Qatar's new emir raised profile with sports

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? Qatar's new ruler was the not the first choice to lead the Gulf nation and its growing political and economic ambitions.

Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani became the crown prince a decade ago ? at the age of 23 ? when his older brother Jassim gave up his position as emir-in-waiting.

That began a gradual grooming process for the British-educated Sheik Tamim inside Qatar's security and investment arms, which are bankrolled by enormous oil and gas wealth.

As deputy commander of the armed forces, he had sway over multibillion dollar arms purchases and direct dealing with defense officials from the U.S. and other Western allies. His senior role with the Qatar Investment Authority gave him a powerful voice over the direction of one of the world's most active sovereign wealth funds, whose landmark stakes around the world include Harrods department store in London and luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co.

But Sheik Tamim's most enduring international image to this point has been linked to sports.

His crowning moment came as he helped win Qatar's bid to host the 2022 World Cup. Sheik Tamim and other Qatari officials, however, later faced complaints that the nation used its vast wealth to swing support its way from football federation members in Africa and elsewhere.

Last year was less positive ? an International Olympic Committee member since 2002, Sheik Tamim headed Doha's unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Olympics. Qatar's capital has been mentioned as a possible bidder for the 2024 Games ? an effort that could get a boost from the new emir.

Sheik Tamim ? who also has served as head of Qatar's Olympic panel since 2000 ? helped avoid an embarrassing showdown with Olympic overseers by organizing the first female athletes representing Qatar for last year's London Olympics. Neighboring Saudi Arabia and the Asian country of Brunei also sent their first women Olympic athletes.

Sheik Tamim was educated at schools in England and then graduated from Sandhurst, Britain's prestigious military academy and alma mater for many Middle Eastern leaders.

His two wives include Sheika Anoud bint Mana al-Hajri, a member of a prominent Qatari family. He has six children.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatars-emir-raised-profile-sports-145814570.html

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Can Democrats Win Back the Deep South? (Atlantic Politics Channel)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314642606?client_source=feed&format=rss

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HBT: K-Rod earns 300th save in Brewers win

Brewers closer Francisco ?K-Rod? Rodriguez earned the 300th save of his career this afternoon, wrapping up a 2-0 victory over the Braves. He becomes the 25th member of the 300-save club. It was his sixth save of the year and he lowered his ERA to 0.59 (in 15.1 innings) in the effort. However, the Brewers had planned to make Jim Henderson the closer once Rodriguez achieved his milestone.

At 31-42 and just one game out of the cellar in the NL Central, the Brewers should draw interest from contending teams looking to bolster their bullpen, such as the Detroit Tigers and Boston Red Sox.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/06/22/k-rod-notches-300th-career-save/related/

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AOL Reader: Simple, Fast, But Hardly Groundbreaking

With Google Reader ready to tap out, it seems like everyone is keen to throw their hat into the feed reader ring. The latest offering is from AOL and it's simple, fast and lacking any unique features?though that's not necessarily a bad thing.

A simple RSS reader, it seems designed to make the transition from Google as straightforward as possible. Housed within a browser window, it's simple, unfussy and certainly looks quite a lot like Google's old faithful?though it's a little more cluttered and has dark and light themes. You're essentially looking at a column full of folders and viewing pane. And an ad. Obviously.

There's a neat tagging function to collate articles, which could prove useful, and you can choose exactly how things are displayed from a selection of different views, like in Feedly. It's also apparently rather speedy, refreshing quickly and loading articles in a snap. A couple of things do suck, though: there's no automated Google Reader import function, so you're going to have to download an import an OPML file, and there's no search function whatsoever.

All in, it seems like a perfectly respectable light reader?just with nothing setting it apart from the crowd. But in what looks set to be a tough fight, it's not obvious how AOL's effort will beat the likes of Digg or Feedly. But hey, give it a try?its simplicity might be just what you're after. [AOL Reader via Verge]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/aol-reader-simple-fast-but-hardly-groundbreaking-554993248

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Kim Kardashian Baby Photos: What Will North West Look Like?!

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The Edward Snowden Drama Has Reached Peak Action Movie

If the Edward Snowden saga is a Michael Bay movie that we are all just living in, on Sunday morning it would have passed over the believability abyss. That's when Snowden, the NSA leaker turned America's Most Wanted poster-boy, took a plane out of Hong Kong, en route to Russia, where he landed around 9:15 a.m. EST. Snowden is reportedly?headed?from there to Havana, Cuba on Monday. Originally, it looked like he was going from there to Caracas, Venezuela. Now, it appears he's off to Ecuador.

