LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 29/12

Bible Quotation for today/Judgment Day
Saint Matthew 25/31-46: "‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?"And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?"Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’".

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Why Kuwait/By Mshari Al-Zaydi/Asharq Alawsat/October 28/12

Europe should label Hezbollah a terrorist group, U.S. urges
By Karen DeYoung, Oct 26, 2012 10:50 PM EDT
The Washington Post Published: October 26
White House counterterrorism chief John O. Brennan said Friday that European failure to join the United States in designating the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah a terrorist organization is undermining international counterterrorism efforts.
“Let me be clear,” Brennan said in a speech in Dublin, European resistance “makes it harder to defend our countries and protect our citizens.”
Brennan listed Hezbollah at the top of a list of joint U.S. and European security challenges. In addition to its alliance with terrorist activities by Iran, he said, “we have seen Hezbollah training militants in Yemen and Syria.”The Obama administration has previously accused Hezbollah of training Syrian government forces fighting an armed uprising in that country. Early this year, it also charged Hezbollah with facilitating Iranian arms shipments to Shiite separatists in Yemen, although it did not say there was on-the-ground training there.
The United States first designated Hezbollah as a “global terrorist” organization in 1995, seizing U.S. assets and prohibiting anyone in this country from providing it with material or financial support. While some countries in the European Union, including Britain and the Netherlands, have argued the Europeans should follow suit, the E.U. and individual governments have argued that there is no tangible evidence the group has undertaken terrorist acts in Europe.Led by France, some Europeans have said that their influence and relations with Lebanon — where Hezbollah provides extensive social services and its political wing holds government power — would be damaged by the designation.
But the administration, along with Israel and many U.S. lawmakers, has recently stepped up a years-long effort to pressure Europe, saying that money flows from there to support terrorist activities by Hezbollah and Iran. In addition, Brennan said in prepared remarks for a speech to Dublin’s Institute of International and European Affairs, countries that have arrested Hezbollah suspects for plotting in Europe have been unable to prosecute them on terrorism charges.
Brennan cited kidnapping for ransom, by both terrorist groups and pirates, as another challenge, and indirectly criticized European governments and individuals for encouraging such activities by paying ransom. Pressure on al-Qaeda’s ability to “raise, move and use funds,” he said, had led that group and its affiliates, particularly in Africa, to “increasingly turn to kidnapping operations and efforts to extract large ransoms from governments, private companies and other governmental organizations.”
He said al-Qaeda and allied groups had “reaped at least $120 million in ransom payments” since 2004, while pirates operating off the coast of Somalia had received $140 million just in 2011.
Ransom payments, he said, “many of which come from Europe,” create a “vicious circle — fueling the very criminality, violence and terrorism that we seek to stop.”
“From President Obama on down, we continue to urge our allies and partners to resist the temptation to pay,” Brennan said.

