Rising expectations from the first quarter results pushed Qatari shares to their highest point in more than a month. Qatar National Bank, the country's biggest lender by market value, has shown robust performance by rising 0.9 per cent to hit 139.2 rials.

Masraf Al Rayan, the state's second-largest Islamic bank was also on rise with its stocks hitting to 24.2 rials reporting an increase of 6.4 per cent. Similarly, stocks of Qatar Islamic Bank ended at 83 rials.

This rise in shares of all banking stocks proved well for the Qatari index making it to register an increase of 1.1 per cent to close at the highest level since February 20. The index also took a positive note of central bank’s decision to slash interest rates by half percentage points.

Business officials have said that the sale of the exclusive London department store Harrods for $2.2 billion to Qatar Holdings was finalized on Saturday.

The BBC has reported that Ken Costa, an adviser in the transaction, said owner Mohammed al-Fayed, was retiring "to spend more time with his children and grandchildren."

Harrods Department Store has been sold to Qatar Holdings. The deal has been finalized with about 1.5 billion pound.  The Harrods owner Mr. Mohammed Al Fayed had declared that he has sold the store to Qatar Holdings.

They have signed such a deal both the firms had announced the fact officially. Mr. Al Fayed had purchased the Harrods in the year 1985 by paying 615 million pounds. Now he has been able to get a huge amount for the same from the Qatar Holdings.

However, he has denied commenting on why he has decided for this sale. Only thing he has revealed that he will remain a part of the company but will not involve in the management part.

As the reports confirm, Al Jazeera has supposedly purchased Bosnian TV station Studio 99.

Al Jazeera, the 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel wishes to set up a regional TV centre for the Balkan natives who are located in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

Sarajevo's mayor Alija Behmen further stated, "Al Jazeera will establish a regional office in Sarajevo which is expected to lead to the creation of new jobs".

M F Husain who is one of the most renowned Indian painters and moved to Qatar when he met with spate of cases over his controversial paintings of Hindu goddesses, recently accepted Qatari citizenship and gave up his Indian passport.

However, when Jammu and Kashmir Panthers Party Chief Bhim Singh, filed a petition to Supreme Court urging the court to ask Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take steps to bring Husain back to India; SC declined to instruct the government to take steps to ensure his return to India. The court didn't withdraw any case against him too.

India is going to get an additional four million metric tons of liquefied natural gas (LNG) per year from Qatar by 2013. The contract will be for a period which would range between 15 to 20 years.

India's oil secretary told about this import on Monday and said that Qatar was ready for the deal.

Talking to media persons during sidelines of a conference, S Sundareshan said that the proposal has been set up for year by year. In 2011, India will be getting additional 0.3MMT which would become 2.5 MMT by 2012 and 4 MMT by 2013.

On 4th February, a Partnership Agreement was signed by Doha Bank and Unesco at Unesco Headquarters at West Bay, which was attended by R Seetharaman, Doha Bank Group CEO; Dr Hamed Al Hammami, Unesco Representative in the Arab States of the Gulf and Yemen, Director of Unesco Doha; Dr Benno Boer, Unesco's Ecological Science Advisor in the Arab Region; Mark Sutcliffe, Unesco's Project Assistant - Natural Sciences, Saleh Souror, Secretary General of the National Commission, Doha Bank Management, other guest and dignitaries.

Doha, Nov 14 : England manager Fabio Capello has blocked plans for a lavish party before the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, saying he doesn’t believe there is anything to celebrate.

The proposed idea of organizing a gala bash ahead of the flight to South Africa next June was instantly rejected by Capello as something that could not be part of the pre-World Cup agenda for his squad, The Mirror reports.

Doha, Qatar - Heartbroken Russian Dinara Safina may miss the start of 2010 in Australia due to the back problem which forced her from the Sony Ericsson Championships this week.

The player who lost the year-end number one ranking to Serena Williams after being forced to withdraw a few minutes into her opening group match, said doctors have told her to rest for up to a month.

That kind of scheduling could surely derail any preparation for the Australian Open starting in mid-January.

