LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِOctober 16/2011

Bible Quotation for today/Jesus Heals Two Men with Demons
�Matthew 08/28-34: "When Jesus came to the territory of Gadara on the other side of the lake, he was met by two men who came out of the burial caves there. These men had demons in them and were so fierce that no one dared travel on that road. At once they screamed, What do you want with us, you Son of God? Have you come to punish us before the right time? Not far away there was a large herd of pigs feeding. So the demons begged Jesus, If you are going to drive us out, send us into that herd of pigs. Go, Jesus told them; so they left and went off into the pigs. The whole herd rushed down the side of the cliff into the lake and was drowned. The men who had been taking care of the pigs ran away and went into the town, where they told the whole story and what had happened to the men with the demons. So everyone from the town went out to meet Jesus; and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their territory.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Bashar�s blood brothers/By: Michael Young/October 14/11
Hillary Clinton Promises to Save Egypt's Christians/By: Raymond Ibrahim/October 15/11
Italy complicit in masking Sadr�s disappearance/By: Aline Sara/October 15/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 15/11
Iran 'most significant' threat to world: Canada PM
Preparations for absentia trials under way: STL source
Mikati not maneuvering on STL issue, MTV reports
Mikati denies report of meeting Bellemare in US
Aoun, Franjieh, Arslan agree to reject STL funding, daily reports
Syrian envoy demands proof in kidnap claims
National Struggle Front bloc MP Akram Chehayeb slams Syrian envoy
Jumblat: I am Staying in Majority, Syrian Bloodshed Should Stop
Lebanese, Syrian Armies Reach Agreement to Thwart Smuggling, Infiltrations
Verdict in Moussa Sadr�s Disappearance Case Set for Nov. 18
Army, UNIFIL on Alert as Israel Approached Fatima Gate
Al-Qaeda, Iran-backed groups key threats to Iraq: U.S. official
Jezzine offers Lebanese wines, culinary tradition
Arab Spring finds way into classroom discussions
Syria 'on brink of civil war' as double-edged conflict deepens
UN official calls for action to prevent civil war in Syria
Syria forces kill 12, toll tops 3000
Syria Draft Constitution to Be Ready in 4 Months
UN Security Council: Don't Let the Syrian Failure Become an Arab Failure
Target Iran, Syria alone, UN critic says
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Oct. 15, 2011
Gemayel advocates political decentralization
Strong ties with Hezbollah, will vote for funding STL, Jumblatt says
Franjieh Praises Assad for Thwarting Alleged Foreign Plot
Aoun Meets Syrian Youth Delegation, Says Violence Leads to Failure
Lebanese Army Seizes Weapons from Van in Northern Lebanon
Suleiman, Aoun Bicker on President of Higher Judicial Council
Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem to March 14: Stop �manipulating� Lebanon�s fate

Iran 'most significant' threat to world: Canada PM
AFP � ...Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivers a speech in Brasilia in August 2011. �....Iran is the "most significant" threat to world peace and security, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday after the US accused Tehran of plotting to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington. "We have no quarrel with the Iranian people, but the regime in Tehran represents probably the most significant threat in the world to global peace and security," Harper said. This week, Canada's Foreign Minister John Baird said Ottawa and its partners were considering "consequences" for Iran over the alleged plot. "Canada condemns this planned attack on the Saudi ambassador on US soil," Baird said. "Indications of the Iranian regime's involvement are extremely serious. Canada will work with our international partners in considering the consequences for Iran's actions." Iran has strongly denied any involvement in what the US says was a plot by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds force to kill the Saudi envoy by hiring assassins from a Mexican drug cartel for $1.5 million.

Preparations for absentia trials under way: STL source
October 15, 2011 /The Daily Star
The STL says that a failure by Lebanon to pay its share of the court funds would not affect the tribunal�s work.
BEIRUT: Preparations for absentia trials of the four men indicted in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri are under way, and court proceedings could commence in the first half of 2012, a source at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has told The Daily Star. �Preparations to try the four suspects in the assassination of Hariri in absentia are in full swing and this in cooperation with Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen and the head of the defense office at the tribunal, Francois Roux,� the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said late Friday.
In the absence of new developments, absentia trials would likely begin at the end of February or beginning of March, the source added. In late June the Netherlands-based court issued indictments and arrest warrants against Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi and Assad Hassan Sabra � all members of Hezbollah � in the case.
Hezbollah denies involvement in the assassination of Hariri in 2005 and accuses the court of being part of a U.S.-Israeli plot aimed at the targeting the resistance group.
Hariri, a five-time prime minister, was killed after a massive car bomb hit his motorcade while making its way through the Ain al-Mreisseh near downtown Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. Twenty-two others, mainly Hariri�s bodyguards, were also killed in the blast, which prompted widespread protests against Syria�s military presence in Lebanon.
After the indictments were made public, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah said he expected the four, who he described as having fought valiantly against Israeli occupation in south Lebanon, would be tried in absentia, adding that they would never be apprehended, not even in �300 years.�
Roux has begun the process of appointing defense lawyers for the accused in the event they had not appointment ones for themselves, the STL source said late Friday. The court, established in 2007 under a United Nations Security Council resolution, has been a divisive issue between Lebanon�s rival political parties. Despite assurances by Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Sleiman that Lebanon will provide the STL funding, indications coming from the government suggest that Lebanon will not meet a 30-day deadline to meet its obligations to pay. The 30-day deadline was announced by STL Registrar Herman Von Hebel Wednesday.
The March 8 coalition, which is led by Hezbollah and has a majority in Cabinet, has voiced its reservations about the court and says it is against funding it. The STL source said Friday that a failure by Lebanon to pay its share of the court funds would not affect the tribunal�s work. �A refusal by the Lebanese government to pay its dues of the tribunal�s budget will not affect the court�s work. In the event that this should happen, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will ask donor countries to secure the remaining funds,� the source said. When asked whether the court�s work would be hampered should Lebanon refuse to renew the agreement that established the STL, he said: �No, this will have no effect since the view of the Lebanese government on this matter is advisory and not binding at all.� �The Security Council, which established the court in order to put an end to political killings in Lebanon, will not leave this court at the mercy of any side. Therefore, we would like to reassure the Lebanese and the families of victims that the court is ongoing and justice will inevitably come,� the source added.

