ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Tuesday 1 January 2013 19 Safar 1434 - Volume 17 Number 5566 Price: QR2 Happy New Year www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 World revels in New Year festivities 2013 welcomed with hope SYDNEY: Asian capital cit- 50,000 people were flock- ies brought in the New Year in ing to Yangon’s revered golden spectacular style after Sydney Shwedagon Pagoda for the city’s set off a global wave of fireworks, first public New Year countdown with long-isolated Yangon join- and fireworks display, seen as fur- ing the pyrotechnic celebrations ther evidence of opening up after for the first time. decades of junta rule. Australia’s famous harbour “I came here to have fun and city brought in the New Year on leave disappointment behind,” a balmy summer night with a said 27-year-old reveller Sithu. US$6.9m display curated by pop Meanwhile, in Russia, President icon Kylie Minogue. Vladimir Putin used a traditional To the roars of the crowds, the New Year’s address to call for sky erupted at midnight as fire- unity following a year of protests works shot up from barges and jet against his return to the Kremlin skis in the harbour and cascaded for a third term. from the Harbour Bridge, burst- In Rome, Pope Benedict XVI ing and glimmering overhead. celebrated New Year’s Eve ves- “This is really putting Australia pers in St Peter’s Basilica, voicing on the map in terms of welcoming solidarity with the poor and call- The year 2013 written with sparklers in front of the New Palace in Stuttgart, Germany, yesterday. people to the New Year,” Sydney ing on believers to pause to reflect Lord Mayor Clover Moore said. from time to time despite busy Three hours later in Hong lives. “We have to know how to promised a bumper 16-minute, engulfed the spike-like tower, the city’s traditional end-of-year topped their priorities for the Kong, the iconic skyline lit up stop and think. This way our soul 24-tonne display opposite accompanied by a soundtrack concert in Bolivar Square, instead New Year. with an eight-minute display, as can find healing for the inevitable Copacabana Beach while in performed live by the Prague asking Venezuelans to pray at In the capital Manila, authori- an estimated 100,000 partygoers wounds of everyday life,” he said. Germany, fireworks capped a Philharmonic Orchestra. home for ailing President Hugo ties had been bracing for the flocked to the Victoria Harbour Revellers in New York were set party at Berlin’s Brandenburg In Paris, however, the authori- Chavez, who suffered a new set- annual rush of injuries as fami- waterfront. “I love the atmos- to celebrate the stroke of mid- Gate with the Pet Shop Boys, ties issued a reminder that all back after cancer surgery. lies celebrated with do-it-yourself phere here at New Year, but this night with the traditional New Bonnie Tyler and Blue. Vying to fireworks are officially banned for In regions devastated by firework displays and shot cele- is just the beginning of the night. Year’s Eve ball drop over Times become a permanent fixture on the night. The crowds that gather Typhoon Bopha which hit the bratory bullets into the air. Seoul We’re off to do karaoke now,” said Square, where South Korean pop the planetary map of New Year on the Champs-Elysees and southern Philippines in early ushered in 2013 with a ritual Katie Chan, 26, among the crowds sensation Psy will join a host of celebrations, Dubai planned a lav- around the Eiffel Tower had to December killing at least 1,067 ringing of the city’s 15th-century packed onto an open air walkway. American music stars. ish gala at the Burj Khalifa, the make do without any display. And people, many survivors said food, bronze bell 33 times. AFP In Myanmar, an estimated In Rio de Janeiro, officials world’s tallest building. Fireworks in Caracas, the mayor cancelled work and permanent shelter See also pages 9 & 16 Qatar stocks Davydenko beats Hanescu 14 five-star hotels open in 2012 fail to impress DOHA: The hospitality industry in Qatar witnessed an impres- sive growth in 2012, with opening of some 18 new hotels with a investors in 2012 total 2,863 rooms. The total number of hotel rooms in the country DOHA: Qatari stocks didn’t increased to 14,363 in 2012 from 11,500 in 2011, a local Arabic daily fare well in 2012, leaving inves- reported. Fourteen 5-star, three 4-star and one 3-Star hotel opened tors largely dejected as they in 2012. St Regis with 336 rooms was the biggest hotel opened