Hezbollah straddles tenuous line between Syria and Lebanon
By Babak Dehganpisheh,
The Washington Post Saturday, October 27/12
BEIRUT — The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah has spent months trying to tread a narrow line, balancing its support for the Syrian government with its responsibilities as Lebanon’s dominant political force. But increasing tensions inside Lebanon have underscored obstacles to having it both ways. More than at any time in recent years, Hezbollah is facing scrutiny inside Lebanon, even from some once-loyal backers, mostly because of increasing signs that it has become a partisan in a Syria conflict that has become deeply divisive in Lebanon.
The sharpest criticism has come in the wake of the Oct. 19 car-bomb assassination of Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan, a Lebanese intelligence chief aligned with the Sunni-led bloc that is opposed to the government of President Bashar al-Assad. While Hezbollah has denied allegations that it played any role in the attack, the incident brought shrill calls from its rivals for the toppling of the current Lebanese government in which Hezbollah and its allies hold a majority stake.
Some of the group’s closest political allies, including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, have appeared to be wavering in their support. And some Shiite Lebanese clerics have spoken out in recent weeks in favor of supporting the Syrian opposition, a position at odds with Hezbollah and its close ties to the Syrian government.
Hezbollah not only commands a well-trained and armed militia, which is widely seen as the best fighting force in the country, but the group also runs a strong political party with members in parliament. In the days following the assassination, however, Hezbollah kept a particularly low profile, even when enraged Sunni gunmen hit the streets of Beirut after Hassan’s funeral. It was a particularly muted response from a bombastic group.
“You know how we find out that Hezbollah is under pressure?” asked Hilal Khashan, a professor in the political science department at the American University of Beirut. “They remain quiet. They are keeping a very low profile during these days. There is already pressure on Hezbollah and the pressure is mounting.”
Khashan said.
Syria has not only given Hezbollah steadfast political support, but Syrian territory has also been used to send rockets and conventional arms overland to Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. If the Assad regime goes, Hezbollah would lose its primary logistical chain for arms, leaving it isolated in the event of any conflict with Israel.
Not everyone within the organization agrees with the diehard support for Assad or the bloody crackdown against Syrian civilians.
“Since the beginning of the Syrian crisis there have been some negative voices in Hezbollah that don’t want to be so much identified with the regime” in Syria, said Timur Goksel, a political science lecturer at the American University of Beirut who was a member of the United Nations monitoring team in Lebanon for many years.

Lebanon's Hezbollah drawn into Syria conflict
By Wyre Davies/BBC News, Lebanon-Syria border
26 October 2012/
Southern Lebanon is very much Hezbollah country.
The highly-organised Shia organisation garners much of its domestic support from the traditional villages in this hilly region.
It runs schools, hospitals and local politics in these parts, not to mention being famed for its military prowess.
Large posters of Hezbollah fighters killed in the 2006 conflict with Israel are scattered around the town of Nabatiya.
There are also plenty of images of Bashar al-Assad, president of neighbouring Syria and a key ally of Hezbollah in the complicated, often sectarian world of Middle Eastern politics.
Helping refugees
While reaffirming his support and backing for the government in Damascus, Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah recently denied reports that his organisation's members were fighting alongside the Syrian military.What Hezbollah is willing to confirm is the amount of help it is giving to refugees from the fighting.
Hezbollah says it helps families who seek refuge from the fighting in Syria On a short tour of the town we met two families who had been given considerable support by Hezbollah since making the arduous journey from Syria.
One young mother from Homs had given birth - by caesarean section - just days after arriving in Nabatiya. The cost of the operation, post-natal medical care and food for the child had all been taken care of by the group. The flat the new family was living in was sparse and short on furniture, but it was adequate and, again, paid for by Hezbollah.
Next we met Manel, already at the age of 23, mother to three young boys.
She too is living with her extended family in a flat provided by Hezbollah. Two weeks ago they had to flee their homes from a village near Aleppo.
'No questions'. "We had to leave because the terrorists, the rebels, made it impossible to move," Manel said, clearly angered at the family's predicament.
"You can't get in or out of the village because you could be killed or kidnapped for ransom."
Hezbollah minders insisted that they did not ever ask the people they had helped about their political affiliations in Syria or about their religion.
They said absolutely no distinction was made between refugees and that they were never asked. That might be the case in southern Lebanon and we saw no evidence there to contradict that stance.
Elsewhere, however, it is a different story.
A young mother who was given support and post-natal care by Hezbollah Lebanon's Bekaa Valley is the real launching pad for those who have a vested interest in the progress, or otherwise, of the uprising in Syria.Almost all of Syria's internal divisions - Sunni, Shia, Alawite and Christian - are replicated in the villages of the Bekaa.
In some of the region's predominantly Shia villages there have been funerals for Hezbollah fighters, killed it is thought while fighting on the government side inside Syria.
There were hundreds of mourners at the recent burial of Ali Hussein Nassif, a senior commander who Hezbollah would only say had died while "performing his jihadist duty".
Such evidence, and undoubtedly other material, has prompted the United States to accuse Hezbollah of providing training, advice, and logistical support to the Syrian military.
'Attacked'. Hezbollah's hierarchy, including Hassan Nasrallah, emphatically denies those charges, although there is now simply too much evidence for him to deny any involvement at all.
"The Lebanese in these border villages [inside Syria] are fighting all by themselves and no-one is fighting on their behalf," he said in a recently televised speech.
This the first time that Hezbollah has acknowledged that some of its members may have been in Syria, albeit without any formal support. In truth, there is no real border in these areas, and that is part of the conundrum.There are Lebanese communities on what is now regarded as the Syrian side, and thousands of Syrians live in "border" villages that are today formally within Lebanon but were not always so.
Soudayf Hamada is a senior tribal figure among the Shia villages at the northern end of the Bekaa and, crucially, also speaks for Lebanese citizens on the other side of the valley - land that is nowadays inside Syria. He defends the role of individuals to protect their communities and their lands.
"Many of our villages in Syria have been attacked by the rebels," Mr Soudayf says as he points to the villages in question, no more than a 1km (0.6 miles) away.
"People have been killed. Hezbollah can't stop its supporters defending their own land."
Spilling over
The long, open border is hostile country in more ways than one.
Sunni tribal leader
Through these hills, known best by Bedouin herders and smugglers, Hezbollah is accused of ferrying men and weapons into Syria.
Sunni opponents of the Syrian government, including Sheikh Nabil Ruhayem, accuse Hezbollah of playing a dangerous game.
To meet him we drove to the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli - where there have already been deadly clashes between pro- and anti-Assad factions.
"Hezbollah is clearly interfering militarily in Syria - supporting the Assad regime. And that will definitely result in the crisis spilling over here into Lebanon," says Sheikh Ruhayem.
In truth, the conflict has already arrived in Lebanon. Last week's car bomb that killed a senior Lebanese security official, Wissam al-Hassan, has been widely blamed on the Syrian government.
While Hezbollah condemned the attack and denied it was carrying out Damascus's orders, it is one of several groups being drawn inexorably into the conflict because, like many others, it has a lot riding on the outcome.