Geagea Warns of Change in Lebanese Status Quo over Soaring U.S.-Iranian Tensions
Naharnet /Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea warned that the Lebanese status quo was in tatters after the U.S. accused Iran of trying to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. In an interview with the Saudi al-Riyadh daily, Geagea said: �After the confrontation between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia on one side and Iran on the other went out of hands, I am no longer sure that we could keep this status quo.� �We should wait a bit to see in the coming days and weeks the repercussions of this incident and its effect on Lebanon,� he said.
Iran has strongly denied any involvement in what the U.S. says was a plot by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds force to kill the Saudi ambassador by hiring assassins from a Mexican drug cartel for $1.5 million. News of the alleged plot has sent tensions soaring between Tehran and Washington, foes for more than 30 years ever since Islamic students took U.S. diplomats hostage in their embassy in Tehran after Iran's 1979 revolution. �We can�t deny that the situation in the region moved within days from a very cold confrontation into boiling hostility,� Geagea told his interviewer. He said Riyadh is a major player in the Middle East and the plotters thought that it would stop playing that role if it was targeted. �I think that targeting the ambassador of Saudi Arabia is aimed at sending a message that it shouldn�t interfere in anything going on in the region,� the LF leader added. Asked about what the situation in Lebanon would be if the Syrian regime collapses, Geagea said: �Any new regime that would replace the Assad regime in Syria won�t take any friendly stance from� the Syrian supporters in Lebanon. He expected Palestinian armed bases outside the refugee camps in Lebanon to disintegrate if the opposition takes power in Syria, adding that Damascus would stop sending arms to Hizbullah and would eradicate camps aimed at training the party�s fighters. �These would definitely bring a change to the Lebanese scene,� Geagea said

Syria Draft Constitution to Be Ready in 4 Months
Naharnet/President Bashar Assad on Saturday announced the creation of an ad hoc committee tasked with preparing a new constitution for Syria within four months, the official SANA news agency said. It said Assad issued a decree establishing the national committee to draft a new constitution in a period "not exceeding four months from the date of its creation."
The 29-member committee, headed by former justice minister Mizhar al-Annbary, includes Qadri Jamil, who led a Syrian delegation to Russia on Tuesday.
Mohammed Said Bkheitan, a senior official in the ruling Baath party, said earlier this week the new document would require a two-thirds approval of the Assad-dominated parliament before being submitted to a referendum. A new constitution has been a key demand of a protest movement that erupted in March 15 -- initially calling for greater freedoms and later demanding the ouster of the Assad regime. The decision comes one day after activists said security forces opened fire and killed 12 people during rallies held in support of defecting soldiers in several towns and cities. U.N. human rights Chief Navi Pillay said on Friday that more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in the brutal crackdown on dissent.
Source Agence France Presse

Syrian envoy demands proof in kidnap claims
October 15, 2011/By Van Meguerditchian/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Syria�s ambassador to Lebanon is demanding hard evidence of his embassy�s involvement in recent kidnappings in Lebanon, which will be provided, if requested, by the government, according to a high-level security source.
�All of the information implicating the embassy in the kidnapping of the three Jasem brothers will be available once the relevant authorities decide to release the investigation report that was produced by the Internal Security Forces,� the source told The Daily Star Friday, in reference to three Syrian nationals believed kidnapped in March.
Following a morning meeting with Lebanon�s Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, Ambassador Ali dismissed the accusations reportedly made by ISF Commander, Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, during a parliamentary committee session Monday. The ambassador demanded that the evidence be made public.
During a meeting of the Parliamentary human rights committee Monday, Rifi told MPs that evidence collected by the ISF on two high-profile kidnapping cases pointed toward the security personnel of the Syrian Embassy in Beirut.
According to Rifi, the method used in the kidnapping of Syrian dissident Shibli Aisamy in the town of Aley in May was similar to the way the three Jasem brothers were abducted earlier.
Apart from some interrogations, no arrests have been made in the cases.
According to judicial sources, ISF investigators and judicial authorities questioned the head of the Syrian Embassy guard unit, Lebanese First Lt. Salah Hajj, the son of former ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ali Hajj, about the Jasem brothers case.
Ali said accusations that the Syrian Embassy was involved in the kidnappings came as a �surprise,� adding that the bilateral treaties signed between Lebanon and Syria obliged security officials to coordinate the flow of information that would safeguard security in both countries.
Ali also said that his government in Damascus had inquired about Aisamy�s disappearance.
�Syria is surprised by the wave of incitement against it by members of the Lebanese Parliament,� Ali added, referring to lawmakers from the March 14 coalition.
According to Ali, the Lebanese authorities should crack down on the ongoing attempts to smuggle weapons into Syria. �The media and the security officials have spoken several times on several cases of weapons smuggling into Syria � and this requires revising the countries� treaties,� said Ali.
The security situation in Syria has severely deteriorated since the start of the popular pro-democracy demonstrations across Syrian cities, and Syrian officials have accused Lebanese parties of facilitating weapons smuggling into Syrian territories. The reported instances of weapons smuggling �negatively affect Lebanon�s and Syria�s security � the security of both countries is connected and integrated,� Ali added.�The comments made by the ISF commander Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi about the former Baath Party member Shibli Aisamy were made without any evidence,� said Ali. The high-level security source told The Daily Star that the ISF�s report on the embassy�s involvement in the kidnappings would �provide answers to the recent comments by a diplomat in Beirut,� referring to comments made by the Syrian ambassador. According to judicial sources, the investigation report would only be made public when the evidence collected by judicial authorities allows the issuing of an official indictment in the various cases.

