Qatar Daily News

The Tehran prosecutor confirmed on Tuesday the arrest of an Iran-based reporter working for Dubai TV, two days after he went missing, local media reported.

“No one is missing … a person has been arrested and if the ministry of culture confirms that he had permission to work then he will be freed,” the Mehr news agency quoted Abbas Jafari Doulatabadi as saying.

Reza al-Basha, a 27-year-old Syrian, was arrested in Tehran during opposition protests, a colleague told AFP on Sunday.

Dubai TV had said on Monday that it was awaiting a reply from Tehran authorities regarding the whereabouts of its missing reporter, who has been working for the channel in Iran for a year.
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Magid Mohamed’s late goal sealed a sweet victory for Qatar against Iran in the Doha International Friendship Football Tournament on Monday.

Iran came from 2-0 down to equalize the match but it conceded a late goal in the added time.

In the match held at the Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium, Ali Afif and Magid Mohamed put their team in the lead in the 6th and 7th minutes.
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Qatar’s new Islamic art museum, designed by famous American architect I.M. Pei, is the latest effort by this tiny, oil-rich nation to compete with rival Gulf countries for international attention and investment.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates also have spent billions during the last decade to transform themselves from small desert towns to sprawling international cities. Much of the initial investment was in business, entertainment and sports, but there has also been a push toward promoting arts and culture.

Qatar’s Museum of Islamic Art is the first of ambitious cultural project in the Gulf to be realized. The five-story stone building sits atop an artificial island like an imposing fortress half a mile off the Qatari capital of Doha.

Museum representatives said Pei’s design was inspired by Islamic architectural history, especially the 9th century mosque of Ahmed ibn Tulun in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. The Pei museum opened Dec. 1.

“The Museum of Islamic Art will be the starting place for the Qatari cultural experience,” Abdulla al-Najjar, head of the Qatar Museums Authority, said in a statement.
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Trade between Qatar and Iran increased by 49 percent to $114 million in 2007, as compared to $76 million in 2006 and $93 million in the year before, according to the latest statistics released by the Qatari Ministry of Business and Trade, ISNA wrote.

The imports peaked at 70 percent in 2006 but fell to 52 percent in the following year and 56 percent in 2005. The figures were released on the sidelines of the second meeting of Qatari-Iranian Follow-up Committee that was held in Doha at the Ministry of Business and Trade on Monday.

Sheikh Fahd Bin Jassim Bin Mohammed Al Thani, Minister of Business and Trade, and Ali Akbar Mehrabijan, Minister of Industry and Mines of Iran, attended the event.

Sheikh Fahd said Qatar has been keen to invest in Iran, especially in areas like agriculture and industry.

He spoke of the possibility of setting up joint ventures.
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The Islamic Republic of Iran and Qatar stressed expansion of industrial and economic ties.

The issues was raised during a meeting between Iran’s Minister of Industry and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Qatar’s Commerce Minister Fahd bin Jasim al-Thani in Doha on Monday.

At the meeting, Mehrabian noted the Iranian and Qatari leaders’ intention for expansion of all-out cooperation, and announced preparedness of Iran’s public and private industrial and mines units to cooperate with Qatari sides.

The Iranian minister also said that Iran is ready to cooperate with Qatar in exploration, excavation and processing mines materials and provide Qatar with steel, cement, car, industrial equipment, construction materials and to implement joint projects with Qatar in these fields.
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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today ended his two-day official trip to Qatar with a visit to the Islamic Arts Museum here.

He and his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah accompanied by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Utama Dr Rais Yatim and several Cabinet ministers spent about an hour at the museum.

Abdullah showed a keen interest on the various artifacts on display which came from Islamic countries like Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Qatar itself. Among the exhibits included a handwritten Quran and other works of art produced around the 16th century.
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