ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Monday 20 May 2013 10 Rajab 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5705 Price: QR2 Msheireb Broad bowls Properties awards England to QR2.5bn deal emphatic victory Business | 18 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Emir meets Indian minister Emir to open Several farms 13th Doha Forum today being used for DOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani will open the 13th Doha Forum today in presence of a number other purposes of heads of state and dignitaries. The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Misuse of government land Thani will also speak during the opening session, giving Qatar’s DOHA: Many agricultural to make more profits owners perspective on current challenges farms in the country for which might be using some for other in international relations. the government provided land purposes. The forum will discuss the on long-lease at a nominal rent, The violating farms were given impact of emerging world order are being misused by their own- six months’ grace period to mend in the Arab world and challenges ers for other purposes in viola- their ways or face the music facing new democracies in the tion of the law. and the deadline ends later this Middle East. It will look at the Some farmhouses have become month. current status for development hideouts of runaway workers, The daily said it found it amaz- amid the ongoing economic crisis while automobile workshops have ing that some farms were being and the impact on human rights. been opened in others. There are used as hideouts for outlawed Discussions at the three-day still others which some compa- runaway workers and there was forum will also assess the impact nies are using as labour camps for no official monitoring. of the digital era on foreign affairs, their workers. In labour camps, low-income looking at both the challenges for Then, there are those where workers were made to stay in sub- national security and opportuni- small factories have been set up standard conditions and among ties for digital diplomacy. and some even have photo studios rodents. The camps hardly have The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani with Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Doha yes- THE PENINSULA and gymnasiums on them. basic amenities and generators terday. Talks dealt with bilateral ties and matters of common interest. See also page 17 Some farms along roads can are used to supply electricity. even be seen having restaurants “What are the agencies respon- and cafeterias on them. sible for ensuring human rights Local Arabic daily Al Arab doing?” wondered the daily. reported yesterday carrying “There are no checks.” photographs of some farms that Despite widespread misuse of Jihadist groups seize Syrian oil wells showed the above facilities exist- farmland, people are asking the ing on their premises in severe government to allot them more DAMASCUS: The EU decision As opposition groups have of black smoke, exposing the local implementation regulations have breach of the country’s laws. and more land for farming. to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid turned their guns on each other population to the dangers of the yet to be issued so the decision The government allots land in The government this year the opposition has accelerated a in the battle over oil, water and thick smog and the frequent has not taken effect, but regional arable areas of the country for amended a law (Number 10) that scramble for control over wells agricultural land, military pres- explosions at the improvised experts say the announcement farming and provides financial was passed in 1987 and enforced a and pipelines in rebel-held areas sure on Bashar Al Assad’s govern- plants. intensified the race for oil — a and other support as part of its new one (Law Number 2 of 2013) and helped consolidate the grip ment from the north and east has Heating oil, diesel and petrol is race the western-backed moder- plans to boost local agricultural that specifies stringent punish- of jihadist groups over the coun- eased off. In some areas, Al Nusra condensed in hoses running from ates lost. production but the effort seems to ment for misusing farmland. try’s key resources. has struck deals with govern- the tanks through pools of water Joshua Landis, an expert on be in vain. There are an estimated The new legislation stipulates Jabhat Al Nusra, affiliated ment forces to allow the transfer and sold across the north, as far the region at the University of 1,400 farms in the country and a jail term of six months or a fine with Al Qaeda and other extreme of crude across the front lines to as Aleppo. The remaining crude Oklahoma who runs the Syria the Ministry of Environment’s of QR100,000 or both for repeated Islamist groups, control the the Mediterranean coast. is shipped by road on tankers to Comment blog, said the EU deci- agricultural department late violation of its clauses. majority of the oil wells in Deir As a result of the rush to make Turkey. One leading opposition sion on oil “sent a message that last year detected some 71 of However, it remains to be seen Ezzor province, displacing local quick money, open-air refineries figure said: “The northern front oil could come back online faster them that were found misusing how effectively the government Sunni tribes, sometimes by force. have been set up in Deir Ezzor hasn’t just gone dormant; the than most thought possible”. the land. enforces the law once the grace They have also seized control of and Al Raqqa provinces. Crude northern front has gone commer- “Whoever gets their hands on Most farms supporting agricul- period given to the violators ends other fields from Kurdish groups is stored in ditches and heated cial.” The EU announced it was the oil, water and agriculture, tural production cultivate animal this month-end. further to the north-east, in in metal tanks by wood fires, lifting its oil embargo in April to holds Sunni Syria by the throat. fodder and vegetables. However, THE PENINSULA Al Hasakah governorate. shrouding the region with plumes help the moderate opposition. The GUARDIAN NEWS Troop training Saudi vegetable Dubai workers launch seller kills self RIYADH: A Saudi newspaper rare strike over wages says a vegetable seller who set himself on fire in Riyadh after DUBAI: Thousands of work- to be identified said several thou- police confiscated his goods for ers employed by Dubai’s larg- sand workers engaged on various standing in an unauthorised est construction firm, Arabtec, projects did not report for duty area has died. stayed away from work yester- yesterday and stayed in their The website for newspaper day to back wage demands, a accommodation. Sada reported that the man, rare labour protest in the Gulf A sub-contractor confirmed the identified only by the family name emirate, where trade unions are stoppage, saying he had to call of Sureihi, died in hospital late banned, staff said. back his workers from one Dubai on Friday. Most blue collar workers in Gulf work site after Arabtec labourers The self-immolation emulated countries are migrant labourers failed to show up yesterday. that of a street vendor in Tunisia, hired on a contract basis from Asked for comment, an Arabtec whose 2011 death sparked the South Asian countries like India, spokesperson said: “We are work- Arab Spring uprisings. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, ing to resolve the situation as Family members were seen and strikes are uncommon. quickly as possible, alongside the outside the hospital on Saturday Migrant workers in Dubai are Ministry of Labour and the Police demanding answers about why often employed at wages that are Authority.” The UAE Labour police confiscated the man’s low by Western standards and Ministry told Reuters a team of goods. Witnesses say the fam- housed in dormitory-style accom- the ministry’s labour crisis man- ily wants to know what led him modation on the outskirts of the agement committee was “closely to douse himself in gasoline and city, part of the UAE, a regional following the work stoppage by a set himself ablaze on Thursday. business and tourism hub. Two number of Arabtec’s workers”. Saudi officials refused to com- Members of the Palestinian security forces take part in a training session in the West Bank city of Jericho, Arabtec employees who asked not REUTERS ment. They did not disclose the yesterday. man’s name or age. Despite Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth, many of its people live in poor conditions. AP Need for 151,000 Extreme climate change predictions ‘may be wrong’ Qatari graduates LONDON: Some of the most Degrees Celsius above pre-indus- recorded was in 1998, climate of the recent warming had been weather system associated with extreme predictions of global trial levels going by the past dec- change has stalled. The new study, absorbed by the oceans, but this warmer and stormy weather. DOHA: Qatar’s labour market warming are unlikely to mate- ade’s readings. which is published in the journal would change as the seas heat Since then, the trend of average will need 151,000 Qatari gradu- rialise, new scientific research That would still lead to catas- Nature Geoscience, shows a much up. The thermal expansion of the global surface temperatures has ates over the next 10 years. has suggested, but the world is trophe across large swaths of the longer “pause” would be needed oceans is a factor behind current shown a clear rise above the long- However, Qatar University will still likely to be in for a tem- Earth, causing droughts, storms, to suggest that the world was not and projected sea level rises.