MPs Seek Answers as Lebanese Military Judiciary Investigates Abduction of Syrians
Naharnet /Opposition MPs will ask the government to release an investigation report written by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi about the alleged involvement of the Syrian embassy in the disappearance of Syrian opposition members, a parliamentary source told An Nahar daily on Saturday. The lawmakers will inquire the government about the kidnapping of four Syrian brothers from al-Jassem family, Syrian opposition member Shebli al- Aisamy and Middle East Airlines engineer Joseph Sader, the source said. Rifi told the parliamentary human rights committee on Monday that the ISF collected "dangerous information" linking the Syrian embassy to al-Aisamy�s disappearance. An Nahar�s parliamentary source said the March 14 MPs will ask the government to release Rifi�s report to make it available to the public opinion. Al-Aisamy, 86, is a co-founder of Syria's ruling Baath party who fled his native country in 1966 over political differences. He was last seen in May in the eastern region of Aley. Sader, an official at Middle East Airline's IT department, was kidnapped in February 2009 near Rafik Hariri international airport by unidentified assailants who sped away in a Sports Utility Vehicle.
A member of the human rights committee told An Nahar that Rifi referred his report to the military judiciary. In it he said that the Syrian ambassador, Ali Abdul Karim Ali, has turned deaf ears to the kidnapping of al-Jassem brothers. The report also drew similarities between their abduction and the alleged kidnapping of al-Aisamy. It quoted his daughter as saying that the Syrian ambassador in Washington had contacted her father, urging him to make a stance in support of President Bashar Assad but al-Aisamy rejected.
Ali on Friday denied reports that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members who have gone missing in Lebanon, calling such accusations "unfounded."
The ambassador demanded that the evidence be made public. MP Sami Gemayel, who is a member of the parliamentary committee, challenged Ali, telling An Nahar that �there won�t be any diplomatic immunity for crimes committed on Lebanese territories.� He stressed however that the Lebanese authorities should first investigate the alleged involvement of ISF officers guarding the embassy in the kidnapping of Syrian opposition figures.Gemayel was referring to the head of the Syrian embassy guard unit, First Lt. Salah Hajj, the son of former ISF chief Maj. Gen. Ali Hajj, who was reportedly questioned about al-Jassem brothers case. Media reports had said that Salah Hajj kidnapped one of al-Jassem brothers in February.
General Prosecutor Saeed Mirza should take the necessary measures, Gemayel said, adding that he was amazed how the judiciary hasn�t acted on the issue yet.

Franjieh Praises Assad for Thwarting Alleged Foreign Plot
Naharnet /Marada movement leader Suleiman Franjieh has hailed the ability of Syrian President Bashar Assad to prevent �conspirators� from targeting his regime. In a meeting with a delegation from the �Youth for the National Unity of Syria,� Franjieh said: �The strength of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the love of the people for him and the army�s solidarity have thwarted the opportunity for Syria�s enemies who harbor ill-will.� He said the recent unrest in Syria came due to a �plot� from outside the country. The Marada chief didn�t specify which country was involved in the alleged conspiracy. �When the conspirators failed to achieve their objectives through killing,� they resorted to sectarian strife, Franjieh said, adding however that the vigilance of Assad, the Syrian leadership and the people have thwarted the plot. �Now Syria is emerging stronger from its ordeal � and the regime is staying,� he added.
U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay said on Friday that the toll from seven months of violence in Syria had risen above 3,000. She said Syria risked "a full-blown civil war" unless the international community took action.

