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British politicans are saying Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth II’s second son, should lose his position as trade ambassador of the United Kingdom because of his friendship with Saif Gadhafi. With Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi increasingly being shunned on the world stage, Andrew’s ties to the Gaddafi family has come under fire.
 Chris Jackson/Getty Images/FILE “Isn’t it increasingly difficult to explain the behaviour of the UKTI (UK Trade and Investment) special ambassador for trade, who is not only a very close friend of Saif Gaddafi, but is also a close friend of the convicted Libyan gun smuggler Tarek Kaituni” said Christopher Bryant, a former Foreign Office minister, on the floor of the Commons.
“Isn’t it time we dispensed with the services of the Duke of York?” he added.
In response, Prime Minister David Cameron said, “I’m not aware of the particular connections he [Mr Bryant] chooses to make. I’m very happy to look into them.”
After this, Speaker John Bercow intervened, telling MPs: “References to members of the Royal Family should be very rare, very sparing and very respectful.”
Prince Andrew’s role as trade ambassador has been controversial, mainly because of the company he keeps. He was recently pictured in New York’s Central Park with billionaire friend Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child-sex offender who was sentenced to 18 months for soliciting minor girls.
Outside the Commons, a spokesman for anti-monarchy campaign group Republic, Graham Smith, said: “The charge sheet against Prince Andrew is getting longer by the day. His relationships with the Gaddafi family and other characters with questionable reputations have made his position untenable.”
The Prince does not get paid for being a trade ambassador, but does get expenses and travel costs covered, in the thousands of pounds each year.
Sources: BBC, Press Association
The second child of King Mohammed VI and Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco celebrated her fourth birthday Monday. Princess Lalla Khadija marked her big day with her family, which included big brother Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, who is 7 years old.
 Maghreb Arabe Presse When she was born, there were 21 cannon rounds throughout the Kingdom. Moroccans congratulated the royal family by signing guest books at the Directorate of Royal Protocol and Chancellery, as well as in different Prefectures and Provinces of Morocco, as well as the various embassies and consulates abroad.
There were also celebrations in the cities and towns of Morocco, with squares and public building decorated with lanterns and the national flag.
Families who also had babies the same day as the newborn Princess were given presents by the royal family.
Lalla Khadija may be only four years old, but she has already made appearances at some of her father’s engagements, particularly at Ramadan events.
Source: Le Matin
On Monday, members of the Spanish royal family were at El Pardo Palace to give out the National Sports Awards 2010. The award recognizes the athletes, sports associations and other entities that have most highlighted in competition or in supporting the promotion of sports throughout last year.
 Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe, Princess Letizia and Infanta Elena personally handed the large trophies to the winners. Some of the awards were named after the royals themselves.
For example, the Reina Sofia award goes to the Spanish athlete who has distinguished his or herself over the year in their sporting performance, both nationally and internationally. For 2010, it was mountaineer Edurne Pasaban Lizarribar.
Other awards named after the royals included the Premio Don Felipe de Borbon, Princess of Asturias National Prize, the Award of HRH Doña Elena, and the Award of HRH Doña Cristina.
13 trophies were given out to various athletes, including the Spanish football team which won the 2010 World Cup, riders Jorge Lorenzo and Marc Marquez, the Andalusian Federation of Football, athlete Eusebio Cáceres, hockey player Luciana Aymar, the Foundation for Sport Equestrian Championships International Open ATP Spain Castilla y León “El Espinar, the City of Leganés, Universidad Camilo Jose Cela, the advertising agency Villar-Rosàs and tennis player Manolo Santana.
After delivery, His Majesty King Juan Carlos gave “a very special and warm congratulations” to the winners in 2010, “the most brilliant years of the history of Spanish sports.”
“Sport, in its most noble and extensive expression must muster the effort and cooperation of all” and “not only in the disciplines of equipment and more popular,” in which Spain is now the first country in the world, but also in the individual and the less widespread. ”
Source: Casa Real
In an effort to stop the demonstrations, Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman has ordered 50,000 jobs to be created. This comes after another violent day of protests Sunday in which one person died and 11 were injured after clashing with police.
 REUTERS/Fadi Al-Assaad/FILES The Sultan is also urging citizens to register with the Ministry of Manpower so they would be paid 150 rials (about U.S. $390) per month until they find work.
Like many other Arab nations, Oman is seeing protests demanding more jobs and political freedom. However, the demonstrations fall short of calling an end to the monarchy.
