ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Sunday 20 October 2013 15 Dhul-Hijja 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5858 Price: QR2 ‘Royal Mail Wins for Al valued higher Sadd, Al than sale price’ Gharafa Business | 16 Sport | 20 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Relief after release Qatar websites Rents may hacked for several hours DOHA: Several Qatar web- rise by 20pc sites carrying the .qa domain name were hacked for several hours yesterday. The websites that were hit, include impor- tant government portals, facebook.qa, google.com.qa, in from 2015 addition to several Qatar- based news sites. High housing demand likely: Experts The affected sites were either defaced or shut down DOHA: Property market opera- inflation sky-high. “We could completely, and were reinstated tors warn that house rents could see a repeat of 2006-08 if effec- by the evening. soar up to 20 percent a year tive steps to address the housing IT experts told The Peninsula from 2015 if the rising demand situation are not taken. As we that Qatar’s Domains Registry fuelled by a heavy influx of for- know, high rents were the single (registry.qa) was hacked and eign workers is not met. largest contributor to price rise the DNS (Domain Name Excessive housing supplies are then.” According to Al Mansour, System) records of several keeping the rentals stable at the the demand for housing could major domains were altered. moment, but the swelling expatri- begin jumping from the current DNS hijack allows hackers to ate population could gobble up the quarter (October to December) as deface high profile websites like surplus faster. several key development projects One of the nine Lebanese Shia pilgrims abducted by rebels in Syria is greeted by relatives upon his arrival Google, Yahoo among others. “So the authorities must focus are being awarded. at Beirut International airport yesterday, after being released in Turkey on Friday. They were held in Syria for “It seems the hackers were on creating housing supplies to The tendering process for many 17 months before Qatar mediated their release in exchange for two Turkish Airlines pilots seized in Lebanon using a free subscription US meet galloping demand,” said of those projects, allocations for server. This server can be used in August. See also page 9 Mansour Al Mansour, business- which have been made in the state free for limited hours”, a techie man and real estate expert. budget for the current fiscal year told this paper. “If that is not done, I am afraid (2013-14), is over. “The entire system is back rents could rise up to 20 per- “Some of them have already to normal”, the Ministry cent a year, especially from 2015 been awarded while others are of Communication and until 2022,” he added. “Supplies to be awarded soon — all in this Qatar backs Saudi’s UN snub Information Technology are excessive now, but they are quarter.” House rents would likely tweeted in the evening. being exhausted fast.” Al Mansour be stable this quarter and the next DOHA: Qatar agrees with Qatar hopes the United Nations meeting on Saudi Arabia’s sur- “After noticing the shutdown hinted that excessive supplies year due to excessive supplies. “But the reasons outlined by Saudi and its organs, especially the prise announcement on Friday. of major websites, ictQATAR could last until 2014-end but the situation would change drasti- Arabia to turn down a non- Security Council, will be able to Saudi Arabia’s leaders should asked service providers to back added that given the heavy influx cally in 2015 due to a heavier work- permanent seat on the United fulfill their duties and meet their “maintain their membership in the service and they acted in no of foreign workers, rising demand ers’ influx,” reiterated Al Mansour. Nations Security Council, an goals in achieving justice and the Security Council and continue time”, reported Al Sharq. It was could put pressure on supplies. Official statistics back the official source in the Foreign upholding international peace their brave role in defending our just a temporary hitch and the “So the authorities need to be experts’ claims. Real estate trans- Ministry said, adding that and security. issues specifically at the rostrum hackers couldn’t do any serious alert and make sure the demand actions have grown more than 32 many nations and people are Meanwhile, other Arab nations of the Security Council,” said a harm, it said. is met as it is generated.” percent in the first nine months of one with those reasons, espe- yesterday appealed to Saudi statement released by Arab states The Ministry of Interior said Another businessman and this year over the same period of cially