LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِApril 15/2010

Bible Of the Day
Proverbs 03/27-28: "Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. 3:28 Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it by you".

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 14/10
March 14: National Dialogue Should Discuss March 14 Vision on Lebanon's Protection/Naharnet
Hussein Mousawi Rules Out Reaching Agreement on Defense Strategy
/Naharnet
Israel Says Alleged Scud Missiles Transfer Threatens Regional Stability
/Naharnet
Nawaf Mousawi Attacks Sfeir for Defending Usage of Arms/Naharnet
Israel Warns Nationals of 'Imminent' Kidnap Risk Citing 'Hizbullah, Iran Threats'/Naharnet
Geagea: Hizbullah Linked to Regional Network that Stretches from Tehran/Naharnet
Hussein Mousawi Rules Out Reaching Agreement on Defense Strategy/Naharnet
Paris for Full Implementation of 1701, Denies it Knows Siddiq's Whereabouts/Naharnet
Officials: US needs envoy in Syria/Ynetnews
France stresses support for stable Lebanon/Daily Star
Syria Is Accused of Transferring Scud Missiles to Hezbollah/Wall Street Journal
Lebanon Remembers 35th Anniversary of Civil War Outbreak/Voice of America
Barak warns of Lebanon escalation/Jerusalem Post
Peres: Syria playing double game/Ynetnews
Aoun slams Lebanon's MEA, calls it a corruption icon/Ya Libnan
Hamas says group wants to maintain cease-fire/The Associated Press
Israeli court allows Arab author to go to Lebanon/The Associated Press
Moody's Lifts Lebanon's Ratings A Notch On Improved Liquidity/Wall Street Journal
Lebanon's political rivals meet in football 'friendly'/BBC News
Aoun anticipates electoral battle in Beirut polls/Daily Star
Israel crosses Blue-Line technical fence again/Daily Star 
Damascus scraps scheduled meeting with Lebanese administrative delegation/Daily Star 
Lebanese leaders embody unity, kick off April 13 commemorations on soccer pitch/Daily Star
Lebanon fiscal deficit drops 69.1 percent in first two months/Daily Star
Army colonel appears before tribunal over spy charges/Daily Star
Students of various confessions commemorate Civil War/Daily Star 
Rifi Files Lawsuit against PFLP-GC's Anwar Raja/Naharnet
Syria Delays Lebanese Delegation Visit, Citing 'Low-Level Representation'/Naharnet
Israel Releases Lebanese Jailed on Charges of Drug Smuggling/Naharnet
Jumblat Rules out Hizbullah Involvement in Hariri Murder, Says Damascus Visit in Coordination with Riyadh/Naharnet
U.S. Promotes Lebanese Women's Participation in Political Life
/Naharnet
5 Arrested on Spy Charges
/Naharnet
Aoun Threatens to Withdraw from Dialogue: I'm 3/4 Oppositionist though in Power
/Naharnet
UNIFIL Says Israeli Force Made Repairs on Technical Fence without Crossing Blue Line
/Naharnet
Lebanon Complains to U.N. over Israeli Violations, 1599 to be Discussed April 30
/Naharnet

Peres: Syria playing double game
Published: 04.13.10, 20:59 / Israel News
President Shimon Peres said during his visit to France, "Syria is playing a double game. On the one hand, it is talking peace, and on the other hand, it is transferring precision Scud missiles to Hezbollah in order to threaten Israel."French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said at the beginning of the visit, "I returned from Damascus and Amman, and I can say that the gaps between the two sides are not too big to renew the peace process and return to the discussion table." (Ynet)

