ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER President of FINA Swimming Ethiopia meets World Cup Qatari team begins today Business | 17 Sport | 28 Wednesday 27 August 2014 • 1 Dhu’l-Qa’da 1435 • Volume 19 Number 6170 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Call for law to Indefinite Gaza ceasefire begins GAZA: The war in Gaza ended yesterday after Israel and the Palestinians agreed to halt fighting indefinitely. curb increase Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Palestinian Authority and Israel agreed on an open- ended ceasefire beginning at 7pm yesterday. As the ceasefire brokered by Cairo came into effect, Gaza echoed with celebratory gunfire. in house rents Israel will open crossings on its border to allow aid and construction materials to enter Gaza, and extend the permitted fishing zone to six miles off Gaza. The Rafah border Villa partitioning mechanism urged crossing between Gaza and Egypt will also be opened. DOHA: With authorities in Al Khor and Al Wakra will be More difficult issues will be deferred for intensifying efforts to strictly a future solution if undertaken by further indirect talks between the two parties implement the ban on illegal a government-backed developer. If in a month. They include Hamas’s demands partitioning of villas, calls have it is left to private investors and for an airport and seaport in Gaza and the been made to find a mechanism developers, exploitation will con- release of Palestinian prisoners, and Israel’s to prevent a possible hike in tinue, he said. insistence on the disarmament of militant house rents following the move. Real estate expert Zayed Al groups and the return of the remains of two A Central Municipal Council Khayarin said a temporary solu- of its soldiers killed in the fighting. (CMC) member has called for a tion to the rents issue is to allow In a televised address, Palestinian new law to curb a prohibitive hike partitioning of villas and other President Mahmoud Abbas thanked the in rents while some real estate residential spaces but the gov- Egyptians, Qataris and US Secretary of State experts have said partitioning of ernment has to put in place a John Kerry for their efforts to secure a cease- villas should be allowed with some mechanism to regulate it. “The fire. THE GUARDIAN Hamas supporters hold up a rocket as they celebrate a ceasefire in Gaza City yesterday. regulations. government cannot fix or control See also page 5 The real estate sector is expect- rents because it cannot impose ing a steep hike in house rents prices on private real estate own- following the government move ers. The only thing the state can which could aggravate the exist- do is provide additional residential ing shortage in residential space. units through its real estate firms According to Mishal Al Dahnim, to influence prices and subsidise Qatar played ‘pivotal role’ in freeing Curtis Councillor from Al Hilal, the gov- construction materials to reduce ernment should control rents. costs.” DOHA: The Washington Post for Qatar’s help, said the daily. facilitated peace talks between Foreign Ministry cited its “relent- “Earlier, there were laws which Hamad Ali Al Merri, another has said that Qatar played the The US had exerted efforts to the US and the Taliban in less efforts” to secure Curtis’s effectively controlled rents. Rents expert, said the government’s “pivotal role” in securing the know the whereabouts of Curtis Afghanistan that ended without release “out of Qatar’s belief in should not be left to supply and development plans had had a neg- release of American journal- but Qatar’s positive relation with success last year, said the daily. the principles of humanity and demand. Supply is much less com- ative impact on the market since ist, Peter Theo Curtis, who had all parties concerned became This spring, Qatar helped its keenness on the lives of indi- pared to demand and will lead to old residential areas had been been missing in Syria for nearly instrumental in his release. arrange the exchange of Sgt. viduals and their right to freedom an unprecedented crisis,” Al Arab demolished and reconstruction two years. The Post quoted US officials as Bowe Bergdahl, the only US serv- and dignity”. daily quoted Al Dahnim as saying. needed years to complete. Qatar used its influence in the saying that Curtis was released ice member held by the Afghan Qatar and others involved Until 2022, demand will con- The decision to implement region to mediate in a number of following a direct request by his militants, for five Taliban detain- in Curtis’ release insist that no tinue to increase and supply can- the ban has also pushed up issues and the release of Curtis family for Qatari assistance. ees held in the US military prison ransom was paid to the militants, not cope