Jumblat: I am Staying in Majority, Syrian Bloodshed Should Stop
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat said Friday that he is staying with the Majority, stressing that the National Struggle Front will vote for funding the Special tribunal for Lebanon. In an interview on Al-Manar, Jumblat asked Syria to stop bloodshed and oppression, stating that he is "not convinced with the reforms," but did stress that he did not break ties with Damascus. "When I met Syrian President Bashar Assad, I was honest on the necessity to reach a political solution," Jumblat said, asking to stop the" bloodshed and oppression which is happening every day, and innocent people are being killed."
He asked Syria to cease fire, and to start with true reform on its territories. " The regime should condemn the attack on the Syrian forces, release the prisoners" Jumblatt added, stressing on the necessity to condemn any demand of foreign intervention by the opposition and to allow the press to cover all Syrian regions." He added that he is not worried about the division of the region, "but when we talk about the logic of minorities, we are dividing it." On the Christians in Syria, Jumblat was surprised at their fear. "The Christians are the founders of revolutions, and it is not right for them to be afraid. They were at the forefront of Arab renaissances. Why are they afraid in Syria."
On the Lebanese issue, Jumblat assured of his good relations with Hizbullah " although we have different views, but this does not affect the good strategic relations we have."
"I have my own views on the Syrian and Arab revolutions" he said, adding that " we must keep up the pace with the regional developments."
Jumblat voiced his support of the "army, people and resistance" principle, "but the day will come when we will have to study a defense strategy."
The PSP leader refused to link Hizbullah's arms with the Palestinian naturalization, stressing that " weapons should be used solely to defend the state."
"We want to demarcate our borders in order to achieve liberation." When asked about his current political position, Jumblat clearly stated that he is staying within the majority.
On the STL issue, Jumblatt said: "My parliamentary bloc will vote for funding the STL because there is a different public opinion which wants to know who made these gruesome assassinations and this is their right," hoping that a settlement on this issue can be reached. On the economic level and the wage increase deal, the PSP leader wished more studies were done, and hoped that administrative reforms will be done soon. "If we do not make any administrative reforms, we might have inflation like Greece," he said.
When asked about PM Najib Miqati, Jumblat said that he is doing an excellent job "to distance Lebanon from any International implications and not to let Lebanon be used against Syria."

British Defense Minister Resigns, Philip Hammond Named as Replacement
Naharnet /British Defense Secretary Liam Fox resigned Friday amid a spiraling scandal over his links to the best man at his wedding, becoming the first Conservative minister to quit the coalition government. Fox, 50, who played a key role in Britain's military campaigns in Libya and Afghanistan, stepped down after it emerged that his friend Adam Werritty posed as a government adviser and took a string of foreign jaunts with the minister. Philip Hammond, the Conservative former transport minister, was named as Fox's replacement by Prime Minister David Cameron, the defense ministry said. Justine Greening, a junior finance minister, will replace Hammond.
"I mistakenly allowed the distinction between my personal interest and my government activities to become blurred. The consequences of this have become clearer in recent days," Fox wrote to Cameron in his resignation letter. "I am very sorry for this." Cameron said Fox had helped prevent Libyans being "massacred" by Moammar Gadhafi's forces and had done a "superb job" since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition came to power after elections in May 2010. With rumors swirling in the press about the nature of Fox's relationship with his 34-year-old former flatmate, Fox apologized to parliament earlier this week and admitted that Werritty had accompanied him on 18 foreign trips since he became minister.
Werritty also visited Fox 22 times at the defense ministry in London during the same period and printed business cards describing himself as Fox's adviser despite having no official government role. But the killer blow came on Friday with reports that financial backers linked to Israel and a private security firm had funded Werritty's first class travel and hotel stays during his time with the minister.
Werritty was interviewed for a second time on Friday by civil servants as part of an inquiry ordered by Cameron last week into whether Fox broke the ministerial code of conduct, a government source told Agence France Presse. The results of the inquiry are expected next week, the source added.
Fox said in his letter to Cameron that he had "repeatedly said that the national interest must always come before personal interest. I now have to hold myself to my own standard".
Cameron thanked Fox -- Britain's sixth defense minister in ten years -- for overseeing "fundamental changes" at the bloated Ministry of Defense and in modernizing the armed forces as part of wider government cost-cutting. "I understand your reasons for deciding to resign as defense secretary, although I am very sorry to see you go," the premier wrote to him.
"On Libya, you played a key role in the campaign to stop people being massacred by the Gadhafi regime and instead win their freedom."
But the main opposition Labour party said there were still questions to be answered about Fox's conduct.
"Governments have got to have rules and ministers have got to have standards and he fell foul of the standards we expect," Labor defense spokesman Kevan Jones said.
Fox, who rose from humble beginnings on a Scottish social housing estate to become a medical doctor before joining politics, was one of the Conservative party's last heirs of hardline former prime minister Margaret Thatcher. He lost to Cameron in the 2005 Conservative leadership election, but remained a strong voice for the party's eurosceptic, American-leaning right -- one that Cameron had apparently been loath to kick out too soon. Fox married his wife, Jesme Baird the same year and Werritty was best man. Pictures of the pair in matching outfits with big grins have been reprinted throughout the week in the British press.
Fox is the first Conservative minister to resign from the government and the second cabinet minister, following Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury David Laws.
Laws quit on May 29, 2010 over claims that he fiddled his expenses.
Britain's Guardian newspaper first raised questions about Fox's ties to Werritty in August and the scandal erupted in full earlier this week with fresh revelations about their travels together.
Then on Friday the Times newspaper reported that donors funneled �147,000 ($231,000, 167,000 Euros) into a not-for-profit company set up by Werritty, called Pargav, to pay for his first class flights and upscale hotels.Later Friday a venture capitalist, Jon Moulton, said that Fox had personally approached him to donate to Pargav.
Source Agence France Presse

