3rd Best News Website in the Middle East BUSINESS | 26 SPORT | 32 S&P Global Ronaldo affirms QIC’s powers Portugal ‘A’ rating to victory Thursday 22 June 2017 | 27 Ramadan 1438 www.thepeninsulaqatar.com Volume 22 | Number 7200 | 2 Riyals Emir greets Saudi King Emir chairs third meeting of SCEAI and new Crown Prince QNA and Agencies Custodian of the Two Holy mir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Mosques King Salman bin Hamad Al Thani sent a cable of congratulations to Custodian Abdulaziz Al Saud yesterday of the Two Holy Mosques King appointed his 31-year-old Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud son Prince Mohammed bin Eof the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Ara- Salman as Crown Prince. bia on the occasion of naming HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud as Crown Prince and appointing him as Deputy Premier. The Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and HRH Emir wished the King health and well- Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin being, further progress and prosperity to Abdulaziz Al Saud. the fraternal people of the Kingdom of King Salman appointed his 31-year- Saudi Arabia under the King's wise lead- old son Prince Mohammed bin Salman ership, and more development and as crown prince yesterday, placing him growth to the deep fraternal ties between first-in-line to the throne and laying the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Economic Affairs and the two brotherly countries. groundwork for an entirely new gener- Investment (SCEAI), chaired the Council's third meeting of 2017 at Al Bahr Palace, yesterday. The Deputy The Emir also sent a cable of congrat- ation of royals to take the reins. Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairman of the Council, attended the meeting along ulations to HRH Prince Mohammed bin Once powerful counterterrorism with the Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on the expert, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, was Council's Executive Member. The Council discussed topics on the agenda and took appropriate decisions. occasion of being named Crown Prince removed from the line of succession — The Council was briefed on the developments relating to energy and investment affairs. and Dputy Premier in the brotherly King- giving the younger prince a firmer hold dom of Saudi Arabia, wishing him success on the kingdom's foreign policies. The towards the good of the kingdom under announcements were made in a series the wise leadership of the Custodian of of royal decrees carried on the state-run the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Saudi Press Agency. Abdulaziz Al Saud, and further wishing The all-but-certain takeover of the more development and growth to the throne by Mohammed bin Salman awards US hopes 'reasonable' demands on Gulf resolution deep fraternal ties between the two vast powers to a young prince who has brotherly countries. taken a hard-line with Iran and who has QNA Department of State said in a press hope the list of demands will soon be Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah led a war in Yemen. statement. presented to Qatar and will be rea- bin Hamad Al Thani and the Prime Min- The Prince, known as MBS, already S Secretary of State Rex Tiller- "In regards to the continuing dis- sonable and actionable," read the ister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh oversees a vast portfolio as defence min- son hopes Saudi Arabia, UAE, pute within the GCC, we understand statement. "We support the Kuwaiti Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani ister. The young prince had previously UBahrain and Egypt will present a list of demands has been prepared mediation effort and look forward to also sent cables of congratulations to Cus- been in charge of his father's royal court "a list of demands" to Qatar in order and coordinated by the Saudis, Emi- this matter moving toward a resolu- todian of the Two Holy Mosques King when Salman was the crown prince. to settle the current crisis, the ratis, Egyptians, and Bahrainis. We tion," it added. Qatar won't face Qatar Airways launches any kind of portal for online refunds shortage: Turkey The Peninsula to passengers. This includes pro- viding flexible commercial and Irfan Bukhari aunched in time for the refund policies for any passengers The Peninsula Eid break, Qatar Airways whose flight has been impacted Lhas a new online portal, by the recent travel bans. THE AMBASSADOR of Tur- to assist passengers to apply for In addition, since the air- key to Qatar, Fikret Ozer, has and manage their ticket refund space closures began, the said that with his country’s process in Saudi Arabia, Bah- airline has been providing reg- support, Qatar would not face rain and the UAE. ular communications through any kind of shortage of any "The announcement is part its increased global call center type of goods in future and of airline's