Qatar Names New Cabinet

DOHA, Qatar — The new emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, signaled both continuity in international affairs and change on the domestic front with the appointment of a new cabinet, one that will be headed by a longtime secret policeman but also the first with a woman in it.

cabinet from the government’s Qatar News Agency when it was appointed Wednesday, Qatari newspapers on Thursday published a complete list of the members. It will be headed by Sheik Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, holding the roles of both prime minister and interior minister. His age was not announced, but he was a 1984 graduate of Durham Military College in Britain, according to his official biography, which would make him about 50.

In addition to running internal state security for many years, the new prime minister has also been in charge of his country’s antiterrorism efforts.

The new emir, 33, took office Wednesday after his 61-year-old father, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, abdicated after 18 years in power. In a televised speech Wednesday, Sheik Tamim repeatedly referred to the former emir as “his highness the father.”

“He left office in a unique, rather unprecedented step,” he said. “He left Qatar a nonstop construction site. Crime is virtually nonexistent. He transformed Qatar from a state struggling to survive to a state with a sovereign and confident stature,” he said. “His highness the father decided to leave his reign while he can give his best. He handed all the banners to me as an expression of confidence.”

The outgoing prime minister, Sheik Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, for many years also held the portfolio of foreign minister and was a key architect of Qatar’s aggressive, interventionist foreign policy. The new emir suggested that he would continue his father’s foreign policy, and the appointment of the longtime deputy foreign minister, Khalid al-Attiyah, as foreign minister suggested as much. He was both close to the previous emir and deeply involved in many of Qatar’s international mediation efforts.

But a new prime minister whose second portfolio is the Interior Ministry, which controls the police and internal security affairs, was widely read as a signal that the new emir would be refocusing on domestic affairs. There has been no suggestion of any internal security threat, and dissent in wealthy Qatar, which has only 250,000 citizens, is nearly unknown.

Sheik Abdullah, the new prime minister, had been the minister of state for internal affairs since February of 1995, and remained in that post after Sheik Hamad toppled his father in a bloodless coup in June of 1995. That suggests that he would have played a key role in the coup events and had the confidence of both the outgoing emir and his son, to whom he is distantly related.

The first woman in the Qatari cabinet, and one of few to hold such a position anywhere in the region, is the minister of communication and information technology, Hessa Sultan al-Jaber.

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Hours from "fiscal cliff," Washington still awaits deal

(Reuters) - The U.S. Congress comes back on Monday without a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" and only a few hours of actual legislative time scheduled in which to act if an agreement materializes.

Negotiations involving Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell appeared to offer the last hope for avoiding the across-the-board tax increases and draconian cuts in the federal budget that will be triggered at the start of the New Year because of a deficit-reduction law enacted in August, 2011.

A jolt from the financial markets could also prod the parties, as it has occasionally in the past.

"I believe investors will show their displeasure" at the lack of progress in Washington, said Mohannad Aama, managing director at Beam Capital Management, an investment advisory firm in New York.

Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate had hoped to clear the way for swift action on Sunday. But with the two sides still at loggerheads in talks, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid postponed any possible votes and the Senate adjourned until Monday.

The main sticking point between Republicans and Democrats remained whether to extend existing tax rates for everyone, as Republicans want, or just for those earning below $250,000 to $400,000, as Democrats have proposed.

Also at issue were Republican demands for larger cuts in spending than those offered by President Barack Obama.

Hopes for a "grand bargain" of deficit-reduction measures vanished weeks ago as talks stalled.

While Congress has the capacity to move swiftly when motivated, the leaders of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate have left themselves little time for what could be a complicated day of procedural maneuvering in the event of an agreement.

House Speaker John Boehner has insisted that the Senate act first, but that chamber does not begin legislative business until about noon Monday.

OTHER BUSINESS ALSO ON AGENDA

And the cliff is not the only business on the House agenda. Farm-state lawmakers are seeking a one-year extension of the expiring U.S. farm law to head off a possible doubling of retail milk prices to $7 or more a gallon in early 2013.

Relief for victims of Superstorm Sandy is waiting in line in the House as well, though it could still consider a Senate bill on assistance for the storm until January 2, the last day of the Congress that was elected in November 2010.

Expiring along with low tax rates at midnight Monday are a raft of other tax measures effecting tens of millions of Americans.

A payroll tax holiday Americans have enjoyed for two years looks like the most certain casualty as neither Republicans or Democrats have shown much interest in continuing it, in part because the tax funds the Social Security retirement program.

The current 4.2 percent payroll tax rate paid by about 160 million workers will revert to the previous 6.2 percent rate after December 31, and will be the most immediate hit to taxpayers.

A "patch" for the Alternative Minimum Tax that would prevent millions of middle-class Americans from being taxed as if they were rich, could go over the cliff as well. Both Republicans and Democrats support doing another patch, but have not approved one.

At best, the Internal Revenue Service has warned that as many as 100 million taxpayers could face refund delays without an AMT fix. At worst, they could face higher taxes unless Congress comes back with a retroactive fix.

After Tuesday, Congress could move for retroactive relief on any or all of the tax and spending issues. But that would require compromises that Republicans and Democrats have been unwilling to make so far.

Obama said on Sunday he plans on pushing legislation as soon as January 4 to reverse the tax hikes for all but the wealthy.