LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 27/2011


Bible Quotation for today
/Forgiveness and reconciliation
Matthew 05/23 -24: "So if you are about to offer your gift to God at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with your brother, and then come back and offer your gift to God."

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for December 27/11
Residents Flee, Shops Burn after Nigerian Christmas Violence
U.N. Condemns Attacks on Churches in Nigeria
Iran Defense Minister: Israeli strike would be a suicide mission
Monitors arrive in Syria; Carnage as tanks fire in Homs
Head of monitors in Syria says access good so far
Arab League observers arrive in Syria amid claims of genocide
Syrian Military Aircraft Fly over Bekaa Border
More than 40 Dead in Syria as Besieged Homs Heavily Shelled
France Wants Arab Observers to Head to Homs Straight Away
Ghalioun: Relations with Iran, Hizbullah after Fall of Regime Will Not be Strategic
Syrian National Council (SNC) head Burhan Ghalioun Says Arab Monitors in Homs but 'Cannot Work'
Canada Condemns Attacks in Nigeria
Lebanese Govt. Seeking to Withdraw Ghosn’s Statements on al-Qaida from Media Speculation

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn: My Statements Were Based on Information, Not Speculation
Ghosn defends Al-Qaida comments, controversy lingers
Jumblat Urges Higher Coordination between Lebanese Security Agencies
Jumblatt condemns Syria attacks, says timing suspicious
President Gemayel Urges Govt. to Adopt al-Rahi's Stance on Arms
Hariri: Arab-Turk Force Must Be Formed if U.N. Fails to OK Syria No-Fly Zone
Cold War Heats up between U.S. and Hizbullah
Hariri among region’s most popular on Twitter: report
Egypt charge 2 Israelis with smuggling weapons
Foreign Ministry: Israel's recognition of Armenian genocide could threaten Turkey ties
Report: Egypt indicts two Israelis for weapons smuggling

Christmas Spirit and Mentality
Elias Bejjani/Now after we have joyfully celebrated the Christmas with prayers, gifts, parties, pleasures and decorations, it is time for us all to go back to our selves and dwell deeply on the actual Christmas spirit and mentality. Faith wise, we are ought to grasp, soul and mind the real meanings of Christmas and equip ourselves with them all through the coming year without any vice, selfishness, hatred, grudges, vindictiveness or evilness . Christmas' spirit is love, sacrifice, modesty, meekness, forgiveness, fear of God, honesty, gratitude, witness for the truth, full commitment by the 10 commandments and with "Our Father" prayer. We were created on God's Image who has mad our bodies His Holy temple and sent His begotten Son to be crucified for our salvation. May God help us to live with the Christmas Spirit and keep showering on us His gifts and blessings

Residents Flee, Shops Burn after Nigerian Christmas Violence
by Naharnet /Christian shops were burnt and hundreds of residents sought to flee one violence-torn city in Nigeria's northeast, residents said Monday, after deadly Christmas attacks shook the country.
In the northeastern city of Potiskum, residents and a police source said about 30 Christian shops burned on Sunday night, while a supermarket and the home of a local Christian leader were also set ablaze.
"Thirty shops in all were burnt," said one resident. "A supermarket was also burnt. A one-story building belonging to a Christian was also set on fire. We succeeded in putting out the fire at the house of the Igbo (Christian) chief. There was minimal damage to the house."Nobody was reported hurt in the fire, which a police source confirmed on condition of anonymity.
"It's unfortunate that we could not make any arrests because the arsonists fled as soon as they set the buildings on fire," the source said. In the nearby city of Damaturu, hit by deadly clashes between Islamists and authorities in recent days as well as a suicide bomb attack on Christmas, hundreds of residents gathered at bus and taxi stations to flee.The city was momentarily calm on Monday after more sporadic gunfire broke out on Sunday afternoon. "I have nowhere to stay," said a 42-year-old trader with his wife and three young children as he waited along the roadside for a taxi or bus.
"The situation in the city is frightening. You never can tell where will be the next target. My house was burnt in the attacks." Another man who waited at a bus station said, "I can't stay here any longer."
"It's peaceful today, but it's no guarantee that in the next hours it will remain the same," the 31-year-old said. "People have been killed and it could be me next."
Nigeria was hit by a wave of bomb attacks blamed on Islamist group Boko Haram on Christmas day that killed at least 40 people, including a blast that ripped through a crowd of worshippers leaving a church outside the capital.Source/Agence France Presse.

