LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 29/09

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 7/14-23: He summoned the crowd again and said to them, "Hear me, all of you, and understand.
Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile." (When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, "Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles. From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile."

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
New Opinion: Medal of Honor/Now Lebanon/October 28/09
Eyes on Syria/By: Ana Maria Luca/October 28, 09
Make forum 'talk' a Lebanese reality/The Daily Star/October 28/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 28/09
Sison: Cabinet Formula a Lebanese Issue/Naharnet
Suleiman: Administrative and not Political Crisis Gripping Lebanon/Naharnet
US condemns Lebanon rocket salvo/AFP
March 14 Refuses Turning Lebanon into Mail Box, Holds Onto Taef/Naharnet
Hariri: Cabinet Will Be Formed Although Late/Naharnet
Trial of accused-Hezbollah cell in Egypt resumes, DPA reports/Now Lebanon
Moussawi surprised at interest in fire exchange, lack of interest in Israeli espionage devices/Now Lebanon
Security Council discusses 1559 implementation report/Daily Star
Two Men Accused of Trying to Supply Hezbollah Militia/New York Times
Geagea says fire exchange a "crime" against Lebanon, expects new cabinet within two weeks/Now Lebanon
Lebanon: Rocket Strikes Israel/New York Times
Katyusha rocket from Lebanon draws Israeli artillery barrage/AFP
4 Rockets Defused in the South a Day after Israeli Retaliatory Attack/Naharnet
Italy to Decrease its UNIFIL Troops Number/Naharnet
Lebanon stops fresh rocket attack/BBC News
4 Katyushas found, dismantled in southern Lebanon launching site/Jerusalem Post
Lebanon Condemns Attack on Israel, Reprisal Shelling/Bloomberg
Royal pardon for Saudi journalist sentenced to lashes/CNN
Relations Between Turkey, Israel Continue to Falter/Voice of America
Britain says Syria deal worth waiting for/Asia Times Online
Syrian daily calls on Hariri to form cabinet with help of Aoun/Now Lebanon
Cabinet talks to intensify as Berri offers options/Daily Star
Berri adjourns session to elect Parliament committees/Daily Star
Security staff see slapped wrists for backhanders/Daily Star
France offers helping hand to prison-reform program/Daily Star
Lebanon's power-distribution method 'inherently discriminatory' - US report/Daily Star
Hariri promises new cabinet will be good deal for business/Daily Star
MEA's profits in 2009 to exceed $100 million as company plans new routes/Daily Star
Salameh vows to continue protecting banking sector/Daily Star
Turkey lauds Iran's positive approach to nuclear talks/Daily Star
Yemen sentences four Shiite rebels to death/Daily Star
Iran wants big changes to nuclear agreement with world powers/Daily Star
Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France/Daily Star
Issam Fares to be honored alongside Bush senior, Clinton/Daily Star
ISF Rescues Disgruntled Man Threatening to Jump from 9th Floor/Naharnet
Aoun: Lebanon Unshakable Even if Entire Mideast Burns/Naharnet
Geagea: We Won't Give Opposition Justice, Finance and Telecom/Naharnet
Six U.N. foreign staff killed in atta ck in Kabul/Reurers

Trial of accused-Hezbollah cell in Egypt resumes, DPA reports
October 28, 2009 /The German National News Agency (DPA) reported on Wednesday that the trial of the 26 men accused of plotting attacks and spying on Egypt as part of a Hezbollah cell resumed in Egypt on Wednesday. The agency said that two Lebanese, five Palestinians, a Sudanese man and 18 Egyptians are on trial. They are charged with “planning attacks against tourists and the Suez Canal, possessing explosives and passing information to a foreign organization.”Egyptian prosecutors accuse the defendants of belonging to a Hezbollah cell led by Lebanese national Sami Chehab, also known as Mohammad Youssef, whom Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has confirmed is a party member and was sent to Egypt to deliver "logistical aid" to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the DPA reported.-NOW Lebanon

Men Accused of Trying to Supply
By AL BAKER
Published: October 27, 2009
Two men — including one from Flushing, Queens — have been indicted on charges that they tried to provide the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon with weapons, ammunition and vehicles, federal prosecutors said on Tuesday. Indictment (U.S. v. Nayyar, et al.) (findlaw.com)The men, Patrick Nayyar of Flushing and Conrad Stanisclaus Mulholland, agreed to sell guns, ammunition, vehicles, bullet-resistant vests and night vision goggles to a man who represented himself as a member of Hezbollah but was an F.B.I. informant, officials said.
Mr. Nayyar was in custody on Tuesday. Mr. Mulholland remained at large, according to prosecutors who believe he is currently in Britain, an official said.
Because Mr. Nayyar was hailed as a hero in The Daily News for having rescued a woman in a dispute with a cabdriver in 2007, his lawyer, Martin L. Schmukler said, “This doesn’t sound like real terrorism to me. This sounds like an investigation gone wild.”
In a series of meetings between July and September, Mr. Nayyar, 45, and Mr. Mulholland, 43, “provided the confidential informant with a handgun, a box of ammunition and a pickup truck, believing that the confidential informant would deliver the items” to the militant group in Lebanon, according to a statement from Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. Both men were charged in a federal indictment, filed Monday, with four counts of attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah — labeled a “designated foreign terrorist organization” by the United States, the statement said. The charges were based on their having provided the gun, ammunition and truck to the informant, and on their agreement to provide other items, the statement said. Mr. Nayyar, who the government says is an Indian citizen living illegally in the United States, was arrested in September on charges that he illegally possessed a handgun and hollow-point bullets, according to court papers. He entered a not guilty plea in court Tuesday on the latest charges, Mr. Schmukler said.
“It’s clearly a case that will wind up going to trial,” said Mr. Schmukler, who said he believed his client had a good chance of being acquitted.
Mr. Nayyar is a married father of three who immigrated to the United States about two decades ago, his lawyer said.

