Saudi king to bury Crown Prince, find successor - Reuters
RIYADH |
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah prepared to bury his former heir, Crown Prince Nayef, on Sunday before naming a new successor at a challenging time for the world's top oil exporter and self-styled steward of Islam.
The crown prince's body arrived in Jeddah on Sunday a day after his death, where it was met at King Khaled Airport by a host of Saudi princes.
Among them was the most likely candidate to take the position to succeed the 89-year-old king is Prince Salman, 76, another son of Saudi Arabia's founder Abdulaziz ibn Saud.
The new crown prince will become heir to a king who is aged 89 at a time when Saudi Arabia faces a variety of challenges at home and abroad.
Although the Interior Ministry, which the late Nayef headed for 37 years, crushed al Qaeda inside Saudi Arabia its Yemeni wing has sworn to topple the ruling al-Saud family and has plotted attacks against the kingdom.
Saudi rulers are also grappling with unrest in areas populated by the Shi'ite Muslim minority and with entrenched youth unemployment.
The kingdom is also locked in a region-wide rivalry with Shi'ite Iran - the party at the airport included former Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri, representing the Sunni Muslim political alliance that Saudi Arabia cultivates against Iran.
"We call on God to help King Abdullah choose the right person who can bear the burdens of this position at this difficult time we face both at the level of the Arab nation and that of the Islamic community," Prince Mishaal bin Abdullah bin Turki al-Saud told Reuters.
Salman, who is seen as a pragmatist with a strong grasp of the intricate balance of competing princely and clerical interests that dominate Saudi politics, was named defense minister last year.
The appointment of a new crown prince is not likely to change the kingdom's position on foreign or domestic policy but might influence the course of cautious social and economic reforms started under King Abdullah.
"Certainly they are going to continue to focus on the relationship with the U.S., and continue to make efforts to properly husband their abundant natural resources of oil," said Robert Jordan, U.S. ambassador to Riyadh from 2001 to 2003.
FAMILY COUNCIL
Although most analysts believe it is highly likely Salman will be chosen, the ultimate decision may rest with a family Allegiance Council called to approve King Abdullah's decision.
The Saudi succession does not pass from father to eldest son but has moved along a line of brothers born to Ibn Saud. A previous crown prince, Sultan, died last October.
Under rules drawn up by King Abdullah, the Allegiance Council has 30 days to approve the monarch's successor.
"There will be a meeting where the next crown prince will be decided. It has always been done in an orderly and organized manner. Prince Salman fits the profile in many ways," said Khaled Almaeena, editor-in-chief of the Saudi Gazette.
A source close to the royal family said Nayef had died suddenly in Geneva after receiving treatment for a knee complaint. He was thought to be 78.
Before the funeral, King Abdullah travelled to Mecca on Sunday evening from Jeddah, where the royal court and cabinet spend the summer, Saudi Press Agency reported.
Television showed a host of princes in red-and-white headdresses, including Salman and Mecca governor Prince Khaled al-Faisal gathered on the runway to escort Nayef's body to an ambulance.
Newspapers on Sunday mourned the death on their front pages.
Al-Jazirah's front page was entirely in black and white and showed photographs of the king and late crown prince. The English-language Saudi Gazette splashed a full-page picture of Nayef with the headline: "Unto God do we belong and, verily, unto Him we shall return".
Analysts say the most difficult decision in the succession will be when the line of Ibn Saud's sons is exhausted and a grandson must be chosen as crown prince.
Grandsons with the experience and qualifications to rule include Prince Khaled al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca province who is 71, and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the deputy interior minister, who is 52.
"The house of Saud will need to think about what would happen in the event the king became unwell, and there is no way on earth you would hand the crown prince role to a grandson in 48 hours time. You have to find an older prince," said Michael Stephens of the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar.
Only a few princes of the older generation have the experience deemed necessary to rule the Middle East's largest economy.
