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ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Home | 5 Business | 19 Sport | 27 Qatar Airways Qatar National Al Sadd edge to boost flights Bank Group Al Rayyan to win to Jakarta and opens office GCC Handball Bali. in Vietnam. Tournament. WEDNESDAY 1 APRIL 2015 • 12 Jumada II 1436 • Volume 20 Number 6387 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Qatar to set up fund for Syrian children UN-backed donors’ meet in Kuwait pledges $3.8bn in aid BY DR KHALID AL-JABER The fund, he said, would be destruction is the headline in launched by Qatar and adminis- every region in Syria, without KUWAIT: Qatar has pledged tered by UN agencies, including exception,” said the Emir. to set up a special fund for Unicef, among others. The Syrian economy suffered education of Syrian children Addressing the conference, more than $200bn in losses, at the third International Kuwait Emir H H Sheikh Sabah unemployment rate stands at 57 Humanitarian Pledging Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah percent, while the life expectancy Conference for Syria held in pledged $500m on behalf of his rate has dropped to 55 years, the Kuwait yesterday. International country to support the Syrian rates of poverty have risen, and the donors pledged $3.8bn at the people and urged the UN Security number of Syrian refugees outside conference to help alleviate war- Council to act and end the conflict the country is 3.9 million people, torn Syria’s humanitarian crisis. politically. the biggest refugee society in the Foreign Minister H E Dr He said the conference was world, said the Kuwaiti leader. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah held in the face of the “biggest The crisis in Syria created who represented Qatar in the humanitarian catastrophe wit- safe havens for terrorist groups conference said his country would nessed by humanity in our con- who use the state of instability to be contributing to a sustainable temporary history.” carry out their “sinister plans,” education fund for Syrian chil- Kuwait hosted the first and he added. Sheikh Sabah paid trib- dren. The move, said the minis- second pledging conferences in ute to the five neighbouring coun- ter, would be aimed at preventing 2013 and 2014. The Emir said 90 tries — Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, the emergence of a “lost genera- percent of pledges made at the Iraq and Egypt — hosting some tion” including two million chil- second conference were honoured. 3.9 million Syrian refugees and dren who are currently without “The frightening figures and offering immense humanitarian schooling. documented data about the eco- and relief services, despite the These children will tomorrow nomic and social impact of the heavy burden on their economies be swayed to join terrorist groups, crisis, published lately by inter- and security. he said. “We cannot let this hap- national organisations, based Continued on page 3 Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah attending the opening ceremony of the Third International pen,” said Al Attiyah. on research studies, reveal that THE PENINSULA Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria, at Al Bayan Palace in Kuwait City yesterday. GCC states agree to formulate framework to impose VAT Strong winds DOHA: GCC states are tak- undersecretaries of the Ministries of a proposal, will be submitted in a report published yester- looking at the possibility of intro- from tonight ing a closer look at the possibil- of Finance of the GCC states was to the Ministers of Finance of day that the 46th meet of the ducing VAT of three to five per- DOHA: The Meteorology ity of introducing value-added held in Doha. the GCC states at their meeting Undersecretaries held here dis- cent on goods and services “along Department has forecast strong tax (VAT) on commodities and On its sidelines, Kuwait’s slated to be held here in May for cussed “the importance of VAT”. with other GCC states”. winds from today night until services. VAT is like sales tax Undersecretary of Finance their perusal. Qatar News Agency The ministerial meeting due in Yunus Khouri, Undersecretary Friday evening. and is also known as goods and Ministry, Khalifa Hamada told (QNA) reported that the meet- May will also discuss issues like at the UAE’s finance ministry, was The condition is attributed to services tax. Kuna that a working team, in ing of the Undersecretaries of the financial coordination among quoted by alkhaleej.ae as saying high pressure extending from Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) collaboration with a legal team, Finance Ministries was chaired the GCC states and labor mar- that the GCC states were working northwest of Saudi Arabia asso- reports that the GCC countries has been assigned to prepare the by H E Khaled bin Hamad Al ket reforms and increasing labor to have a unified mechanism for ciated