ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Monday 30 September 2013 24 Dhul-qa’da 1434 - Volume 18 Number 5838 Price: QR2 Remote gas Marquez detection wins device tested Aragon GP Business | 18 Sport | 28 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 12-year-old Syrian fighter Winter World More labour Cup 2022 won’t affect Winter inspectors Olympics: IOC ANCIENT OLYMPIA: Staging the 2022 Qatar World Cup in winter will not affect the Winter Olympics, International being hired Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said yesterday. Bach, who was attending the Massive crackdown likely Sochi 2014 Winter Games torch lighting ceremony in ancient DOHA: The Ministry of Labour in development projects being Olympia, said he had held talks and Social Affairs is gearing up launched for the 2022 World Cup with FIFA President Sepp Blatter to launch massive crackdowns soccer. It is also hiring additional and was confident the two major on private companies that translators so they could inter- events would steer clear of each breach the labour law and abuse pret complaints of workers of other. workers’ rights as the number of different nationalities, he said, “This is a FIFA discussion and foreign workers in the country replying to questions from report- Abboud, 12, with his weapons, stands near fellow Free Syrian Army fighters in Aleppo’s Sheikh Saeed neigh- the IOC will not interfere. I spoke has been going up considerably ers about an article that appeared bourhood yesterday. He and his brother Deeb, 14, joined the Free Syrian Army after the deaths of two of their with Blatter a couple of weeks ago to engage in mega development in a Western newspaper about the brothers and an uncle in the conflict. when he made the proposal to projects being launched for the labour situation in Qatar. have the World Cup in November 2022 FIFA event. The ministry takes the issues 2022 and we will follow this dis- The ministry says it is recruit- of labourers very seriously. The cussion in the FIFA executive ing an increasing number of inspection of contracting compa- committee.” inspectors to mount raids and nies is going on to check how they Qatar, where summer tempera- checks on companies to make are dealing with their workers. Dumped vehicles to be removed tures top 45 degrees C, bid for a sure they comply with the labour Companies are under scrutiny to traditional summer tournament law. Contracting companies are make them comply with the pro- DOHA: More than 10,000 to those removing abandoned through their municipalities. and was awarded the World Cup particularly under scrutiny as visions of the labour law regard- abandoned vehicles that occupy vehicles. The pile-up of these A senior official of the Doha three years ago. they are large employers of for- ing health, safety, accommodation public spaces in the Industrial cars are creating traffic prob- Municipality said the panel The IOC’s winter Games usu- eign workforce, and most worker and salaries, among others. Area will be removed in a mas- lems, encroaching upon public was expecting to remove more ally fall in the first three months complaints are lodged against The labour law is comprehen- sive campaign launched by the spaces and damaging the view than 10,000 abandoned vehicles of the year. “I am very sure that them. sive and should be implemented authorities yesterday. and the landscape of the area,” through the campaign, which will there will be a solution in the The ministry is also hiring cent per percent and it is a The campaign aims at remov- Al Sharq quoted Lieutenant continue until the last vehicle is mutual interest because neither more language interpreters so minimum requirement to pro- ing all old vehicles, machinery Ali Mohammed Suwaidan of removed. FIFA nor IOC wants a clash of workers’ woes can be redressed tect the rights of workers, said and other equipment littering the Lakhwiya as saying. Once the streets are cleared dates for such major events. by the Labour Department and the Minister, who headed the streets, parking areas and other Owners of abandoned cars will of damaged and neglected vehi- That is why I am not worried,” its branches efficiently. committee that framed Qatar’s public places in the area. be fined QR500 while owners of cles, the Public Works Authority said Bach, who succeeded Jacques This was disclosed by the Constitution a decade ago. The clean-up drive is spear- trucks abandoned in public places (Ashghal) will start working on Rogge at the helm of the IOC this Minister of Labour and Social The ministry is always keen headed by a special committee of will be fined QR800, said the daily. projects to develop the area. Many month. Affairs, H E Abdullah Saleh to resolve conflicts of labourers representatives from the Ministry The Ministry of Municipality projects have been lined up to Qatar