Suleiman, Aoun Bicker on President of Higher Judicial Council
Naharnet /President Michel Suleiman and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun are bickering over the appointments of top civil servants to administrative posts reserved for Christians, informed sources said. The sources told As Safir daily published Saturday that Suleiman and Aoun have conflicting viewpoints on vacant posts, particularly the presidency of the Higher Judicial Council. Both have rejected each other�s proposed candidates for the post, they said. Informed sources told al-Liwaa newspaper that Aoun has suggested Tanious Meshleb for the presidency of the HJC but Suleiman rejected the candidate. Aoun discussed the issue of appointments and the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon with his top allies during a meeting he held in Rabieh on Friday night, As Safir said. The meeting was attended by Marada movement chief Suleiman Franjieh, head of the Lebanese Democratic Party Talal Arslan, State Minister Marwan Khaireddine, Energy Minister Jebran Bassil and Tashnag party chief Hovig Mekhitarian. The conferees agreed to coordinate their stances inside the cabinet when it discusses the appointments and the STL funding, sources told the newspaper.Minister of State for Administrative Reform Mohammed Fneish said that the appointments for top administrative posts are awaiting the proposals of involved ministers. Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told As Safir in his turn that his proposal on the appointment of district commissioners and governors is ready. The appointments could be made within the coming weeks, he said.

National Struggle Front bloc MP Akram Chehayeb slams Syrian envoy
October 15, 2011 /National Struggle Front bloc MP Akram Chehayeb slammed Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali, saying that �no diplomat has the right to interfere in a case that is now in the hands of the relevant [Lebanese] judiciary,� in reference to the disappearance of Shebli al-Aysami. On Friday, the Syrian ambassador denied reports that his embassy was behind the disappearance of Syrian opposition members, including Aysami, who have gone missing in Lebanon, calling such accusations "unfounded."Chehayeb rejected Ali�s statement that �[Ali] was puzzled by these unfounded claims that have been attributed to the police chief,� and went on to say that Internal Security Forces Director General Achraf Rifi is �brave for stating things the way they are.� �What is puzzling is that the Syrian Embassy [in Lebanon] did not suitably address the incident of the abduction of an intellectual Syrian citizen�and a former vice-president,� the MP said in reference to Aysami. �[Ali] knows that the case he addressed is in the hands of the Lebanese military judiciary. He has no right to interfere�in a case that the relevant judiciary is looking into.� Chehayeb added that knowing �Aysami�s destiny is Lebanon�s and Syria�s responsibility,� and called on Ali to attempt to reveal Aysami�s fate and �to limit diplomatic [contact] to relevant official bodies.� Aysami, 86 is a co-founder of Syria's ruling Baath party who fled his native country in 1966 over political differences. He was last seen in May in the eastern Lebanese region of Aley. -NOW Lebanon

Army Seizes Weapons from Van in Northern Lebanon
Naharnet /The Lebanese Army Intelligence and a unit from the military�s second brigade in Akkar have seized machineguns and Rocket Propelled Grenades from a van in Halba, the National News Agency reported. NNA said the van is owned by Kh.M., who hails from the border region of Wadi Khaled in the north. The weapons were seized on Friday after the army stopped the van on the Halba-Khraibeh road. But the driver escaped, the news agency added. In another security incident, unknown assailants tossed two grenades outside al-Jazzar hotel in Dinniyeh overnight, causing material damage only.

Khamenei Rejects 'Absurd' Allegations by U.S. over Killing Plot
Naharnet
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, dismissed Saturday U.S. allegations of a Tehran-sponsored assassination plot as "absurd," in his first direct reaction to the claim.
"It's a meaningless and absurd accusation regarding a number of Iranians," he told a crowd in the western city of Gilangharb in a speech carried by state television. "But it has not stuck and it will not stick," he said. Khamenei said of the United States: "They say that they want to isolate Iran. They are the ones who are isolated." His comments reinforced fierce denials of involvement made by other Iranian officials ever since the U.S. accusation was made public Tuesday. U.S. officials have said they have evidence that the alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States was ordered and supported by Iranian officials, but admit they do not know which leaders, if any, are implicated. The U.S. Justice Department and FBI say the trail leads to officials inside the Quds Force, a special operations outfit within Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards that reports directly to Khamenei. Source Agence France Presse

Egypt Military Issues Law to Punish Discrimination
Naharnet/Egypt's ruling military approved Saturday a law to punish discrimination after clashes between soldiers and Christians killed 25 people in the country's worst violence since a revolt this year. The amendment to the criminal code states a punishment of a fine no less than 30,000 pounds (5,000 dollars) for discrimination based on "gender, origin, language, religion or beliefs." The punishment for a government employee convicted of discrimination is at least three months in prison or a minimum fine of 50,000 pounds, according to the text of the amendment published by the official MENA news agency. The caretaker cabinet said Thursday it would discuss the sensitive issue of building permits for Christian churches at the heart of sectarian tensions in the overwhelmingly Muslim country. The announcement came as nearly 3,000 mourners gathered in central Cairo for a candlelight vigil in honor of Coptic Christians among 25 people killed in weekend clashes during a demonstration over an attack on a church. The military, in power since a popular uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, has denied Coptic witness accounts that its soldiers fired on the demonstrators and ordered an investigation. Copts, who comprise roughly 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million population, say the laws on obtaining building or renovation permits for churches are overly restrictive, and that Muslims enjoy much a more liberal regime for mosques.
Source Agence France Presse

