ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Wednesday 29 January 2014 28 Rabial I 1435 - Volume 18 Number 5959 Price: QR2 GDI, Oxy Qatar Silva’s ton puts sign QR830m Sri Lanka in agreement command Business | 17 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Emir with Russian ambassador Qaradawi urges Car dealers’ Saudis to stop aiding Egypt DOHA: Prominent Muslim cleric Dr Yousuf Al Qaradawi services under has called on Saudi Arabia to stop backing Egypt’s military- dominated authorities, accusing them of using Saudi money to CPD scrutiny kill Egyptians protesting at the overthrow in July of an elected Islamist president. The Egyptian-born cleric based in Qatar said the strong backing Dept plans offices at service centres that Saudi Arabia had provided Egyptian authorities which had DOHA: Tired of hearing com- detail the quality of services the crushed Islamist opposition since plaints about car dealers not centre provides to customers and Mohamed Mursi’s removal was providing prompt after-sales how prompt the services are. wrong and should be withdrawn. service or carrying out repairs The inspectors would get an “It’s surprising that the Saudi gov- in time, the state consumer idea of what happens on the ernment gave billions of dollars rights watchdog has set up an ground, what kinds of problems to support the coup and the coup office in a service centre of a customers face and the complaints leaders and those who are far from prominent automobile dealer- they make. God and Islam,” Qaradawi said. ship to get a feel of the problems “Also, our inspectors would have The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with the new Russian ambassador, Mohammad Kholov, who See also page 7 customers face. an idea as to how much time the presented his credentials yesterday. The Emir also received the credentials of the new envoys of the Comoros, The Consumer Protection centre takes to procure the needed Ethiopia and Moldova. UN fails to break Department (CPD) of the Ministry spare parts to repair a car, and of Economy and Commerce has whether undue delays happen.” Syria deadlock said it plans to open similar offices The initiative (to set up a base at the service centres of more car in Al Mannai’s service centre) is GENEVA: The UN failed to dealers. part of CPD’s car servicing and Govt to give away 7,782 plots of land break a deadlock at Syrian peace The office of the CPD at Al repair monitoring mechanisms. negotiations in Geneva yes- Mannai’s service centre in the This would give the CPD inspec- DOHA: The government is to distributed in one go but in phases doggedly insist on their preference terday, with talks interrupted Industrial Area is manned by its tors an idea about how the service distribute some 7,782 plots of as and when basic services are put if they are allotted plots in other after the regime railed against inspectors. centres of other automobile deal- land in different parts of the in place. Some plots have been areas. People who insist on specific Washington instead of dealing “We are going to set up such ers are catering to the needs of country free to eligible citi- allotted while others are at the areas must be patient and wait, with a transition of power. offices at the services centres of their customers, said the CPD zens this year for residential documentation stage and still oth- said the official. There was also no movement other automobile dealers as well in statement. purposes. ers are in areas where basic infra- The plots are being given away on bringing relief to besieged resi- future,” the CPD said in a state- The CPD monitors after-sales Once the allotment is over, structure is being put in place. free to eligible Qataris who have dents in Syria’s city of Homs, as ment yesterday. services provided by car dealers, there won’t be anyone left on the The largest number of plots — applied for land to build houses. the Syrian government demanded Al Mannai are dealers in several both within the warranty period waiting list, said a senior official 3,700 — is in Al Wakra and most Eligibility criteria require that assurances the supplies would not top brands of automobiles, among as well as after its expiry. from the Ministry of Municipality of them (between 2,500 and 2,800) the applicant be over 22 years of end up in the hands of “terrorists”. them Hummer, Cadillac, GMC and Local distributors of new cars and Urban Planning. have been allotted. age, employed and married, Al After a difficult morning meet- Subaru. are also accused of keeping prices Ahmed Musad Al Mohannadi, Some 1,100 plots are in Bani Mohannadi said. ing on the fourth day of talks, UN “The aim of setting up a base of their vehicles very high as com- head of the Land and Survey Hajer in the north. The other He added