ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Wednesday 9 April 2014 9 Jumadal II 1435 - Volume 19 Number 6030 Price: QR2 Barwa plans Stage set for new projects 2014 Emir Cup this year tournament Business | 17 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Global calls Emir meets Sudanese leader OPINION Hatred on social media for release of ver since Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdrew Etheir ambassadors from Qatar, Jazeera staff Twitter and other social media 100th day of jailing in Egypt marked have been abuzz with DOHA: Journalists from across the International Documentary citizens the world yesterday marked Association’s letter of support. of these the 100th day of imprisonment In London, Heather Allan, countries of Al Jazeera English journal- Al Jazeera English Head of freely Khalid Al Sayed ists in Egypt, with more than Newsgathering, participated in express- EDITOR-IN-CHIEF 900 million people having joined the BBC’s Safety of Journalists The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met the leader of Sudan’s National Umma Party, Al Sadiq Al ing their a Twitter campaign to secure Symposium, hosted by BBC Global Mahdi, who called on him at Al Bahr Palace yesterday. views on the issue. Though their release. News and the Centre for Freedom there is nothing wrong with At the historic Paley Center of the Media at the University of people engaging in a debate, in New York City, Al Jazeera Sheffield, in cooperation with the what is happening in the English’s Executive Producer for BBC College of Journalism. social media in the region is Newsgathering in the Americas, Participants endorsed a state- deplorable and quite shocking Owen Watson, opened a press con- ment that called for increased No Mideast talks breakthrough — there are threats made and ference with a strong call for the safety and protection of journal- foul language used by bloggers, immediate release of Al Jazeera ists, but also called for the release JERUSALEM: Israeli and Palestinian President appeal at an Arab League meet- including some officials. There journalists. of the Al Jazeera staff. Palestinian negotiators ended Mahmoud Abbas responded by ing in Cairo today for political and is no doubt that this deterio- Colleagues from the Associated “Today also marks 100 days since another US-mediated session signing 15 global treaties, includ- economic support in the event of ration in the debate can affect Press, ABC News, The New York the arrest and detention in Egypt yesterday with no sign of a ing the Geneva Conventions on Israeli punitive measures. national security, even if the Times, the Committee to Protect of three respected and highly pro- breakthrough in efforts to save the conduct of war and occupa- Palestinian UN Ambassador governments are allowing Journalists, and sister-channel fessional Al Jazeera journalists, peace talks from collapse, but tions, on behalf of the State of Riyad Mansour said the the discussions. This kind of Al Jazeera Arabic joined him in Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy an Israeli official said they had Palestine, a defiant move that sur- Palestinians were prepared to a debate will create sectar- solidarity. and Baher Mohamed. No cred- agreed to meet again. prised Washington and angered join more international groups if ian tensions and sow hatred Jon Williams, Foreign Editor of ible evidence has been produced In a statement about the latest Israel. Israel retaliated. As a UN non- among people. ABC News, stated, “This is not Al to justify their imprisonment and discussions, US State Department Israeli Foreign Minister member state, Palestinians can In another sense, the Jazeera’s fight. This is our fight as prosecution. A number of other spokeswoman Jen Psaki said: Avigdor Lieberman, speaking on join 63 international agencies and heated debate shows that journalists.” journalists have also been held in “Gaps remain, but both sides are Israel Radio yesterday, said Abbas accords. “If they want to escalate there is a higher level of free- Abderrahim Foukara, Al Egypt for extended periods with- committed to narrow the gaps.” would have to reverse that step in further and try to illegally pun- dom of expression in the Gulf Jazeera Arabic’s Washington DC out adequate access to justice. We The negotiations, which began order for the prisoner release to ish us for doing something legal, now. Since most countries in Bureau Chief, drew attention to call for the release of all those in July, plunged into crisis last be re-addressed. we are ready and willing to send the GCC do not have elected his colleague Abdullah Al Shami, individuals and the freeing of more week after Israel, demanding a Prime Minister Benjamin the second barrage, the third parliaments, Twitter has who has