One of them, Prince Ahmed, is a full brother of Nayef and Salman, as well as the late King Fahd and the former crown prince, Sultan. He has been deputy interior minister since 1975 and is seen as likely to replace Nayef as full minister.
"The expectation is that Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz will take over the position of the interior minister after Prince Nayef passed away considering that Prince Ahmed has served as deputy interior minister for 20 years. I think he is the closest to take over this position," Prince Sultan bin Saud al-Saud told Reuters. (Reporting by Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Ismail Nofal in Jeddah and Isabel Coles in Dubai; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
FCC may take up issue of cell phone radiation - Reuters India
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON |
CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Communications Commission is asking for a review of the agency's stance on radiofrequency energy emitted from cell phones amid lingering concerns that the devices may cause brain tumors.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on Friday circulated a proposal to his fellow commissioners calling for a formal inquiry into the mobile phone emissions standards set in 1996.
The proposal would need to be approved by a majority of the FCC's five commissioners before the agency could release it for public comment. If it is approved, the agency would consider changing its testing procedures and seek input on the need to either strengthen or ease the current standards.
The agency would also look into whether emission standards should be different for devices used by children, an FCC spokesman said on Saturday.
The spokesman stressed that the agency continues to believe there is no evidence tying cancer, headaches, dizziness, memory loss or other health problems to mobile phones.
But the inquiry would seek any scientific evidence that could warrant changes to the emissions standards.
The number of mobile phones has risen sharply since the early 1980s, with nearly 5 billion handsets in use today, prompting lengthy debate about their potential link to the main types of brain tumor, glioma and meningioma.
In May 2011 the World Health Organization added cell phone radiation to a list of possible carcinogens, putting it in the same category as lead, chloroform and coffee, and said more study is needed.
Unlike ionizing radiation such as that from gamma rays, radon and X-rays, which can break chemical bonds in the body and are known to cause cancer, radiofrequency devices such as cell phones and microwaves emit radiofrequency energy, a form of non-ionizing radiation.
According to the National Cancer Institute, there is no consistent evidence that non-ionizing radiation increases the risk of cancer.
STUDIES POINT AWAY FROM LINK
What these devices do produce is energy in the form of heat, and the concern is that frequent use of cell phones held up to the ear can change brain cell activity, as some studies have suggested.
What is not yet clear is whether this causes harm, which is why the WHO and other health bodies have called for further study.
But since the WHO's announcement, scientific evidence has increasingly pointed away from a link between mobile phone use and brain tumors, according to a panel of the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection.
Last October a study by Danish researchers involving more than 350,000 people concluded that mobile phones do not increase the risk of cancer, concurring with other studies that have reached similar conclusions.
And a study last July looking at children and adolescents aged 7 to 19 concluded that those who used mobile phones were at no greater risk of developing brain cancer than those who did not use the devices.
The FCC in 1996 established a limit on emissions and a safe level of human exposure. Mobile phones are tested and must be within this limit before they are granted FCC approval to be marketed in the United States.
FCC spokeswoman Tammy Sun said that the existing guidelines do not pose any harm or risk to cell phone users, adding that the United States "has the most conservative emissions standards in the world."
"Our action today is a routine review of our standards," Sun said in a statement.
The FCC does not set health policy, relying instead on input from the Food and Drug Administration, Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies.
"We hope and expect that other federal agencies and organizations with whom we work on this issue will participate in the process," Sun said.
Demand for wireless devices like Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone and Google Inc's (GOOG.O) suite of Android-powered smartphones has surged in recent years, with some consumers opting to forgo landline service altogether.
According to a study by Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O), the number of mobile devices connected to the Internet is expected to exceed the number of people on Earth in four years' time.
For people who are concerned about the effects of radiofrequency energy from cell phones, the FDA and FCC suggest they have shorter conversations on them and use a hands-free device, which places more distance between the phone and the user's head.
(Reporting By Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Jasmin Melvin in Washington; Editing by Xavier Briand)
Greeks head to polls in crucial vote - CBC
Greece voted Sunday amid global fears that victory by parties that have vowed to cancel the country's international bailout agreements and accompanying austerity measures could undermine the European Union's joint currency and pitch the world's major economies into another sharp downturn.
