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Qatar Amir says steps down, hands power to son
Qatari Amir set to hand over power to son (Reuters) / 25 June 2013 The Amir of Qatar, His Highness Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, 61, informed members of the ruling family on Monday of his decision to hand over power to Crown Prince Shaikh Tamim after a meeting in Doha, the Qatari-owned television channel Al Jazeera said. A Gulf official said the announcement of the transfer of power would be made later on Monday. The royal court said in a statement that the Amir would make a speech later and Tuesday would be a national holiday. Qatari political analyst Mohammed Al Misfer told Al Jazeera that he did not expect major changes in the event of a handover, adding that Shaikh Tamim was already involved in running the country under his father’s direction. Diplomats said earlier this month that he Amir was considering an orderly transfer of power that would probably begin with the departure of the powerful Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Shaikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani. Arab and Western diplomats said they understood the motive was the Amir’s desire to have a smooth transition to a younger generation. The Amir has elevated Qatar’s international profile in recent years through the launch and development of the Al Jazeera television network, as well as its successful bid to host the 2022 soccer World Cup tournament. Qatar has played a substantial role in promoting Arab Spring protests, lending significant support to rebels who toppled and killed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and to a continuing uprising against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. It has also played host to a delegation of the Afghan Taleban, which opened an office in Doha last week in preparation for expected talks with the United States about how to end a 12-year-old conflict in Afghanistan. Eman Ebed Alkadi of the Eurasia Group consultants wrote that she did not expect Qatari domestic priorities or its foreign policies to change significantly with a change of ruler. “Tamim has controlled key policies in Qatar for some time, and shares his father’s views on political development in Qatar and economic diversification,” Alkadi wrote. National budgets had been agreed up until 2016-2017, Alkadi said, and with preparations for the World Cup in full swing, much change in domestic momentum was unlikely. Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of LNG, an achievement that set the country on a track to achieve double-digit economic growth for several consecutive years, during a time when many Western nations were mired in recession. This spurred a population boom, with inhabitants surging from 500,000 to 1.9 million in the last decade. Continue reading
Angelina Jolie urges world to end rape in war
Angelina Jolie urges world to end rape in war (AP) / 25 June 2013 Angelina Jolie made her debut before the UN’s most powerful body as a special envoy for refugees on Monday and urged the world’s nations to make the fight against rape in war a top priority. The actress told the Security Council that “hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of women, children and men have been raped in conflicts in our lifetimes.” Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN high commissioner for refugees, said the Security Council has witnessed 67 years of wars and conflict since it was established “but the world has yet to take up warzone rape as a serious priority.” “You set the bar,” she told the council. “If the … council sets rape and sexual violence in conflict as a priority it will become one and progress will be made. If you do not, this horror will continue.” British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who presided over the meeting, stressed that “in conflicts in nearly every corner of the globe, rape is used systematically and ruthlessly, in the almost certain knowledge that there will be no consequences for the perpetrators.” Soon after Jolie spoke, the council adopted a legally-binding resolution demanding the complete and immediate cessation of all acts of sexual violence by all parties to armed conflict. It noted that sexual violence can constitute a crime against humanity and a contributing act to genocide, called for improved monitoring of sexual violence in conflict, and urged the UN and donors to assist survivors. It was the broadest resolution adopted by the council on the sexual violence in conflict. Hague said Britain plans to follow-up by convening a global gathering during the annual General Assembly meeting of world leaders in September to keep up the pressure for action. Hague said at a discussion later at the Ford Foundation that his prime motivation for pressing for global action against sexual violence was the 1990s war in Bosnia, partly because of an adviser but also because of Jolie’s 2011 film, “In the Land of Blood and Honey,” about former lovers who end up on the opposite sides of the conflict. He said he arranged the film’s British premiere at the Foreign Office and has been campaigning with Jolie since then, including a visit to Congo in March, “to move the stigma and the shame from the victim to the perpetrator.” “The time has come for the world to take a strong and determined stand to make clear that the systematic use of rape as a weapon is not acceptable in the modern world and our objective is to change the entire global attitude to these issues,” Hague said. Getting the whole world talking about sexual violence in conflict and the need to punish perpetrators not victims “will shift attitudes — maybe over a period of years, but we have begun,” he said. Jolie, who has traveled extensively in her role as goodwill ambassador, recalled several of the survivors she had met — the mother of a five-year-old girl raped outside a police station in Goma in eastern Congo, and a Syrian woman she spoke to in Jordan last week who asked to hide her name and face “because she knew that if she spoke out about the crimes against her she would be attacked again, and possibly killed.” “Let us be clear what we are speaking of: Young girls raped and impregnated before their bodies are able to carry a child, causing fistula,” Jolie said, referring to an injury caused by violent rapes that tear apart the flesh separating the bladder and rectum from the vagina, leaving the girls unable to control their bowels or bladder. She continued: “Boys held at gunpoint and forced to sexually assault their mothers and sisters. Women raped with bottles, wood branches and knives to cause as much damage as possible. Toddlers and even babies dragged from their homes, and violated.” Zainab Hawa Bangura, the UN special envoy on sexual violence in conflict, told the council that two weeks ago she visited Bosnia where an estimated 50,000 women were victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence during the war, but only a handful of perpetrators have been prosecuted. Later, at the Ford Foundation, she said that on an African trip with Hague, she visited the village of Mambasa in eastern Congo’s Ituri district where 11 babies aged 6 to 12 months had been raped, 59 children aged 1 to 3 years old had been raped and 182 girls aged 5 to 15 years old had been raped. “Who will rape a baby?,” Bangura asked. “It means you want to wipe the community away. That’s the only explanation you can have.” Jolie pleaded with the Security Council — and all countries — to implement the resolution and not let the issue drop. “Meet your commitments, debate this issue in your parliaments, mobilize people in your countries, and build it into all your foreign policy efforts,” she urged. “Together, you can turn the tide of global opinion, shatter impunity and finally put an end to this abhorrence.” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to Jolie for being the voice of millions forced to flee their homes “and now for the many survivors of wartime rape whose bodies have been used as battlegrounds.” He called on all leaders to apprehend and prosecute perpetrators “and be part of a global coalition of champions determined to break this evil.” Continue reading
Nadal suffers recurring Wimbledon nightmare
Nadal suffers recurring Wimbledon nightmare (Reuters) / 25 June 2013 From a green and pleasant land, Wimbledon’s grasscourts must now resemble a minefield for Rafa Nadal who, for the second year in a row on Monday, suffered a shock defeat by a modest opponent playing the match of his life. A year after Czech Lukas Rosol ambushed the 12-times grand slam champion in the second round, Nadal came up against inspired Belgian Steve Darcis in the first and was soundly beaten 7-6(4) 7-6(8) 6-4. Highlights: Nadal stunned by Belgian Darcis in straight sets Holder Federer demolishes Romania’s Hanescu Azarenka survives injury scare, Sharapova through Fifth seed Errani slumps to defeat against teenager At least against Rosol twice former champion Nadal went down fighting in five sets, but world No. 135 Darcis subdued arguably the sport’s most ferocious competitor in routine fashion. The 29-year-old from Liege, nicknamed The Shark, nailed an ace to send Nadal heading home to Mallorca with a first grand slam opening round defeat against his name. Defeat for fifth seed Nadal was a blow for the tournament but a huge fillip for defending champion Roger Federer whose chances of an eighth Wimbledon title had receded when drawn in the same quarter of the draw as his old sparring partner. Federer, opening proceedings on Centre Court for the eighth time in his glittering career, had not lost in the first round of a major since the 2003 French Open, and was never in any danger as he thumped Romania’s Victor Hanescu in 68 minutes. The 31-year-old Swiss thoroughbred, rated as a pre-tournament 9-1 title shot by several bookmakers, produced a display of brutal beauty to win 6-3 6-2 6-0. Nadal’s subsequent defeat then saw the odds on an eighth Federer title here slashed in half. British hopes of a first men’s winner here since 1936 also soared on the back of Nadal’s exit as second seed Andy Murray posted a 6-4 6-3 6-2 victory against Germany’s Benjamin Becker. It was a bad day all round for fifth seeds with Italy’s Sara Errani falling in straight sets to Puerto Rico’s Monica Puig. Injury scare Women’s second seed Victoria Azarenka survived a major fright when she fell awkwardly and needed lengthy treatment on her right knee before hobbling to 6-1 6-2 victory over Portugal’s Maria Joao Koehler. Third seed Maria Sharapova, let her tennis do the talking as she put aside a verbal spat with world number one Serena Williams to beat Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 7-6(5) 6-3. For the second year running Nadal’s defeat left a huge hole in the men’s draw and raised inevitable questions about the state of the 27-year-old’s knees. After defeat by Rosol last year he was sidelined for seven months before returning in February this year. His comeback has been nothing short of spectacular with seven titles in nine tournaments, including this month at the French Open where he became the first man to win a single grand slam tournament eight times. However, he failed to play a grasscourt warm-up event after withdrawing from Halle and it showed as he looked way short of his best against Darcis who seized his chance in ruthless. “At the end it’s not a tragedy. That is sport,” Nadal told reporters, refusing to discuss his physical wellbeing. “The only thing that I can say today is congratulate Steve Darcis. He played a fantastic match.” Darcis turned professional two years after Nadal and, while the Spaniard’s career has been spent in the stratosphere, he has inhabited a level more in keeping with Belgium’s lowlands. Proving just how deep the talent pool is in the men’s game, however, he played three incredible sets of risk-taking tennis to scale the heights on Centre Court. He did beat Tomas Berdych at the Olympics last year, on the same court, but topped that display against Nadal to record only his second win against a top-10 player. Deadly shark Darcis, who has a shark tattoo on his arm, said his first reaction on seeing the draw was “Shit” but there was no hint of inferiority as he outplayed the 2008 and 2010 champion. “Maybe he (Nadal) didn’t play his best match. But I have to be proud of me, I think,” said Darcis. “I played a great match and I fought from the beginning till the end, and I played unbelievable tennis.” Federer’s first entrance on Centre Court has become a fixture of the British summer since he made his debut at the tournament 15 years ago – since when he has won 17 majors. Under grey skies, Federer sauntered regally on to his favourite stage in an immaculate white jacket garnished with the tiniest flash of orange piping to match the soles of his shoes. Hanescu, equal only to 31-year-old Federer in age, was simply dazzled, losing the first set in 24 minutes and the last in 17 as Federer, keen to conserve energy for the challenges ahead, raced to his 122 nd grasscourt victory. “I pack my bags anyway for five sets every single time,” Federer, who could have travelled light for this one, told reporters after his consummate display. Murray’s no-nonsense victory over Becker was the only home success with the other six British players in action all losing. His potential quarter-final foe, sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, beat Belgian David Goffin 7-6 6-4 6-3. As the light faded, former champion Lleyton Hewitt showed the fire in his belly burns as bright as ever when he took out 11 th seed Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets to give a boost to Australian spirits after a week of cricket and rugby woes. “It’s good that I can put on some sort of show that they can get pretty pumped up out there,” Hewitt said. Continue reading