Aoun: Country which takes path of violence �does not succeed�
October 15, 2011 /Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun said on Saturday that the �Syrian people will emerge stronger� from the current crisis, adding that �the country which takes the path of violence and not dialogue does not succeed.� During his meeting with a Syrian youth delegation, which is visiting Lebanon to thank political figures that support the Syrian regime, Aoun voiced hope that the reforms promised by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad are implemented quickly. He also said that implementing reforms will allow the Syrian people to �[adopt] a democratic process without painful and bloody [events].� �Any experience that [a country�s] people go through grants them more strength to live in peace. Presidents are strong with their people and army,� Aoun added. Lebanon's political scene is split between supporters of Assad�s regime, led by Hezbollah, and a pro-Western camp headed by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. According to the United Nations, the Syrian regime's crackdown on protests that erupted in mid-March has killed more than 3,000 people. -NOW Lebanon

Italy complicit in masking Sadr�s disappearance
Aline Sara, October 15, 2011 /Now Lebanon
During an exclusive interview with NOW Lebanon on the day the Lebanese Supreme Court heard the plaintiffs in the case of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr in open court for the first time, Chibli Mallat�the lawyer representing the families of Imam Moussa Sadr, Sheikh Muhammad Yaqub and Journalist Abbas Badreddin, who disappeared in Libya in 1978�said that new evidence showed Italy had been complicit in masking the role that embattled Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi had in the incident. After the sudden fall of the Qaddafi regime in August, the case of Sadr�s disappearance resurfaced, with a number of loyalists hopeful that the decades-old mystery would be solved. Many have put forth theories that the Shia leader was executed under Qaddafi�s orders, while others have refused to believe he is dead, clinging to the thought that he is still imprisoned somewhere in the North African country. �The families are adamant about their absolute priority being the release of Sadr and his two companions,� said Mallat, �and we will do all we can to ensure that this priority guides our efforts.�
�An important development is that one of the people indicted in the case just said he gave an false initial testimony in the investigation conducted by Italy,� Mallat added, stressing that there was an agreement between Libyan and Italian authorities to cover up their roles in the disappearance.
According to the lawyer, who is a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, a number of individuals, who no longer feel threatened by the toppled Libyan leader, are confessing to having given false testimonies. This is the case of Abd al-Rahman Ghawila, a Libyan passport official at the time of the disappearance, who spoke out during an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Thursday. Ghawila confessed to having been forced by Qaddafi and a number of Libyan security officials to lie.
Following the immediate disappearance of Sadr, Qaddafi claimed that the Shia leader had left Libya for Rome. But Ghawila admitted that he had neither stamped Sadr�s passport nor had he seen him at the airport, as he had testified during the Italian investigation over 20 years ago, Mallat said.
�Three years ago, the Italians re-opened the investigation at the request of Qaddafi and they came to the conclusion that the Imam had actually arrived in Italy. We now know that this had come as an arrangement between the Italian and Libyan authorities,� Mallat said. �This adds an important dimension that needs to be advanced, and that we will advance, namely the responsibility of the Italian government, and particularly [President Silvio] Berlusconi and intelligence offices in DIGOS, in creating false testimonies and using them at the request of Qaddafi.� �It does not say much about the moral standards of the judge who decided the case,� he added, �although it is clear from her decision that she was mixed up in her conclusion.�
�If there were any doubts left, the [abovementioned development] shows how much the false testimonies have been used by Qaddafi to make him seem innocent.�
�Our request of course has been the continued and enhanced developments of the investigation in Libya now that the dictator is out of power, and the full trial, now in absentia, of Qaddafi and a number of people who collaborated with him to mask the situation,� stressed the lawyer. �We will also collaborate with the International Criminal Court.�
�On all these fronts, the priority in all our actions is the release of the Imam and his companions, and the truth about a crime that has remained unpunished,� he concluded.
The Lebanese Supreme court has set the sentencing for November 18.