For Greeks, it is the second national election in six weeks and arguably the most critical in decades, reflecting political turmoil sparked by a two-year financial crisis that some fear could force the country to abandon the euro and return to its old currency, the drachma. That in turn would likely drag down other financially troubled countries and threaten the euro itself.
The last opinion polls published before a two-week pre-election ban showed the radical left Syriza party of Alexis Tsipras running neck-and-neck with the conservative New Democracy party of Antonis Samaras. But no party is likely to win enough votes to form a government on its own, meaning a coalition will have to be formed to avoid yet another election.
The results of exit surveys were expected at the close of polling stations at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT) Sunday, and the first official projections were expected at around 9:30 p.m. (1830 GMT). Strong winds in the Greek archipelago forced the cancellation of some ferry routes, raising doubts about whether some voters would be able to get to islands with polling stations in time.
Inconclusive elections on May 6 resulted in no party winning enough votes to form a government, and coalition talks collapsed after 10 days. The vote, which also sent the formerly governing socialist PASOK party plunging to historic lows, sent a very clear message that Greeks have lost patience with the deep austerity imposed in return for the country receiving billions of euros (dollars) in rescue loans from other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.
"I'd like to see something change for the country in general, including regarding the bailout," said Vassilis Stergiou, an early-morning voter at an Athens polling station. "But at least for us to get organized and at the very least do something."
Bailout agreements
Tsipras, a 37-year-old former student activist, has vowed to rip up Greece's bailout agreements and repeal the austerity measures, which have included deep spending cuts on everything from health care to education and infrastructure, as well as tax hikes and reductions of salaries and pensions.
But his pledges, which include canceling planned privatizations, nationalizing banks and rolling back cuts to minimum wages and pensions, have horrified European leaders, as well as many Greeks. Tsipras' opponents argue that the inexperienced young politician is out of touch with reality, and that his policies will force the country out of the euro and lead to poverty for years to come.
Virtually unknown outside of Greece four months ago, Tsipras' pledges and his party's strong showing in the May 6 elections, where he came a surprise second place and quadrupled his support since the 2009 election, has put him in the international spotlight.
Scores of journalists and television news crews from across the world jostled for space to cover Tsipras casting his ballot in an Athens polling center.
"We have beaten fear. Today we open a road to hope," he said after voting, adding that he was confident of victory.
"Today we open a road to a better tomorrow, with our people united, dignified and proud. In a Greece of social justice and prosperity, an equal member of a Europe that is changing. A Europe of the peoples and of solidarity."
Joint currency or the drachma
The young left-wing leader has accused his rivals of attempting to terrorize the population by casting him as the man who will ruin the country, and insists he will keep Greece within the euro — something that repeated opinion polls have shown about 80 percent of Greeks want.
Greece has been dependent on the rescue loans since May 2010, after sky-high borrowing rates left it locked out of the international markets following years of profligate spending and falsifying financial data.
The spending cuts made in return have left the country mired in a fifth year of recession, with unemployment spiraling to above 22 percent and tens of thousands of businesses shutting down.
For his part, Samaras has cast Sunday's choice as one between the euro and returning to the country's old currency, the drachma. Although he voted against Greece's first bailout in 2010, when his party was in opposition, he backed the second bailout agreed on late last year.
He has vowed to renegotiate some of the terms of the accompanying austerity, but insists the top priority is for the country to remain in Europe's joint currency.
"The main thing we will decide on is the dilemma, euro or drachma," he said during his final pre-election rally in central Athens on Friday.
European leaders warn Greece
European leaders have cautioned that Greece could be left outside the 17-nation eurozone if it pulls out of its bailout commitments.
Newly elected French President Francois Hollande warned in a Greek television interview earlier this week that "if the impression is given that the Greeks want to move away from the commitments that were taken and abandon all prospects of revival, then there will be countries in the Eurozone that will want to end the presence of Greece in the eurozone."