Israel Says Alleged Scud Missiles Transfer Threatens Regional Stability

Naharnet/Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has said the alleged transfer of advanced Syrian weapons to Lebanon destabilizes the region and is a blatant violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. Barak's stance on Tuesday came in response to media reports that Syria recently transferred Scud missiles to Hizbullah. "We have no offensive intentions with regard to Lebanon," he said during a tour of the Israeli army's Tel Hashomer Base. "We recommend that everyone work to maintain the calm." The alleged transfer of Scud missiles "undermines the balance of power and threatens regional stability and calm," Barak said. It "is a clear violation of Security Council resolutions," he said, adding the army was "closely following what was happening in Lebanon." Earlier in the day, Barak visited the Ramat David Air Force Base with Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz and said the army was prepared for all of the challenges it currently faced. However, he said Israel needed to make efforts to achieve peace with its neighbors. "The Air Force is our pillar of strength in the face of threats near and far," he said. "The IDF is trained, prepared, and has both eyes open in every direction. With strength and deterrence such as this, Israel must attempt to reach peace with its neighbors."
Also Tuesday, Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of providing Scud missiles to Hizbullah while publicly talking peace. "Syria claims it wants peace while at the same time it delivers Scuds to Hizbullah whose only goal is to threaten the state of Israel," Peres told Israel radio. Israel's Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai declined to go into details of the alleged Scud shipments but said that "Hizbullah's firing capacity has significantly improved." Meanwhile, Israel warned its nationals that there was an imminent risk of kidnap attempts against holidaymakers in the neighboring Sinai peninsula in Egypt. Israel's anti-terrorism unit said it had "concrete information" about an "imminent risk of a terrorist abduction operation."
It cited "threats from Hizbullah and Iran." Beirut, 14 Apr 10, 08:22

Geagea: Hizbullah Linked to Regional Network that Stretches from Tehran
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Hizbullah, through its weapons and political stances, links Lebanon with a "regional network." On the eve of the resumption of all-party talks at Baabda Palace, Geagea warned that national dialogue will not produce a defense strategy "in the time being." In remarks published Wednesday by pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat, Geagea also expressed concern over President Michel Suleiman's "drift toward the other team," in a clear indication to the Hizbullah-led March 8 forces. "Hizbullah, through its weapons and political stances, link Lebanon with a huge regional network that stretches from Tehran and does not end in Damascus, which could expose Lebanon to confrontations it has nothing to do with," Geagea said. Regarding statements made by Hizbullah on the group's weapons, Geagea said "each party has the freedom to express its viewpoint. Our party, however, sees things differently." "It is not right to say that its (Hizbullah) weapons are not subject of debate, because everything in Lebanon is a subject of debate," he stressed, adding that more than half the Lebanese are against Hizbullah arms. Beirut, 14 Apr 10, 10:08

Nawaf Mousawi Attacks Sfeir for Defending Usage of Arms

Naharnet/Hizbullah MP Nawaf Mousawi slammed Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir for defending usage of arms in the Oyoun Orghosh incident and said chances of reaching a deal on a defense strategy are slim. "Insistence by some to raise the issue of weapons is aimed at stirring sectarian hatred," the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP told al-Jaded television channel.
Criticizing Sfeir without naming him, Mousawi asked: "How can some give the okay to a militia to defend territory – a decision that could lead to civil war -- whereas the resistance gets no right to defend the nation?" Addressing "those who utter such words," Mousawi wondered "which country are you talking about?" Beirut, 14 Apr 10, 12:06

Hussein Mousawi Rules Out Reaching Agreement on Defense Strategy
Hizbullah MP Hussein Mousawi said chances are slim to reach an agreement on a defense strategy. In remarks published Tuesday by Kuwaiti daily al-Anbaa, Mousawi ruled out reaching a "positive outcome" from national dialogue. "The likelihood that the dialogue table would reach positive results is very slim due to the lack of logic in the proposals (made) by others," he warned. Beirut, 14 Apr 10, 12:36

