last week and will be expanded to Hyatt Plaza and Al Kh

By Fazeena Saleem  If you suspect a child is being harmed, reporting your suspicions may protect the child and get help for the family. Any person can report suspicions of child abuse and neglect by calling the hotline 919, and a social worker at the Qatar Foundation for Child and Woman Protection (QFCWP) would attend to the case.  Sudden changes in the behaviour or schoo

         By Stephen Paul Nash Marine scientists have found gardens of vivid coral and creatures normally seen in the Gulf of Mexico in deep canyons only about 50 miles off the mid-Atlantic coast. The little-known cold-water corals occur on the outer continental shelf and along the walls of the Washington, Norfolk and Baltimore canyons, up to 5,000 feet deep.

  International Men’s Health Week kicked off on June 10 and HMC’s Dr Yousef Al Maslamani is a shining example of the benefits of healthy living. The Medical Director at Hamad General Hospital says it was two years ago when he decided to make major changes to his diet and exercise routine. “My brother called to say his blood sugar was high. I checked my own an

Dining in Doha gets a boost as celebrity chefs open restaurants By Pramod Prabhakaran Gordon Ramsay, Guy Savoy, Alain Ducasse, Vineet Bhatia -- names most food lovers are familiar with through television shows or recipe books -- now have a presence in Doha. All these chefs, with many Michelin stars among them, have opened restaurants in various parts of the city in the last few yea

Local venues are getting ready for the holy month of Ramadan with a wide range of offers to enjoy iftar and sohour.    Movenpick Embracing the spirit of generosity during the holy month of Ramadan, the hotel is donating QR10 from every iftar cover to the Qatar Red Crescent Society, offering its patrons the chance to enjoy a good iftar and do a good deed at the same ti

By Isabel Ovalle The comedy scene in Qatar moved up a level with the foundation of Stand-Up Comedy Qatar (SUCQ), a club headed by Halal Bilal, a journalist from South Africa who moved to Doha in 2010. He started the initiative with the aim of bringing comedy within reach of everyone. Little by little the group grew and now has over 20 comedians. Bilal first got interested in comedy

By Isabel Ovalle Enana Dance Theater is a Syrian ballet company founded in Damascus in 1999. Following the outbreak of violence in Syria, the management and almost half of its dancers moved to Qatar last year, in search of the peace they needed to continue dancing, and living. The company opened an office in Doha, a city where they have performed several shows in the past, th

By Fazeena Saleem  Emergency help given to someone suffering from a heart attack or cardiac arrest before the arrival of emergency services is crucially important.  If someone has a cardiac arrest or heart attack, there may be only a few minutes to act before it is too late.  It is important to know what to do ahead of time, as the brain cannot survive more than

By Isabel Ovalle Doha’s night scene is attracting new DJs. Just this weekend, the city hosted an event with resident DJs from Spanish franchise Pacha, rated third in the 2012 world’s 100 best nightclubs poll by DJ Magazine. Many other DJs are working here, most of them part-time. This is the case with DJ Rushn, originally from Russia, where he spent the first 12 years of his

Ambassador of the Republic of Korea Chung Keejong By Isabel Ovalle The number of South Koreans living in Qatar has increased noticeably in the last few years, with a large number of people from that country joining local companies in sectors such as aviation and construction. Qatar and Korea established a friendship club last February. Interest in South Korean culture and languag

  It’s not common to meet someone who has developed a successful app in Qatar, but V Venkatachallam is an exception. Pramod Prabhakaran spoke to the Doha resident who has uploaded two apps and is working on the third.   MyShiftDiary is a very simple application for people who work in shifts. This easy-to-use tool helps you find your shift on any date, record you

By Raynald Rivera Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Thani will culminate his seven-summit challenge after scaling Mt McKinley (Denali)-the highest peak in North America next year, the prominent Qatari mountain climber and philanthropist said yesterday. “I have already scaled six summits in various continents and there’s only one left- Mt Denali in Alaska, which I would cl

An exhibition showcasing the traditional culture of Uzbekistan opened its doors this weekend at Katara and will run until June 16. This is Qatar’s first ever celebration of the timeless and diverse Uzbek culture. A joint project of Katara and the Forum of Culture and Arts of the Uzbekistan Foundation, it features four distinct sections that include the presentation of a new book

  A new month begins, and with it a new calendar of cultural events that will delight Doha. The beauty of Uzbekistan, the Stomp ‘street show’, chamber music, films and other events will help the city cope with high summer temperatures. From May 30 until June 8, Katara Esplanade hosts an exhibition of photographs taken by participants in the Senyar contest for pe

By Isabel Ovalle Some of them have been running all their lives, others began only a couple of years ago, but all of them have this in common: they can’t stop running. One day they put on their running shoes and now they can’t take them off. Different reasons brought them here, and running brought them together in the Doha Bay Running Club. The club was founded by Karl

By Isabel Ovalle More than 750 photographers are part of Qatar Photographic Society (QPS), including 300 women. Local passion for photography has grown in the past few years, to the point that half the members of the Society are Qatari, the rest being expatriates. Ahmed Yousef Al Khulaifi, chairman of the Society, said, “A photographer should not take more than 12 photos per

By Isabel Ovalle The challenge of waste management is global, and Qatar is no stranger to it, with its residents generating over 871,000 tonnes of domestic waste in 2012. The maximum of daily waste registered last year reached a peak of 2,620 tonnes, a number that the year before did not surpass 2,443 tonnes. The Ministry of Environment informed that in 2011 the domestic waste coll

By Isabel Ovalle As part of celebration of World Press Freedom Day by Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF), Qatar University’s College of Law hosted an exhibition of the top 25 entries in the inaugural DCMF World Press Freedom Day Cartoon Contest. The exhibition was hosted at the QU College of Law from May 20 to 23, showcasing works that highlight the power of laughter. The p

By Isabel Ovalle It is said a picture is worth a thousand words. This is borne out by the World Press Photo 13 exhibition, which is on in Doha until June 5, aiming to inform and inspire an understanding of the world through photographs. The annual show is held at about 100 venues all over the world, with 15 sets of the exhibition travelling to various cities. This is the third time