ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Wednesday 2 October 2013 26 Dhul-qa’da 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5840 Price: QR2 Qatar and US Barcelona seek to boost labour to win energy ties over Celtic Business | 17 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 GCC considers PM meets EU delegation laws to control social media Information ministers meet in Bahrain DOHA: Concerned by the we must differentiate between spread of social media in the the conventional media and new region, the GCC countries are media,” he said. taking a closer look at the possi- The aim of the legislation is to bility of reining in the electronic regulate the electronic media is to media. protect the users, he said. Information ministers from the Kuwait’s Information Minister, GCC countries yesterday hinted Salman Al Sabah, said there was they favoured framing laws to a draft law to regulate the elec- regulate the electronic media, tronic media but that was shelved. The Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani with a delegation from the European Parliament in Doha including social media. “Now we might be having a fresh yesterday. The Prime Minister also met separately Japan’s Ambassador Kenjiro Monji, Hungarian Ambassador Istvan Elter and Palestinian Ambassador The ministers didn’t mince draft,” he suggested. Munir Abdullah Ghannam. words while expressing their Mubarak Jaham Al Kuwari, desire to regulate the electronic Head of Qatar Media, said Qatar media in their direct interaction was about to enforce a new media with senior GCC journalists at a law. He said the country disbanded key media forum that ended in the information ministry years Bahrain yesterday. The two-day ago. The GCC states have urged Parents in new campaign against SEC event was held to discuss media Bahrain to study the media situa- freedom and national security tion in the region and recommend DOHA: The Supreme decided to reduce teaching hours the elementary schools would be tweeted, most of them against the issues in the GCC. The symposium steps to be taken to organise it. Education Council (SEC) is the for different levels. over at 12.30pm, while teaching SEC, and comments were still which attracted senior media Earlier, journalists attending target of a fresh campaign in Some other issues like adding in the preparatory and second- pouring in. professionals from the GCC was the forum also raised concerns the social media after it report- some subjects to the curriculum ary schools must continue until “A bunch of women sitting organised on the sidelines of the over the contents of social sites edly struck down the directives of different levels were also dis- 1.45pm. at the SEC and controlling it is 21st meeting of the GCC informa- that include footages, pictures and of the education minister to cussed at the meeting. The new school timings became responsible for the mess in the tion ministers. information provoking sectarian reduce teaching hours in the It was decided that the elemen- effective from yesterday, accord- education system,” said a tweet. Addressing the event, Saudi violence under the pretext of free- state-run Independent schools. tary schools (from grade 1 to 6) ing to the SEC circular. “The SEC doesn’t have regard Arabia’s Information Minister, dom of speech. There was consen- Following persistent demand would be over at 12 noon, while The move has infuriated people even for the minister,” said Dr Abdul Aziz Khoja, said there suses among speakers to educate from the Qatari community, oper- the preparatory (grade 7 to 9) so much so that they launched another tweet, saying he won- was the need to differentiate the users of social sites about ators of a number of Independent and secondary schools (grade 10 a Twitter campaign against the dered how the regulator could between the organised media and moralities and values in place of Schools met the Minister of to 12) would end their classes at SEC, with most Tweeters bitterly simply overrule the decision of social media. “Just as we managed imposing strict monitoring on it. Education and Higher Education 1.35pm. criticising the school regulator. the minister. to differentiate between the offi- THE PENINSULA H E Mohammed Abdul Wahed In a circular sent to the Until the time of going to THE PENINSULA cial media and unofficial media Continued on page 7 Ali Al Hammadi, and it was schools, though, the SEC said press, more than 160 people had Continued on page 7 Clerics join save FIFA may delay 2022 water, power drive DOHA: Clerics leading Friday date switch plans sermons in mosques in Qatar have joined the national cam- LONDON: Despite widespread speculation that FIFA will vote to paign to rationalise consump- switch the dates of the 2022 World Cup on Friday, soccer’s world tion of water and electricity. governing body will probably delay making a decision and instead Qatar General Electricity and set up a task force to analyse the huge implications of moving the Water Corporation (Kahramaa) tournament from the summer. recently signed a Memorandum of Although the executive committee could agree in principle to move Understanding with the Ministry the dates of the World Cup, FIFA Vice-President Jim Boyce said it of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs to should not rush into a decision and wanted a task force set up to exam- raise public awareness on energy ine the issue. Thomas Bach, the new President of the International conservation through mosques. Olympic Committee, said he doubted the World Cup would clash with As part of the agreement, the Winter Olympics in 2022, if the finals were moved from their Kahramaa organised an interac- traditional June and July dates. In a development related to the vexed tive session focusing on the reli- situation regarding gious aspects of the campaign, the awarding of the which was attended by a large British PM calls on Qatar to 2018 World Cup number of Imams and preachers improve safety of workers to Russia and the as well as representatives from 2022 finals to Qatar Kahramaa. THE PENINSULA LONDON: British Prime Minister David on the same day Cameron has urged Qatar to improve in December 2010, standards of care for World Cup stadium Michael Garcia, the Foreign firms must workers following a Guardian investigation Head of the investi- which revealed that alarming numbers of gative unit of FIFA have 30pc local stake migrant labourers are dying in the building ethics committee, boom in the run-up to the 2022 showpiece. will tour all the DOHA: No foreign company The prime minister said the Gulf state could countries involved will be allowed to set up opera- learn from the UK’s example when it was pre- in the bidding proc- tions in the country without paring for the 2012 London Olympics. esses, he said yester- having at least a 30 percent joint THE GUARDIAN day. venture with a local company. REUTERS Any foreign business setting up operations in Qatar will not be allowed more than 70 percent ownership as it must give away at least 30 percent equity to a Qatari company. According to an Al Sharq US shutdown hits 800,000 report, the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior H E Sheikh WASHINGTON: Hundreds of thousands of federal government Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani, employees across the US were sent home yesterday, with little idea issued directives to the effect. of when they would return to work or whether they would be paid. The aim is to encourage the The budget standoff between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol private sector and push the local Hill, which led to the first partial shutdown of the US government in market up. The daily said there two decades, had very real consequences for workers around the coun- will be no exception to this rule try. The most common estimates say 800,000 employees would be sent except when the Premier decides home. One of the worst affected government agencies in Washington otherwise. The private sector has was the US Department of Labour. Of the department’s 16,000 work- welcomed the move. ers, only around 3,000 have been deemed “essential” and therefore THE PENINSULA exempted from the shutdown. See also page 11 WEDNESDAY 2 OCTOBER 2013 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com HOME Emir, PM greet FM launches ministry website leaders of China, Cyprus, Nigeria DOHA: The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday sent cables of greetings to Presidents Xi Jinping (China), Nicos Anastasiades (Cyprus) and Goodluck Jonathan (Nigeria) on their countries’ National Day. The Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani sent similar congratulatory cables to the presidents. Qatar’s Ambassador in Nicosia Hussein bin Ahmed The Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah launch- Al Humaid attended National ing the new e-website of the ministry. The state-of-the-art website is Day celebrations and greeted restructured with the most advanced information and programming the Cypriot leader, wishing technology and will cover key data and information about the ministry’s the country further progress viewpoints, priorities and Qatar’s foreign policy. The ministry will also and prosperity. QNA launch its official Twitter service on its website. Eid Festival from Oct 15 QTA offers exciting events during 12-day fest DOHA: The 12-day Eid Al Adha Qatar; Katara; the Qatar Shooting partners, he said: “We received Festival will kick off on October and Archery Association; Sawt Al strong support from public and 15, Qatar Tourism Authority Rayan; the Imam Muhammed private organisations in the (QTA) announced yesterday.