ISO 9001:2008 CERTIFIED NEWSPAPER Earnings push Elseify youth QE index hammer throw beyond 13,000 king again Business | 13 Sport | 19 Wednesday 6 August 2014 • 10 Shawwal 1435 • Volume 19 Number 6149 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com [email protected] | [email protected] Editorial: 4455 7741 | Advertising: 4455 7837 / 4455 7780 Emir meets Saudi Minister Qatar stock market Big-time role set to be flooded with more liquidity DOHA: Qatar yesterday issued in offing for a law formally raising the limit of foreign ownership in the listed companies to 49 percent. The move paves the way for more liquidity flow into the coun- try’s stock market that has a cap- private sector italisation of $192.21bn. The foreign ownership limit in most listed companies was 25 Panel to study new business avenues percent earlier. Non-Qatari GCC nationals, DOHA: A panel is being set QNA said the panel would who were previously treated as up that would likely study study matters related to heavy foreigners for the purpose of trad- how Qatar’s private sector can transport and draw up rules ing in Qatari stocks, are to be now successfully enter big-time and mechanisms to nationalise treated as Qatari citizens. businesses like shipping, air the heavy transport activity in This means their owner- cargo and import and opera- coordination with authorities ship of Qatari stocks will not be tion of heavy equipment and concerned. “The term ‘heavy counted in as being part of foreign machineries. transport’ has been used here in The Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yesterday met the Saudi Minister of National Guard, Prince ownership. The decision to form the com- a broader sense. It includes ship- Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, at Al Bahr Palace and reviewed means of enhancing and developing rela- “We have the biggest hindrance mittee was taken by the Cabinet ping, air cargo, heavy machineries tions. The Emir also hosted a luncheon banquet in honour of Prince Miteb and his delegation. At the airport, to promoting Qatar Exchange earlier and the Emir H H Sheikh and equipment, including earth Prince Miteb was welcomed by H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and Saudi Charge d’Affaires Hamza (QE) in a big way, removed,” was Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani yes- movers,” said Al Khalaf. how stock and financial analyst, Saeed Al-Oufi. Later, Prince Miteb left Qatar. He was seen off by H E Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani and terday endorsed it, QNA reported. On heavy machineries and Bashir Al Kahlout, reacted. other officials at the airport. The panel is to look into how earth movers, he said most big Al Kahlout told this newspaper heavy transport could be organ- construction firms working that QE would now become the ised in Qatar, but a business- on mega development projects GCC’s second-largest equity mar- man told this daily the term import their machineries. ket (after Saudi Arabia’s). ‘heavy transport’ had a broader “They send these machineries Bid for permanent Gaza truce About non-Qatari GCC nation- connotation. out of the country once their con- als, he said they were until now Qatar has enough wealth and a tracts are over and the projects GAZA CITY: A 72-hour truce end its eight-year blockade of on Gaza. As the truce went into treated as foreigners, so they vibrant private sector, so if local are completed and delivered.” took root yesterday in Gaza, as Gaza and open border crossings, force, Israel withdrew its troops, shared the quota of stock own- companies venture into these So these machineries do not add Israeli and Palestinian delega- while Israel wants Gaza fully ending the ground operation ership that was meant for businesses, it would accelerate the the required value to the national tions travelled to Cairo to try to demilitarised. aimed at destroying tunnels Gaza foreigners. country’s economic progress and economy over the long term as extend the ceasefire and fami- But after the longest period militants use to attack its terri- Citing an example, he said sup- ensure security in the long-term, they can’t be utilised after their lies picked through the debris of of quiet since fighting began, tory. Medics in Gaza reported no pose 80 percent shares of a listed said Ahmed Al Khalaf. one-off use, nor do they yield any war. Palestinian Foreign Minister, new deaths or injuries since mid- company were held by Qataris And that would help businesses taxes, said Al Khalaf. The guns fell silent after 29 Riyad Al Maliki, said he expected night. See also page 5 and the remaining 20 percent by and consumers as Qatari shipping “So it makes sense if Qatari days of fighting, bringing relief “the ceasefire to expand into AGENCIES foreigners. and air cargo companies would companies import, operate and to millions as both sides counted another 72 hours and beyond”. And non-Qatari GCC