in could make only marginal gains 2012, according to the daily. Six 5-star hotels incorporating innova- of QR2.53bn ($693m) in the tive designs were opened in the Souq Al Waqif area — Al Mirqab, entire year as reflected by the Armala, Al Najadah, Al Jisrah, Al Bida and Mushaireb. Hilton, meagre increase in the market Fraser Suites, Crown Plaza, Doha Downtown, Concord Doha, Grand capitalisation of the bourse. Regal were among the other leading hotels opened last year. The main index of Qatar THE PENINSULA Exchange (QE) was down 420 points, or 4.79 percent, to 8,358.94 Hillary is most admired woman at the end of the year yesterday over 2011. WASHINGTON: Ailing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had The market capitalisation something to smile about from her hospital bed yesterday when she had risen by more than QR7bn was named the woman most admired by Americans, for the 17th ($1.95bn) in that year. time. Clinton topped the 2012 list compiled by Gallup, with 21 per- Trading on QE is usually robust cent of those surveyed naming her as the woman they most looked on the last day of the year, but up to this year. It is the 11th straight time that Clinton has topped the mood was subdued yesterday the annual poll, and the 17th altogether — a first for Gallup. The as the trading value was barely result “further solidifies her position as the most often named Most QR230.44m, while volumes Admired Woman in Gallup’s history — a total of 17 times going back remained low at a little more than to her first year as first lady in 1993,” the polling company said. First 4.86 million shares across 2,165 Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko serves the ball to Victor Hanescu of Romania during the Qatar Open in Doha Lady Michelle Obama came second to Clinton. President Barack deals. Contrast this to the last yesterday. Davydenko, the 2010 Qatar Open champion and 2011 runner-up, won 6-2, 6-3 in just 75 minutes. Obama was named the most admired man of the year. AGENCIES trading day of 2011 (December See also page 28 29, a Thursday) when the trad- ing value was more than QR1bn, while volumes totalled a mas- sive 46.13 million shares. Overall, trading value for the entire year (2012) totalled QR71.46bn Woman denied entry into luxury hotel restaurants ($19.57bn), down 14.43 percent from QR83.51bn ($22.87bn) in DOHA: A young western-edu- was being served where the jazz that in my own country I am would assign her space and put should I shun it just because some 2011. THE PENINSULA cated Qatari woman was fuming performance was being held, she being prevented entry into a a sign on her table that showed hotel wouldn’t let me in?” said the See also page 17 with rage yesterday after being was not allowed entry. hotel, a public place?” the woman liquor was not to be served. woman. She said she eventually denied entry into restaurants in “I told them that they could said in remarks to The Peninsula According to the woman, this is had dinner in an ordinary Arabic- Peres says ready two luxury hotels on the New keep my table slightly away from last evening. not the first time that she tried to style restaurant. Contacted ran- Year eve merely because, she where people were having liquor, She said she went to another get into a hotel here on the New domly to know what the truth to talk to Hamas said, of her traditional attire. but they didn’t listen. star hotel and was meted out Year eve. “This has been happen- was, an official of a luxury hotel There was a jazz performance The woman said she had been similar treatment. “I told them ing to me year after year with no here said, when asked for reser- JERUSALEM/RAMAL- in one of the hotels, said the educated in the US and lived in I simply wanted to have food, but solution in sight.” vation, they were fully booked LAH: Israeli President Shimon woman. “All I wanted was to sit Europe as well. Visibly upset, she the hotel staff told me I couldn’t. The woman said she once had for the New Year. Asked if men Peres said yesterdayy that there and enjoy the jazz music which said she found it quite strange How could this happen to me in a few of her college-day friends and women in Qatari attire were is no fundamental reason not to I love, but just because I was in that while hotels here entertained my own country?” wondered the from the US here and took them allowed, the woman official sim- talk to the militant Palestinian my traditional dress, the hotel foreigners and “accorded prior- woman.