Egyptian military issues law to punish discrimination
October 15, 2011 /Egypt's ruling military approved Saturday a law to punish discrimination after clashes between soldiers and Christians killed 25 people in the country's worst violence since the revolt that ousted long-time president Hosni Mubarak in February. The amendment to the criminal code states a punishment of a fine no less than 30,000 pounds (5,000 dollars) for discrimination based on "gender, origin, language, religion or beliefs." The punishment for a government employee convicted of discrimination is at least three months in prison or a minimum fine of 50,000 pounds, according to the text of the amendment published by the official MENA news agency.
The caretaker cabinet said Thursday it would discuss the sensitive issue of building permits for Christian churches at the heart of sectarian tensions in the overwhelmingly Muslim country.
The announcement came as nearly 3,000 mourners gathered in central Cairo for a candlelight vigil in honor of Coptic Christians who were among 25 people killed in weekend clashes during a demonstration over an attack on a church. The military, in power since Mubarak�s ouster, has denied Coptic witness accounts that its soldiers fired on the demonstrators and ordered an investigation. Copts, who comprise roughly 10 percent of Egypt's 80 million population, say the laws on obtaining building or renovation permits for churches are overly restrictive, and that Muslims enjoy a much more liberal regime for mosques.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem to March 14: Stop �manipulating� Lebanon�s fate
October 15, 2011 /Development and Liberation bloc MP Qassem Hashem responded on Saturday to March 14�s statement condemning the Syrian army�s incursions into Lebanese territory, and called on March 14 �to stop manipulating Lebanon�s fate by being partners in the aggressive, sabotage scheme that [threatens] Lebanon and the region.�
Hashem said that March 14 �has a suspicious role�and are partners in a strife scheme that does not only target Syria but the entire Arab region, [considering] what Syria represents as an [Arab] nation,� the National News Agency quoted the MP as saying. �Media and political incitement [against Syria] has moved to a phase of direct partnership [with the scheme against Syria] through smuggling arms�and [criticizing] envoys,� Hashem said in reference to some March 14 figures� calls to summon Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdel Karim Ali to address the Syrian incursions into Lebanon. On October 4, Syrian army tanks crossed the Lebanese border near the town of Aarsal and fired several gunshots within Lebanese territory. On October 6, Syrian troops shot and killed a farmer near Aarsal. New TV reported on Friday that �the Lebanese army stopped in Akkar a truck loaded with weapons and explosives that were going to be smuggled into Syria.�-NOW Lebanon

Franjieh: Syrian uprising is a plot
October 15, 2011 /Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Franjieh said on Saturday that the latest Syrian events �have been the result of a foreign plot.��The awareness of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian people have foiled the plot, and Syria came out of the crisis stronger than ever,� Franjieh said during his meeting with a delegation of �The Syrian Youth National Unity,� which is visiting Lebanon to express thanks to Lebanese leaders who supported the Syrian regime. Lebanon's political scene is split between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad�s regime, led by Hezbollah, and a pro-Western camp headed by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. More than 3,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in a Syrian crackdown on almost daily pro-democracy demonstrations in the country since mid-March, according to the United Nations.-NOW Lebanon