nation- mean that imported commodities manage such machineries and the cost from a conflict that killed Al Malki said there was “clear als might have had a share of five would be cheaper, he said. make them available for use in 1,875 Palestinians and 67 people evidence” of war crimes by Israel UK minister quits percent in this ownership. So far there are no Qatari the construction industry.” in Israel. during its offensive in Gaza as LONDON: Baroness Sayeeda “This means that foreigners private shipping companies and This would mean there would Officials on both sides con- he met International Criminal Warsi, a Foreign Office actually had only 15 percent share that explains why most goods that be no need to import heavy firmed they had sent small delega- Court prosecutors to push for an Minister, resigned over what in this company, not 20 percent,” are imported come through other machineries every time a con- tions to Cairo for talks to secure investigation. she called the government’s he said. ports in the region, said Al Khalaf. struction company needs them a permanent ceasefire after the In southern Israel, there was “morally indefensible” pol- With the passage of the law No. “Direct imports are a few.” for a project, said Al Khalaf. three-day window closes. relief but scepticism. Just minutes icy on Gaza. Warsi, the first 9 of 2014, this five percent owner- As a result, imported goods “This is a strategic vision. But there is an uphill diplo- before the truce took hold, sirens Muslim to sit in the British ship of non-Qatari GCC nationals become costlier burdening peo- Owning and controlling the matic battle ahead. Negotiators wailed in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv cabinet, also had responsibility will now be shared by foreigners, ple, he said. Likewise, there heavy transport sector can be an will likely confront conflicting as Hamas fired 16 rockets over the for faith and communities. he said. are no private Qatari air cargo important aspect of the national demands on both sides. border, while Israeli warplanes Full report on page 9 THE PENINSULA companies. economy.” THE PENINSULA The Palestinians insist Israel carried out at least five strikes Continued on page 5 We are proud Saudi suspects Ebola case; Qatar ‘free’ RIYADH: Doctors are testing a male patient suspected of having contracted Ebola during a trip to West Africa, the health minis- of our gains, try said yesterday. The Saudi was admitted to hospital in Jeddah after showing symptoms of haemorrhagic fever upon his return says Aljazeera from Sierra Leone. The man, in his 40s, is in critical condition and has symptoms “similar to that of Ebola infection.” Meanwhile, the America Public Health Department at the Supreme Council of Health said no cases had been reported in Qatar so far. See also page 3 DOHA: Responding to an article ‘Qatar — Will Truce in Lebanese border town Aljazeera America save us?’ published in The Peninsula on BEIRUT: A 24-hour ceasefire was agreed yesterday to halt fight- July 17, the television network ing between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants who seized said, “Your article mentions a border town at the weekend, in the most serious spillover into Aljazeera America’s viewer- Lebanon from Syria’s three-year-old civil war. A security source ship. We are proud of the said the ceasefire, due from 7pm (1600 GMT), aimed to allow time gains that Aljazeera America for a mediator to investigate the fate of 22 soldiers missing since the has made: in less than one militants seized Arsal on Saturday. Sunni Muslim clerics have been year, we gained distribution pursuing peacekeeping efforts. on most of the major cable operators in the US including Kuwait curbs on Islamic charities Comcast, Time Warner Cable, A man is escorted off the QA aircraft by police at Manchester airport yesterday. Verizon, Dish, DirecTV and KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait has stepped up controls on Islamic chari- most recently AT&T U-Verse. ties, including donations for war-ravaged Syria, as part of measures “Aljazeera America launched to curb funding for extremists, the Al Qabas daily said yesterday. in August 2013, to bring the Social Affairs and Labour Minister Hind Al Sabeeh said measures ‘Bomb’ scare on QA flight to Manchester uncompromising ideals of the aim to “correct the course” of action of non-profit organisations. DOHA: A Qatar Airways (QA) plane bound for “The crew is now fully assisting police at the air- award-winning Aljazeera Media The new measures “oblige charities to issue a transparency docu- Manchester was escorted by two British fighter port with their inquiries,” QA said, adding “as this Network to the US market and ment identifying the source and final destination of the funds they jets yesterday after the pilot reported a possible is a matter of a police investigation, we cannot com- provide American viewers with have raised,” she added.