Nearly 10 million people are eligible to vote in the country of about 11 million people. Polls close at 7pm (1600 GMT), with official results expected a few hours later.
"Today the Greek people speak. Tomorrow a new era for Greece begins," Samaras said after casting his ballot in a small town in southern Greece, the first of the main politicians to do so.
As Greeks went to the polls, more than 250 firefighters and soldiers battled a fire raging south of the Greek capital since Saturday afternoon. Local authorities said several houses were burned. Gale-force winds were hampering the efforts to extinguish the blaze, and Greece asked for help in water-dropping planes from Italy, France and Croatia.
Three firefighters suffered burns on Saturday, while four people were arrested for allegedly starting the fire by accident during welding work at a construction site.
Egyptian presidential vote enters second day - CBC
Egyptians were choosing on Sunday between a conservative Islamist and Hosni Mubarak's ex-prime minister in the second day of a presidential runoff that has been overshadowed by questions on whether the ruling military will transfer power to civilian authority by July 1 as promised.
Going head-to-head in the runoff are Ahmed Shafiq, a longtime friend and self-confessed admirer of Mubarak, and Mohammed Morsi, the candidate of the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood.
The two-day balloting, which ends Sunday evening, followed a week of political drama in which the military slapped de facto martial law on the country and judges appointed by Mubarak before his ouster dissolved the freely elected, Islamist-dominated parliament.
The generals who took over from Mubarak 16 months ago are expected this week to spell out the powers of the new president and appoint a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution, moves that will further tighten the military's grip on the nation.
The race between Shafiq and Morsi has deeply divided the country, 16 months after a stunning uprising by millions forced the authoritarian Mubarak to step down after 29 years in office.
"I am bitter and I am filled with regret that I have to choose between two people I hate. I have to pick a bad candidate only to avoid the worse of the two," lamented a silver-haired pensioner in Cairo's crowded Bab el-Shariyah district. He refused to give his name, fearing retribution for speaking so openly.
"Nothing is going to be resolved and Egypt will not see stability," he added.
A similarly pessimistic note was echoed by another voter, accountant Yasser Gad, 45. "The country is heading to a disaster. It will keep boiling until it explodes. No one in the country wants the former regime to rule us again."
Voting fatigue
Few voters displayed an air of celebration visible in previous post-Mubarak elections. The prevailing mood was one of deep anxiety over the future — tinged with bitterness that their "revolution" had stalled, fears that no matter who wins, street protests will erupt again, or deep suspicion that the political system was being manipulated. Moreover, there was a sense of voting fatigue.
Egyptians have gone to the polls multiple times since Mubarak's fall on Feb. 11, 2011 — a referendum early last year, then three months of multi-round parliamentary elections that began in November, and the first round of presidential elections last month.
"It's a farce. I crossed out the names of the two candidates on my ballot paper and wrote 'the revolution continues'," said architect Ahmed Saad el-Deen, in Cairo's Sayedah Zeinab district, a middle-class area that is home to the shrine of a revered Muslim saint.
"I can't vote for the one who killed my brother or the second one who danced on his dead body," he said, alluding to Shafiq's alleged role in the killing of protesters during last year's uprising and claims by revolutionaries that Morsi's Brotherhood rode the uprising to realize its own political goals.
Motivated by fear
Others said they were voting against a candidate as much as for one. Anti-Shafiq voters said they wanted to stop a figure they fear will perpetuate Mubarak's regime; anti-Morsi voters feared he would hand the country over to Brotherhood domination to turn it into an Islamic state.
With the fear of a new authoritarianism, some said they picked the candidate they believed would be easiest to eventually force out of power.
Asmaa Fadil, a young woman who wears the Muslim veil, said she lost confidence in the political process, particularly after the dissolution of parliament.
"I don't trust the whole thing. I feel everything is planned in advance and what we are doing now is just part of the plan," she said as she waited in line to vote in Sayedah Zeinab.
