QATAR | Page 20 SPORT | Page 1 Al-Attiyah cruises to second INDEX DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 2, 20 COMMENT 18, 19 ARAB WORLD 3, 4 BUSINESS 1-12 Abu Dhabi Souq Waqif festival a 17,541.96 10,164.76 37.44 INTERNATIONAL 5-16 CLASSIFIED 9 -174.09 +133.74 -0.31 ISLAM 17 SPORT 1-8 big hit with little ones triumph -0.98% +1.33% -0.82% Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978 FRIDAY Vol. XXXVII No. 10052 April 8, 2016 Rajab 1, 1437 AH GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals In brief New taxi fl eet hits QATAR | Offi cial Emir sends message to French president HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani has sent a message to French President Francois Hollande, city roads pertaining to bilateral relations and means to boost them as well as the Cars Taxi launches new fleet; dents and visitors to Qatar. latest regional and international country’s roads will have 5,000 “Every vehicle of Cars Taxi is developments. The verbal message cabs by October equipped with advanced mobile data was conveyed by HE the Foreign terminals (MDTs), inclusive of meters, Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin By Ramesh Mathew navigation systems, taxi tracking, dis- Abdulrahman al-Thani when the Staff Reporter patch and speed monitoring systems,” French President met him at the he explained. Elysee Palace in Paris yesterday. Cars Taxi’s operator in Qatar, Profi t During the meeting, they discussed arwa’s taxi fl eet is poised for a Group director P Balasubramaniam bilateral relations and ways to major expansion in six months claimed that since its introduction in enhance them as well as prospects Kby exceeding 5,000 vehicles as September 2014, their company’s taxis of promoting co-operation, besides one of its franchisees, Cars Taxi, is ex- had become a distinctive presence on issues of common concern. Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Aff airs HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani with US Secretary of State John Kerry and pected to introduce 500 more cars as the country’s roads. his GCC counterparts in Manama yesterday. part of its capacity-strengthening pro- “In line with the goals and objec- gramme. tives of the Qatar National Vision REGION | Diplomacy “Cars Taxi would have 1,000 cabs by 2030, our company is looking forward Saudi King Salman the end of October,” group CEO Abdul- to introduce hybrid taxis, similar to la al-Sabbagh announced yesterday, at those launched by us in the UAE,” he starts Egypt visit a ceremony which saw 25 new vehicles said. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques fl agged off . The company was hitherto Cars Taxi is also actively exploring King Salman of Saudi Arabia Kerry calls for ending operating 500 taxis. the possibility for introducing dedicat- yesterday started a five-day visit The country’s transport authorities ed taxis for families, women and people to Cairo in a show of support for have put in place an ambitious plan to with special needs. This concept has Egyptian President Abdel Fattah press into service no less than 7,000 been a success in the UAE. al-Sisi, with the leaders due to sign taxis by the turn of this decade as part At the ceremony, the company offi - a raft of investment deals. Saudi wars in Syria, Yemen of their commitment to improve the cials gave mementos and certifi cates to Arabia has pumped billions of taxi network. some of the better performers among dollars in aid and investment into rupted a shipment of weapons des- these issues,” Kerry said. Al-Sabbagh, who is also the chair- the Cars Taxi drivers. Egypt’s battered economy, and the Reuters/AFP man of the International Union of Qatar’s public transport provider Manama tined for Houthi rebels in Yemen. Sheikh Khalid, whose government two heads of state are expected to “We call on Iran to constructively accuses Iran of stoking persistent Public Transport Middle East and Mowasalat’s limousines director Ali North African (Mena) Region, said Abdulla al-Bazad and Taxi Manage- ink more investment agreements join in the eff orts to make peace and protests among the kingdom’s Shias, today amounting to about $1.7bn. the new taxis are being launched as ment Offi ce director Ali Hassan al- S Secretary of State John Ker- to help us to resolve Syria and rather echoed Kerry’s call for Iran to co- Live footage on state television there is a continuous growth in the Emadi were also present at the launch ry called yesterday for all ef- than to continue to send weapons to operate. showed Sisi greeting the 80-year-old taxi requirements of both the resi- ceremony. Page 2 forts to be applied to maintain Houthis, join in the eff ort... to make Iran’s “interventions through King Salman at Cairo airport. Page 3 U the cessation of hostilities in Syria peace and to work toward a cessation proxies in several parts of our region