been detained since last than 200 other journalists around Palestinian commitment to con- Netanyahu has threatened barrage and more of what legally become an open parliament August with no charges pressed. the world who are now held behind tinue talking beyond an April 29 unspecified retaliation in response we could do,” Mansour told the for people. There are suspi- Al Shami was on the 78th day of bars only because they were doing deadline for a peace deal, failed to what Israel views as a unilat- UN Committee on the Exercise cions that some governments a hunger strike yesterday. their jobs,” it said. to carry out a promised release eral statehood move by Abbas. of the Inalienable Rights of the are using Twitter and other The press conference con- THE PENINSULA of about two dozen Palestinian Palestinian Foreign Minister Palestinian People. social media to further their cluded with an announcement of Continued on page 3 prisoners. Riad Al Malki said Abbas would REUTERS interests. Continued on page 5 Chelsea, Real in semis Zero violations by manpower Search for MH370 to agencies this year be most expensive DOHA: There has been no violation so far this year by SYDNEY: The hunt for miss- equal to the official €32m ($44m) manpower agencies recruiting ing Malaysian Airlines Flight spent in searches lasting several domestic helps, under the grad- MH370 is on track to cost months spread over a two-year ing system of the Ministry of hundreds of millions of dol- time frame for Air France’s Flight Labour and Social Affairs. lars, becoming the most expen- AF447, which crashed into the “The number of erring agen- sive search in aviation history mid-Atlantic in 2009. cies declined significantly from 10 with 26 countries contributing Just as salvage experts said the in 2013 to only three in the lat- planes, ships, submarines and actual costs for the Air France est grading in 2014,” said Fares satellites to the international operation could have been three Al Kaabi, head of the Manpower effort. or four times higher than the offi- Agencies Department at the A month into the search for the cial figure, the bill for the current ministry. jet, estimates show that at least search is expected to run into “But the explanations of all $44m has already been spent on hundreds of millions of dollars. three agencies have been accepted, the deployment of military ships The $44m estimate for MH370 which means there is no violation and aircraft in the Indian Ocean does not cover all defence assets at all this year,” he said. and South China Sea by Australia, being used by countries including Disclosing the latest grading China, the United States and Britain, France, New Zealand and results, he said out of 124 agencies, Vietnam. The figure is based on South Korea, nor numerous other 24 were in Category A, meaning defence force statistics on avail- costs such as civilian aircraft, they were complying with all the able hourly costs of various assets, accommodation for hundreds of 17 conditions specified for them, estimates by defence analysts and personnel and expenses for intel- 36 were in Category B, fulfilling Chelsea striker Demba Ba (in blue) scores his team’s second goal past Paris St Germain goalkeeper Salvatore costs reported by the Pentagon. ligence analysts worldwide. some of the conditions, and the Sirigu during their UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg football match at Stamford Bridge in The figure for the first month REUTERS remaining 64 in Category C, an London last evening. Chelsea won 2-0 and reached the semis on the away goals rule on a 3-3 aggregate. In of the search is already about See also page 12 Arabic daily reported. another match, Real Madrid lost 2-0 to Borussia Dortmund but made the semis on a 3-2 aggregate. THE PENINSULA MERS case in Experts fault US administration’s policy towards region DOHA: The Obama administration’s become the subject of wide ranging discus- policymaking. WINEP is considered a cen- is not ready to use force to protect them. Abu Dhabi policy of halting direct American inter- sions in the US, with Obama’s second term tre for making policies for the Middle East. The speakers’ views complement analysis ABU DHABI: The Health vention in the Middle East has drawn in office witnessing the rise of regional and The speakers came to the conclusion that saying that Washington has retreated from Authority-Abu Dhabi has criticism from influential policymakers international powers like Russia and Iran. the “policy of retroversion” adopted by the the region after the discovery of shale gas announced the diagnosis of a in the US, says a Doha-based political The discussion at WINEP featured Obama administration in the Middle East in the US and is giving priority to the Far MERS-Coronavirus case in the analyst.