Deadly Bombing of Nigerian Church Sparks Christian Reprisals
Naharnet/A suspected suicide attacker slammed a car bomb into a church during services on Sunday in the Nigerian city of Kaduna, killing two other people and sparking reprisal attacks by Christians.
Christian youths took to the streets with machetes and sticks afterward, targeting people they believed to be Muslims as anger again boiled over due to the repeated church bombings in recent months, an AFP correspondent reported.
A vehicle for rescue workers was attacked in the ensuing violence, but there was no indication that rescuers were wounded.
"At least three people are confirmed dead," a rescue official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give out figures. He was speaking of the toll from the suicide bombing.
He added later that the toll included the suspected attacker and that there were a number of injuries.
The strong blast that saw the attacker ram what residents said was an SUV into St. Rita church shook the neighborhood and led to the reprisals in the city previously hit by violence blamed on Islamist extremist group Boko Haram. The rescue source said the attacker had sought to drive into the church, but seemed to have hit a barrier. Others in the area said the bomber continued to drive after hitting the church wall and made his way inside the church premises. "All of a sudden it drove on high speed and rammed into the church wall, forcing its way into the church premises," said witness Samuel Emmanuel.
"Initially I thought the driver had lost control of the vehicle. Suddenly there was a huge explosion as the car reached the church building. It was dust, fire and smoke all over."
A spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency said it had received reports of a bomb blast in the area of a Catholic church and rushed rescuers to the scene.
"They were talking about a bomb explosion," said Yushau Shuaib of the reports, while adding that his agency was however seeking to confirm details.
"A number of casualties evacuated to hospitals. The incident was suspected to be triggered by a suicide bomber in a car ..."
He said later that a rescue vehicle had been attacked in the violence afterward, but no workers were wounded.
An AFP correspondent said mobs were yelling "why the church?" and some were carrying weapons, including machetes. Local elders were seeking to restore calm.
Residents had earlier spoken of clashes having broken out between Christian and Muslim residents.
The explosion occurred in the Malali area of the city. Kaduna, a major city in Nigeria's north, has been previously hit by attacks blamed on Boko Haram.
The attack came after Friday's Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, but it was not clear if there was any link.
In June, Boko Haram claimed responsibility for three suicide attacks on churches in Kaduna state, where the city of Kaduna is located, which led to deadly rioting. Dozens of people were killed in the violence. Boko Haram's insurgency in northern and central Nigeria has led to more than 2,800 deaths since 2009. While Muslims have often been its victims, it has in recent months specifically targeted churches.
President Goodluck Jonathan has said the group is seeking to incite a religious crisis in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, roughly divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south. Kaduna is a large city in Nigeria's north and includes a sizable Christian population.
Nigerians have grown increasingly frustrated with security forces' inability to stop Boko Haram attacks, and there have been warnings of more reprisals if the violence continued.
Some Evangelical church leaders in Nigeria have said Christians may be forced to defend themselves if something is not done to address the violence.
SourceAgence France Presse