with fresh to strong north- have in principle agreed to for- framework for introducing VAT Mannai, Undersecretary at force, the daily said. an indirect taxation system. westerly winds. mulate a general framework in GCC states. Qatar’s Finance Ministry. UAE-based alkhaleej.ae, mean- Continued on page 3 The wind would blow at speeds to impose VAT. A meeting of The framework, in the form Arabic daily Al Arab confirmed while, said that the UAE was THE PENINSULA ranging between 17 — 25 KT inshore reaching 35KT at times and from 20 — 30 KT offshore reaching 38 KT at times. The dust winds are expected 50 new private to reduce the horizontal visibil- Heavy gunfire on ity. Some scattered clouds are also expected. Temperature will schools to open be at the regular range with the maximum between 30 – 32 degree this year Saudi-Yemen border Celsius and the minimum at 19 - 22 degree Celsius. DOHA: Fifty new private ADEN: Saudi troops clashed flew overhead, they said. THE PENINSULA schools will open the next with Yemeni Houthi fight- Saudi Arabia said yesterday it academic year beginning in ers yesterday in the heaviest would only send ground troops September this year, a sen- exchange of cross-border fire into Yemen against the Houthi ior official of the Supreme since the start of a Saudi-led militia if such operations became Buhari wins Education Council (SEC) has air offensive last week, while necessary, after the fiercest day disclosed. Yemen’s foreign minister called of clashes on the border since Nigeria poll The SEC received 96 applica- for a rapid Arab intervention on it began air strikes began last tions to open new schools this the ground. week. ABUJA: Muhammadu Buhari year which included 33 schools Saudi Arabia has been leading “There could be a limited yesterday became Nigeria’s following British curriculum and a coalition of Arab states since ground operation, in specific president-elect after defeating 29 schools following American last Thursday in an air campaign areas, at specific times. But don’t Goodluck Jonathan in the first curriculum, a local Arabic daily against the Shia Houthis, who expect there to be a resort auto- democratic change of power ever reported yesterday quoting emerged as the most powerful matically to a ground operation,” in Africa’s most populous nation. Hamad Al Ghali, director of the force in the Arabian Peninsula’s said Brigadier General Ahmed The victory writes a new chap- Private Schools Office at SEC. poorest country when they seized Asseri, spokesman for the Saudi- ter in the country’s often turbu- There were 16 applications Yemen’s capital last year. led coalition. lent history after six military for Indian schools and one for Residents and tribal sources “I don’t want us to concentrate coups since independence in 1960 Bangladeshi school. The requests in north Yemen reported artil- on the land operation as if it is a and 16 years of unbroken civilian also included four French schools, People gather at the site of an air strike in Yareem city of Yemen’s central lery and rocket exchanges along ‘must’ ... if it is possible to achieve rule by Jonathan’s party. three Canadian, five Egyptian, one several stretches of the Saudi the goals through other means,” The gripping contest also province of Ibb yesterday. Air raids by a Saudi-led coalition hit Houthi militia Australian, one Turkish and one border. he said. capped a remarkable transforma- targets across Yemen, striking the group’s northern stronghold of Saadeh, Lebanese. Explosions and heavy gunfire REUTERS tion for the 72-year-old former the capital Sanaa, and the central town of Yareem. THE PENINSULA were heard and Saudi helicopters See also page 7 army general, who led a tough military regime in the 1980s but now describes himself as a “con- verted democrat”. INSIDE Thousands spilled onto the streets of the north’s biggest city, Page 9 Kano, in celebration, shouting Deadline abandoned in marathon Iran N-talks his campaign slogan “Sai Buhari” Being made to tip is (“Only Buhari”) as he took an a tax on Qataris LAUSANNE: The US aban- spokeswoman Marie Harf said. on a road to military action to and “frequent breaks to negotiate unassailable lead with one state doned late yesterday a midnight The announcement came thwart Iran’s nuclear drive, which in smaller groups”. to declare. By Moza Abdel Aziz deadline to agree the outlines late on a sixth day of talks in Tehran says is purely peaceful. A Western diplomat said the Many brandished brooms, his Alishaq of a nuclear deal with Iran but Switzerland aimed at laying Earlier Chinese Foreign army of technical and sanctions party symbol, with which they A winter World Cup will insisted that “enough progress” the groundwork for a deal that Minister Wang Yi left the crunch experts would continue plugging have pledged to sweep away merited extending marathon world powers hope will prevent talks in Lausanne as his French away “for the next hours.