More than 40 Dead in Syria as Besieged Homs Heavily Shelled
by Naharnet /..Heavy gunfire killed more than 30 people in Syria's besieged city of Homs on Monday as newly arriving Arab League observers were urged to head immediately to one of the country's most serious hot spots. Media reports said an initial group of 50 observers arrived in Syria Monday evening to oversee a deal aimed at ending a bloody crackdown on anti-regime dissent, while other reports said the monitors' arrival was yet to be confirmed. Meanwhile, a man identifying himself as Mustashar Mahjoub and claiming to be a member of an advance team of Arab observers appeared on Al-Arabiya TV and described the Syrian regime’s bloody crackdown on dissent as "genocide." The regime is “taking revenge on its people,” the man said, adding that the Homs neighborhood of Baba Amro was being "shelled by heavy artillery." Earlier on Monday, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, reported that security forces shot and wounded a member of the Arab team of observers, without mentioning his name or the site of the shooting.
However, the Arab League later denied the report, saying that “after contacting the head of the team of observers in Damascus, General Mohammed al-Dabi, it appeared that the report was untrue and that all the members of the team of observers were safe.”On the ground, more than 40 people were shot dead at the hands of security forces across Syria, most of them in Homs which was "heavily bombarded" throughout the day, according to the LCC.In a statement received by Agence France Presse, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "rocket fire and heavy machineguns in the Baba Amro quarter killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens."  "The situation is frightening and the shelling is the most intense of the past three days," it said.
Six civilians died in other parts of the central Syrian city, while another three, including a 14-year-old boy, were shot dead when security forces opened fire on a demonstration in Khattab in neighboring Hama province. On Sunday, the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said Homs was under siege and facing an "invasion" from some 4,000 troops deployed near the city that has become a focal point of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. "The observers must head immediately to the martyrs' district of Baba Amro to stop the assassinations and meet with the Syrian people so that they witness the crimes being perpetrated by the Syrian regime," the Observatory said on Monday. That demand was echoed by France.
"The Damascus authorities must imperatively, in accordance with the Arab League plan, allow observers access this afternoon to the city of Homs, where the violence is particularly bloody," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi said the observer "mission has freedom of movement in line with the protocol" Syria signed with the Arab League last week.
Under that deal, the observers are to be banned only from sensitive military installations.
Ironically, the Observatory said the authorities had changed road signs in another hot spot, Idlib province, to confuse the observers, and urged them to make contact with human rights activists on the ground.
An advance team of Arab monitors arrived on Thursday to pave the way for the observer mission to oversee the deal aimed at ending the crackdown, which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 5,000 people since March.
Opposition groups have said the observers must stop their work if they are blocked by the authorities from traveling to places like Homs. "We hold the Arab League and the international community accountable for the massacres and bloodshed committed by the regime in Syria," the SNC said. General al-Dabi, a veteran Sudanese military intelligence officer who is heading the observer mission, arrived in Damascus on Sunday evening, a source told AFP. In a meeting with AFP in Khartoum last week, the 63-year-old Dabi distributed a curriculum vitae that outlined a hardcore military background, including three years as chief of military operations against the insurgency in what is now South Sudan. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said he expects the observers to vindicate his government's contention that the violence is the work of "armed terrorists." Western governments and rights watchdogs blame Assad's regime for the bloodshed.
Opposition leaders charge that Syria agreed to the mission after weeks of prevarication in a "ploy" to head off a threat by the 22-member League to go to the U.N. Security Council over the crackdown.
Muallem met the advance team of Arab League officials on Saturday, in talks his spokesman called "positive." The observers will eventually number between 150 and 200, Arab League officials say.
The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees. But since signing the agreement, the Assad regime has been accused of intensifying its crackdown. The SNC and rights activists have charged that the government was behind twin suicide bombings in Damascus on Friday that killed 44 people. Assad's regime blamed the attacks on "terrorist organizations," including al-Qaida, although it has not said how it reached the conclusion.
The SNC said "the Syrian regime, alone, bears all the direct responsibility for the two terrorist explosions." It said the government was trying to create the impression "that it faces danger coming from abroad and not a popular revolution demanding freedom and dignity." Violence continued through the weekend, with security forces pounding Baba Amro with mortar and heavy machinegun fire on Sunday, killing an undetermined number of people and wounding 124, the Observatory said.The plight of Syrians was a focus of Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas Day prayers."May the Lord come to the aid of our world torn by so many conflicts ... May he bring an end to the violence in Syria, where so much blood has already been shed," the pontiff told pilgrims in Vatican City.Source/Agence France PresseNaharnet.

Syrian National Council (SNC) head Burhan Ghalioun Says Arab Monitors in Homs but 'Cannot Work'

by Naharnet/Arab League observers have arrived in the flashpoint Syrian city of Homs but are unable to do their job, the head of the country's main opposition group said on Monday.
Syrian National Council (SNC) head Burhan Ghalioun told reporters at a Paris news conference that some of the observers were in the besieged city "but they are saying they cannot go where the authorities do not want them to go." He also sought U.N. and Arab League intervention "to put an end to this tragedy," and urged the United Nations Security Council to "adopt the Arab League's plan and ensure that it is applied." Heavy gunfire killed 23 people in the besieged city on Monday. On Sunday, the opposition SNC said Homs was under siege and facing an "invasion" from some 4,000 troops deployed near the city that has become a focal point of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad. The observers are due to oversee a deal aimed at ending the crackdown, which the U.N. estimates has killed more than 5,000 people since March. The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees. Since signing the agreement, Assad's regime has been accused of intensifying its crackdown.SourceظAgence France Presse.

