ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Serbia’s Novi Sad break Doha hearts Sport | 21 Saturday 13 December 2014 • 21 Safar 1436 • Volume 19 Number 6278 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 FIFA to vote on releasing Four killed in bus crash probe report PARIS: FIFA faces a vote Driver ‘accelerates’ instead of applying brakes at Al Ghanem terminal; two injured next week on whether or not to publish the controversial and DOHA: At least four people sensitive report into alleged were killed and two injured wrongdoing during the bidding early afternoon yesterday in a for the 2018 and 2022 World crash at the busy Al Ghanem Cups. main bus station near the Gold The sport’s world governing Souq. body will discuss the matter at The condition of the injured its two-day executive committee could not be ascertained until the meeting on the sidelines of the time of going to the press. Club World Cup in Morocco on Two of the deceased were December 18-19. reportedly Filipinos, including The agenda released yesterday a woman, while the others were for the meeting will hear a pro- apparently Indians. posal by Theo Zwanziger, former Witnesses said the accident head of the German football asso- took place around 12.30-12.40pm, ciation and a critic of the decision when a bus sped past a stand to award the 2022 Cup to Qatar. where it was supposed to have Britain’s Daily Telegraph stopped, and hit and ran over claimed Zwanziger wanted a waiting commuters. It then hit redacted version of the full Ethics the shed of the stand and two Al Committee report published to Million taxis before coming to a protect the identities of witnesses halt. who co-operated with the probe Three people were said to have led by US lawyer Michael Garcia. been killed on the spot. Garcia carried out an 18-month It is believed that the driver of investigation into the bidding the bus (No. 156 for Al Gharrafa) which led to the awarding of the pressed the accelerator instead 2018 tournament to Russia and of applying the brakes, witnesses the 2022 tournament to Qatar. said. The former New York federal The mortuary of Hamad prosecutor’s 350-page report General Hospital (HGH) con- summed up the probe that firmed that it had received four involved interviewing over 75 bodies from the bus terminal at witnesses and a dossier of more around 2.30pm. But sources did Commuters and onlookers standing near the Al Gharrafa-bound bus that ran over people waiting to get into it, killing at least four at Al Ghanem main than 200,000 pages and audio not give the nationalities of the bus station in a freaky accident yesterday. interviews. deceased. Witnesses said two of Garcia had blasted as “incom- them were Filipinos — a man and at around 8.30pm. Al Gharrafa suburb and was rush wasn’t much, witnesses said. station and saw the accident from plete and erroneous” a subsequent a woman. According to witnesses, the approaching the stand after drop- This is the second time a freak the rooftop of his building a little version of his report. Contacted, the Philippine other two deceased were from ping the passengers. accident has taken place in Al after it occurred and that three German Judge Hans-Joachim Ambassador, Crescente R the Indian sub-continent. A ver- Among the casualties were Ghanem. One person had died (in people died on the spot. Eckert, Chairman of the adjudica- Relacion, said there was no nacular newspaper said both were those waiting for the bus that hospital) and many were injured “We could see three bodies tory chamber of FIFA’s independ- confirmation about the death Indians. However, No one was would take them on Al Gharrafa in a mishap in August 2013. wrapped in white clothes lying ent ethics committee, said the of Filipinos. “It was reported to available at the Indian embassy route on its return trip. Photographs of two bodies close to the accident site, while probe had not yielded evidence me that there was a crash at Al for comment. Al Ghanem terminal is crowded stuck under the tyres of the bus a woman was being carried to an of wrongdoing and there would Ghanem bus station at around The driver, whose nationality on Fridays since it is a day off and in yesterday’s accident went viral ambulance with an oxygen mask be no re-vote on the tournaments. 