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/ 19 October 2004
Qatar is set to substitute robots for jockeys in camel races, a favourite sport in the oil-rich Gulf region that has faced widespread criticism over the use of child jockeys from the Indian subcontinent. But the sport’s supremo in Doha insists the plan to use ”robot jockeys” within the coming year is not in response to protests by human rights groups.
Al-Jazeera expressed ”outrage” on Monday at Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari’s criticism of the satellite news channel’s coverage of Iraq and threats to close its Baghdad bureau. ”Al-Jazeera would have hoped the Iraqi government would embark on its new term with initiatives to lift media restrictions,” the station said in a statement.
They call themselves the ”awkward squad” and their questions to the generals running the war in Iraq are starting to divide the sceptical press from their more loyal United States colleagues.
United States and British commanders have changed their tactics on the ground in Iraq to tackle paramilitary militias across the south before the assault on Baghdad, senior military sources said this week.
Chief terror suspect Osama bin Laden is alive and well, a representative for his al-Qaida network said in a statement broadcast on Sunday on the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera satellite channel.