Lebanon Remembers 35th Anniversary of Civil War Outbreak
Edward Yeranian | Cairo 13 April 2010
VOA
Lebanon's civil war broke out 35 years ago Tuesday, after a Palestinian school bus was fired upon by Lebanese Christian militiamen. The anniversary comes amid increasing tensions between Lebanon's Hezbollah and the governing March 14 coalition over Hezbollah's arms, allegedly being furnished by neighboring Syria.
Some lit candles in parts of Beirut to honor the estimated 200,000 people killed during Lebanon's bloody 15-year civil war. Fighting erupted 35 years ago, Tuesday, when Christian gunmen ambushed a Palestinian school bus.
Rival militiamen tore up much of Beirut, over years of street-battles and shelling, leaving the city scarred and divided. A final frenzy of fighting in 1989 resulted in an Arab-brokered peace agreement which brought the long ordeal to a close.
Paul Haidostian, who is president of Beirut's Haigazian University says that the anniversary of the war causes him to relive some sad and bitter memories.
"Every time I think about the civil war, I relive some of the saddest stories and I remember as a teenager, even, I used to say to myself: if only the world hears about this, someone will stop this carnage and aggression. But, then, when I grew up, I learned that even if people know about this in the world, people are quite insensitive and feel powerless in relation to stopping wars and tension," he said. Despite the memories which people of his generation still carry with them, Haidostian argues optimistically that the younger generation has recovered for the most part and created a totally different world. "Lebanon and the young generation has moved on, really. We've had alternative experiences, said Haidostian. "Being together and forgetting about the past, and so on, but once in a while, we realize that sometimes people have a nostalgia for the past, and part of the past is war. So, something comes up and people remember and once in a while we feel again that Lebanon is also a fragile country."
Beirut's An Nahar newspaper, whose front pages were once filled with gruesome scenes of explosions, rubble, carnage and fighting, paused to remember Tuesday with the headline: "35 Years Ago, Today: Peace Among Us, Or Peace Be To Lebanon."
That peace remains fragile, especially with the often angry complaints by members of the March 14 parliamentary majority that the pro-Syrian Hezbollah is a "state-within-a-state."
Many Lebanese continue to demand that Hezbollah turn over its reportedly large cache of weapons to the government.
Despite the surface tensions, Timor Goksel, veteran former spokesman of the U.N. peacekeeping force UNIFIL, thinks that the situation in Lebanon is totally different from what it was during the civil war and that it is unlikely another civil war would break out, soon.
"People forget that when the civil war started, we had a massive military Palestinian presence which had already unsettled the balance in the country," he said. "We don't have an external military force in the country, anymore, and also, the Israeli involvement is not as it was before. Moreover, there is some sort of-not perfect yet-but there is some sort of civic peace that we did not have in those days."
Goksel also believes that the Lebanese government is much stronger and its security forces more capable of preventing the outbreak of a conflict than they once were. "There is a much more credible army, and the security forces are slowly rebuilding," he says. "It's a totally different ballgame."

Barak warns of Lebanon escalation
By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST.COM STAFF
13/04/2010 17:48
Defense minister responds to Syria-Hizbullah missile-transfer reports. The transfer of advanced Syrian weapons to Lebanon destabilizes the region and is a blatant violation of United Nations resolutions, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Tuesday in response to media reports that Syria recently transferred Scud missiles to Hizbullah. On Monday, the Kuwaiti Al-Rai newspaper reported that Syria had transferred Scuds to Hizbullah and that in response Israel had threatened to bomb Syrian and Lebanese targets. Barak said Tuesday that the IDF was closely following what was happening in Lebanon. “We have no offensive intentions with regards to Lebanon,” he said during a tour of the DF’s Tel Hashomer Base. “We recommend that everyone work to retain the quiet.” Earlier in the day, Barak visited the Ramat David Air Force Base with Deputy Chief of General Staff Maj.-Gen. Benny Gantz and said that the IDF was prepared for all of the current challenges it faced. At the same time though, Barak said, Israel needed to make efforts to achieve peace with its neighbors. Also Tuesday, in a meeting with French Prime Minister Francois Fillon in Paris, President Shimon Peres accused Syria of doublespeak. “On the one hand, Syria is talking about peace, and on the other it is giving Scuds to Hizbullah in order to threaten Israel," he said. "Syria’s smuggling weapons to Hizbullah and strengthening terror organizations contradict its declaration that it is seeking peace. Syria can not play both games. The true face of Syria has been revealed."