March 14 Youth Groups to Hold Rally Marking 10 Days of Hasan Assassination
Naharnet /Youth and student groups in the March 14 coalition are set to mark ten days of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, An Nahar daily reported Sunday. They called on supporters to participate heavily in the rally that is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. at Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut. A human chain from the square to the Grand Serail, also in downtown Beirut, will follow the rally. Steps marking the next measures taken by the youth groups will be announced at the end of the gathering, added the daily.
The protesters are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Miqati and his government following the assassination of Hasan in a car bomb in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh neighborhood on October 19.
The March 14-led opposition blames Syria for the crime and it has been demanding the resignation of the cabinet, which is comprised of pro-Syrian forces.

Report: Suleiman Contacts Hariri, Jumblat to Ease Differences between them
Naharnet/Efforts are underway in order to bridge the differences between former Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat in light of the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday. It revealed that President Michel Suleiman contacted the two officials in order to ease the dispute between them. He made the contacts as part of his ongoing efforts to resume the national dialogue sessions. The next session is set for November 12. The dispute erupted between Hariri and Jumblat on Thursday with the MP revealing that the former premier had requested the resignation of his ministers in cabinet in order to topple the government. The PSP leader refused the request after which Hariri accused him of allying himself with the Syrian and Iranian alliance against Lebanon's interests. Jumblat has repeatedly warned that the resignation of the government without a substitute one being reached could lead Lebanon to a power vacuum. The March 14-led opposition accused Syria of being behind the October 19 bombing in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district that killed Hasan.
The government is comprised of mainly pro-Syria forces. The opposition has since announced that it will no longer take part in the national dialogue or any activity that government members participate in.

Lebanese Shot Dead in Mexico
Naharnet /30-year-old Lebanese man was shot to death in Belize in Mexico, LBCI reported on Saturday. According to the channel, Alfred Shkaroun was killed near a sports club in the town of Belize by a man from al-Safa family. Shkaroun, who is from the southern town of al-Ghaziyeh near Sidon, works in the gold-trading business.Lebanon