The election is supposed to be the last stop in a turbulent transition overseen by the military generals. But even if they nominally hand over some powers to the winner, they will still hold the upper hand over the next president.
The generals are likely to issue an interim constitution defining the president's authority while they retain their hold on legislative powers, and they will likely appoint a panel to write the permanent constitution.
UK to order reactor for nuclear-armed submarine - source - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will order the first reactor for a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines next week as part of a 1 billion pound ($1.6 billion) contract with Rolls-Royce, a defence ministry source said on Sunday, in a move that could strain the coalition government.
The deal, including an 11-year refit of Britain's sole submarine propulsion reactor factory at Derby in central England, would protect 300 Rolls-Royce jobs and many others at suppliers elsewhere, the source said. It is expected to be announced by Defence Secretary Philip Hammond on Monday.
The two-party coalition government is split over plans to replace, at an estimated cost of 25 billion pounds, Britain's four nuclear Vanguard submarines when they retire from service in the 2020s.
Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative Party wants a new fleet of submarines that will continue to carry the Vanguard's Trident missiles and maintain Britain's independent nuclear capability.
Their smaller Liberal Democrat partners are pushing for cheaper and less destructive alternatives, arguing that the current capability - the ability to obliterate Moscow - is an outdated hangover from the Cold War.
The two parties have postponed a final decision till 2016, after the next parliamentary elections, while agreeing in the meantime to fund the advance work needed to allow the submarines to be built on schedule should they be commissioned.
The Lib Dems insist that the advance contracts do not represent a commitment to a like-for-like renewal, but some analysts say it is unlikely that cash-strapped Britain would outlay huge sums on design and equipment it would later ditch.
The government said last year it expected to spend 3 billion pounds by 2015 on preparatory work for the new submarine fleet.
The deal to be announced on Monday also includes a contract to build the reactor for the last of seven Astute class nuclear-powered attack submarines Britain has on order.
The nuclear propulsion plant for the Vanguard successor will be the more advanced Pressurised Water Reactor 3 (PWR3) system, the government said last year.
Last month Hammond announced 350 million pounds of contracts, mainly with defence contractor BAE Systems, to design the Vanguard successor submarines.
(Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
Egypt tenses for new president after vote - Reuters India
CAIRO |
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians choosing their president freely for the first time faced a daunting choice between a former general from the old guard and an Islamist who says he is running for God, leaving many voters perplexed and fearful of the future.
A win for either Ahmed Shafik - the last prime minister of ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak - or Mohamed Morsy, a U.S.-educated engineer who would turn Egypt into an Islamic democracy, will go far to define the outcome of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings last year.
"We have to vote because these elections are historic," said Amr Omar, voting in Cairo, who said he was a revolutionary youth activist. "I will vote for Morsy... Even if it means electing the hypocritical Islamists, we must break the vicious cycle of Mubarak's police state."
Turnout at polling stations in several areas seemed lower on Saturday than during the first round. Polls re-opened at 8 a.m. on Sunday (0600 GMT) and were due to close at 9 p.m.
With no opinion polls, it was impossible to forecast who will emerge the winner by Monday - and whoever it is may face anger and accusations of foul play. Both men have wide support but many voters may be staying away, unhappy at a choice of extremes after centrist candidates were knocked out in a first round last month.
A sample of voter comments to Reuters near polling stations suggest many had put aside doubts about Shafik, whose campaign has gained momentum since he entered the race as an outsider.
A court dissolved Egypt's new parliament late last week, enraging Islamists who hold a sweeping majority in the assembly, who decried a coup by the military rulers who pushed their brother officer Mubarak from power 16 months ago to appease the street protests.
A win for Shafik, 70, who says he has learned the lessons of the revolt and offers security, prosperity and religious tolerance, may prompt claims of Mubarak-style vote-rigging and street protests by the Islamists and some disillusioned youths who made Cairo's Tahrir Square their battleground last year.