“We want to see the benefit of our oil wealth distributed evenly to the population,” one protester said over a loudhailer during a rally in the industrial city of Sohar. “We want to see a scale-down of expatriates in Oman so more jobs can be created for Omanis,” he yelled.
“There are no jobs, there’s no freedom of opinion. The people are tired and people want money. People want to end corruption,” said Ali al-Mazroui, 30, who is unemployed.
Sohar also saw looting and the burning of buildings this past weekend.
Source: CNN, Reuters
Oman has become the latest Arab nation to experience anti-government protests, and its longtime Sultan quickly reacted. Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who has ruled the Gulf state since 1970, made changes to his cabinet and promised social reforms. All this happened Saturday as protests turned deadly in the industrial city of Sohar.
 MOHAMMED MAHJOUB/AFP/Getty Images/FILE According to the state news agency, the Sultan made the political changes in the “public’s interest,” but without elaborating further. Six ministers were replaced, but the longer serving ministers kept their positions.
In addition, Qaboos issued decreees boosting government grants for students at public universities and ordering the establishment of a consumer watchdog. He also increased the minimum wage earlier this month.
Oman is an absolute monarchy and political parties are banned.
As news of the political changes was breaking, two people were killed and 10 were hurt during the demonstrations in Sohar as protesters clashed with police.
Omani TV editor, Asma Rshid, told CNN: “The police shot them because they burned shops and cars in Sohar.”
Like the rest of the Arab world, the Omani demonstrators were demanding more political freedom and more jobs.
Source: Los Angeles Times, CNN
 
When it comes to birthdays, this is a big year for the Grand Ducal family of Luxembourg. On January 5th, it was Grand Duke Jean’s 90th birthday. This coming November – 11/11/11 no less! – Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume will turn 30 years old. To mark these two special events, Luxembourg’s Post and Telecommunications will release two stamps featuring the grandfather and grandson.
The stamps will be out March 15th. Their prices are both €1.95, and there will be ten stamps per sheet.
If you are interested in purchasing them, click here and here.
Source: P&T Luxembourg
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa dismissed four members of his cabinet Saturday while an opposition leader returned to Bahrain to join the thousands still protesting for the removal of the royal family.
 KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images/FILE The King removed the ministers of housing, health, and cabinet affairs. He even expanded the portfolio of the oil and gas minister to include electricity and water, and he appointed a new minister of labor. However, these new ministers have held other government positions before.
King Hamad also announced all government housing loans would be reduced by 25%
This is a similar act done King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia earlier this week. The Bahraini King personally welcomed his Saudi counterpart home after months abroad for back surgery. Upon his return, King Abdullah gave out benefits to Saudi citizens to quench any uprising that is sweeping across the Arab world.
King Hamad also pardoned Hassan Mashaima, an oppositional leader who was in exile in Great Britain for a year. Mashaima was charged by the government for illegal organization, engaging in and financing terrorism and spreading false and misleading information. He stayed in the U.K. until he was pardoned Friday.
“The time has come for true unity and our priority today is for the opposition to sit down with the protesters at Pearl Square and clearly set our demands,” Mashaima told reporters at his home.
 AP Photo/Hasan Jamali As for the King’s urging for dialogue on Tuesday, telling the Bahraini people “to engage in this new process” and “move away from polarization”, Mashaima doubts his words.
“They are always lying — they are promising to do something and they don’t do it,” he said about the monarchy.
“We talked about dialogue for a long time. Nobody listened, nobody heard us,” he said. “They are just listening now because of the pressure. If the pressure will finish, they will not listen again.”
Mashaima is the leader of the Haq movement, which is more hard lined than the Wefaq political party. The Haq party is against the Sunni monarchy.
Meanwhile, Pearl Square in Manama has become a makeshift camp for protesters to do their daily rallies.
On Saturday thousands began their demonstration at the Square and went on to march along a major highway chanting “leave Hamad, leave Hamad,” blocking traffic.
They then went to the the walled compound where the foreign ministry is located, chanting “Down, down Hamad!”
Then the crowd proceeded up the street, which is flanked by towering buildings housing banks, to the cries of “the people want to topple the regime!”
Sources: AFP, CNN
Just weeks after losing his driver’s license, Belgium’s Prince Laurent has come under fire by Prime Minister Yves Leterme after Flemish newspapers ran stories about the Prince’s behavior on airplanes in recent weeks.
