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from the desk

I strongly believe in the power of Karma and covetously hope that in doingsome good deed during my lifetime, I will be paid back in kind or action.I also believe that in this world nothing happens to a person that he doesnot, for some reason or other, deserve. And I often wonder how, then,do you explain the Egypt situation or the now seemingly bright future ofHosni Mubarak? How can a man who was a tyrant a year ago suddenly bepardoned? But what leaves me wordless are the atrocities committedby using the worlds most heinous weapons against the worlds mostvulnerable people.

While Middle Eastern countries battle out their power-grappling agenda and inhuman wartactics, we talk about a harmless yet materialistic pursuit that we all love to indulge in

ashion.

Fashion is a multi-billion dollar industry that has been largely unaected by the fnancial

crisis and is a growing industry in the Middle East. Middle Eastern customers are also said

to be one o the biggest consumers and hence the business o ashion in the region is at

the threshold o bigger bets and acquisitions. Qatar Today gives you the lowdown on this

burgeoning industry.

I great ashion was about giving people what they didnt know they wanted, as ashion

expert Diana Vreeland very amously coined, what we do know is that education is giving

people what is essential.

And education is one sector that is being given its right ocus in Qatar (education is allo-

cated 15% o the countrys budget outlay o QR210 billion ($57.9 billion) or 2013) with

Sheikha Moza bint Nasser backing most o the educational institutions here while she

ocuses on the Educate a Child initiative globally. But the region still grapples with high

unemployment rates which is attributed to the mismatch between the needs o the

market and the skills being developed in schools and higher education. All these issues and

more are discussed in detail in Qatar Todays Education Spotlight. Also not to miss is an

interesting timeline that takes one through Qatars small steps and the later bigger jumps

in the education sector.

Travelling through the old pearl trading routes, which now have been taken over by the

hugely proftable LNG trade routes, is Ben Barbour who sketches his experiences atop one

o the huge LNG carriers. Qatar Todayollows his journey.

Taking a moment rom our worldly pursuits lets pray or the poor souls who lost their lives

to chemical warare in Syria, described by U.S. Secretary o State John Kerry as a morally

obscene act. I believe strongly that whoever committed this act will eventually be held

accountable. There ISKarma, ater all.

Sindhu nair