Current Events July 18-19

A round-up of some very local news, with a heavy emphasis on crime. Or, Life and Law in Qatar

Civic authorities shut restaurant for serving stale food
THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Municipal authorities cracked the whip on a famous foreign restaurant in the city and pulled its shutters down for a month after they found its staff was serving stale food items for profiteering.

Civic inspectors discovered during a raid that the items served to customers at this eatery were not fit for human consumption as stocks stored for cooking were found to have far jumped their expiry dates.

The items were seized and the manager of the eatery was referred for legal action. A notice was served and the municipality concerned ordered its closure for a month and imposed a fine as well. more ... [although no mention of the restaurant]

40 lashes for man convicted of drinking in public
The Gulf Times July 19
An Arab engineer, who has been convicted of drunkenness in a public place, has been sentenced to 40 lashes by a Doha court. The judge dismissed his claim that he could not differentiate between water and wine (writes Nour Abuzant).
The Moroccan Muslim told the court that he got intoxicated after he went for dinner with his French colleagues and they offered him a drink that he thought was water.
He was arrested when the car, carrying him and his French colleagues, m et with an accident. The traffic police noticed that he was vomiting and there was a stench of alcohol in the atmosphere. He was taken to the Rayyan police in an unconscious state. … full story

Illicit affair lands couple in prison
The Gulf Times July 19
By Nour Abuzant
A Doha court has sentenced a man and a woman to one-year imprisonment and subsequent deportation following their conviction of maintaining illicit relations.
The court heard that the pair, a Palestinian man and a Filipina, used to meet in the man’s car. … more

Motorist gets two years, 40 lashes for death crash
The Gulf Times July 19
By Nour Abuzant

A motorist has been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and 40 lashes for driving under the influence of liquor and causing an accident that claimed the lives of two Asians, last summer.
The traffic police report submitted to a Doha court of first instance said the accused was driving recklessly under the influence of alcohol, and because of his recklessness he hit a bicycle carrying the two Indians, killing them both on the spot. more ...

Woman who killed maid escapes death sentence after blood money deal accepted
The Peninsula/ By Abdullah Abdulrahman
DOHA: An expatriate woman who had to face the firing squad for stabbing her housemaid to death had a lucky escape as the family of the deceased has agreed to accept blood money and pardon her.

She will now be sentenced to 15 years in jail. The convict is pregnant and is in her early thirties. It so happened that the Industrial Area police got a call on the day of the incident saying that a maid employed by an expatriate household had committed suicide. more ...

Air-conditioned bus shelter set for trials
THE PENINSULA/ BY MOHAMMED IQBAL
DOHA: Mowasalat, in collaboration with a private media company, is establishing the first air-conditioned bus shelter in the country in Lusail. The facility will function on a trial basis, a senior Mowasalat official said.

The state-owned company is awaiting approval from higher authorities for establishing more such facilities across the country, Ahmed Al Ansari, Mowasalat’s business development director, told The Peninsula. more...

Qatar witnesses substantial rise in use of ozone depleting substances
The Peninsula. / BY SATISH KANADY
DOHA: Qatar has witnessed a quantum jump in the consumption of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) over the last four years. The country’s total consumption of ODS has touched a high 60380.05 metric tonnes during the year 2008 against 294.37 tones in 2004, revealed the annual environment abstract report released by Qatar Statistical Authority (QSA). more...


Need for more desalination plants: report
July 19 Gulf Times:
In view of Qatar’s rapid economic development and urban expansion besides a steady increase in population, more than half the quantum of water required for the country will have to be from desalination plants, says an investigative report published in a local Arabic daily.
There has been a three-fold increase in the output of desalinated water since 1995. The total volume produced in 2008 was to the tune of 321 million cubic metres. But it is not adequate to cover the individual level of consumption.
There is an imperative need to educate the public on the need to economise and be self disciplined in the use of water. 
Such a restraint from the public will go a long way in reducing the fear of water scarcity in the future. 
Qatar has two main under ground water tables: one in the Shemal (north) and the other in the south. However, due to the paucity in rainfall these water tables do not get replenished.