and build momentum for peace talks. of hostilities,” Kerry told reporters. (are) continuing unabated,” the Bah- ARAB WORLD | Crisis “We will need to apply all of our ef- Tehran and the Gulf states back op- raini foreign minister said. forts in order to maintain not only the position sides in Syria and Yemen. All the Gulf Arab states, apart from UN Syria envoy cessation of hostilities but to build Last year Iran struck a landmark Oman, are taking part in a Saudi-led delays peace talks some possible momentum in the ne- deal with world powers scaling back coalition that has been battling Iran- The start of a new round of peace gotiations themselves,” Kerry said in its nuclear programme, which has led backed rebels in Yemen since March talks on the Syrian war has been a statement after talks with his for- to the lifting of international sanc- last year, in a war which the UN says pushed back by two days so that eign ministers from the six-member tions on the Islamic republic. has killed around 6,300 people. UN mediator Staff an de Mistura Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) in The US Treasury last month im- Yemen’s warring parties have can travel to Damascus and Tehran Manama. posed fi nancial sanctions on Iran’s agreed to observe a UN-brokered to sound out their position on a Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al- Republican Guards, who conducted ceasefi re from midnight Sunday to be political transition, the envoy said Jubeir said in a separate statement ballistic missile tests over March 8-9. followed by peace negotiations in Ku- yesterday. De Mistura told a news that Gulf Arab states rejected the in- “The US and the GCC countries wait on April 18. conference he wanted to verify tervention of Iran into the aff airs of remain united in our opposition to Kerry will also discuss the situa- the position of international and the GCC states and what he called Iran’s missile activities but we say tion in Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere regional parties to the conflict to its attempts to smuggle weapons into very clearly to Iran... that we’re in the region during his meeting with ensure there was a critical mass some GCC states. prepared to work a new arrange- Gulf foreign ministers, a US offi cial Abdulla al-Sabbagh and senior off icials of Mowasalat flagging off the new taxis about “what could be a framework “If Iran continues its aggressive ment to find a peaceful solution to said. Page 3 yesterday: PICTURE: Jayaram of a political transition”. Meanwhile, policies and continues to intervene the Islamic State group was accused into the aff airs of the GCC states, it yesterday of kidnapping more than will be diffi cult to deal with Iran,” he Qatari FM takes part in GCC-US talks 300 employees of a cement factory added. in Syria. Page 4 Kerry also urged Iran to help end Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Aff airs HE Discussions also dealt with and the the wars raging in Yemen and Syria, Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman results of the working groups at the Greece to expel more migrants criticising the Islamic republic’s al-Thani participated in the joint GCC-US summit, which was held in AMERICA | Vote reece is preparing to expel more migrants decided to apply for asylum at “destabilising actions” in the Middle meeting of foreign ministers of the May 2015 at Camp David, as well as the migrants today under a contro- the last minute. Clinton, Sanders get East. Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) latest developments particularly in with US Secretary of State John Kerry Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Libya, besides versial EU-Turkey agreement, “Whoever applies for asylum is re- Speaking during a joint news G tough as race narrows yesterday in Manama, in preparation eff orts to combat terrorism and regional four days after a fi rst batch was shipped moved from the list,” the second offi - conference with Bahraini Foreign Hillary Clinton and leftist challenger for the US-GCC summit to be held in and international issues of common over, offi cials said yesterday. cial said. A fi rst batch of 202 migrants Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Bernie Sanders turned up the heat Riyadh on April 21. During the meeting, interest. A police source on the island of Les- were sent to Turkey from the islands of yesterday in the Democratic race al-Khalifah, Kerry condemned “the they discussed co-operation relations Qatar’s delegation to the meeting bos said some 50 migrants of undis- Lesbos and Chios on Monday, sparking for the White House, locking horns destabilising actions of Iran, which between the GCC countries and the US included HE Assistant Foreign Minister closed nationality would be sent back a fl urry of asylum demands and forc- over trade and the “Panama Papers” the US takes very seriously”.