Doha, Qatar  - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will again start their tennis seasons with New Year's appearances at the Capitala World Championship before heading to Australia to prepare for the Grand Slam.

Officials at the December 31-January 2 event announced Monday that they have secured the top two in the world for a three-day, six-player tournament won last year by Scot Andy Murray over Nadal.

Istanbul - Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani met with Turkey's President Abdullah Gul in Istanbul on Tuesday to discuss greater cooperation between the two countries in the energy sector including the building of a possible pipeline.

At a joint press conference, Sheikh al-Thani said the Gul and he had agreed on the creation of a working group for the purpose of working out possible cooperation in the energy sector.

Doha (Qatar), July 29 : Recent excavations conducted in Qatar has resulted in a substantial number of new sites being discovered and significantly more archaeological research in the region, which may revamp the whole history of the nation written so far.

According to a report in The Peninsula On-line, there has been a notable increase in the amount of archaeological field work being conducted in Qatar covering the ancient to the Islamic periods.

The research is bringing important new information to light.

Better Homes (BH) has decided to introduce a new office in Qatar by fourth quarter this fiscal.

Functioning under the Mohammed Hamid Al Mana Group of Companies, Better Homes Qatar portfolio will start with the management of the Al Azizya Complex, a retail mall that entails a 90 villa compound, 50 apartments and 37 retail shops; additional ongoing projects including The Pearl, Lusail, and a range of apartments and offices.

Qatar Telecommunications Company (Qtel) has announced that it is introducing syndication of its $1.5 billion (Dh5.5bn) loan in order to enhance the facility amount. The sources said that in March this fiscal, Qtel had inked the forward start pact on a revolving credit facility maturing in November, extending the credit by two years.

Under a forward start pact lenders typically agree to extend existing loans at final maturity in return for a hefty increase in pricing on the existing credit.

Qatar Airways has announced that it has inked a firm contract for 24 Airbus A320 Family aircraft.

The sources said that the pact entails the firming up of a contract for four A321 aircraft.

At present, Qatar Airways operates 19 A320 Family aircraft, the Middle East's largest fleet. The new aircraft configured with a two-class cabin will be deployed to increase and expand services on regional, Eastern European and south west Asia services.

Doha - NYSE Euronext, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, signed on Friday its agreement with Qatar to acquire 20 per cent of the newly created Qatar Exchange for 200 million dollars.

The agreement will provide NYSE Euronext with an important presence in the Middle East, according to a statement released by both partners.

According to confirmed sources, German sports car maker Porsche SE held exclusive talks with Qatar Investment Authority, the investment arm of the government, has expressed interest in purchasing as much as 25% stake in Porsche, a move that would help the German automobile company to reimburse its current debt.

Albrecht Bamler, a spokesman for Stuttgart, Germany-based Porsche, informed that the negotiations with the Persian Gulf state were taking place in a "good atmosphere." Porsche's debt is believed to be around $12.5 billion after it used its stock options to buy Volkswagen last year.

Nicosia, June 1 : Qatar `s Dohaland firm has announced plans to develop and regenerate a 35 hectare site located in inner Doha. The project will be executed in five stages at a total cost of 5.5 billion dollars and is to be completed in
2016.

Aramex has announced that it has clinched an agreement with Vodafone Qatar.

The sources said that the arrangement has been signed with the aim to provide network logistics, retail distribution, logistics management, various express and freight shipping.

As per the agreement terms, the company will also offer inventory management, provision of warehouse space for storage of handsets, SIM cards and marketing material.

The delegates at a gas conference in Abu Dhabi were recently informed by the CEO of Qatargas that the company was in a good position to become the world's largest exporter of natural gas.

Faisal Al Suwaidi, who confirmed that he was unfazed by the current supply glut, while addressing the delegates at the Gastech 2009 conference, also presented a bullish speech. Mr. Suwaidi highlighted Qatar's huge investment in building a multi-billion dollar infrastructure in order to support the export of its huge reserves of natural gas.