Security Council discusses 1559 implementation report
/Daily Star staff/Wednesday, October 28, 2009
BEIRUT: The Security Council discussed Tuesday the 10th bi-annual report on the implementation of Resolution 1559. Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said the council is not expected to issue any statement on the content of the report, which will be discussed during a closed-door session. It quoted diplomatic sources as saying, however, that the report did not adopt a stern language, as some Lebanese groups claimed. In the report, delivered to the council last week, UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the Lebanese to benefit from the successful June 2009 parliamentary elections and visits between Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad. The UN chief also warned that the presence of Hizbullah and Palestinian militants in Lebanon is contributing to tensions and insecurity and could eventually lead to a resumption of hostilities. The secretary general said he took seriously recent reports “of a proliferation of extremist groups activities and of arms in Lebanon,” but said the UN doesn’t have the means to independently verify them. He said Hizbullah’s paramilitary force “poses first and foremost a key challenge to the safety of Lebanese civilians, and to the government’s monopoly on the legitimate use of force.” – The Daily Star, with Naharnet

US condemns Lebanon rocket salvo
(AFP) – BEIRUT — The United States condemned on Wednesday the latest rocket attack from southern Lebanon on Israel and said it underscored the need to disarm all Lebanese groups, in a reference to Hezbollah. "We strongly condemn last night's rocket launch, which is a clear violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701," US Ambassador Michele Sison said after meeting with parliament speaker Nabih Berri. Resolution 1701 ended a 34-day war between Shiite Hezbollah and the Jewish state in 2006 and called for the removal of weapons in southern Lebanon from the hands of everyone except the Lebanese army and other state security forces. "The recent series of incidents ... highlights the urgent need to extend the state's control over all of Lebanon's territory, to disarm all militias," said Sison, in a statement released by her embassy. A rocket was fired from southern Lebanon on Israel on Tuesday night, prompting a barrage of retaliatory fire. On Wednesday, the Lebanese army found and dismantled four more rockets primed and ready to be fired from the same border village. Tuesday's attack, which went unclaimed, was the latest incident in growing cross-border tensions. An Israeli military spokeswoman laid the blame on the Beirut government. The UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, UNIFIL, said it has launched an inquiry into the incident, the fourth of its kind this year. On September 11, at least two rockets fired from the southern village of Al-Qlaileh hit Israel without causing casualties but triggered artillery fire. A group linked to Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility. In February, Israeli artillery bombarded Al-Qlaileh in response to a rocket attack which lightly wounded several Israelis.
And in January, during Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, four rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel, wounding two women. Sison also said her country supports the formation of a new government in Lebanon as soon as possible. "The shape and composition of the government is, of course, a Lebanese matter," she added. Lebanon has been without a government since June when a US- and Saudi-backed coalition led by prime minister-designate Saad Hariri defeated a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran. The rival parties have since been unable to agree on the distribution of portfolios and choice of ministers in a unity cabinet.

Security Council Debates Hizbullah Disarmament
Naharnet/A U.N. Security Council session on the tenth report on the implementation of resolution 1559 focused on the disarmament of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, in particular Hizbullah, An Nahar daily reported Wednesday. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's envoy on the implementation of 1559 Terje Roed-Larsen briefed the Council on the bi-annual report during a closed-door session on Tuesday. Disbanding militias in Lebanon – especially Hizbullah is "of vital importance" to the country's democracy and sovereignty, Ban wrote in the new report. "The threats posed by the existence of militias outside the control of the state, especially Hizbullah's vast paramilitary infrastructure, cannot be overstated," he said, calling on the Shiite group's leaders to transform into a purely political Lebanese party.An Nahar said that conferees agreed on the importance of formation of a new government in Lebanon and the integration of all parties in Lebanese political life away from "terrorizing arms."
Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 09:12

Suleiman: Administrative and not Political Crisis Gripping Lebanon
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman said Wednesday that the cabinet issue should be called an administrative more than a political crisis and discussion is now constrained to one or two portfolios. "Political crises happen in most countries but they don't disrupt the democratic system," Suleiman told participants of the Saudi-Lebanese forum headed by the Saudi trade and industry minister who visited him at Baabda palace."It is better to call the current cabinet issue in Lebanon an administrative more than a political crisis particularly that everyone agreed on its shape and the number of essential portfolios in it," the president said. "Discussion is now constrained to one or two portfolios," he added. Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 13:57

