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)
Credit Suisse CEO says no plans for capital hike: paper - Reuters
ZURICH |
ZURICH (Reuters) - Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) has no plans to issue new shares after the Swiss central bank called on it to improve its capital base this year, but should be able to do so by retaining earnings, Chief Executive Brady Dougan was quoted as saying on Sunday.
"Of course I am disappointed. FINMA has given us directions as to how we should strengthen capital. We are fulfilling those," Dougan told the SonntagsZeitung paper in an interview.
"Even more surprising were the suggestions by the SNB to cut the dividend and to raise capital."
In its annual financial stability report published on Thursday, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) said Credit Suisse should urgently boost its loss-absorbing capital base by cutting risk, suspending dividends or issuing shares, sending the stock down 10 percent.
Dougan noted that FINMA is the regulator of the Swiss banks, rather than the SNB but said the bank was still taking the central bank's comments seriously. However, he rejected the idea of a capital hike: "That is not our plan".
"We assume that we will generate enough profit in the coming quarters to create extra equity capital," he said, adding that the bank was also offering shareholders the choice of receiving their dividends in shares, which demands less capital.
The criticism from the SNB has increased pressure on Dougan, who was lauded for navigating the bank through the subprime crisis relatively unscathed, but has come under fire of late for squandering that advantage as the bank's shares languish.
Dougan told the paper he had no plans to step down and was working closely with the board, but admitted some mistakes.
"Last year we massively cut the cost base. From today's perspective, I must concede that the critics were right who said we should have acted even earlier," he said.
Dougan added he was particularly surprised about the public criticism from the SNB as Chairman Thomas Jordan had not discussed the need for Credit Suisse to cut its dividend and raise capital when the two men met for lunch just 10 days ago.
He said the SNB's calculations of Credit Suisse's capital were incomplete and based on a very pessimistic scenario for the euro zone debt crisis, adding the report had shaken the confidence of clients and investors: "That is not just bad for us but for the whole financial centre."
Dougan rejected suggestions the SNB's concern was related to a U.S. investigation into whether the bank helped wealthy Americans evade taxes by providing secret offshore accounts.
The bank is expected to have to pay a hefty fine and hand over U.S. client names as part of a settlement.
Oswald Gruebel, a former Credit Suisse CEO, said the bank's shares had fallen sharply on Thursday because shareholders were afraid that the bank would have to raise capital.
"But CS also has the possibility to cut its balance sheet and thereby indirectly increase its capital, or do both," Gruebel wrote in his weekly column for Der Sonntag newspaper.
But Hans Geiger, a retired Zurich University banking professor and a former senior executive at Credit Suisse, said the bank was ill advised to try to fight the SNB.
"The reaction of CS is fatal," Geiger told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper on Saturday. "Whoever goes on a confrontation course with the national bank has lost their reason." (Reporting by Emma Thomasson; Editing by Alison Birrane)
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.
Rosicky major doubt for Czech quarter-final - Football
Published: 17 Jun 2012 - 12:18:03
Tomas Rosicky says he has very little chance of playing in the Czech Republic's Euro 2012 quarter-final as he struggles to overcome a calf injury.
The Arsenal midfielder missed Saturday's 1-0 win over co-hosts Poland to not just ensure they reached the knock-out rounds but it was also enough to win Group A.
It means they will likely avoid powerhouses Germany in the last eight in Warsaw on June 21.
But yet again Michal Bilek's team are almost certain to be without their 31-year-old captain.
"There is just a small chance I will play in the quarter-finals but it's really not big," said Rosicky.
"It (his calf) got better during the last few days until Saturday when I wanted to train and I felt pain again."
Bilek said the team's medical staff will do everything in their power to get him fit for Thursday but he insisted he also has faith in Daniel Kolar, who replaced Rosicky against Poland.
"He tried to be fit before this match but he couldn't start so it's very difficult to say whether or not we will have him for the next one," said the coach.
"We hope he will play of course, we will see. Everyone has been doing their best to get him fit."
"Of course we missed him against Poland, he's a great player but we won even without him.
"We know he's irreplaceable but Daniel played a great match and it's not the first time we played without him.
"We did so in Lithuania at the end of qualifying, it wasn't easy. Daniel gets compared to Tomas a lot but he's a very different player."
In Rosicky's absence it was VfL Wolfsburg midfielder Petr Jiracek who stole the headlines, scoring the winning goal and earning the man-of-the-match award chosen by former French World Cup winner Patrick Vieira.
The 26-year-old only made his debut in the national team less than a year ago but scored for the second game in a row and Bilek believes he has a lot of potential.
"I'm very happy with him, he didn't play much for Wolfsburg towards the end of the season and in our preparation matches he wasn't in top form," said Bilek.
"But he's improving, he's fit now, he was man-of-the-match, he scored and I'm very happy, he deserved it, he's in excellent form.
"But it was't just him, everyone played well, it was a great performance."
Bilek paid tribute to defensive midfielder Tomas Hubschman, who he said has helped shore up the Czechs' leaky defence since their 4-1 thumping at the hands of Russia in their opening group match.
"All the players started playing more responsibly, Hubschman is a defensive midfielder, he's there to keep the ball but it's not just him, there are five midfielders and they all played more responsibly at the back.
"We knew Poland were good down their right, in every match it was clear their right is amazing and we closed it.
"They had no clear chances or counters on their right so our defence was really good, better than in the first match."
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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)
Dunne down about Irish slump - Football
Published: 17 Jun 2012 - 12:18:07
Richard Dunne has admitted his heartache at the Republic of Ireland's early Euro 2012 exit.
Dunne and his team-mates arrived in Poland believing they had a genuine chance of at least reaching the quarter-finals, but successive defeats by Croatia and Spain have rendered their final Group C fixture against Italy largely irrelevant, for them at least.
The 32-year-old Aston Villa defender offered a frank assessment of Ireland's performances to date, which have seen them lose 3-1 to the Croatians and 4-0 to the Spaniards. He said: "It's heartbreaking. It's your dream to go and play in the championships and play well and be brilliant, and it's just not happened for us, so it's heartbreaking."
Dunne added: "As much as we wanted to do well, we know we haven't. We are playing against teams that are better than us and it's hard to accept that our best at the moment isn't good enough."
Manager Giovanni Trapattoni has known for the four years he has been in charge that the Republic lack the superstars some of their opponents can boast, but has always been confident that the fighting spirit, pride and organisation of his players would bridge the gap.
However, a 14-game unbeaten run came to a sorry end against Croatia, and the mauling they received at the hands of Spain simply exposed the wounds once again. Worryingly, they conceded in the opening few minutes of each half in both games as the resilience on which they have based their recent run deserted them just when they needed it most.
Dunne said: "It might have been a different tournament if we got through the first 10 minutes in both games. That's the one regret - if we could have got through them, we might have seen a different game, we might have grown a little bit. We have just not had the chance.
"We did everything we possibly could. You have to hold your hands up. Our normal game is pressure, pressure, pressure and...the teams are too good."
Trapattoni's men could be forgiven for wishing they could head straight back to Dublin and avoid what could be another tough 90 minutes if they do not rediscover their form quickly. Italy must win and hope the Spain v Croatia result goes in their favour if they are to avoid an early trip home, and that will make for another intense affair.
However, Dunne said: "We don't want to go home because we don't want to go home feeling like we are. If we win on Monday night, it restores a bit of pride, not just in Irish football, but in ourselves."
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