Both candidates promise to honour the spirit of last year's mass revolt against rampant corruption, poverty and a hated police force, yet many Egyptians who voted for neither in the first round see a stale contest that smothers hopes for change.
"Egypt writes the closing chapter of the Arab Spring," read a headline on Sunday in independent newspaper al-Watan, which said the election offers a "choice between a military man who aborted the revolution and a Muslim Brother who wasted it."
UNEVEN OUTCOMES
Morsy's campaign suffered a blow when he failed to rally much support from candidates who lost in the first round. To sceptics of the Brotherhood, it confirmed that the Islamist movement was too zealous and inflexible to represent all Egyptians.
"I will vote Shafik because I don't want anybody to impose on me a model of life that I don't accept," said health ministry employee Marianne Mallak, 29, voting in Alexandria. "I don't want somebody to rule the country in the name of religion."
Should Morsy prevail, benefiting from a movement forged by decades of clandestine struggle and from support among those who put aside qualms about Islamic rule to block a return of the old regime, he may be frustrated by an uncooperative military elite, for all the generals' pledges to cede power by July 1.
The Brotherhood on Saturday again denounced the dissolution of parliament, based on a ruling by the Mubarak-era constitutional court, as "a coup against the whole democratic process" and insisted only a popular referendum could reverse the parliamentary election.
But though overturning that vote drew comparison with events that triggered the bloody Algerian civil war 20 years ago, the Brotherhood, which hung back in the early days of the 2011 revolution, has shown little appetite for a violent showdown with Egypt's U.S.-equipped army, the biggest in the Arab world.
That stalemate, coupled with a failure this year of legislators to form a consensus body to draft a new constitution and a consequent lack of clarity over the powers the new head of state will have, leaves Egyptians, Western allies and investors perplexed by the prospect of yet more of the uncertainty that has ravaged the economy and seen sporadic flare-ups in violence.
A gunfight killed two in Cairo overnight and 15 were injured, after a dispute between street vendors, a security source said. There was no apparent connection to the vote, which saw little trouble on Saturday despite mutual accusations of fraud. Observers reported only minor and scattered breaches.
Police arrested 22 foreigners who were planning attacks after the election, another security source said. The Syrians, Jordanians and Palestinians were detained in Cairo on Saturday carrying "sophisticated weapons", the source added, without giving more details.
Should Shafik win, his supporters reckon, he and the ruling military council which took sovereign powers when Mubarak quit would work in harmony to restore confidence, notably for the vital and ravaged tourist trade - but questions would remain over how far the Islamists and other opponents would resist.
"DEEP STATE"
In 60 years since army officers toppled the colonial-era monarchy, Egypt's armed forces have built up massive wealth and commercial interests across industries, helped since the 1970s by a close U.S. alliance which followed the decision of the most populous Arab state to make peace with Israel.
Commonly referred to as the "deep state", it is these shadowy structures, currently overseen in public by the ad hoc Supreme Council of the Armed Forces under Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, which many Egyptians see maintaining influence long after the promised handover to an elected civilian by July 1.
"There is no doubt that the state in all its institutions - judicial, military, interior, foreign and financial - back Shafik for president and are working to that end," said Hassan Nafaa, a politics professor who campaigned against Mubarak.
"It is very difficult to eradicate this spirit of Mubarak."
Only if liberals swallowed their qualms and voted for Morsy to prevent Shafik winning, Nafaa said, "only then may the 'deep state' back down - but I doubt this will happen."
Washington, paymaster of the Egyptian military, and the European Union, a major aid donor, both expressed alarm at the move against parliament and urged the generals to honour their pledge to stand aside. But, like neighbouring Israel, both are also uneasy at the rise of the Brotherhood and have looked on anxiously as Islamists have closed in on power in other new democracies of the Arab Spring, notably in Tunisia and Libya.
(Reporting by Edmund Blair, Yasmine Saleh, Dina Zayed, Tom Perry, Tamim Elyan; Writing by Alastair Macdonald and Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
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