Hillary Clinton Promises to Save Egypt's Christians?
by Raymond Ibrahim/Jihad Watch
October 13, 2011
http://www.meforum.org/3069/hillary-clinton-egypt-christians
Soon after Sunday's Maspero massacre, where the Egyptian military slaughtered Christians demonstrating over the destruction of their churches�including by running them over with armored vehicles�some Egyptian media began reporting that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, having seen enough, declared that the U.S. plans on directly intervening in Egypt.
Of course, Hillary said no such thing. According to Al Ahram:
Reports that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the US plans to intervene to protect Egypt's Copts are false, a US State Department source has revealed. Yesterday, several internet sites circulated quotes attributed to Clinton that the US plans to send Special Forces to protect Egyptian churches after the attacks directed at Copts yesterday in front of the State TV building in Maspero.
Any American must instinctively recognize such rumors as false: our political leaders do not say or do such things. But alas, some Christians in the Middle East, who have no direct experience of the West, still think of the U.S. as a "Christian" nation that will surely empathize with their plight and take action�hence why this rumor began and resonates.
The real question, of course, is: Would direct U.S intervention in Egypt even help the Copts?
First, we must understand the context wherein the U.S. would justify intervening in a country: to promote "democracy."
So how have the first manifestations of "democracy"�in the guise of the "Arab spring" and "people-power," all hailed and supported by the U.S.�worked for religious minorities in the Arab world?
In post-revolutionary Egypt alone, Christians are suffering more abuses today, including from the state, than under ousted president Hosni Mubarak. After all, Egyptian military crushing the heads of Christian civilians with tanks, opening fire on them, and reportedly even dumping their bodies in the Nile to cover their deeds�all of this occurred under Field Marshall Mohamed Tantawi's command, not during Mubarak's 30 year reign.
But to return to our question�whether U.S. intervention would help the Copts in Egypt�the deplorable fact is, the Christians who have it worst are precisely those living in Muslim nations where the U.S. has intervened and is spending billions to create "democracies."
Consider the silent extermination of Iraq's "Christian Dogs." Ever since the U.S. overthrew Saddam Hussein, beheading and crucifying Christians are not irregular occurrences; messages saying "you Christian dogs, leave or die," are typical. Muslims threaten to "exterminate Iraqi Christians" and authoritative clerics issue fatwas asserting that "it is permissible to spill the blood of Iraqi Christians." As John Eibner of Christian Solidarity International put it:
The threat of extermination is not empty. Since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, more than half the country's Christian population has been forced by targeted violence to seek refuge abroad or to live away from their homes as internally displaced people. According to the Hammurabi Human Rights Organization, over 700 Christians, including bishops and priests, have been killed and 61 churches have been bombed. Seven years after the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Catholic Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk reports: "He who is not a Muslim in Iraq is a second-class citizen."
In other words, Christian persecution has increased exponentially under U.S. occupation. As one top Vatican official put it, Christians, "paradoxically, were more protected under the dictatorship" of Saddam Hussein.
As for Afghanistan, earlier this week, CNS News reported that
There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department. This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime. In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country. The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010.
The State Department's report makes it clear that the Afghan government�which the U.S. helped install�is partially responsible: "The lack of government responsiveness and protection for these groups and individuals [persecuted religious minorities] contributed to the deterioration of religious freedom"; "the right to change one's religion was not respected either in law or in practice."
Even so, the State Department report concludes with the requisite yet meaningless jargon: "the United States continues to promote religious freedom in Afghanistan"�this even as the nation just saw its last church destroyed.
And then people wonder why Syrian Christians are backing autocratic Bashar Assad: they have seen the fruits of "democracy" in Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, and anywhere else "people-power" is burgeoning, whether organically, or�if not especially�under the auspices of the U.S.
**Raymond Ibrahim, a widely published Islam-specialist, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Bashar�s blood brothers
Michael Young, October 14, 2011
Among the more dismal displays in recent weeks has been that of governments openly expressing their support for the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria�or simply refusing to blame it for the savage, months-long repression of domestic dissent. More remarkable still, most of the governments adopting such an approach lean politically to the left and claim to be sympathetic to popular aspirations. Several have suffered from domestic repression in their modern history. These states include Brazil, India and South Africa, who abstained recently in a vote on a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria; but also Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba, who sent representatives in a delegation to Damascus last weekend to give confidence to Syria�s leadership. The old concept of �Third Worldism� was for a long time shorthand for anti-Americanism. But what we are witnessing today is something more complex. When Brazil, India and South Africa refuse to condemn the manifest thuggery of a Syrian regime whose crimes can be readily called up on the BlackBerrys of their United Nations ambassadors, they happen to be sending contradictory messages.
They are saying, first, that the balance of power in the Security Council has changed, and it has changed in that the three states are no longer willing to docilely toe the line set by the United States and the Europeans. This is an act of affirmation, not displaced inferiority, a consequence of these states� growing regional and international influence, thanks in large part to their economic successes.
But the reaction is also one that incorporates resentment of a Western-dominated international order. It is even, to an extent, an illustration of lingering sentimentality for Third World causes. That the particular �cause� in Syria happens to be mass murder is irrelevant. President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, like President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, comes from a leftist tradition, where the default setting was once to align with regimes from the developing world. India, with its history of nonalignment, is no different.
South Africa has been equally ambiguous on Libya, backing Moammar al-Qaddafi despite his declared intent to crush his opponents �like rats.� For Zuma, Qaddafi defended the African National Congress in a time of need, earning such solidarity. Yet there is a problem when solidarity is expressed for individuals at the expense of democratic ideals. What kind of hypocrisy is it for a government dominated by the ANC, which spent decades fighting against an oppressive, discriminatory political system, to now side with the oppressor in Libya�and by omission in Syria?
One expects less discernment from the likes of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador. The principal prism through which they consider Syria, or Libya, is that of hostility toward the United States and inherent sympathy for America�s enemies. Cuba and Venezuela are effectively led by dictators, so they have no profound philosophical difficulty with Assad, or with Qaddafi. But it must have been disheartening indeed for the average Syrian to observe this exotic deputation of Latinos, thoroughly illiterate in the ways of Syria or its uprising, disembarking in Damascus to defend a homicidal autocrat whom most of them know next to nothing about.
The duplicity of the so-called �people�s republic� of China and Vladimir Putin�s Russia is well established when it comes to covering for the abuses of foreign governments. Moscow and Beijing have always been realists to the core, pursuing their interests regardless of the transgressions of their overseas partners. China sold weapons to Qaddafi even as his regime was collapsing, while Russia has intervened brutally too many times in the Caucasus to readily set a new precedent against such behavior by condemning Assad.
What conclusions can we draw from this catalogue of insincerity? The most obvious is that Western democracies, for all their own insincerities, have tended to be more consistent in bolstering humanistic values than much of the rest of the world. The Obama administration was initially disinclined to get involved in Libya, and took far too long to demand Assad�s departure. But when the decisions were taken�and the United Kingdom and France were instrumental in leading on the Libya and Syria fronts�the diplomatic or military machinery, or both, kicked commendably into gear.
The template of a naturally domineering, exploitative West facing off against a vulnerable, victimized South is utter nonsense. This characterization may sound like an exaggeration, but it is far less so than you might imagine. The romance of revolution (for many of the governments backing Qaddafi and Assad somehow perceive themselves to be revolutionary, or on the side of revolution internationally) is often made doubly powerful by its imprecision. Only such imprecision, the imposition of a black-or-white reading of Syria�s standoff against Europe and the United States, can induce governments to take the side, explicitly or implicitly, of a leader who merits a seat in the dock at the International Criminal Court.
I will wager you an all-expenses trip to Managua, Havana or Cape Town, that the cynical reckonings of Assad�s new international comrades will prompt no invitation for us to reinterpret the current state of international relations. That countries arousing so many positive expectations in the past should somehow find themselves protecting, essentially, criminal enterprises, is a sign of moral and ideological bankruptcy. And yet those countries will continue to elicit warm feelings worldwide for allegedly challenging the global status quo. Few will see this impression for the lie that it is.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star newspaper in Beirut and author of The Ghosts of Martyrs Square: An Eyewitness Account of Lebanon�s Life Struggle. He tweets @BeirutCalling.