Oh, and on the run with Edward Snowden? Diplomatic and legal escorts from WikiLeaks, according to a press release from the organization. WikiLeaks released a profile of Sarah Harrison on Sunday morning, a U.K. citizen who the organization says is acting as Snowden's escort. WikiLeaks, being WikiLeaks, is live-tweeting the adventure:

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange is getting himself back in headlines with his moves to help Snowden. Assange has been living in the Ecudarian embassy in London for?over a year, avoiding extradition to Sweden.?

The first seeming plot-hole in today's story: how did Snowden get out of Hong Kong? Especially with all of the pressure that the Obama administration was putting on the government to extradite hm? Hong Kong's governmnet has plugged that hole with a statement:

The U.S. Government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR Government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden. Since the documents provided by the U.S. Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR Government has requested the U.S. Government to provide additional information so that the Department of Justice could consider whether the U.S. Government's request can meet the relevant legal conditions. As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.

If that part of the statement doesn't make this point obvious, the government of Hong Kong is not too pleased with the United States:

Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government has formally written to the U.S. Government requesting clarification on earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by U.S. government agencies. The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong.

So much for extradition treaties.?

And just how many more U.S. relationships with how many more countries will Snowden muck up?

Sen. Chuck Schumer, on CNN's State of the Union?Sunday morning, told host Candy Crowley that he is "very disappointed" with how Hong Kong handled Snowden, and believed that "the hand of Beijing was involved here." He had harsher words for Russia, saying there'd be "serious consequences" for the U.S.-Russia relationship, and that "allies are supposed to treat each other in decent ways." The senator also made the assumption that Vladimir Putin approved Snowden's plane landing in Russia, and called the president "infuriating."?

Sen. Rand Paul, also on State of the Union, had kinder words for Snowden:?"I think it's still going to be an open question how this young man's judged." The Kentucky senator and 2016-maybe said that history would look back at the records of both Snowden and National Intelligence Director James Clapper, saying that "Mr. Clapper lied to Congress, in defiance of the law, in the name of security," and that "Mr. Snowden told the truth in the name of privacy."

Paul, however, wasn't too thrilled with what Snowden looked to be doing on Sunday morning:

If he cozies up to either the Russian government, the Chinese government, or any of these governments that are perceived still as enemies of ours, I think that that'll be a real problem for him in history.

While the U.S. doesn't actually consider Russia or China to be enemy nations, you can get a pretty decent sense of where this drama could be heading in the coming days.

Update (1:05): WikiLeaks has released an updated press release saying that Snowden "is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks."

(12:48): AFP and others are now reporting that Snowden has applied for asylum in Ecuador:

Ecuador's foreign minister confirms, in Spanish and English:

(12:20): More intrigue!

(12:05): ABC News is reporting on what could be a huge, logic-leap plot hole in the drama that is Snowden:

So, how exactly did Snowden get out of Hong Kong without a valid passport? As ABC's Jon Williams also notes, the lack of a passport shouldn't be a problem for Snowden getting out of Russia, as it sounds like his plan is to stay at the airport and not technically cross through another border.

This is also on top of new speculation that Snowden may not be going to Venezuela after all:

Ecuador is, of course, the country that has been giving political asylum to Julian Assange for the last year, and apparently plans to continue to do so. The Guardian, meanwhile, is reporting some confusion from Ecuador's ambassador in Moscow. Confusion: definitely the word of the day.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/edward-snowden-drama-reached-peak-action-movie-095635777.html

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A Windows Phone fan reviews the LG Optimus G Pro

It's always good to try new things, and that includes your smart phone choices

Our own Anndrew Vacca was fairly smitten with the Optimus G Pro. He puts it plainly, that the OGP "has the features, style, and wow-factor to steal eyeballs (and customers) away from the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4", and that's a bold statement from someone who has been able to use all three. But sometimes, you want the point of view a more "normal" user has when you're interested in a new smart phone. We get it, and we understand.

WPCentral forums ambassador mase123987 recently spent some time with the 5.5-inch Optimus G Pro, and took the time to write quite the review over in the WPCentral forums. We're not going to spoil the ending, but it's a great read if you're a smart phone fan on any level. Go give it a read, and be sure to thank mase for his insight -- this is valuable stuff coming from someone without any preconceived Android prejudices. 

Review of the Optimus G Pro (and Android) by a WP Lover

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/hMxDXxMoJ0k/story01.htm

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