Hariri: Cabinet Will Be Formed Although Late
Naharnet/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said that "after the end of elections we started forming the cabinet, although this matter takes time, but in the end we will reach cabinet's formation". In a speech delivered at the dinner held on the honor of the participants at the Saudi-Lebanese forum in Quraytem on Tuesday, Hariri called for preserving uniqueness, freedom of thought, and diversity in Lebanon. Hariri said that although Lebanon is small in size but it remains grand through its people who exist in an effective way around the world.
Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 16:54

Sison: Cabinet Formula a Lebanese Issue
Naharnet/U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison urged on Wednesday the Lebanese to form a new government as soon as possible stressing that the shape and formula of that government are internal Lebanese issues. After her meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh, Sison strongly condemned the rocket attack from southern Lebanon against Israel. The U.S. ambassador considered that act as a flagrant violation of Security Council Resolution 1701. Sison said the latest incidents in the South underscored the need to disarm all Lebanese groups and the necessity that the Lebanese army imposes its authority on all Lebanese territories. The international community has to continue in supporting UNIFIL, said Sison. On the other hand, Speaker Berri sources replied to Sison's statement, clarifying that some of what was said in the ambassador's statement was amputee. The sources said the main discussion did not solely discuss the incidents, but it discussed also the permanent Israeli violations such as detonated spying devices and the fighter jets that have never left the airspace of Lebanon. Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 15:11

U.S. Official in Beirut to Explore Situation, Prospects of New Government
Naharnet/Richard Riley, deputy director of the office of Egypt and Levant affairs at the U.S. State Department, arrived in Beirut overnight for talks with Lebanese officials aimed at exploring the situation in Lebanon and prospects of forming a new government, Naharnet learned. U.S. embassy sources said Riley's visit comes within the framework of exploring the Lebanese situation. They said Riley was not carrying any specific proposal, adding that he is in Beirut to "listen" to Lebanese officials and clarify the U.S. stance on the current situation in Lebanon and the region. U.S. President Barack Obama had expressed hope for a speedy formation of the Lebanese government. Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 07:35

March 14 Refuses Turning Lebanon into Mail Box, Holds Onto Taef
Naharnet/The March 14 General-Secretariat on Wednesday rejected attempts to make Lebanon a "mail box and a launch pad for firing rockets into Israel."Following its weekly meeting, the secretariat also described the latest firing of rockets into Israel and the Jewish state's retaliatory artillery fire a violation of Security Council resolution 1701. The conferees urged the Lebanese army and UNIFIL to find the militants who fired the rockets and prevent them from carrying out further attacks. On the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Taef accord, the statement said the March 14 forces "hold onto the text and spirit of the agreement," adding "it is the duty of all forces keen on coexistence and peace in Lebanon to abide by this accord." Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 14:41

ISF Rescues Disgruntled Man Threatening to Jump from 9th Floor
Naharnet/Internal Security Forces rescued a young man trying to commit suicide in Beirut's Ain el-Mraisseh district following a heated argument with his girlfriend, a security source said Wednesday. Another source said, however, that Jamal Akl wanted to commit suicide because his daughter is sick. Akl had threatened to jump from the 9th floor of a building under construction near the headquarters of the former U.S. embassy. The source said that the ISF rescued the man and brought him down with a crane. The incident caused bumper to bumper traffic in the area. Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 09:29

4 Rockets Defused in the South a Day after Israeli Retaliatory Attack
Naharnet/The Lebanese army and UNIFIL defused four rockets set for launching in the outskirts of Houla on Wednesday a day after a Katyusha fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel prompted the Jewish state to retaliate with artillery fire. Tuesday's attack, which was not immediately claimed, was the latest incident in growing cross-border tensions, and an Israeli military spokeswoman laid ultimate blame on the Beirut government. Voice of Lebanon radio said Wednesday that the rockets were found on the same launch pad used during the attack the day before. The National News Agency said three of the Katyushas were found in the garden of Houla municipality chief Faisal Hijazi and one at his house porch. UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano inspected the area where the rockets were found, NNA added. Tuesday's rocket landed in open ground east of the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona and started a fire but caused no serious damage, sources there said. An Israeli military spokeswoman later confirmed that "artillery had opened fire on the sector from which the Katyusha rocket was fired."
She said the army considered the attack as "serious, and considers that responsibility for it falls on the Lebanese government." Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gabriela Shalev has filed an official complaint with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council president over the Katyusha rocket attack, Israeli media reported. U.N. peacekeeping troops and the Lebanese army cut off the road to Houla and searched the area. UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said an inquiry has begun. "UNIFIL immediately launched an investigation," she said, adding that the force had deployed additional troops in the area in coordination with the Lebanese army. There were no reports of casualties on either side, Bouziane confirmed.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 08:37

Lebanon: Rocket Strikes Israel
REUTERS/Published: October 27, 2009
A rocket fired from Lebanon struck northern Israel on Tuesday, causing no damage or injury, and Israel responded with artillery fire at Lebanon, the Israeli military and a Lebanese security official said. An Israeli military spokeswoman said Israel was treating the shooting “very seriously” and that it held the Lebanese government responsible. The rocket slammed into an open area near Qiryat Shmona, security officials said. There were no reports of casualties from the rocket or the artillery fire.