Rockets Fired from Gaza after Israeli Air Strike
Naharnet /Three rockets fired from the Gaza Strip landed in southern Israel early Sunday without causing any casualties, Israeli police said, hours after an Israeli air strike in the Palestinian territory.
"Two rockets fell in an uninhabited sector of the Eshkol district and another near Beersheba. There were no injuries or damage," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
Earlier Sunday, Palestinian medics and eyewitnesses said an Israeli air strike on Gaza killed a Hamas fighter and wounded another after they had fired mortar bombs at Israeli tanks on an incursion near the southern town of Khan Younes.
After the firing from the Palestinian side, Beersheba mayor Rubik Danilovitch announced on public radio that local schools would be closed until further notice.
"Many of the houses in our town are not protected (against rocket fire) and we cannot play with the lives of our children. I hope that lessons can resume soon," he said.
Palestinians named the man killed in the Israeli air raid as Kamel Qarara, 25, a member of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Gaza's ruling Islamist Hamas movement.
The wounded man, not immediately named, was also said to be a member of the Brigades.
An Israeli military statement confirmed a strike by the Israel Air Force but not the allegation that Israeli armor had entered the Palestinian territory and come under Palestinian fire.
"IAF aircraft targeted a rocket-launching site and squad in the central Gaza Strip, during final preparations to fire a rocket towards southern Israel," it said. "Secondary explosions were identified," it added, implying that ammunition or explosives were hit.
The exchange took place after a three-day lull between the sides brought some respite from a spike in cross-border fighting
The military statement said that so far this month Palestinians have fired more than 150 rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip.
Late Wednesday Israeli and Palestinian officials announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire after a 24-hour peak in bloodshed, which saw Israeli air strikes kill four fighters and armed groups firing more than 70 rockets and mortars across the border, seriously wounding two Thai workers.
Since then, as Palestinians celebrated the Eid el-Adha Muslim holiday, the Israel military reported one rocket falling on open ground in southern Israel and causing no casualties before Sunday's events.
A militant died Thursday of wounds sustained in an Israeli raid a day earlier, before the truce.
The Israeli government, under mounting public pressure, is to discuss at its weekly meeting Sunday a program to increase blastproofing of homes and public buildings in the area next to the border with Gaza.

U.N. sets up fund to help victims of Beirut blast
October 27, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Robert Watkins said Saturday the international organization had set up a fund to help various groups assisting victims of last week’s explosion in the Beirut district of Ashrafieh. “The High Relief Committee has taken steps to help people and the U.N. has also set up a fund to channel donations of U.N. staff members to different organizations helping the victims, but we need to explore what more can be done to get people back on their feet,” Watkins said, speaking at the site of the car bombing that killed at least three people and wounded over 100 others. According to a statement by the United Nations Development Program, Watkins’ visit aimed at assessing the aftermath of the car bombing and highlights the need to enhance Lebanon’s disaster preparedness. Last week, a car bomb, estimated to have contained 50 kilograms of TNT, ripped through a neighborhood of Ashrafieh, killing at least three people, including Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan. Hasan was the head of the Internal Security Forces Information Branch. Watkins said the explosion underlined the need for drafting legislation to establish a “a new Disaster Management agency with enhanced powers, covering preparedness as well as response.” “While the response of the Civil Defense, in coordination with the Lebanese Red Cross and the security forces, was both immediate and effective, the new legislation will further improve the country’s ability to prepare for and respond to any kind of natural or man-made disaster,” Watkins said.

France urges Lebanese to put their country’s interests first
October 27, 2012 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: French President Francois Hollande urged Lebanese to place their country’s interests above all others in the wake of the recent assassination of a top intelligence chief.
In a letter to President Michel Sleiman, Hollande also offered his condolences over the death of Brig. Gen Wissam al-Hasan, who headed the police’s Information branch, and the victims of last week’s car bomb attack in the capital. According to Sleiman’s office, Hollande regarded the crime as aimed at destabilizing the country and paralyzing its institutions.
Hollande’s letter was handed to Sleiman by French Minister of Francophone Affairs Yamina Benguigui who met with the president at Baabda Palace.
The French president also urged Lebanese to place the interest of their country above all to protect it from attempts to destabilize it from by any party.
Hollande also reiterated his country’s continued commitment and support to Lebanon's stability, independence and sovereignty. Last week’s car bomb, estimated to have contained 50 kilograms of TNT, ripped through a neighborhood in the Beirut district of Ashrafieh, killing at least three people including Hasan and wounded over 100.
The bomb, the first of its magnitude since 2008, plunged the country into a political deadlock with the opposition March 14 coalition demanding the formation of a “neutral salvation government.”
The opposition has blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad for the killing and accused Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government of providing the necessary cover for the crime.
Mikati has offered to resign and has given Sleiman time to consult with the members of the National Dialogue committee to decide the fate of the current Cabinet.
At the Presidential Palace, Sleiman met with Mikati after the latter’s return from Hajj in Saudi Arabia, according to the statement. No further details were released about their meeting.