that the allotment mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said at Al Mannai’s service centre in pared to those in some neighbour- Department at the Ministry, told plots are located elsewhere in the process was transparent and a he had decided to cancel afternoon the Industrial Area is to see how ing countries. Unruffled, they have reporters yesterday that this country — nearly all of them out special committee chose the bene- talks and reconvene the parties for they are complying with the provi- demanded that the government would be the biggest land distri- of Doha. ficiaries on first-come-first-served “what I hope will be a better ses- sions of the consumer rights law give them back their exclusive bution by the state so far. Al Mohannadi said that while basis. Members of the committee sion” this morning. of 2008,” said the CPD statement. import rights. Addressing a news confer- applicants are free to specify cannot be influenced, he said. See also page 6 CPD inspectors would know in THE PENINSULA ence, he said the plots will not be areas they prefer, they should not THE PENINSULA AGENCIES WEDNESDAY 29 JANUARY 2014 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com HOME CMU-Q hosts second Hackathon contest Winning team creates ‘Tweetmotions’ to characterise emotions associated with certain terms, names and brands DOHA: Led by students, extracts emotions from live Carnegie Mellon University in tweets, enabling the user to Qatar (CMU-Q) held the sec- characterise emotions associ- ond edition of Hackathon com- ated with certain terms, names petition during the weekend. and brands. Sponsored by Vodafone, the “We can’t believe what we Carnegie Apps Hackathon achieved in 24 hours and are brought together students from excited about perfecting the across Qatar to build cool mobile application we have created. applications and games that can Hackathon puts the fun back make a difference in the way we into coding!” said Hira Yasin use technology. Dhamyal, a freshman in com- More than 40 students from puter science at CMU-Q and a CMU-Q, Qatar University, Al V-Hack team member. Jazeera Academy, and Newton Participants had the opportu- International School took part nity to better understand com- and were mentored by Carnegie puter science through talks and Mellon alumni and representa- interactive workshops on topics tives from industry giants, such as application design and including Vodafone, Microsoft entrepreneurship, which taught and Williams F1. them how to think about solv- Students also had the oppor- ing computational problems and tunity to network with peers and moving tech ideas from concept professionals. to reality. They demonstrated their “Yet again, CMU-Q students innovative technologies to a have delivered a great event, panel of judges from Microsoft participants came with ideas and and Vodafone, who selected the transformed these into a work- Hackathon competition. winning applications based on ing application and demonstra- Some of the students who took part in the design, idea and creativity. tion in 24 hours. Prizes included BlackBerry “Everyone showcased excel- Q10’s and iPads. lent ideas that simplify the con- “The Hackathon not only disciplines,” Sans said. computational problems and find Hackathon and encourage the This year’s winning team for cept of computer programming,” attracts students majoring The competition has helped appealing solutions,” Sans added. wider community to get involved the best overall app, “V-Hack,” said Thierry Sans, Assistant in computer science, it also them relate to and better under- CMU-Q students are keen next year. created “Tweetmotions” that Teaching Professor at CMU-Q. appeals to students from other stand key components of solving to build on the success of THE PENINSULA Kahramaa reviews Q4 performance Souq Waqif Spring Festival DOHA: Qatar General Electricity and Water It also focused on strategic plans and projects Corporation (Kahramaa) held corporate per- Kahramaa has implemented in the electricity and formance review of the fourth quarter of 2013 water sectors in addition to customer and other attracts 17,000 visitors daily yesterday. services. The strategic vision of future projects in The meeting was chaired by Kahramaa President, line with Qatar’s need for electricity and water was DOHA: Up to 17,000 people, families and children. Yesterday, are bouncy castles, rides, carnival Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari and attended by directors, also discussed. mostly families, visit the Souq thousands of visitors trooped to games, Dino Park and horse and managers and heads of sections, the corporation said Al Kuwari expressed appreciation of Kahramaa’s Waqif daily to witness activi- the souq to enjoy shows starting pony rides.