Katyusha rocket from Lebanon draws Israeli artillery barrage
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
BEIRUT: A Katyusha rocket fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel on Tuesday night without causing any casualties, prompting Israel to retaliate with an artillery barrage, sources on both sides said. The attack, which was not immediately claimed, was the latest incident in growing cross-border tensions, and an Israeli military spokeswoman laid ultimate blame for it at the door of the Beirut government. The rocket landed in open ground east of the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona and started a fire but caused no serious damage, sources there said.
Following the incident, a security source in Lebanon said eight rockets fired from Israel hit near the border village of Hula. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Israeli military spokeswoman said “artillery had opened fire on the sector from which the Katyusha rocket was fired.” She added that the army considered the attack as “serious, and considers that responsibility for it falls on the Lebanese government.” UN peacekeeping troops and the Lebanese Army cut off the road leading to Hula and were searching the area, an AFP correspondent said. Hula residents told AFP they heard a rocket being fired from the brush outside the village shortly before the rockets hit the area. While no group claimed responsibility, Israel will have its eye on Shiite movement Hizbullah, which fought a devastating 34-day war with Israel in 2006 and which has its stronghold in south Lebanon. A rocket exploded in a village there on October 12 in the home of Hizbullah member Abdel-Nasser Issa. Israel released footage it said showed rockets being removed from Issa’s home after the blast, but Hizbullah said the pictures were of metal shutters. Israel’s military said the blast “proves again the presence of weapons forbidden in southern Lebanon” under UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 war. The conflict killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Resolution 1701 called for the removal of weapons in southern Lebanon from the hands of everyone except the Lebanese Army and other state security forces. Israel has repeatedly accused Hizbullah of rearming, and an Israeli military spokesman has claimed the group has “dozens of arms caches containing hundreds of rockets.” Following the October 12 incident, Israeli President Shimon Peres slammed Hizbullah. “Hizbullah has turned Lebanon into a powderkeg,” he said. “It’s not Israel that is endangering Lebanon, but rather Hizbullah, just as Hamas is endangering the Palestinians. Tuesday’s attack on Israel was the fourth from Lebanese territory this year. On September 11, at least two rockets fired from the southern village of Al-Qlaileh slammed into Israel without causing casualties but triggering retaliatory artillery fire. A group linked to Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility, according to US monitoring group SITE Intelligence. In February, Israeli artillery bombarded Al-Qlaileh in response to a rocket attack. No one was injured – AFP

Israel files complaint against Lebanon over Katyusha rocket
October 28, 2009 /Now Lebanon/Israeli website Ynet reported on Wednesday that Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev filed an official complaint with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council over the Katyusha rocket fired from South Lebanon into Israel on Tuesday.
According to Ynet, Shalev said that “for three years Israel has warned about Hezbollah's renewed military infrastructure,” adding that hostility from southern Lebanon is on the rise. The ambassador also said Hezbollah is threatening UNIFIL troops as well as interfering with the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, the website reported.
In the complaint, Shalev also stressed that “Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for any attack which comes out of the country,” adding that she expects the incident to be filed in the UN report on Resolution 1701 as well as in November’s Security Council session. -NOW Lebanon

Moussawi surprised at interest in fire exchange, lack of interest in Israeli espionage devices
October 28, 2009/Now Lebanon/Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf Moussawi told New TV on Wednesday that he is surprised about the discrepancy between the “silence” over the Israeli espionage devices found at the Khallit al-Onq area between the villages of Houla and Mays al-Jabal, and the “interest” in the rockets launched from South Lebanon toward Israel on Tuesday. Moussawi said that Israel’s violations should not be overlooked under the pretext of avoiding a regional war, adding, “To prevent a war, we should be ready for it.” He stressed that it is unacceptable for any local or foreign party to label the Resistance as a “terrorist” organization. Moussawi also said that the 33-day attempts to eliminate the Resistance failed, a reference to the 2006 July War, “and neither UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s envoy for the implementation of UN Resolution 1559 Terje-Roed Larsen’s report nor any other report can [change this].”He touched on the cabinet formation and called for discussing developments away from the media and for addressing them “behind closed doors and through direct dialogue.”-NOW Lebanon

Geagea says fire exchange a "crime" against Lebanon, expects new cabinet within two weeks
October 28, 2009 /Now Lebanon/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea told MTV that the fire exchange, which took place on Tuesday night between Lebanon and Israel, is a “crime” against Lebanon, stressing that the Lebanese do not have any interests in conducting such activity. “Should we give Israel a pretext to renew its attacks on Lebanon?” he asked. Geagea called for the state to shoulder its responsibilities, saying that the state, “remains the authority in charge,” in spite of Hezbollah’s “active presence” in the area. “The issue is more complicated than a mere rocket launch,” he said, questioning the timing of the incident in light of “Israel’s struggle with Iran and the pressure on Tel Aviv from the US and the European Union to begin a new round of negotiations” with the Palestinians. On the cabinet deliberations, Geagea said that a new government will be formed within the next two weeks, stressing that President Michel Sleiman’s “position to only endorse a national-unity cabinet made the opposition greedy.” He added that he would have preferred if the president’s stance was kept unannounced.
He also said that all parties should have agreed upon the Ministerial Statement before the cabinet formation, emphasizing that the statement should not include any clauses that contradict international resolutions, a possible reference to the section legitimizing Hezbollah’s arms in previous statements. Geagea reiterated that the Justice Ministry will not be granted to the opposition, however, he said that the LF does not insist on having a specific portfolio. He added that the party’s representation in the new government should reflect the size of its popular support. The main issue is to ensure a “balance” within the government that would allow it to act in accordance with the principles of the March 14 alliance, he said. However, “no one is suggesting to form a new cabinet without Hezbollah.”Geagea stressed that had Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt stayed within the March 14 alliance, “then the alliance would be in a much stronger position,” adding, “Jumblatt is still within the majority, and we have reached a level of trust, despite our different political [agendas].” Geagea slammed Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun, saying that his “representation of the Christians does not entitle him to go this far with setting his demands,” stressing that he will not accept granting Aoun “any portfolio that serves Hezbollah.”He also said that his problem with Aoun is over the latter’s “catastrophic position,” a reference to his alliance with opposition parties, explaining that Aoun’s “agenda” is different from the LF’s “historic Christian project.” He touched on the issue of the Telecommunications Ministry, saying that Telecom Minister Gebran Bassil “knows that deciding who gets tapped and by whom falls under the jurisdiction of the Defense and Interior ministries.”-NOW Lebanon