Khartoum threatens Israel after Iranian generals examine missile factory rubble
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report October 27, 2012/Sudanese President Omar Bashir pledged decisive steps against “Israeli interests which are now legitimate targets.” He spoke Saturday, Oct. 27 after a team of Iranian generals completed a secret examination of the rubble left of the Khartoum Shehab ballistic missile factory after an air attack on Oct. 24.
Israeli officials have refused to comment on the attack. However, Sudanese Information Minister Ahmed Belal Othman said “military experts" who surveyed what was left of the Yarmouk Industrial Complex had determined that it was destroyed by Israel-made missiles.
The minister added that no country in the region besides Israel owns the sophisticated weapons used in the attack.
He also confirmed that Khartoum international airport’s radar system was disabled during the raid, confirming the claim made by Iranian sources the next day.
Othman did not identity the “military experts” who examined the residue at the bomb site or explain how they were able to identify the weapons used. However, debkafile’s military sources disclose that those experts were Iranian military chiefs of the highest ranks: Iranian Air Force Chief Brig. Gen. Hassan Shah-Safi; Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Forces Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh; Deputy Air Force Commander Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh; and Commander of Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Air Defense Base Brig. Gen. Farzad Esmaili.
The exalted ranks of these officers, sent secretly and post haste to Khartoum after the incident, attested to the extreme consternation caused in Tehran by the missile factory’s destruction and its importance to Iran’s regional military organization for a potential US or Israeli attack.
The generals were instructed to conduct a professional and detailed analysis to determine the capabilities of the air force which sent the four bombers to level the Shehab factory and how those capabilities were applicable to a potential long-distance Israeli aerial strike against Iran.
The team of investigators, which arrived in Khartoum by an Iranian military plane hours after the attack, was collected and escorted by the Sudanese chief of staff, Gen. Ismat Abdel Rahman in a tightly-secured convoy of armored vehicles with helicopter cover straight to the wrecked factory for their inquiry.
They also examined Sudan’s radar system to find out how it was jammed.
Our military sources add: This was the second time in three weeks that Iranian air force, air defense and cyber war experts have had the chance to study Israel’s air force and electronic capabilities - while also exposing many facets of their own. Just three weeks ago, on Oct. 6, an Iranian stealth drone penetrated Israeli air space. Iranian cyber experts, operating from Hizballah’s security service bunkers in South Beirut, conducted cyber duel with Israeli experts before the IAF downed the interloper.
In Sudan, the Iranian generals tried to learn what they could about the methods and equipment Israel used to jam Sudan’s radar systems which, like those in Iranian use, are made in Russia.

Lebanon: One dead, one injured in Roumieh Prison clash
October 27, 2012 /One person was killed and another injured in a clash that erupted in Lebanon’s Roumieh Prison between inmates from the Zeaiter family and other unidentified inmates, the National News Agency reported. The report identified the victims as Abbas Fayyad Zeaiter and Fayyad Zeaiter, who were transferred to the Al-Abdallah Hospital. Abbas Zeaiter died shortly of his wounds, while Fayyad remains in a critical condition. The NNA did not identify the reason behind the clash.-NOW Lebanon

Lebanon’s premier says resignation out of question
October 27, 2012 /Lebanon’s Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Saturday that his resignation was “currently out of the question.”Miqati also told MTV that when he said he was ready to resign and that he was not clinging to his post as premier, “he made a step forward toward the opposition, but the opposition responded by holding him responsible for the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Chief Wissam al-Hassan.”Miqati also commented on the sit-in held in front of his residence in the northern city of Tripoli. “The sit-in in front of my house goes under the law and nothing can prevent me from going to my house [in Tripoli] whenever I want to,” Miqati said. Meanwhile, a source close to the premier said that the latter had set Wednesday as a date for the next cabinet session. Lebanon has been on edge since last week, when Hassan died in a bombing in Beirut’s Ashrafieh neighborhood that killed two other people and left over 120 injured. The attack immediately prompted calls for Miqati, whose cabinet is dominated by Damascus ally Hezbollah, to resign. -NOW Lebanon

