ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Tuesday 25 June 2013 16 Shaaban 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5741 Price: QR2 Barwa Bank’s Nadal suffers equity fund up shock defeat 11.5 percent at Wimbledon Business | 17 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Citizens to swear allegiance to Sheikh Tamim as Emir The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani with members of the ruling family and decision-makers at Al Wajbah Palace yesterday. he Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa reported yesterday. The Emir will address citizens at the Emiri Diwan today from Al Thani and the Heir Apparent H H the nation today at 8am. The Emiri Diwan 9am to 11.30am and from 3.30pm to 6pm. TSheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will has also declared today a national holiday. They will also receive citizens from 8am to receive Qatari citizens at the Emiri Diwan Meanwhile, the Emir met yesterday at 11.30am tomorrow “to swear allegiance today and tomorrow to swear allegiance Al Wajbah Palace members of the ruling to H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al to Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as family and decision-makers. The Emir Thani as the Emir of Qatar,” Qatar News the Emir of Qatar, the Qatar News Agency and the Heir Apparent will receive Qatari Agency said. THE PENINSULA US presses Russia over Snowden Berlusconi gets GCC to raise 7-year jail term WASHINGTON/MOSCOW: pending his possible extradition “He didn’t take the flight (to The United States yesterday on espionage charges. Havana),” a source at Russia’s MILAN: Silvio Berlusconi was increased pressure on Russia White House spokesman Jay national airline Aeroflot told handed a seven-year jail sen- to hand over Edward Snowden, Carney defended the administra- Reuters. tence yesterday for abuse of the American charged with tion’s attempts to bring Snowden However, before the plane left office and paying for sex with a the heat on disclosing secret US surveil- into US custody and instead for Cuba, a white van for VIPs minor, adding to the complica- lance programmes, and said it blamed China for assisting in approached it on the tarmac. tions facing Italy’s fragile left- believed he was still in Moscow his release from Hong Kong. He Police stood by as a single man in right government. despite earlier reports he was said it would damage US China a white shirt climbed the stairs The former prime minister leaving for Cuba. relations. on to the plane soon afterwards will not have to serve any jail The whereabouts of Snowden, Sources at the Russian airline but he could not be identified by time before he has exhausted an Hezbollah until recently a contractor with Aeroflot had said he would be reporters watching in the transit appeals process that could take the US National Security Agency, aboard a flight to Havana yes- area. years, but the conviction angered DOHA: The GCC Secretary- condemn Hezbollah’s intervention remained a mystery. He had flown terday morning, but reporters It was not clear whether the members of his centre-right General Dr Abdullatif bin in the affairs of Syria and we have to Moscow after being allowed who took the flight said another plane had a section in which party who questioned whether Rashid Al Zayani said yesterday taken procedures against it in this to leave Hong Kong on Sunday person occupied the seat that had Snowden could have been he should continue to support that the GCC states will step up regard.” despite Washington asking the been set aside for him, 17A, and concealed. the coalition. The 76-year-old measures against Hezbollah’s He said there is co-operation Chinese territory to detain him he had not been seen. REUTERS media tycoon expressed outrage interests in the region. between GCC countries to take at the verdict which he said was In a statement to the Bahrain more action against interests of politically motivated. “An incred- News Agency (BNA) on the side- Hezbollah in the Gulf. ible sentence has been issued of lines of the 2013 United Nations “GCC stance on the Syrian 12 soldiers killed in Lebanon a violence never seen or heard Public Service Forum, the GCC crisis is clear. We want to stop of before, to try to eliminate chief said that those measures the killing and transfer power me from the political life of this would target Hezbollah’s affiliates, and preserve unity, stability and country,” Berlusconi said in a as well as financial and commer- security of Syria,” said Al Zayani. statement. Full report on page 11 cial interests. Bahrain’s deputy foreign min- The statement follows a call ister Ghanem Al Buainain said made in Doha on Saturday by earlier this month that the GCC Time’s cover countries supporting the Syrian regarded Hezbollah’s involvement rebels to stop intervention by in Syria as “sectarian interven- irks Myanmar Hezbollah and Iran in Syria. The tion”, but had not discussed listing