Aoun: Lebanon Unshakable Even if Entire Mideast Burns
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun has said that Lebanon is strong due to its diversity and will not witness another civil war even if the Middle East was set on fire.
"If the entire Middle East was burned … Lebanon will not burn from the fires of the civil war … The secret of the country's strength and one of the main factors of immunity is its confessional diversity which gives it an added value in the whole region," Aoun told As Safir daily in an interview published Wednesday. Aoun also said the system is unbalanced. Asked if balance could be reached through the Taef accord or if the country is in need of another Taef, Aoun said: "Why do we call it Taef? Let us call it Beirut 1. Now the prime minister is the absolute ruler through his majority in parliament." The MP also called for proportional representation in cabinet and slammed the current electoral law that gave the prime minister predominance. Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 11:15

Syrian daily calls on Hariri to form cabinet with help of Aoun
October 28, 2009 /Now Lebanon/Syrian newspaper Al-Watan reported on Tuesday that the cabinet impasse will only be resolved if Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri takes advantage of recent talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun. The daily added that replacing direct talks with mediations is “ineffective,” stressing Aoun’s call for calm and rational dialogue. Al-Watan also touched on Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s “sympathy” for Aoun’s message. According to the daily, Jumblatt said Aoun made huge concessions when he gave up his demand for proportional distribution of ministerial portfolios and when the FPM leader accepted a drop from six to five ministerial shares, “on condition that a balanced cabinet is formed if his bloc is not granted the Telecommunications Ministry.” Meanwhile, As-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Wednesday that a source close to Hariri said “the FPM will not be granted the Telecom Ministry.”-NOW Lebanon

Geagea: We Won't Give Opposition Justice, Finance and Telecom
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed that the justice portfolio will not be given to the opposition and the majority would not relinquish the finance and telecommunications ministries. The LF leader also said he had no problem if the energy or education ministries were given to his foe Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.
Geagea made the comment to MTV on Tuesday night. Naharnet/According to Geagea, there is a huge contradiction between the LF and FPM projects for the country, saying his party's political plan is the historic Christian project. He denied any conflict with the Phalange party over cabinet shares although he admitted there was political rivalry between the two sides. Beirut, 28 Oct 09, 12:49

Italy to Decrease its UNIFIL Troops Number
Naharnet/Italian Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa said Tuesday that "there is an idea to decrease the number of Italian troops working among UNIFIL in southern Lebanon,"
La Russa said that there were no specific signals yet about a date for Italy's withdrawal from UNIFIL's command, announcing that he will accompany "on November 3, the Italian president Georgio Napolitano in his inspection visit to Lebanon on the occasion of Italian Armed Forces day". Beirut, 27 Oct 09, 21:51

Make forum 'talk' a Lebanese reality
By The Daily Star
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Editorial
Saad Hariri, the premier-designate of Lebanon for about four months now, delivered a keynote address to the Saudi-Lebanese Business Forum this week. It was full of upbeat rhetoric and detailed policy proposals as he prepares, seemingly, to assume office. Hariri stressed the idea of upgrading Lebanon’s economy, singling out sectors like electricity and the Internet for improvement, and urging the introduction of value added to local production and services. Hariri went down the list of usual suspects for enhancing the economy, mentioning the enactment of laws and amendments, to stimulate investment and shore up financial markets, and removing the existing impediments to private sector activity.
He cited positive developments in areas such as bank deposits and the debt to GDP ratio, while stressing the importance of political security and stability for seeing continued good news.
Hariri’s remarks were substantive and much-needed, but the question is, why don’t we see such talk in the “real world” of politics, i.e. places outside the conference hall where he delivered his address? Where is the substance in our politics? We hear about the battles over the “awarding” of the Telecommunications Ministry in our daily dose of politics, and not whether Hariri and, for example, Michel Aoun have truly detailed views on any new draft law and how it would impact economic competitiveness, the tax system, or foreign investment flows.
Part of our national political deterioration is the following: the rhetoric we hear at an event described above is absent when it comes to our politicians in general. Most of their encounters with each other focus on who is trying to get what from whom in the political class, and not what the political class can be doing for the general public, to ensure that everybody “gets something” out of the system. Hariri and those at the top must explain how this “serious politics” so often disappears from Parliament and the Cabinet. What do our movements and parties intend to do about these matters of economic policy? Is there any hope that we’ll see the kind of cohesive government team that Hariri wished for in his address?The Lebanese electorate wants to hear the kind of talk and see the action that Hariri described this week. At present, they remain far removed from it, and tend toward political schizophrenia, confused over whether they belong to a country with a truly professional political class.