the Council’s inaction Arabia to reverse the decision at the UN. hacking did not affect its serv- expert, Hassan Al Hakim said the 2012, reflecting that the demand on the Palestinian and Syrian to reject a seat on the Security The statement expressed ices and all online services were authorities should learn from the has been on an upswing. issues. Council. “respect and understanding” for normal. experience of 2006-08 when rents THE PENINSULA The source, in a statement to Arab UN ambassadors made the Saudi position. THE PENINSULA touched historic highs, pushing Continued on page 4 Qatar News Agency, added that the appeal after an emergency QNA/AGENCIES Cruising move UN envoy to begin Mideast Hamas asks Fatah tour over Syria to form unity govt DAMASCUS: A deadly bomb- ing rocked a pro-regime sub- GAZA: Hamas, its Gaza a temporary power-share. urb of Syria’s capital yesterday, Strip stronghold cut off by the “Let’s have one government, state media said, as an envoy new military-backed govern- one parliament and one presi- was to begin a Middle East tour ment in Egypt, called upon dent,” Haniyah said. to push for peace talks. rival Palestinian President The overture was received UN-Arab League envoy Mahmoud Abbas yesterday to coolly by Fatah, whose leader, Lakhdar Brahimi was to arrive end their six-year schism and Abbas, is engaged in a new round in Cairo at the start of a regional form a unity government. of US-sponsored peace talks with tour aimed at paving the way for Abbas’s secular, US-backed Israel. Hamas refuses coexistence peace talks. Fatah faction lost a 2006 ballot with the Jewish state. A bomb blast struck a govern- to Islamist Hamas. They sat in an Ahmed Assaf, a Fatah spokes- ment-controlled suburb southeast uneasy alliance until a civil war man, said Haniyah’s speech of Damascus mainly populated by the following year left Hamas rul- “included nothing new, nei- Christians and Muslim Druze, ing Gaza while Abbas’s authority ther a clear plan nor a certain said the official SANA news was limited to the Israeli-occupied timetable”. agency. West Bank. Pressured by the deteriora- It blamed “terrorists” for the Egypt brokered a Palestinian tion of ties with former regional attack that it said left an unspeci- reconciliation deal in 2011 but it backers Syria, Hezbollah, Iran, fied number of people dead and was never implemented. In Cairo, as well as by Mursi’s fall and the wounded between Jaramana and meanwhile, Islamist President ensuing Egyptian crackdown on the adjacent rebel-held town of Mohamed Mursi was toppled by Palestinian tunnels used to smug- Mleha. AFP A swimmer trains ahead of the two-day FINA World Cup series leg that begins at Hamad Aquatic Centre in the army, which treats Egypt’s gle arms and commercial goods See also page 9 Doha today. See also page 17 Hamas neighbours as security into Gaza, Hamas is in steep threats. financial decline. “Our conditions do not allow Haniyah sought to soften for keeping up differences,” Ismail tensions with Cairo, denying Haniyah, prime minister in the Egyptian accusations the group Gaza administration, said in a had intervened in the inter- Boy killed in car accident near Al Shamal speech calling on Abbas and Fatah nal unrest on behalf of Mursi’s to renew dialogue with Hamas, Islamist supporters. DOHA: A Class IX student of the boy’s father was it has been learnt. The — Venture Gulf Group — and schedule new elections and enter REUTERS of the Birla Public School was at the wheel at the time mother also sustained Nithya is an employee of Qatar killed in a car accident near Al of the crash. No other serious injuries to her Airways. The family, from the Shamal on Friday. Three oth- vehicle was involved in ribs. southern Indian state of Tamil ers, including his parents, were the mishap, sources said. All the four were Nadu, has been in Qatar for Titanic violin sold for $1.45m injured. The cause of the acci- rushed to Al Khor hos- about eight years. “Adarsh joined Adarsh Kalyanaraman dent could not be known pital. The father and Birla Public School in March LONDON: The violin played by the Titanic’s bandmaster as the (pictured) was the only child of yesterday. The father his colleague were dis- 2010. He was a quiet, studious ship sank beneath the waves sold at auction for $1.45m yesterday, Krishnamurthy Kalyanaraman was in the front seat charged later, but the boy. He was also active in extra- a world record for memorabilia from the doomed liner. Wallace and Nithya Kalyanaraman, both while the mother and mother remains hospi- curricular activities,” said a Hartley’s violin was found strapped to his body after he drowned residents of Qatar, sources close the boy, seated in the talised.