ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Friday 8 March 2013 26 Rabial II 1434 - Volume 17 Number 5632 Price: QR2 Petronas posts PSG and 45pc drop in Juventus Q4 net profit in last eight Business | 14 Sport | 22 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Qatar beat Egypt 3-1 in friendly 35pc increase in Plan for transit Qatari working women last year passengers to DOHA: There was a 35 per- cent increase in the number of Qatari working women last year, according to a report released by Qatar Statistics become tourists Authority (QSA) on the eve of International Women’s Day, which is being observed around the world today. Qatar one notch up in WEF rankings The majority of the Qatari working women (73 percent) DOHA: In a move that can give a rankings, while Switzerland, were employed in the public sec- major boost to tourism in Qatar, Germany and Austria occupy the tor, with most of them engaged in Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) top three spots overall, in that administrative and academic jobs is working on a plan to allow order. (51 percent). some transit passengers pass- According to the Travel and One of the most important ing through Doha International Tourism Competitiveness Report achievements of Qatar is a sig- Airport to visit key tourist des- 2013, the ease of hiring foreign nificant increase in literacy rates. tinations in the country. labour (ranked fourth) and qual- Only 3.1 percent of Qatari women A number of transit passengers ity of education were the driving and 4.2 percent of local men were of Qatar Airways will benefit from forces enabling Qatar to find high- illiterate, according to last year’s the scheme, once it is introduced. quality human resources (seventh) figures. “Any passenger travelling by inside and outside the country. Of Qataris who held a pri- Qatar Airways and has a transit Qatar also has a high degree of Egypt’s Hossam Ashour (right) fights for the ball with Qatar’s Khalfan Ibrahim during their international friendly mary school certificate, seven of eight hours or less will enjoy customer orientation (fifth). football match at Al Gharafa Stadium, yesterday. A spirited performance helped Qatar beat Egypt 3-1. Rami percent were male and 11 per- a new product enabling them to The report also indicated Qatar Rabia gave the visitors the lead but Qatar bounced back with goals from Abdel Karim Hassan, Ibrahim Maged cent female. Among those who visit tourist spots in Qatar and benefits from a safe and secure had finished middle school, 18 and Yousef Ahmed. See also page 20 explore them,” QTA Chairman environment (21st), good ICT and percent were male and 13 per- Issa Al Mohannadi told Qatar tourism infrastructures (32nd and cent female, while 32 percent News Agency on the sidelines of 37th, respectively), and excellent of those who had completed the ITB exhibition in Berlin. air transport infrastructure (23rd). secondary education were male He added that QTA was work- As far as sanitation, drinking and 27 percent female. ing with Qatar Airways to finalise water and presence of major car Among higher diploma holders, the scheme. rental companies is concerned, 10 hurt in gas cylinder explosion three percent were male and two Meanwhile, Qatar has climbed Qatar has always occupied the percent female, while 29 percent one notch in rankings in the top position. DOHA: Ten people were a posting on its Twitter account The incident led to a heavy of those who had received higher world travel and tourism compet- Other areas in which Qatar injured, three of them seri- last evening. traffic jam on the road leading education were male and 33 per- itiveness report released by the figured in the top 15 ranks were ously, when a cooking gas cylin- Eight of the 10 injured remain from Ramada intersection to cent female. World Economic Forum (WEF) transparency of government poli- der exploded in a restaurant on admitted at Hamad General Midmac roundabout, as motor- In 2003, out of 29 members yesterday. cymaking, international air trans- Salwa Road last afternoon. Hospital. The three who sustained ists halted their vehicles following elected to the Central Municipal Qatar is ranked second in the port network, sustainability of The incident occurred in the Al severe injuries were shifted to the the loud explosion. Council, one was a woman. In MENA region and 41st overall in the travel and tourism industry’s Katam restaurant near Midmac intensive care unit in the trauma There was panic in the air, with 2011, 13.7 percent of Qatari the report. Qatar is up one place development, reliability of police roundabout. section, according to hospital visitors to the restaurant and the lawyers were women while the since the