meeting of the Friends of Syria the group as a terrorist organisa- YANGON: Myanmar has foreign ministers decided to arm tion, a step taken by Bahrain last reacted angrily to a Time maga- Syrian rebels to “change the situ- week. zine cover story on a prominent ation on the ground” in Syria. Bahrain has banned domestic radical monk accused of fuelling A meeting of prominent Sunni political groups from making con- anti-Muslim violence, accompa- clerics in Cairo last week had tact with Hezbollah, a movement nied by the headline The Face of called for Jihad against the Syrian it believes has been involved in Buddhist Terror. regime and its allies Iran and unrest among its Shia majority. Social media users in the Hezbollah. The Lebanese Shia movement former junta-ruled nation also On GCC countries’ stance has been backing Syrian President voiced dismay at the US maga- regarding arming the Free Syrian Bashar Al Assad’s regime. Assad zine’s July front page, which Army, Al Zayani said the issue is belongs to the Alawite sect, an shows a photograph of contro- part of the duties of the Arab offshoot of Shia Islam. Together versial Mandalay monk Wirathu, League of which GCC states are with Iran, Hezbollah has fought whose anti-Muslim remarks members. with regime forces to resist rebels Lebanese soldiers take cover as they enter the Abra neighbourhood on the outskirts of Sidon, where fighting have come under scrutiny fol- He added that the Syrian trying to oust Assad in a bloody between the army and supporters of a Sunni radical cleric claimed the lives of 12 troops, yesterday. lowing a wave of deadly religious people have the right to defend insurgency stretching for over violence. See also page 7 themselves, noting that “we still two years now. THE PENINSULA Full report on page 12 TUESDAY 25 JUNE 2013 02 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com HOME Emir meets members of ruling family The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani met yesterday a number of ruling family members at Al Wajbah Palace. The Heir Apparent H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani were present. Qatar National Library workshop for digital team DOHA: Qatar National Library intercultural understanding, and the International Federation (QNL), a member of Qatar expand the volume and variety of Library Associations and Foundation for Education, of cultural content on the inter- Institutions (IFLA). Science and Community net, and build capacity in partner Director of WDL, Dr John Van Development, in collaboration institutions,” said Project Director Oudenaren, said: “We are pleased with the World Digital Library of QNL, Dr Claudia Lux. “It pro- to be working with the Qatar (WDL), hosted a workshop vides resources free of charge to National Library in this workshop for current and prospective educators, scholars and the gen- and grateful for the library’s great members of the WDL’s Arab eral public, and the conducting of support for hosting this regional Peninsula Regional group. regular trainings and workshops meeting,” he said. “Capacity build- The workshop, which was con- is critical to the building of techni- ing is an important mission of ducted in Arabic and English, cal capacity among members of the WDL, enshrined in our charter aimed at encouraging Arab Arab Peninsula Regional Group. It and endorsed by Unesco. Helping Peninsula Regional Group mem- will enhance the members’ ability to narrow the global digital divide bers to improve overall standards to contribute digital content and to in the creation of, and access to, of content contribution to the meet the quality standards estab- high-quality digital content is WDL, and was aimed at devel- lished by the WDL.” a big part of what the WDL is oping regional networks to allow The WDL initiative was founded about. The workshop for hands- Participants in the workshop. feedback and facilitate exchange. by the Library of Congress, with on work is aimed at ‘training the “Qatar National Library sup- the support of the United Nations trainers’ in creating digital con- facilitate the flow of high-quality The workshop, entitled ‘Train prospective WDL partner insti- ports the WDL in its mission Educational, Scientific and tent. This furthers the WDL’s Arabic content from this region The Trainer – Hands On’, tutions from across the region. to promote international and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) capacity-building mission and will to the WDL in the future.” was attended by current and THE PENINSULA TUESDAY 25 JUNE 2013 HOME www.thepeninsulaqatar.com 03 70,000 babies screened for sickle cell Over 30 children undergo treatment DOHA: More than 30 children SICKLE CELL DISEASE are currently being treated for sckle cell disease, according to Early diagnosis is Hamad Medical Corporation an effective way to (HMC), with more than 70,000 address the issue newborns screened as part of Qatar’s efforts to identify the before starting a ailment.