ongoing efforts to capacity and new, flexible call- Turkey would also supply limit inconvenience to those of back function on its Facebook construction material for its passengers affected by the page. Qatar Airways has also ongoing FIFA2022 related or recent airspace and office clo- taken all efforts to reassure its other mega projects. sures, alongside the blocking of passengers that the vast major- “After some time, if Qatar the airlines website, providing ity of its global flights remain needs construction material reassurance that customers undisrupted and that those for ongoing FIFA2022 or remain the airlines utmost pri- affected will be assisted as other mega projects, Turkey ority," a statement said. quickly as possible. The airline is will also meet these needs Following closure of airspace, widely recognized as offering the and can supply quality mate- its offices and the blocking of its worlds best service and holds the rial,” The Ambassador told websites, Qatar Airways has title of 'World's Best Airline,' as The Peninsula, yesterday. focused on finding innovative awarded by the customer-voted →Full report on page 7 solutions and limiting its impact the Skytrax awards 2017. Stock market shrugs-off blockade Sachin Kumar range of 8,700 to 9,300 points. abnormal spike on the day of The Peninsula Even the numbers of trans- announcement of blockade, are actions in the stock market, in the normal range. The market atar’s stock market has which saw a sudden and witnessed around 7,000 transac- returned to normalcy, tions on June 5 (when the Qshrugging off impact of blockade was announced) and blockade imposed on Qatar by RAMADAN around 8,800 transactions on the some of its neighbouring coun- TIMING next day, which was unusually tries. After witnessing a sharp high for Qatar’s market. Now the volatility for few days after June Today’s Iftar 6:30pm transactions are happening the 5, the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) Tomorrow’s Imsak 3:05am range of 3,000 to 4,000 per day. index is now trading in a stable → Continued on page 4 02 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 HOME 03 04 HOME THURSDAY 22 JUNE 2017 QA celebrates success at Paris Air Show Emir sends message to Russian President The Peninsula was presented by Al Baker to notable dignitaries including QNA Qatari Ambassador to France, atar Airways is enjoying a Khalid Bin Rashid Al Mansouri; mir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al week of success and cel- Managing Director and CEO of Thani sent yesterday a written message ebration as Qatar’s Qatar Rail, Eng. Abdulla T Al Eto the President of the Russian Federa- Minister of Transport and Subaie and Vice-Chairman of tion Vladimir Putin pertaining to bilateral QCommunications H E Jas- the Boeing Company, Ray relations and the developments in the region. sim Saif Al Sulaiti, met with France’s Conner. The following day the The message was received by Russian For- Minister for Transport, Elisabeth airline was proudly named eign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a meeting Borne, to reaffirm the countries' Airline of the Year for the with Qatar's Ambassador to Russian Fahad bin ongoing support and affiliation. fourth time, and also collected Mohammed Al Attiyah. Fresh from winning the Skytrax the World’s Best Business Airline of the Year award for the Class, World’s Best First Class fourth time, Qatar’s national carrier Lounge and Best Airline in the Emir and Canadian PM received overwhelming support for Middle East by the prestigious its bold new global television and 2017 Skytrax World Airline hold phone conversation social media commercial, aimed at Awards. bringing people together through Akbar Al Baker continued: QNA travel without prejudice, which has “The Paris Air Show 2017 has already been viewed by more than once again been a tremendous mir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al 20 million people from all corners success for Qatar Airways. Thani held this evening a telephone of the world. Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker (right), holding Skytrax With the debut of our first air- Econversation with H E Canadian Prime Qatar Airways Group Chief Exec- Airline of the Year award with other officials, at Paris Air Show, yesterday. craft fitted with the Minister Justin Trudeau. utive. Akbar Al Baker, said, “This state-of-the-art, patented During the phone call, Emir and the Cana- week has been a significant signal of of a changing and dynamic land- The success of the commercial Qsuite, we have truly set a dian Premier reviewed the latest Qatar Airways' ongoing role not just scape, because, quite simply, we falls during the same week as this new standard for the industry by developments in the region, in particular the as a leader in the aviation industry, believe the world is all of ours to year’s Paris Air Show, where QA bringing First Class to our Business Gulf crisis and means to resolve it.