 Mark Renders/Getty Images/FILE According to one, De Morgen, when Laurent was flying Belgian Airlines to Sweden for Crown Princess Victoria’s June 2010 wedding, he and his wife, Princess Claire, sat in first class although they originally paid for economy.
When told to sit where they were supposed to, Laurent called the flight attendants “unprofessional”.
Later, he refused to pay for his drinks, leading Swedish passengers to do the same.
In another incident, Laurent, Claire and their three children and a nanny, pulled the same stunt: sit in first class although having paid for economy. This time the staff kept silent in order to avoid making a scene.
When asked about the 47 year old Prince’s behavior by parliament, Prime Minister Leterme said it was “incorrect” and said he was “distancing myself” from the royal.
Belgian Airlines said it had not been informed of the two incidents, and the royal palace had no comment.
The newspapers are published in a Dutch speaking area in Belgium, where the royal family are not very popular.
Prince Laurent is 12th in line to the Belgian throne.
Source: AFP
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain are currently in St. Petersburg, Russia to inaugurate the Spain-Russia Dual Year, which is dedicated to cement the economic and cultural ties between the two nations.
 AP Photo/ RIA Novosti, Dmitry Astakhov, Presidential Press Service They, along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and First Lady Svetlana Medvedeva, spent most of Friday at the Hermitage Museum to exchange art works at the landmark museum to begin the cultural links.
“Russia and Spain are two countries that are essential for understanding European culture, history and identity,” said King Juan Carlos at the ceremony in the Throne Room of the Hermitage Museum, formerly the Winter Palace of the czars.
“Both countries not only wish to give renewed impetus to the great tide of understanding and friendship that has always linked our peoples, but to make clear our shared goal of expanding and deepening bilateral relations,” the king also said at the inauguration of “The Prado in the Hermitage” exhibition.
The exhibit will showcase 66 works of art from Spain’s Prado Museum by such creators as Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Titian and Rubens.
President Medvedev, who intends to make his second visit to Spain in November, said that the Dual Year program, with more than 350 commercial, cultural and scientific activities, “opens new possibilities of contact between peoples.”
 REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin Queen Sofia and First Lady Svetlana Medvedeva toured the rest of the Hermitage to get a look at Russian fine art, plus the apartment where Alexander Pushkin lived.
This coming November will see 170 art pieces from the Hermitage come to the Prado as part of the cultural exchange. It will have work by Rubens and Watteaau as well as Cezanne, Renoir, Gauguin and Matisse.
Earlier on Friday, the Spanish King and the Russian President held a business forum in which they discussed the potential for more economic ties in the field of technological modernization and innovation. Juan Carlos emphasized that Spanish business leaders “are wholeheartedly turning to Russia.”
“Russia and Spain each has one foot in Europe and the other in the world, and as global players they have an enormous potential for cooperation,” said Antonio Brufau, CEO of Spanish energy giant Repsol YPF.
Source: EFE, AFP
One day after making her official royal debut, Catherine Middleton performed another duty by Prince William’s side when the two returned to the place where their romance began – St. Andrews University in Scotland. The couple were there to mark St. Andrews’ 600th anniversary and launch a scholarship campaign set up in their honor, as a wedding gift. In a speech, William reflected on returning to the university.
 Danny Lawson - WPA Pool/Getty Images “This is a very special moment for Catherine and me. It feels like coming home,” he told the crowds.
“Despite being one of Europe’s leading research institutions, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and of course, far and away the best university in the world, St Andrews has that uncanny knack of feeling like home.
“And so it must have done to generations of undergraduates before us, in fact 600 years’ worth.
“It’s knowing that so many of Scotland’s finest brains and greatest achievers gained and continue to gain inspiration from this place that makes me so proud to be patron of the university’s 600th anniversary appeal.”
 Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images At St Salvator’s Quadrangle, Prince William unveiled a plaque to mark the launch of the 600th anniversary of St. Andrews.
They then did a walkabout where they chatted with students and locals.
There was a reception inside a hall where William and Catherine once attended History of Art lectures. Catherine has a degree in the discipline while the Prince eventually switched to geography. Inside the hall, the couple chatted with former instructors.
The scholarship campaign that they launched aims to raise £100 million in scholarships and student support for those unable to afford an education at St. Andrews. It is open to all nationalities.
Later in the day, the couple and William’s brother, Prince Harry, will sign a condolence book in London for the victims of the earthquake in New Zealand.
Sourc: BBC
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