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Emir meets Indian minister
The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani with Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram in Doha yesterday. Talks dealt with bilateral ties and matters of common interest.
Several farms being used for other purposes
DOHA: Many agricultural farms in the country for which the government provided land on long-lease at a nominal rent, are being misused by their owners for other purposes in violation of the law. Some farmhouses have become hideouts of runaway workers, while automobile workshops have been opened in others. There are still others which some companies are using as labour camps for their workers. Then, there are those where small factories have been set up and some even have photo studios and gymnasiums on them. Some farms along roads can even be seen having restaurants and cafeterias on them. Local Arabic daily Al Arab reported yesterday carrying photographs of some farms that showed the above facilities existing on their premises in severe breach of the country’s laws. The government allots land in arable areas of the country for farming and provides financial and other support as part of its plans to boost local agricultural production but the effort seems to be in vain. There are an estimated 1,400 farms in the country and the Ministry of Environment’s agricultural department late last year detected some 71 of them that were found misusing the land. Most farms supporting agricultural production cultivate animal fodder and vegetables. However, to make more profits owners might be using some for other purposes. The violating farms were given six months’ grace period to mend their ways or face the music and the deadline ends later this month. The daily said it found it amazing that some farms were being used as hideouts for outlawed runaway workers and there was no official monitoring. In labour camps, low-income workers were made to stay in substandard conditions and among rodents. The camps hardly have basic amenities and generators are used to supply electricity. “What are the agencies responsible for ensuring human rights doing?” wondered the daily. “There are no checks.” Despite widespread misuse of farmland, people are asking the government to allot them more and more land for farming. The government this year amended a law (Number 10) that was passed in 1987 and enforced a new one (Law Number 2 of 2013) that specifies stringent punishment for misusing farmland. The new legislation stipulates a jail term of six months or a fine of QR100,000 or both for repeated violation of its clauses. However, it remains to be seen how effectively the government enforces the law once the grace period given to the violators ends this month-end. The Peninsula
Jihadist groups seize Syrian oil wells
A makeshift oil refinery site in al-Mansoura village, al-Raqqa province. Photograph: Reuters Damascus: The EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions to aid the opposition has accelerated a scramble for control over wells and pipelines in rebel-held areas and helped consolidate the grip of jihadist groups over the country’s key resources. Jabhat Al Nusra, affiliated with Al Qaeda and other extreme Islamist groups, control the majority of the oil wells in Deir Ezzor province, displacing local Sunni tribes, sometimes by force. They have also seized control of other fields from Kurdish groups further to the north-east, in Al Hasakah governorate. As opposition groups have turned their guns on each other in the battle over oil, water and agricultural land, military pressure on Bashar Al Assad’s government from the north and east has eased off. In some areas, Al Nusra has struck deals with government forces to allow the transfer of crude across the front lines to the Mediterranean coast. As a result of the rush to make quick money, open-air refineries have been set up in Deir Ezzor and Al Raqqa provinces. Crude is stored in ditches and heated in metal tanks by wood fires, shrouding the region with plumes of black smoke, exposing the local population to the dangers of the thick smog and the frequent explosions at the improvised plants. Heating oil, diesel and petrol is condensed in hoses running from the tanks through pools of water and sold across the north, as far as Aleppo. The remaining crude is shipped by road on tankers to Turkey. One leading opposition figure said: “The northern front hasn’t just gone dormant; the northern front has gone commercial.” The EU announced it was lifting its oil embargo in April to help the moderate opposition. The implementation regulations have yet to be issued so the decision has not taken effect, but regional experts say the announcement intensified the race for oil — a race the western-backed moderates lost. Joshua Landis, an expert on the region at the University of Oklahoma who runs the Syria Comment blog, said the EU decision on oil “sent a message that oil could come back online faster than most thought possible”. “Whoever gets their hands on the oil, water and agriculture, holds Sunni Syria by the throat. Guardian News
Saudi vegetable seller kills self
One of the Saudi vegetable vendor (file picture) RIYADH: A Saudi newspaper says a vegetable seller who set himself on fire in Riyadh after police confiscated his goods for standing in an unauthorised area has died. The website for newspaper Sada reported that the man, identified only by the family name of Sureihi, died in hospital late on Friday. The self-immolation emulated that of a street vendor in Tunisia, whose 2011 death sparked the Arab Spring uprisings. Family members were seen outside the hospital on Saturday demanding answers about why police confiscated the man’s goods. Witnesses say the family wants to know what led him to douse himself in gasoline and set himself ablaze on Thursday. Saudi officials refused to comment. They did not disclose the man’s name or age. Despite Saudi Arabia’s oil wealth, many of its people live in poor conditions. AP
Dubai workers launch rare strike over wages
DUBAI: Thousands of workers employed by Dubai’s largest construction firm, Arabtec, stayed away from work yesterday to back wage demands, a rare labour protest in the Gulf emirate, where trade unions are banned, staff said. Most blue collar workers in Gulf countries are migrant labourers hired on a contract basis from South Asian countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and strikes are uncommon. Migrant workers in Dubai are often employed at wages that are low by Western standards and housed in dormitory-style accommodation on the outskirts of the city, part of the UAE, a regional business and tourism hub. Two Arabtec employees who asked not to be identified said several thousand workers engaged on various projects did not report for duty yesterday and stayed in their accommodation. A sub-contractor confirmed the stoppage, saying he had to call back his workers from one Dubai work site after Arabtec labourers failed to show up yesterday. Asked for comment, an Arabtec spokesperson said: “We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible, alongside the Ministry of Labour and the Police Authority.” The UAE Labour Ministry told Reuters a team of the ministry’s labour crisis management committee was “closely following the work stoppage by a number of Arabtec’s workers”. REUTERS
