Qatar has joined the bandwagon for hosting the 2020 Olympic Games and decided to place its bid before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the body floated the idea to be held the games in the non-traditional destinations.

It was a good time for the stocks of Shariah-principled lenders on the Doha stock Exchange this week. A large and mid cap equities shown robust performance taking the 20-stock benchmark upward by 2.15 per cent or 189 points during the reporting period. The benchmark stood at 8,949.76 points in the week making the QE to become the second best performer among the all Gulf bourses.

Enthused over significant rise in number of customers, the Qatar Airways is mulling to increase services on its popular Singapore route. The move is aimed to offer uninterrupted and hassle free services to the travelers across both destinations. The airline, currently offering daily flights from Doha to Singapore using its flagship Boeing 777 aircraft, will add non-stop services between Doha and Singapore from May 1, 2011.

There has been a scandal in the football world after two commentators left the Sky Sports this week after their sexiest comment is reported to their sexiest comments leaked on the internet. Keys, 53, will be negotiating on behalf of former Everton striker Gray.

According to a source close to the pair said, "Richard is out there at the moment. It is fair to say there is interest on Al-Jazeera's part. It's not beyond the realms of possibility - they both have friends in Doha."

It has been learned that the World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy has recently invited its 153 member delegations to a meeting on November 30. It is to be mentioned here that the motive of the meeting is to look for build on calls this month by the G20 and APEC summits to finish the Doha round of global trade talks.

As the International Energy Forum and the International Gas Union will hold the second IEF-IGU Ministerial Gas Forum at the Grand Hyatt in Doha on November 30, it is expected that it will see many big names in the list which will be a part of the same.

It is to be mentioned here that the event holds a lot of importance for many ministerial delegations and industry leaders from many gas producing, consuming and transit countries.

The members of the World Trade Organization are optimistic of some fruitful outcome of the Doha talks for boosting trade and commercial activities. However, they need to tackle some technical issues for bringing about political consensus to break the stalemate.