last assessment in 2011, services, mobile broadband sub- “The Civil Defence controlled a sources. The three are Nepalese, surrounding shops fleeing the number of women in sports in which it was ranked 42nd out scriptions, fuel price levels, and limited fire in Al Katam restau- while the nationalities of the smoke and fire. Police and civil during 2010-11 was 1,191, which of 139 countries and third in the sports stadiums. rant from a gas cylinder explo- other victims were not known. defence personnel rushed to the was seven percent of the total MENA region. THE PENINSULA sion, wounding ten people who The restaurant was partially spot and cordoned off the area. number of athletes during that The United Arab Emirates Continued on page 2 were present in the restaurant,” damaged in the explosion, accord- THE PENINSULA period. leads 15 countries in the MENA See also page 2 the Ministry of Interior said in ing to eyewitnesses. Picture on page 3 THE PENINSULA Qatar gears up to sell Syria dissidents meet in Doha today Court jails 21 in Saudi for building houses on flood-prone land QR4bn in DOHA: A number of dissident Syrian ministers, members of DUBAI: A Saudi court has jailed 21 people, including at least parliament, ambassadors and one government official, after houses were built on flood-prone bonds, sukuk senior government officials will land, leading to more than 100 deaths by drowning, local media gather at the Ritz-Carton Hotel reported yesterday. The rulings came nearly a year after two DOHA: Qatar will sell today in their first conference men were jailed in one of the first convictions in a graft crack- QR4bn ($1.1bn) of three- to support the rebels. down the government launched following the floods hit Jeddah in year and five-year bonds and The meeting aims to send a 2009 and 2011. Arab News daily reported that a senior municipal sukuk, the state news agency message to the world that the official was sentenced to five years in prison and fined SR700,000 said yesterday. ouster of the Bashar Al Assad ($186,700) for giving permission for people to buy and build houses The Qatar Central Bank regime will not cause any power in areas hit by the floods. Houses were built on low-lying land and will offer local banks QR3bn vacuum or leadership crisis in the situation was made worse by the absence of a city-wide drain- worth of bonds and QR1bn Syria. age system. The floods spread after just a few hours of torrential worth of Shariah-compliant Former Syrian prime minister downpour in an arid region where months often go by without notes, Qatar News Agency Riad Hijab, who quit the Assad any rain at all. The newspaper, quoting judicial sources, said the (QNA) said. regime, is expected to deliver the indicted included real estate developers and businessmen, adding The local currency issues opening speech at the meeting. that charges included bribery. will take place quarterly, it The event is being supported by said, without specifying how the opposition Syrian National much of each maturity would Council. Saudi citizen dies of coronavirus be sold. Meanwhile, in Amman, coali- RIYADH: A 69-year-old man has died in hospital in Saudi Arabia In January, the International tion members said the SNC will after becoming infected with a new virus that emerged in the Monetary Fund’s mission chief meet in Istanbul next week to Syrian refugees queue at the entrance of the UNHCR offices in the northern Middle East last year. The latest case is the eighth death among for Qatar told Reuters that the elect a provisional prime minis- Lebanese city of Tripoli, yesterday. The number of Syrians who have fled 14 patients confirmed worldwide who picked up the coronavirus, a objective behind an issuance ter to run a political transition if their country has hit one million. distant relative of the Sars virus. Seven patients infected with the would be to build a domestic Assad falls. The opposition wants new virus, and five of the deaths, have now been reported in Saudi sovereign yield curve. Qatar to create a provisional govern- the talks partly because of Hijab’s professor from Homs and pre- Arabia, with other fatalities in Jordan and the UK. The virus can Central Bank was not available ment to administer rebel-held withdrawal, he said. vious president of the Syrian cause severe pneumonia and kidney failure. The latest patient died for comment. areas in Syria and to show it can Hijab said in a statement that National Council. nine days after being hospitalised on February 10. The man had not Qatar has issued local fill a power vacuum left by col- he had informed the coalition’s Asaad Mustafa, a former agri- come into contact with any of the previous patients, and had not currency bonds before.