ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Ukraine crisis Qatar squad for threatens EU Youth Olympic recovery Games Business | 13 Sport | 20 Friday 8 August 2014 • 12 Shawwal 1435 • Volume 19 Number 6151 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Reports on runaway Cases in courts workers can be lodged on Metrash2 DOHA: The Ministry of Interior has added an extra drop despite service on its popular Metrash2 service list. From now on sponsors can use the facility to lodge com- population rise plaints about their ‘missing’ or ‘absconding’ workers, the minis- try announced. The message will immediately Council releases latest data reach the Search and Follow-up Department at the ministry. DOHA: Despite Qatar’s gallop- inheritance and children have Sponsors can also submit the ing population rate, the number been growing over the past few passports of the absconding of cases coming up before courts years. The number rose from workers within 48 hours to the is fast declining. 5,251 in 2011 to 5,351 in 2012, but department. The latest data released by the dropped slightly to 5,345 in 2013. The ministry is constantly Supreme Judicial Council show However, a section of legal improving and simplifying its that cases, including those reach- experts were of the view that the services delivery channels. ing criminal courts, have declined data does not reflect reality. It introduced Metrash2 to significantly. They attributed the steady A Palestinian child sits on a mattress on the rubble of a house destroyed in an Israeli air strike in Abasan, east of enable citizens and residents to The population grew by 33 per- decline in the number of cases the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis and close to the border with Israel, yesterday. benefit from a wide range of serv- cent between 2009 and 2013, how- to the government’s decision to ices through their smartphones ever, cases before courts dropped restrict visas to certain countries. and laptops within and outside by nearly 6 percent during the “It’s true that Qatar’s popula- the country. period. tion rate is growing at an expo- Gaza tense as truce deadline looms For instance, cases in the courts nential rate. But the fact is there Bahrain strips 9 in 2009 totalled 85,911. The data is a huge decrease in expatriate GAZA CITY: Fears rose yes- ceasefire,” the official added. Najib Habib, 35, a labourer from shows total cases in the courts in family visas. terday that the Gaza conflict A spokesman for Hamas’s Shejaiya, one of the worst-hit of nationality 2013 dropped to 81,169, despite a “Single workers make up a could resume as a temporary armed wing, the Ezzedine Al areas. Four weeks of bloodshed huge increase in the population large percentage of new popu- ceasefire entered a final nine- Qassam Brigades, warned that between Israel and Hamas killed DUBAI: A Bahraini court has rate. lation inflow and cases like civil hour stretch and Palestinians fighting would resume if their 1,886 Palestinians, and 67 on the stripped nine Shias of citizen- The total number of cases suits, which make up a major accused Israel of stalling at demands were not met, first and Israeli side, mostly soldiers. ship, for the first time imple- that reached the courts in 2011 chunk of total litigation, hardly truce talks in Cairo. foremost to open a sea port to the UN figures indicate that 73 menting a 2013 law which was 86,980 and dropped to 81,452 emerge from them,” said a lawyer. Israel has said it is ready to blockaded Palestinian enclave. percent of the Palestinian vic- revokes the nationality of terror in 2012 and to 81,169 in 2013. Dr Saud Al Azba, leading extend the 72-hour lull “indefi- “If there is an agreement, it will tims — or 1,354 — were civilians, convicts, a judicial source said Between 2011 and 2013, the pop- Qatari criminal lawyer, said: “I nitely” but Hamas has so far be possible to extend the truce, including at least 429 children. yesterday. ulation rate grew by 25 percent. haven’t seen the council’s latest hedged its bets, with an official but if there is not, we will ask Hamas and Palestine Liberation The nine men were found guilty Except civil suits and cases data. There may be a drop in the on the negotiating team saying a the delegation to withdraw from Organisation officials have laid on Wednesday of “forming a ter- related to administrative dis- number of cases. Given my expe- decision would be taken later. talks,” a spokesman using the demands, starting with the lifting ror organisation to smuggle weap- putes, cases across various seg- rience, I hardly believe there is a But as nightfall loomed, a sen- nom-de-guerre Abu Obeida said of Israel’s eight-year blockade on ons to Bahrain