Six U.N. foreign staff killed in attack in Kabul
By Golnar Motevalli and Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban militants killed six U.N. foreign staff in an assault on an international guest-house in Kabul on Wednesday, raising questions about security for a presidential election run-off due in 10 days. A resurgent Taliban have vowed to stage attacks ahead of the November 7 run-off as President Barack Obama weighs sending more soldiers to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has reached its fiercest level since the Islamists were ousted in 2001.
In another sign of the growing reach of militants, rockets were also fired at a foreign-owned luxury hotel near the presidential palace in the Afghan capital, forcing more than 100 guests into a bunker. Hours after the Kabul attacks, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton landed in Pakistan vowing a new page in U.S.-Pakistan relations. Defeating the Taliban and stabilizing Afghanistan is a key plank of Washington's regional strategy against militancy. Pakistani security forces are also engaged in a bloody campaign against the Taliban near the Afghan border. A bomb killed more than 30 people in a crowded market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar later on Wednesday. The nationalities of the U.N. staff killed in the Kabul guest-house attack were unclear. Afghan forces exchanged gunfire with militants for hours inside the house as sirens wailed across the heart of the capital. "The number right now is six dead, all of them U.N. staff," said Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, adding at least nine others were wounded. The U.N. mission is helping organize the presidential poll.
President Hamid Karzai's palace said in a statement several Afghan civilians and police were also killed in the attack. Police said at least one Afghan civilian and three members of security forces were killed. The attackers wore police uniforms to secure entry into the guest-house, police said. A Reuters reporter saw the bodies of three of the suspected suicide bombers, apparently ripped apart when they detonated their explosives, lying inside the compound. Abdul Ghaim, a policeman at the scene, told Reuters: "We think they (the militants) are Pakistani."
Many of the militant insurgents in Afghanistan either shelter in neighboring Pakistan or are themselves Pakistanis.
"Certainly one of the aims of the Taliban attack today was to show that they are a force that can disrupt the poll," Afghan analyst Qaseem Akhgar said of the run-off.
FEMALE GUEST MISSING
At the guest-house, a Reuters reporter saw a badly burned body being carried out of the building after the shooting stopped. Officials said one female guest was missing inside the building, which was covered by bullet holes and badly damaged, its walls charred and windows shattered.
Karzai, who is running against ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah in the run-off, condemned the attack as "inhumane."
Explosions also hit the foreign-owned Serena luxury hotel and rockets were fired at the building, witnesses and security sources said. No one was injured and there was no major damage. A foreigner staying at the hotel told Reuters more than 100 people were rushed to an underground bunker. A high-profile venue frequented by foreign visitors and diplomats, the hotel was also attacked in January 2008 when six people were killed. Efforts to stabilize Afghanistan have been complicated by weeks of political tension over the August 20 first round of the presidential poll, which was marred by widespread fraud in favor of Karzai, forcing the run-off.
Eight U.S. troops were killed in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the NATO-led alliance said, in the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the start of the war eight years ago.
U.S. soldiers make up two-thirds of the 100,000-strong coalition force, with Obama considering proposals to send an extra 40,000 troops or a far smaller number.
Ahead of that decision, the New York Times reported that Karzai's brother had been getting regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency and was a suspected player in Afghanistan's lucrative opium trade.
Ahmed Wali Karzai was quoted as denying the report and the CIA neither confirmed nor denied the payments.
The eight U.S. soldiers killed on Tuesday pushed the October death toll to 53, topping the previous high of 51 deaths in August, Pentagon officials said.
As part of his review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, Obama is set to meet on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the military services, the White House said.
Karzai agreed last week to the run-off under international pressure after a U.N.-led fraud investigation annulled a large chunk of his votes in the August vote.
Karzai's camp said on Tuesday the run-off must take place even if his challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, quits the race.
(Additional reporting by JoAnne Allen and Adam Entous in WASHINGTON and Andrew Quinn in ISLAMABAD; Writing by Maria Golovnina and Jerry Norton; Editing by Paul Tait)