France stresses support for stable Lebanon
By The /Daily Star
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
BEIRUT: French National Assembly President Bernard Accoyer stressed Tuesday France’s support to Lebanon’s stability and security as he highlighted President Michel Sleiman’s efforts to restore the international community’s trust in Lebanon and preserving the country’s stability.
Sleiman is to head the National Dialogue table meeting Thursday to resume discussions over a national defense strategy and the issue of armed Palestinian groups outside refugee camps.
“I hope that Lebanon as a member of the UN Security Council and in cooperation with France will enforce stability and strengthen national unity that was established since the Doha Accord,” Accoyer told reporters at Baabda Palace.
For his part, Sleiman praised France’s efforts regarding just and comprehensive peace negotiations based on the Arab peace initiative which guaranteed the Palestinian refugees’ right of return as he praised french contribution to the UNIFIL.
“France was always supportive of Lebanon at domestic and international levels,” Sleiman said, adding that French President Nicolas Sarkozy played a pivotal role in ending the Lebanese political stalemate,” a reference to the Doha Accord.
The May 2008 Doha Accord ended bloody clashes between Hizbullah and pro-government militants in Beirut and the Chouf region following the Cabinet’s decision, headed by former Premier Fouad Siniora, to dismantle Hizbullah’s telecoms network.
Following a meeting with Phalange Party head Amin Gemayel, Accoyer stressed that progress in the Mideast peace process was key to stability in the region.
For his part, Gemayel “warned against security zones outside the Lebanese state authority, saying it endangered stability,” and the former president called on the international community to enforce international resolutions in support of the Lebanese state’s security and political institutions. – The Daily Star