has repeatedly said it is Al Khulaifi, yesterday on the with their employers amicably, of Municipality and Urban and Urban Planning has supplied develop the Industrial Area that open to a switch to winter dates sidelines of a function at Qatar therefore several branch offices Planning, Ministry of Interior 30 tow vehicles to support the is still facing crowding and con- but reiterated that despite the University of which he has been of the Labour Department have (represented by Lakhwiya) and campaign, while three additional gestion mainly due to its narrow heat the World Cup could be a president. been set up all over the country, the Doha Municipality. vehicles from Lakhwiya and seven and bumpy roads. staged in summer by building “We will not hesitate to take especially in areas with concen- As part of the campaign, the private vehicles are also partici- The presence of a large number AC stadiums using newly envi- necessary action to protect the tration of single workers such as panel has also launched a crack- pating. The discarded vehicles will of abandoned cars and equipment ronmentally friendly technology. rights of expatriate workforce,” the Industrial Area, he added. down on garages encroaching be first moved to street 1 in the has worsened the situation. There have been calls for the Minister told reporters. If the Labour Department upon public property to dump Industrial Area from where they The campaign follows compensation if the dates are The Labour Department and and its branch offices fail to set- vehicles awaiting repair. Garages will be shifted to the scrap yards strict warnings by the Traffic switched and Blatter said ear- its branch offices are adding tle workers’ disputes with their violating rules will face stern of the Ministry of Municipality Department recently to people lier this month it may have been more staff to deal with the grow- employers, the cases are imme- action, including closure, the com- and Urban Planning. leaving their vehicles in public a mistake to award a summer ing numbers of foreign workers diately referred to the court, said mittee has warned. Once they are taken away, the places for a long time. tournament to Qatar. REUTERS who are coming over to engage the Minister. THE PENINSULA “We are here to give support owners will be able to cancel them THE PENINSULA See also page 4 Cygnus joins ISS Bahrain jails Syria to honour UN arms resolution DAMASCUS: President Bashar Al Assad said yesterday Syria 50 Shias for will comply with a UN resolution to destroy its chemical arsenal as weapons experts prepared to head to the war-wracked country. He up to 15 years told Italy’s Rai News 24 TV channel that Damascus always respects treaties it signs, SANA news agency reported. He also said warm- DUBAI: A Bahraini court sen- ing relations between the US and Iran could benefit Syria and the tenced 50 people yesterday to region, “so long as the US is honest.” But he said most European between five and 15 years in countries “are unable” to play a role in the proposed peace process jail for setting up a group that for Syria. See also page 6 organises anti-government pro- tests, and that authorities say is Iran N-enrichment ‘not negotiable’ working to topple the govern- ment by force. WASHINGTON: Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif Activists said the government said yesterday Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear enrichment was had accused those convicted of not negotiable but Iran does not need to enrich uranium to military- membership of the February 14 grade levels, in talks with the US. Zarif said Iran was willing to open movement, which has been organ- its nuclear facilities to international inspections but the US must end ising protests since February economic sanctions as part of any deal on Iran’s nuclear programme. 2011, when authorities crushed “We do not need military-grade uranium. That’s a certainty and we an uprising demanding that the will not move in that direction. Having an Iran that does not have Sunni government give up power. nuclear weapons, is not just your goal, it’s first and foremost our The head of public prosecution The unmanned US commercial cargo ship Cygnus approaching the International Space Station (ISS) yesterday. goal,” he told ABC’s This Week programme. See also page 7 had described the Shia group as Cygnus flew itself to ISS, completing its debut test flight before supply runs begin in December. a terrorist organisation. Yousif Al Muhafda from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights said there were human rights campaigners among those convicted “under the internation- Manama forum raises questions about GCC media freedom ally criticised and vague terror- DOHA: A two-day symposium kicks off region say the idea of holding such a forum organisers) doesn’t leave me happy.