and help detainees ments came down in 2013. The significant drop in the number of ior Palestinian official accused in a televised address. Gaza. They also want the cross- to escape,” the source added. number of civil cases increased criminal cases.” Israel of procrastinating, warn- In Gaza, residents resigned ings with Egypt and Israel reo- They were part of a group of to 16,780 from 15,394 in the pre- Another leading Qatari law- ing it could lead to a resumption themselves that the truce could pened and the release of around 15 tried over a “terrorist plot” vious year. yer said: “Ideally, the number of of the fighting when the deadline be in jeopardy. Many are shelter- 125 key prisoners from Israeli against the kingdom, for spying The total number of registered cases should have gone up with expires at 0500 GMT today. ing in schools, reluctant to return jails. for Iran, and accused of possess- civil suits, which also cover labour the increasing population. “The Israeli delegation is to their damaged homes without In Gaza, Hamas spokesman ing weapons to attack security disputes, was 24,119 in 2011. The But what’s really happening is proposing extending the cease- a lasting truce. Fawzi Barhum said there was no forces. One defendant was acquit- number marginally dropped to a reversal. There are a number fire while refusing many the “Everything is possible, eve- official stance on either renewing ted, while the others, including 24,100 in 2012 before edging up of reasons.” Palestinian demands,” he said. rything is ready, if there are no the truce or resuming the fight- the nine, were jailed for between to 26,167 in 2013. THE PENINSULA “If Israel continues its procras- demands (met at talks), there ing. AGENCIES five and 15 years. Family cases related to Continued on page 2 tination, we will not extend the will be more destruction,” said See also page 4 AGENCIES Saudi stops Haj Free Aljazeera scribes: Obama WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama once again called for visas to countries the release of Aljazeera English journalists, jailed for seven years in Cairo on June 23. On the last day of the US-Africa Summit on hit by Ebola virus Wednesday, he said the US demands the freedom of journalists to report, a basic tenet of a civilised society. “On the specific issue with DOHA: The Saudi Ministry Aljazeera journalists in Egypt we have been clear publicly and pri- of Health has stopped issuing vately that they should be released. We have been very consistent visas for Haj and Umrah to peo- in pushing governments not just in Africa but around the world to ple of the countries affected by respect the right of journalists to practise their trade as a critical Ebola virus. part of civil society and a critical part of any democratic norm,” he The ministry said it had quar- said. Al Anstey, Managing Director, Aljazeera English also renewed antined all people who had come the call for the immediate release of their staff. in contact with the Saudi man who died yesterday because of US mulls military action in Iraq Ebola. All these people will be under observation for 21 days WASHINGTON: The US warned yesterday a jihadist offensive which is the incubation period of in northern Iraq could provoke a “humanitarian catastrophe,” the virus. It stressed that there amid reports that President Barack Obama was considering mili- were no new suspected cases of tary action. A Pentagon official said the US military is helping the Ebola in the kingdom. Baghdad government coordinate air drops of humanitarian aid to FROM LEFT: Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager, Katara, Dr Yahya Zakaria Al Agha, Adviser, It denied media reports about a civilians and the White House did not rule out future direct action. Palestinian embassy, Munir Ghannam, Palestinian Ambassador, and Ahmad Yousef Al Khulaifi, Chairman, Qatar new case in Jeddah and stressed The UN Security Council was to hold an emergency meeting on Iraq, Photographic Society, look at one of the photos at ‘Gaza ... Hope’ expo which opened in Building No 18, Katara, its keenness on transparency, after Islamist militants seized the country’s largest Christian town yesterday. BAHER AMIN commitment to informing the of Qaraqosh. The meeting was requested by France. See also page 4 community about contagious dis- eases and raising awareness about Mufti rejects Badie death proposal preventative measures according Palestinian lensman skips expo opening to best international health prac- CAIRO: Egypt’s top religious authority has rejected the death sen- tices, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) tence proposed for the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood said.