Syria Gave Scuds to Hezbollah, U.S. Says
.By CHARLES LEVINSON and JAY SOLOMON
JERUSALEM—Syria has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah, Israeli and U.S. officials alleged, in a move that threatens to alter the Middle East's military balance and sets back a major diplomatic outreach effort to Damascus by the Obama administration.
Israeli President Shimon Peres on Tuesday publicly charged President Bashar Assad's government with transferring Scud missiles to Hezbollah's forces inside Lebanon. Syria and Hezbollah both denied the charges. But the allegations already are affecting U.S. foreign policy: Republicans pressed on Capitol Hill to block the appointment of a new American ambassador to Damascus, according to congressional officials. The White House said it was pressing ahead.
The Scuds are believed to have a range of more than 435 miles—placing Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Israel's nuclear installations all within range of Hezbollah's military forces. During a monthlong war with Israel in 2006, Hezbollah used rockets with ranges of 20 to 60 miles.
Israeli President Shimon Peres, shown in Paris Tuesday, claimed Syria gave Scud missiles to Hezbollah
.Israeli officials called Scud missiles "game-changing" armaments that mark a new escalation in the Mideast conflict. They alleged that Mr. Assad is increasingly linking Syria's military command with those of Hezbollah and Iran.
Officials briefed on the intelligence said Israeli and American officials believe Syria transferred Scud missiles built with either North Korean or Russian technology.
Rumors of the arms transfer had been swirling around Jerusalem and Washington for more than a week, but both Israeli and U.S. officials initially declined to confirm the reports. "Syria claims it wants peace while at the same time it delivers Scuds to Hezbollah, whose only goal is to threaten the state of Israel," Mr. Peres said in an interview with Israeli radio.
President Barack Obama has made engaging Mr. Assad's government a cornerstone of his Mideast policy, hoping to woo Damascus into a regional peace process and lure it from a strategic alliance with Iran.
The Bush administration had increased sanctions on Damascus and pushed a United Nations-backed investigation into the murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri; Mr. Obama's aides said these measures just drove Syria closer to Iran.
In addition to nominating an ambassador, Mr. Obama moved to ease, though not lift, sanctions targeting Syria's ability to import airplane parts and software. The U.S. has sought to increase military-to-military contacts with Damascus to better secure Syria's border with Iraq.
A senior U.S. official involved in Mideast policy said Washington was uncertain why Mr. Assad would escalate tensions with Israel. But in recent months, Israeli and Syrian officials have publicly charged each other with preparing for war. The U.S. official said Syria's arms transfer could have been meant as a form of deterrence.
The Israelis in recent weeks postponed war games in an effort to calm tensions with Damascus, however. And Israeli officials have publicly told Mr. Assad that the Jewish state doesn't seek a conflict. Many Israeli officials said they felt tensions were lessening ahead of the announcement of the alleged Scuds shipment.
Syrian officials also have voiced frustration with the pace of the U.S. rapprochement. Some have said they believed sanctions could be removed quicker. They also said Washington appeared unable to extract from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a meaningful commitment to negotiations aimed at reverting the Golan Heights region to Syrian sovereignty.
Fears of a new military conflict in the region have escalated in recent weeks among U.S., Israeli and Arab officials. In late February, Mr. Assad hosted a summit in Damascus with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah's secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah. The three pledged to continue their "resistance" against the U.S.-Israeli alliance.
A spokesman for Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, who went as an emissary to Damascus on April 1, said that he couldn't comment on classified matters but that the Massachusetts senator had raised long-running concerns about Syria helping to arm Hezbollah directly with President Assad.
"These weapons transfers must stop in order to promote regional stability and security," said the spokesman, Frederick Jones.
Detractors of the White House's policy of engagement with Damascus seized on the news Tuesday as evidence Mr. Assad has no intention of breaking Syria's strategic ties to Tehran and Hezbollah.
Scuds give the group the ability to strike from further away than rockets like these used in 2006 attacks.
."It's increasingly hard to argue that the engagement track has worked," said Andrew Tabler, a Syria analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a regional think tank with no party affiliation that some view as pro-Israel.
White House supporters replied that the U.S. needs close engagement with Syria all the more because of provocations like the Scud surprise, in order to be better placed to sway Syria.
"If anything, we need (an ambassador) in Damascus full time just to ensure that reality gets its day in court now and then," a senior administration official said.
Israeli officials have been concerned that Syria could transfer antiaircraft missile systems and armor-piercing munitions to its Lebanese ally.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's government has transferred long-range Scud missiles to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
.Hezbollah officials Tuesday in Lebanon dismissed the allegations as an Israeli attempt to divert attention from continued Jewish construction of homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Syrian embassy's spokesman in Washington charged Israel with trying to cover up its own regional military buildup.
"It is ridiculous that Israel dictates the agenda of arms control in the region while stifling any discussion of its nuclear arsenal, along with the influx of top-caliber U.S. weaponry," said Ahmed Salkini.
In February, President Obama nominated a career diplomat, Robert Ford, to be the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since 2005. The Bush administration pulled its chief envoy after the assassination of Lebanon's Mr. Hariri, which was widely blamed on Syrian agents. Damascus has denied the allegations.
Mr. Ford's appointment was part of a phased U.S. re-engagement with Syria to be tied to Damascus's cooperation in Iraq, the Palestinian territories and Lebanon, say U.S. officials. The State Department also recently dispatched its No. 3 diplomat, William Burns, to Damascus to talk with Mr. Assad.
Congressional officials said Republicans were now seeking to place a hold on Mr. Ford's confirmation, which was passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on a voice vote Tuesday with three Republicans dissenting. They expect the fight to continue on the Senate floor.
U.S. officials stressed Tuesday that the White House wasn't second-guessing its strategy and was pushing ahead with Mr. Ford's nomination. "Sending an ambassador to Syria who can press the Syrian government in a firm and coordinated fashion...is part of our strategy to achieve comprehensive peace in the region," a White House statement said.
—Sarah Birke in Damascus and Nada Raad in Beirut contributed to this article.
Write to Charles Levinson at charles.levinson@wsj.com and Jay Solomon at jay.solomon@wsj.com