with it with the rising prices because real estate own- was the latest, the daily said. After Qatar’s intervention and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. and say that its leverage with the number of expat workers, he said. ers are exploiting the situation. On Sunday, Curtis was turned negotiations with parties close Quoting Qatari officials, The group resides to some degree in “There must be a law to control “Partitioning of villas should be over to United Nations officials to those who detained Curtis, Post said that Qatar’s contribu- its willingness to deal with them. rents and any increase should not allowed after getting guarantees in the Syrian-held portion of the good information began to flow tions were the natural outgrowth Whatever the source of its influ- be more than 10 percent every two from real estate owners and ten- Golan Heights, near Israel. showing that he was going to be of their belief in non-judgmental ence, Qatar played the pivotal role years.” ants on the use of electricity and His mother issued a statement released soon. dialogue. in winning Curtis’s freedom, said Expansion of residential space facilities.” THE PENINSULA saying she was “deeply grateful” Beyond the Middle East, Qatar In a statement, the Qatari the daily. THE PENINSULA Fire in old Civil Defence HQ Qatar Exchange Qatar does not support hits another peak DOHA: Qatar Exchange (QE) any extremist group: FM benchmark index broke its his- torical peak in intra-day trade yesterday. The bourse closed at PARIS: The Foreign Minister H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al 13,906 points, up 0.29 percent, Attiyah has confirmed Qatar’s keenness to do all it can to achieve retreating from just below the regional peace and justice and called for collective action to end high of 13,950. violence in Iraq and Syria. QNB and Industries Qatar He stressed that Qatar did not support extremist groups in any were the main support, gaining way, pointing to the state’s rejection of ideologies and ambitions of 1.01 percent and 1.05 percent, those groups. respectively. Other contributors “The vision of extremist groups of the region is not consistent with included Ooredoo, up 2.68 per- the vision of Qatar, which will not support them in any way,” he said cent and Widam, which rose 1.15 in an article entitled ‘Qatar does not support any extremist group in percent. any way’ in the French edition of Huffington Post. Continued on page 3 Market cap rose to QR738bn from QR735bn. Traded value No policy review on encroachers plunged to QR734m from the previous session’s QR960m. Four DOHA: There is no retreat or change in government decision to sector indices fell, while Telecom remove illegal structures encroaching on state-owned properties, rose by 1.81 percent. Traded vol- Al Sharq said yesterday, quoting a senior official of the Ministry of ume slipped to 13m shares from Interior. Brigadier Ali Mohanna Al Noimi, Secretary, State Property 16m. Of the traded 41 companies, Protection Committee, in an interview with an official magazine, 18 advanced, 18 stocks declined described as “not correct” rumours that the government is review- and five remained unchanged. ing its decision to crack down on land grabbers, and considering Fire broke out in the old headquarters of Civil Defence at Wadi Al Sail yesterday morning. It started on the regularising them with fine. Continued on page 3 Al Sharq Qatar tops UNDP top floor where labourers were at work, reports. The maintenance of the building has been going on THE PENINSULA for several months since Civil Defence shifted to new premises, leaving the building for Qatar Museums. No index for GCC again casualties were reported. DOHA: Qatar has again ranked first among the GCC countries in the Human Development Index (HDI) 2014 US, allies warn against ‘outside interference’ in Libya released by the United Nations Development Programme DOHA: The US and its European allies “We believe outside interference in Libya international support to back “Libyans who positions held by armed Islamist militias (UNDP). Maintaining last have warned against “outside interfer- exacerbates current divisions and under- want to fight chaos ... through a political in the Libyan capital,” the Egyptian foreign year’s position, Qatar ranked ence” in Libya, a day after officials in mines Libya’s democratic transition. process”. The air raids in Tripoli may have ministry had said on Sunday. 31st among 187 countries. Washington said the UAE had launched France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the been a bid to prevent the capture of the The US government said that the UAE Saudi Arabia ranked 34, the air raids in Tripoli with the support of US strongly condemn the escalation of Tripoli airport, but fighters seized control.