Lebanon's power-distribution method 'inherently discriminatory' - US report
‘By compartmentalizing people there is no way of having proper representation’
By Patrick Galey /Daily Star staff
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s method of distributing political power based on religion is “inherently discriminatory,” according to the US State Department. America’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor released its annual International Religious Freedom report on Monday, which criticized many aspects of Lebanese sectarianism, despite declaring that the Constitution provided “freedom of religion and the freedom to practice all religious rites.” Throughout 2009, there was no change in the respect of religious freedom in Lebanon, although the report cited Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud’s decision in February to allow citizens to opt out of naming their faith on identification papers as one positive step toward transcending sectarianism.
“It’s a common opinion in Lebanon that the confessional system has inherent problems and that by compartmentalizing people there is no way of having proper representation,” said Paul Salem, of the Carnegie Middle East Institute in Beirut. “At the same time this is a system that is trying to balance a delicate situation.”
The report said that by permitting officially recognized political groups to administer personal status laws, the government risked perpetuating social inequality.
“Many of these laws discriminate against women,” the report said. It pointed to the Sunni inheritance law – wherein a son gets twice as much as a daughter – as an example of gender-rights disparity, although many sects have similar inequity.
Of Lebanon’s 18 officially recognized sects, four are Muslim and 12 are Christian. Druze and Judaism are also constitutionally incorporated.
The report concluded that tensions among religious groups persisted, largely as a result of Lebanon’s 15-year Civil War. It added that although the 1989 Taif agreement ought to be commended for equalizing Muslim and Christian representation in government, little progress had been made in the accord’s stated goal of eventually eliminating political sectarianism.
“This [elimination of sectarianism] has not occurred and it should have occurred,” explained Salem. The Taif agreement stipulates that parliamentary seats be divided “proportionately between the denominations of each sect” and reaffirms the “National Pact” arrangement wherein the president, prime minister and speaker be Maronite Christian, Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslim respectively. system of political representation based on faith.
“The constitutional provision for apportioning political offices according to religious affiliation may be viewed as inherently discriminatory,” it said.
The report mentioned “periodic reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief or practice,” particularly toward Jewish residents.
The 2006 war with Israel had contributed to “greater political tension among religious groups” and media outlets such as Hizbullah-controlled Al-Manar and NBN TV, affiliated with Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri, had “broadcast anti-Semitic material and drew no government response.”
The report also highlighted the issue of official governmental documents referring to Jewish Lebanese citizens as Israelis, “even though they are not Israeli citizens.”
In April this year Baroud submitted a proposal to the cabinet urging this practice to cease. Jews living in Lebanon should be referred to as “Jewish Lebanese” rather than Israeli, according to the interior minister. There is a significant minority of unrecognized faiths in Lebanon, including Bahais, Buddhists, Hindus and some Christian Protestant groups. The report concluded these groups “are disadvantaged under the law in that their members do not qualify for certain governmental positions.”
Under the current law, members of such faiths may not marry, divorce or inherit property in Lebanon.
The report stressed the need for greater studies on religious freedom among displaced peoples, many thousands of whom have flocked to Lebanon in recent years after “fleeing religious mistreatment and discrimination in neighboring states.”The report was also critical of Lebanon’s

New Opinion: Medal of Honor
October 28, 2009
Now Lebanon/
In a meeting with Loyalty to the Resistance bloc leader MP Mohammad Raad on Monday, Iran’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Shibani, said that not only was the greatest accomplishment of his tenure in the country his service to the Resistance, but that its achievements in recent years were a “medal around the neck of the Arab nations.”
The comment to the Lebanese media was more than a sound bite; it spoke volumes about the state of play in the region and was a worrying reminder that Lebanon could have a government tomorrow and 3 million tourists the next day, but as long as Hezbollah casts the shadow of conflict over our lives, the country will remain on the brink of chaos and viewed with chronic suspicion by the international community.
The “achievements” of which Shibani spoke are, of course, a work in progress. On Tuesday, Katyusha rockets were yet again fired into Israel. Whether it was Hezbollah that did the actual firing is irrelevant. The culture of aggression in a conflict whose aims are as outdated as the Cold War is still rooted in Lebanon’s tragic soil.
Four decades ago, the PLO urged us to join it in its glorious struggle and look where that led us. Today, Iran, at its most confrontational and most muscular in 30 years, has taken up the battle flag to advance its own agenda. The whiff of Uranium wafts across the Middle East and the international community surveys its limited options, while the normally placid countries of the GCC are so twitchy that they are rumored to be arming to the tune of $100 billion amid fears that Tehran will acquire the technology to make a nuclear device. The latter is in all likelihood a very expensive exercise in window dressing, but the message is clear. The mullahs are making everyone nervous.
Hezbollah, as all but the most blinkered or naïve must surely now acknowledge, is a key asset in this regional stand-off and the medal that Ambassador Shibani spoke of with such pride has been won at the expense of both the Lebanese people who refuse to embrace Hezbollah’s martial code and the path those same people have chosen toward a modern, democratic and sovereign state.
For let us not kid ourselves. Hezbollah is the biggest long term obstacle facing Lebanon. Forget about the absence of a government. Forget whether or not Gebran Bassil gets his old job back at the Telecom ministry, and forget Walid Jumblatt’s fickle reading of the political runes. Quite simply, the world doesn’t really care.
When Lebanon does get a government, do not think for a second that the international community will breathe a huge sigh of relief and go back to rectifying CO2 emissions. It won’t, because, rightly or wrongly, what the world really cares about is Hezbollah, its arsenal and the potential destruction that that arsenal can wreak as part of its contractual obligations to the Islamic Republic. If Lebanon has to be sacrificed to snuff out this threat, then so be it.
And yet we are still so blinkered by parochial concerns that we continue to convince ourselves that Hezbollah is a party that is brave, just and good and has Lebanon’s best interests at heart; that it fills a void in the South created by successive disinterested governments or – and this is a favorite of Michel Aoun – that it is the lesser evil to the still-unproven threat of a Wahabi sandstorm poised to turn the region into a medieval caliphate. “At least we can talk to Hezbollah,” the Aounists argue.
The trouble is history has shown they won’t listen. The fact of the matter is that we have been taken for a ride. We loved them in 2000 and tolerated the cheeky claim that the armed struggle had to continue because of a rocky outcrop called Shebaa Farms. Now, after numerous changes to the conditions required for total disarmament – essentially it isn’t going to happen voluntarily – we have the Iranian ambassador saying that the high point of his mission was serving the Resistance at a time when his country gears up for high stakes poker with the international community. Maybe he should just come clean and say that it was Iran that presented Hezbollah with that medal in the first place.