76 Senators Sign Letter of Support for Israel

by Hana Levi Julian/Arutz Sheva
More than 75 percent of the U.S. Senate has followed the House of Representatives in sending a bipartisan message of support for Israel to the State Department.
The letter, signed by 76 senators, (39 Democrats and 37 Republicans) was sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, indirectly slamming the Obama administration's treatment of Israel. A similar letter was sent by 333 U.S. Representatives.
The letter urged Clinton to “do everything possible to ensure that the recent tensions between the U.S. and Israeli administrations over the untimely announcement of future housing construction... do not derail Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations or harm U.S-Israeli relations.”
The reference was to an Israeli government announcement, inadvertently made during a visit to the region last month by Vice President Joe Biden, that a three-year-old housing project in Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood was approved for step four of a seven-step process. The announcement was seen as an embarrassment to the Obama administration and infuriated both Biden and the White House. It sparked an immediate condemnation by the vice president, which he then repeated later in the week during a speech at Tel Aviv University, and subsequent censures by other Obama administration officials as well.
The letter to Clinton noted that “in a reversal of 16 years of policy, Palestinian leaders are refusing to enter into direct negotiations with Israel. Instead they have put forward a growing list of unprecedented preconditions. By contrast, Israel's prime minister has stated categorically that he is eager to begin unconditional peace negotiations with the Palestinians. Direct negotiations are in the interest of all parties involved – including the United States.”
Backed by AIPAC, the letter also noted that “our government and the Government of Israel will not always agree on particular issues in the peace process. But such differences are best resolved amicably and in a manner that befits longstanding strategic allies.”
Lead signatories were U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and Johnny Isakson, who circulated the letter among their colleagues. Among the others were New York Democrats Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, as well as senior Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin. Also signing the document was Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, as well as Senators John McCain and Scott Brown.

Canadian dollar passes parity at 22-month high vs greenback
Wed Apr 14,/10
By Claire Sibonney
TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar hit a 22-month high against the greenback on Wednesday, retesting parity for the first time this week as upbeat U.S. earnings boosted investors' appetite for riskier assets.
Powered by rallying equity and commodity markets, the Canadian dollar climbed as high as C$0.9961, or $1.004 U.S. dollars, its highest level since June 2008.
"The party goes on but it will be interesting to see if we can actually sustain a full trading day below parity," said C.J. Gavsie, managing director of foreign exchange sales at BMO Capital Markets, adding that volumes were still quite light.
"We are looking at some investor appetite for global diversification today away from the U.S. dollar...we look to oil, we look to gold."
Supporting the commodity-linked Canadian currency, oil rose to near $85 a barrel, ending a five-day losing streak, as rising stock markets and a weaker dollar outweighed an industry report showing gains in U.S. inventories.
Gold prices also edged higher as the dip for the dollar added to positive sentiment in the market and technical indicators pointed to the prospect of further price gains.
In company news, expectation-beating results from No.2 U.S. bank JPMorgan and technology bellwether Intel , pushed global equities higher.
At 7:56 a.m., the Canadian dollar was at C$0.9965 to the U.S. dollar, or $1.004. On Tuesday, the Canadian dollar finished at C$1.0019 to the U.S. dollar, or 99.81 U.S. cents.
Market participants said a break through barriers at C$0.9975 had triggered the rise for the Canadian currency.
Others in the market said that expectations for a stronger-than-expected reading of Chinese first-quarter GDP also helped commodity currencies.
"The next short-term levels are C$0.9930 and C$0.9900," said a trader at a European bank in London.
(Additional reporting by Naomi Tajitsu and Neal Armstrong; editing by Patrick Graham)