ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Tuesday 7 May 2013 27 Jumada II 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5692 Price: QR2 Qatar Airways Sharapova plans to buy up advances in to 15 jets Madrid Business | 17 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Emir meets Islamic Da’wah chief UN undecided Shura nod for on use of nerve gas by draft health Syrian rebels GENEVA: UN war crimes investigators have reached no conclusions on whether any insurance law side in the Syrian war has used chemical weapons, the inquiry commission said yesterday, playing down a suggestion from Private sector against proposal one of the team that rebel forces had done so. DOHA: The Advisory Council The draft law was tabled at a Investigator Carla Del Ponte yesterday approved the draft Council session yesterday by its caught UN officials by surprise health insurance law that stip- services committee and the health on Sunday when she said the ulates that employers of foreign minister and Dr Faleh Mohamed commission had gathered testi- workers across all sectors must Hussein Ali, Assistant Secretary- mony from casualties and medical pay the premiums not only for general for policy at the Supreme staff indicating that rebel forces employees but also for their res- Council of Health, were special had used the banned nerve agent ident family members. invitees. sarin. The private sector says it finds This was the third time the “The independent interna- the proposal dreadful and cau- Minister was invited to the tional Commission of Inquiry on tions that if enforced the rule Council for a discussion on the the Syrian Arab Republic wishes would severely affect pay scales draft medical insurance law, to clarify that it has not reached The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani with Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Da’wah and companies’ family visa policy which is likely to be cleared by Organisation, Field Marshal Abdurrahman Swar Al Dahab, at the Emiri Diwan yesterday. conclusive findings as to the use for employees. the higher-ups for implemen- of chemical weapons in Syria by The Minister of Health, H E tation soon. A National Health any parties to the conflict,” it said Abdullah Al Qahtani, reiterated Insurance Company is being set in a statement. at the Advisory Council yester- up to regulate the mandatory President Bashar Al Assad’s day that while the government insurance scheme. Executive government and the rebels whom will provide free medical cover regulations to help enforce the Forty-one athletes caught his forces have been fighting for to nationals, those employing proposed legislation would likely more than two years accuse each expatriates will have to pay for also be put in place. The supervi- other of carrying out three chem- their health insurance as well as sory company will be a hundred ical weapon attacks in March and for their dependents staying with percent non-profit organization doping in five years: Official December, in Aleppo, Damascus them. and it may involve several insur- and Homs. The law, once enforced, will ance providers as stakeholders. British Prime Minister David make it mandatory for all nation- The premiums collected by BY AZMAT HAROON slapped with a two-year ban for on such information to the police, Cameron said late last month als and expatriates as well as visi- the company will be spent on the taking hashish, he reportedly had Dr Al Ansari said. there was limited but growing tors to be covered by it. Insurance treatment, the Minister said. “The DOHA: Forty-one sportsmen during partying here. In exceptional cases, athletes evidence the banned arms had premiums will have to be paid for aim of the company is to provide were caught doping in Qatar in “In some other countries, he found using banned steroids may been used. visitors while applying for visas. service and not make any profits.” the last five years. The athletes could have just been given a warn- just be warned if they decide to Bolstering that evidence, a dip- Under the scheme, anyone cov- The Minister reiterated: “The from disciplines like football, ing. But here, because of religious cooperate with the authorities to lomatic source told Reuters yes- ered by it for any disease, whether scheme will cover all diseases with volleyball, handball and weight- reasons, the committee is strict help catch people involved in its terday soil samples from Syria sudden, chronic or terminal and no exceptions at all”. Employers lifting were found using opiates, because it believes that a Muslim distribution. have tested positive at Britain’s whatever the cost and duration providing medical cover to their steroids and a mix of stimulants, shouldn’t take hashish,” he said, The bigger challenge, accord- Porton Down military facility for of its treatment, will receive free workers must give them a wider with hashish being the most adding that he often tries to con- ing to Dr Al Ansari, is to catch sarin — though it was not clear treatment at healthcare facili- choice to select where they would common. vince local committee members the people involved in the illicit where the samples came from. ties designated by the insurance want to be treated, he said. “These were all sports-related to evaluate such violations inde- doping trade in Qatar. REUTERS company. The Minister said that The draft law has 30 articles cases, where we found players vio- pendently, irrespective of religious “These athletes get help from See also page 7 sponsors of domestic workers will divided into six chapters. The lating the rules by using doping backgrounds, when handing out outside, sometimes from their have to pay the premiums for Minister said its provisions would substances,” Dr Naser Al Ansari, bans. doctors, coaches or peers. There them, but the Advisory Council be clearer when the legislation is Chairman of Qatar National Anti- In 2010, at least two volleyball are people involved in the trade of Today’s edition includes has urged the government to finalized and implemented. doping Commission (QNADC), players of local clubs, Al Rayyan transporting doping medicines- include household workers among Jassem Al Malki, vice-chair- told The Peninsula. and Al Sadd, were slapped with and we do not have a law to pun- a special ‘family members’. If the state man of the Central Municipal He was speaking on the side- one and two-year bans, respec- ish them,” he said. supplement on concedes the demand, household Council (CMC), told this newspa- lines of a two-day symposium on tively, for using prohibited Anti-doping rules currently workers of Qatari families would, per late last evening that since it the history of doping and anti- substances. apply to athletes and sports per- naturally, be covered under the would be an unwanted burden on doping organised by the Anti- Athletes found using or pos- sonnel only. For those who bring free medical cover provided by households employing domestic Doping Lab Qatar (ADLQ) and sessing prohibited substances doping substances through the the government, while expatri- workers, the Advisory Council has the Qatar Olympic and Sports potentially face ban from sports airport, it is very difficult for ate employers may be left in the urged the state to include them Museum here yesterday. that can last anywhere from six QNADC to punish them in the lurch — they may have to either among family members. In a recent case presented months to life-time in serious absence of a law. pay the premiums for them or ask THE PENINSULA before the appeal’s committee, cases. In the existing setup, the THE PENINSULA their companies to do that. Continued on page 5 a Somali-American athlete was local Commission does not pass Continued on page 5 Bangladesh violence claims 37 Sudans hold talks after Britain to pay for deadly clashes 1950s Kenya crimes JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN: LONDON: The British govern- In the case of the Mau Mau The presidents of South Sudan ment is negotiating payments conflict, the secret papers showed and Sudan held talks in a bid to thousands of Kenyans who that senior colonial officials to ease tensions after deadly were detained and severely mis- authorised appalling abuses of clashes in Abyei, a region treated during the 1950s Mau inmates held at the prison camps claimed by both sides, officials Mau insurgency in what would established during the bloody con- said yesterday. be the first compensation set- flict, and that ministers and offi- The talks came after UN leader tlement resulting from official cials in London were aware of a Ban Ki-moon and the African crimes committed under impe- brutal detention regime in which Union appealed for calm in the rial rule. men and women were tortured flashpoint area following the In a development that could and killed. As a handful of details killing of a tribal chief and a UN pave the way for many other began to emerge last week from peacekeeper on Saturday. claims from around the world, the confidential talks between “Our president has been in government lawyers embarked lawyers for the government and direct contact with president upon the historic talks after suf- the Mau Mau veterans, the FCO Bashir... they exchanged ideas fering a series of defeats in their said it acknowledged the need for about this sad incident,” South attempts to prevent elderly sur- debate about Britain’s past, and Sudan’s Information Minister vivors of the prison camps from added: “It is an enduring feature Barnaba Marial Benjamin told seeking redress through the of our democracy that we are will- reporters.