Hariri: Arab-Turk Force Must Be Formed if U.N. Fails to OK Syria No-Fly Zone
by Naharnet /Former premier Saad Hariri on Monday said the Arab League should seek a “no-fly zone” over revolt-hit Syria, stressing that “everything must be done” to stop what he called a “massacre.”
“The Arab League should go to the U.N. and (seek) a no-fly zone (over Syria) and if Russia vetoes (the resolution) then a joint force should be formed with Turkey,” Hariri said on the social networking website Twitter. Syrian President “Bashar (al-Assad) thinks he can outsmart the Arab League and the world, he will fall so hard,” Hariri tweeted in English. Asked by a Twitter user to comment on Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn’s recent remarks that Qaida members were “hiding” in the Bekaa town of Arsal, which borders Syria, Hariri said: “There is only one al-Qaida: it’s Bashar's shabiha (militiamen) and killers.” Turning to Lebanon, the ex-PM said “dialogue about the defense strategy is a joke because you are talking to someone who doesn't listen.”
Asked about the wage hike plan recently approved by the government, Hariri said he thinks “it will be harmful for the economy.”

Jumblat Urges Higher Coordination between Lebanese Security Agencies
by Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned Monday what he called “the twin terrorist bombings” in Damascus, stressing the need for a “political solution” in revolt-hit Syria.
“Although the timing of the two bombings in Damascus raises several question marks given that it coincided with the arrival of the Arab team of observers, that does not mean that the PSP will not strongly deplore and condemn these terrorist bombings,” Jumblat said in his weekly column in his party’s mouthpiece Al-Anbaa. The Druze leader reiterated that he was “among the first political forces that condemned and are still condemning the use of force against peaceful demonstrations demanding legitimate political and human rights.” Jumblat stressed that “violence breeds violence” and called for breaking that cycle by “resorting to a political solution.” The Damascus attacks “must not become an alibi for preventing the team of Arab observers from visiting all Syrian areas without any exceptions,” Jumblat added.“If only some (Lebanese) officials would enjoy some wisdom, rationality and carefulness in tackling sensitive security issues, such as the recent remarks about al-Qaida,” Jumblat said, in reference to recent reports claiming that Qaida members have been infiltrating Syria through the Lebanese border town of Arsal.
Remarks about the presence of al-Qaida have “become a topic that can be employed by anyone at any given moment,” Jumblat warned.
“These issues cannot be tackled through political and media statements, but rather through upping the level of security coordination between Lebanese security agencies, especially between the Lebanese army intelligence and the (Internal Security Forces) Intelligence Bureau, similar to what happened during the period when Israeli spy networks were busted,” Jumblat urged. “This requires the building of new approaches for the work of the various agencies, in a manner that guarantees Lebanon’s stability and civil peace,” he suggested.

Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn: My Statements Were Based on Information, Not Speculation

by Naharnet/Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn condemned on Monday the sides that criticized his recent statements that al-Qaida members had infiltrated the Bekaa town of Arsal, accusing them of attempting to question the loyalties of the Arsal residents. He said in a statement: “My declarations last week were not a product of speculation, but they were based on information we received, which we thought was prudent to reveal to the public.” Last week, the minister announced that al-Qaida members had infiltrated Arsal, shortly before Syria accused the group of being behind a bomb attack that left over 40 people dead in Damascus on Friday. The opposition slammed Ghosn’s remarks, warning of attempts to spread the unrest in Syria to Lebanon. Ghosn defended his statements, stressing that he was trying to highlight the dangers against Lebanon’s security and stability. “The criticism that was directed against me has been approached from a sectarian perspective, making it appear as if I was targeting a specific sect or the dignity of the town,” continued the statement. “We know that the Lebanese, regardless of their sectarian affiliations, reject and combat terrorism,” he stressed.
“It’s impossible for terrorist to find any shelter in Lebanon,” noted the minister. “Those questioning my statements are doing so in order to fulfill political purposes,” Ghosn added.
The minister stated that the army and security forces are performing their duties in tackling the security situation, “which should motivate the people to support the army and its role in defending Lebanon.”

Canada Condemns Attacks in Nigeria
(No. 392 - December 25, 2011 - 12:15 p.m. ET) Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird issued the following statement after a series of deadly attacks at churches in Nigeria:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their loved ones.
“These people died practising their religion—a basic human right.
“Canada strongly denounces such cowardly attacks without reservation. It is unconscionable that they occurred on Christmas against individuals attending religious services.
“We stand with the people and the government of Nigeria at this difficult time and join those calling for all responsible to be brought to justice.”