Extreme climate change predictions ‘may be wrong’
London: Some of the most extreme predictions of global warming are unlikely to materialise, new scientific research has suggested, but the world is still likely to be in for a temperature rise of double that regarded as safe. Researchers said that warming was most likely to reach about 4 Degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels going by the past decade’s readings. That would still lead to catastrophe across large swaths of the Earth, causing droughts, storms, floods and heatwaves. Some climate change sceptics have suggested that because the highest global average temperature yet recorded was in 1998, climate change has stalled. The new study, which is published in the journal Nature Geoscience, shows a much longer “pause” would be needed to suggest that the world was not warming rapidly. Alexander Otto, at the University of Oxford, lead author of the research, said that most of the recent warming had been absorbed by the oceans, but this would change as the seas heat up. The thermal expansion of the oceans is a factor behind current and projected sea level rises. The highest global average temperature ever recorded was in 1998, under the effects of a strong El Nino, a southern Pacific weather system associated with warmer and stormy weather.Since then, the trend of average global surface temperatures has shown a clear rise above the long-term averages — the 10 warmest years on record have been since 1998 — but sceptics have claimed that this represents a pause. Guardian News
Wedding collection: Planning a wedding made easy
By Isabel Ovalle The curtain came down on the sixth International Wedding Exhibition and Fashion Show (IWED 2013) at the Doha Exhibition Center yesterday after four days of style, make-up, jewellery and all that has to do with the big day. The exhibition was expected to attract approximately 15,000 people, many of them brides-to-be, looking for ideas to plan every detail of their marriage celebration. This is the season when most nuptials take place here, according to experts from the wedding industry. In Qatar, the bride and groom celebrate their union separately, which bloats the budget. All in all, IWED revolved mainly around the bride’s interests: from the gown to the shoes, cosmetics, and banquet, among other things. Christian Jenadri, from Jewelry and Diamonds, explained that Qatari brides liked to wear a white set on their wedding day. “They don’t like European models,” he added. The amount they spend on diamonds varies from QR20,000 to QR1m, said the expert, highlighting that “Qatar is one of the top countries in jewellery purchase. They like to buy it for all occasions, not only for weddings, but also to give as gifts.” Rubies and emeralds are out of the picture on the wedding day, when local ladies opt for diamonds. “According to tradition, the groom gives an amount of money and the bride chooses whatever she wants with this budget,” he explained. The jeweller said most brides visiting the exhibition had already planned their wedding arrangements and stopped by only to browse. “The exhibition should be held earlier, because most weddings in Qatar are in May and by now they have already finalised all the planning,” he said, adding that “there hasn’t been enough advertisement, but we have reached out to our regular customers here.” Diamonds are favoured so much on the wedding day by brides that in this region, approximately 50 percent of the wedding budget can be dedicated to this precious stone, said Mohamed Adel Attia, from Matis Unique Sense jewellers, a brand that sponsored IWED. “We also want to educate the bride on how to spend her money and we’ll have some sessions about diamond wearing,” he added. On his part, a representative from The Diplomatic Club, where numerous weddings are held, said they had several venues and hosted “a huge number of weddings, so many that I can’t keep count. We have a lot of male and female wedding celebrations, either with our catering or with outside catering,” he added. “Ladies can do whatever they want and don’t have to worry about anything. There’s a beauty salon, restaurant and many other services. The price varies depending on the bride’s requests,” said the official from The Diplomatic Club. Other hospitality companies at the exhibition, like Renaissance Hotels, promise “to accommodate every wish and family tradition to make the fairytale wedding absolutely perfect. We’ll make sure every last detail is taken care of.” Prices for a banquet at this five-star establishment vary from QR255 per guest to QR290, always for a minimum of 150 guests, featuring a buffet, female staff, a honeymoon suite and discounts on guest rooms, among other things. As for the wedding dress, Joe Atallah, Business Development Director at Esposa, a Lebanese firm that caters to many Qatari clients, said, “brides here like European and American styles, with some modifications to give the gown their own touch.” The minimum spend on the dress is QR15,000, with the average expense being around QR40,000. “Every country has its own particularities regarding the wedding season, here it’s mainly in May and June,” added Atallah. A representative from the beauty salon Dazzling Diva explained that brides here mainly liked French manicure, but some of them preferred colour, or diamonds and glitter. There are special packages for brides, with treatments that begin up to one or two month before the nuptials, depending on the state of the bride’s skin. “We do facials and take care of the make-up. Some European brides like natural make-up, while others, like Qatari women, go for a more dramatic look, namely Lebanese make-up,” explained the cosmetic expert. Belal Al Kadry, Executive Assistant Manager at the Ritz-Carlton Doha, which organises numerous weddings, said -- when the event was first announced -- that the number of weddings had increased approximately 35 percent since last year. “The fast growth in this segment is parallel to the growth in the country,” said the official from Ritz-Carlton, the official exclusive hotel for IWED 2013. The Peninsula
Emir to open 13th Doha Forum today
Doha: The Emir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani will open the 13th Doha Forum today in presence of a number of heads of state and dignitaries. The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor Al Thani will also speak during the opening session, giving Qatar’s perspective on current challenges in international relations. The forum will discuss the impact of emerging world order in the Arab world and challenges facing new democracies in the Middle East. It will look at the current status for development amid the ongoing economic crisis and the impact on human rights. Discussions at the three-day forum will also assess the impact of the digital era on foreign affairs, looking at both the challenges for national security and opportunities for digital diplomacy. QNA
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