Eyes on Syria
Ana Maria Luca , October 27, 2009
Now Lebanon/An Iraqi woman outside the justice and municipalities ministries a day after the suicide truck bomb. (AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)
The two vehicles, a van and a minibus each packed with a ton of explosives, were not after soft targets—a market or a mosque. What they sought to blow up required somehow circumventing numerous checkpoints, a daytime ban on trucks and the heavy security that surrounds government ministries in Iraq. A difficult task even for people determined to die, but one the attackers managed to accomplish on Sunday morning, when they perpetrated the worst bomb attack in Iraq since 2007. By the time the smoke cleared three major government buildings were destroyed—housing the ministry of justice, the ministry of municipalities and public works and the Baghdad provincial council—155 people were dead and 700 were hospitalized around Baghdad.
The attacks come at a tense moment for Iraq, as the country’s political factions wrestle over an electoral law for the coming parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for January.
In a statement posted on a militant website, the Al Qaeda-affiliated group the Islamic State of Iraq claimed responsibility for the Sunday attacks and for two other bombings that took place in August and killed 100 people in the ministries of foreign affairs and finance.
The August attacks put Iraq and Syria at loggerheads and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki accused Damascus of “facilitating” the bombings. While the Syrian government denied playing any role in the bombings, the two countries recalled their ambassadors.
Unlike many previous suicide bombings in Iraq, which targeted civilians and seemed designed to enflame sectarian tensions, the two most recent rounds of attacks appear to be aimed directly at the state.
“They are not attacking Shia mosques. I don't think it is sectarian, they are a group of Baathists, to put it literally who will not be happy unless Saddam Hussein rises from the dead and takes over again," Lawrence Korb, political analyst at the Center for American Progress, said to Reuters.
Maliki's government has called for an international tribunal to investigate the allegations that Syria is harboring militants from both Al Qaeda in Iraq and former President Saddam Hussein's Baath Party. The request for an investigation into foreign interference in Iraq would also include Iran and other neighbors, but the Iraqi government says it is most interested in those directly responsible for the truck bombs, which are allegedly Baath Party members who took shelter in Syria. Damascus, which is still on the US State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, is believed by US officials to have decreased the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq over the past two years, but has been unwilling to completely crack down on anti-Iraqi government extremists, which provide the Syrian regime with leverage over its troubled neighbor. "We are asking to extradite two Iraqis whom we believe are responsible for the attacks of August 19. They lived, worked, and operated in Syria, and this is a fact,” said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who heads the commission investigating the attacks, at a press conference He also stated that the Syrian government doesn’t want to cooperate, although the Iraqi government has evidence of Baathist activity in Syria.
The minister did not disclose the evidence, but Syria has a track record of refusing to hand over suspects wanted for attacks in Iraq. Allegedly, Al Qaeda operatives have formed an alliance with Baath Party extremists loyal to Saddam Hussein. Although the two have differing ideologies, Al Qaeda in Iraq is believed to have supplied the suicide bombers, while the Baathists provided the logistics. But with opinion usually divided in Iraq, there of course dissenting voices, among them Sunni politicians, who say that Iraq’s largely Shia government finds it politically expedient to blame Baathists in Syria, when in fact Al Qaeda carried out the attacks on their own.
Zebari said that if the appointment of the special UN envoy did not move forward, Iraq was prepared to take the issue further by forcing a special meeting of the UN Security Council in which all the member states would have to make public statements about Iraq's claims. Iraq is one of Syria's biggest export markets and Iraqi officials have not ruled out closing their borders to Syrian products. Such a move could also have repercussions for the one million Iraqi refugees still living in Syria. In the meantime, who is going to watch the border?
It is hard to imagine Iraq’s beleaguered security forces being able to control the long, porous border on their own.
“The security forces are performing their duty properly, but the borders are open, no appropriate measures are being taken there and also the political conflict is playing a role in this process," said Mohamed Karim, an Iraqi journalist. With the deadline for the American troop withdrawal approaching -- the Pentagon has said it is committed to a drawdown plan that would reduce the 117,000 American troops currently in Iraq to 112,000 by the end of the year, with the pace to speed up after the 2010 Iraqi elections -- the bombings cast the preparedness of the Iraqi security forces to control the country in an uncertain light. Moreover, as the second major attack on the Iraqi government in two months, the bombing constitute a major embarrassment for Maliki, who has built his reputation on his success in restoring law and order to Baghdad. A relative order that threatens to collapse.