1-1.30pm today (yesterday) and could not be ascertained, has been people throng it in large numbers, on local social media. on her face,” he added. He also argued that Garcia’s some Filipinos could be involved. taken into custody for question- but since the crash took place a A Bangladeshi witness, Kabir, THE PENINSULA report could not be published for I need to verify,” he told this daily ing. The bus had arrived from little after Friday prayers, the said he had stayed close to the bus Continued on page 2 legal reasons. AFP Protest over Jewish settlement No delay in first Foggy morning, colder night likely A350 commercial DOHA: Qatar is expected to witness foggy morning and colder night today, Qatar Meteorology Department has forecast. People flight, says QA driving vehicles early morning and at night should be careful as fog would lead to poor visibility, it said. DOHA: Qatar Airways (QA) The temperature is expected in the range of 17-26 degrees Celsius. said yesterday that the first Abu Samra is expected to be the coldest place, with the minimum commercial flight of Airbus temperature at around 17 degrees. Messaid and Al Wakra are likely A350-900 would go ahead as to have maximum temperature of 26 degrees. scheduled next month despite a delay in the delivery of the next- Abbas backs crackdown on tunnels generation plane. Akbar Al Baker, Chief CAIRO: Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said he supported Executive, QA, said the carrier Egypt’s crackdown on tunnels linking the Hamas-controlled Gaza had a “small issue” it was try- Strip to the Sinai Peninsula and any other action Cairo took to ing to resolve with the European protect itself from militants, according to a report. plane manufacturer. “We have supported all measures taken by Egyptian authorities “The issue should be resolved to close the tunnels and stop the trafficking of arms and the passage very soon and we will be taking of people between Gaza and the Sinai,” Abbas said in an interview the delivery of our planes immi- with Egyptian magazine Al Ahram Al Arabi due to be published today, nently,” he told reporters. extracts of which were published by MENA news agency. “We will “The aircraft is scheduled to continue to support any measure protecting Egypt from danger,” he do the first commercial flight A Palestinian protester throws back a tear gas grenade against Israeli soldiers during clashes over the Jewish was quoted as saying. on January 15 and this will be to settlement of Qadomem in Kofr Qadom village, near West Bank city of Nablus, yesterday. Frankfurt. Airbus 350 will be the Oil plunges to new five-year lows backbone of the QA fleet,” he said. The A350 had been due to be NEW YORK: Oil fell $2 a barrel to plumb new five-year lows yes- delivered today in the southwest- Bush ‘misled US on Iraq attack’ terday after the world’s energy watchdog forecast lower prices on ern French city of Toulouse. But weaker demand and higher supplies next year. on Wednesday the airline post- WASHINGTON: The CIA Hussein and the September 11, Levin said he had asked the Benchmark Brent oil tumbled to below $62 a barrel and US crude poned the delivery of the first declassified a letter yesterday 2001 attacks on New York and CIA to declassify the document slumped to under $58 to extend Thursday’s landmark fall below $60. A350-900. that suggests US intelligence Washington. But, in a letter to to show how the Bush administra- Surging crude inventories in the US and top oil exporter Saudi QA has ordered 80 aircraft, had grave doubts about part of Senator Carl Levin in March this tion “misled” the country before Arabia’s reiteration that it will not cut production had roiled prices whose delivery has been pushed the case made by former presi- year and now declassified, CIA the invasion of Iraq. Levin said over the past two days despite data pointing to strong US economic back about a year. The aircraft dent George W Bush’s White Director John Brennan said field the “alleged meeting was a cen- recovery. See also page 14 will also be flown to London’s House to justify the war in Iraq. agents had “expressed significant trepiece of the administration’s Heathrow airport for a week of tri- In the run-up to the March concern” over the report. campaign to create an impression Iran N-talks to resume on Wednesday als to measure the sound emission 2003 invasion, officials, includ- The letter said US agents in the public mind that Saddam “to prove to the world, especially to ing then vice-president Dick had not established Atta was in was in league with Al Qaeda ter- TEHRAN: Iran will resume talks with world powers in Geneva the British community, how quiet Cheney, alleged that 9/11 hijacker Prague, evidence suggest that rorists who attacked us on 9/11. next week aimed at reaching a deal over its controversial nuclear this plane is,” Al Baker said.