Why Kuwait?
By Mshari Al-Zaydi/Asharq Alawsat
The activities of the Kuwaiti opposition preceded the so-called Arab Spring.
The exhausting confrontation between the Kuwaiti government and parliament is not a new phenomenon, nor is this a product of the Arab Spring. Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah was first appointed prime minister in February 2006, whilst his government resigned for the 6th time due to opposition pressure on November 2011.
What is new is the employment of the “atmosphere” of the Arab – Muslim Brotherhood “Spring” in the domestic Kuwaiti battle, which has its own particular nature based on the country’s special circumstances.
In the last mobilization against the Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah government in 2011, which coincided with revolutionary slogans begin raised in Egypt, Yemen, Tunisia and Libya, a new slogan that had previously not been present in the Kuwait political lexicon was raised, demonstrating the impact of the Arab Spring atmosphere. This slogan was evidence of an attempt to exploit the momentum of the Arab Spring in Kuwait. The slogan that I am talking about is the “depart” slogan, which was said to Mubarak in Egypt, Ben Ali in Tunisia, and others. Take notice, dear reader, that the confrontation between parliament and the opposition – backed by the street – is a precedent in every case of the Arab – Muslim Brotherhood Spring. However this Arab Spring phenomenon has been added in Kuwait [to previous demonstration], in an attempt to affix the Kuwaiti case to the Arab Spring phenomenon as a whole, in one way or another.
This is something that is permissible in politics and propaganda, for this is the nature of things. However the issue that raises questions amongst observers today is: why has the Kuwaiti situation been activated now? Why are we seeing this activity in Kuwait today when the Arab Spring has been exchanged for a Muslim Brotherhood Spring, particularly in Egypt and Tunisia? This is something that the revolutionaries themselves have attested to, feeling bitterness and disappointment regarding the Brotherhood’s lust for power, particularly now that the Islamists real agenda has been exposed, which is something that was buried under the sands of the revolutionary march.
Some supporters of the Kuwaiti opposition argue that the role of the Muslim Brotherhood and followers of political Islam in Kuwait is being exaggerated, citing the names of numerous prominent Kuwait figures and MPs who are definitely not Brotherhood supporters in any way shape or form. This is true. However in Egypt, the novelist Alaa Al Aswany and the left-wing activist George Isaac were amongst the strongest revolutionary voices thundering against the Mubarak regime, and nobody can claim that they are Brotherhood supporters. In fact, during this time, the Brotherhood were far less vocal and visible than such figures. However the question that must be asked here is: where were Al Aswany and Isaac when it came to reap the rewards of the revolution?
But why is this happening in Kuwait now? Why has the international Muslim Brotherhood organization rushed to promote and support what is happening there, from all across the world?
This is a difficult question, but very briefly let me say that this is perhaps due to a lack of funds and the difficulty of financially administrating Arab Spring states that are dominated by the Brotherhood, particularly Egypt and Tunisia, and lately Yemen. These are countries that are experiencing difficult economic times, whilst the Gulf region would be a treasure trove for them, as previously analyzed by writer Mamoun Fandy in this newspaper.
Looking at the map [of the Gulf], Bahrain is not tempting because it is not the richest state, whilst its Brotherhood are allied with the regime against the Shiite onslaught. As for the UAE, it is ready and vigilant against any Brotherhood encroachment, and you need only listen to the rhetoric of [Dubai Police Chief] General Dahi Khalfan to be assured of this. As for Qatar, this is already hand in glove with the Brotherhood. Whilst Saudi Arabia is complex and difficult, this would require extremely precise calculations, and it is enough to note that it is the land of the Two Holy Mosques and enjoys a strong international political presence. Oman, as is its nature, is away from all such clamor. Therefore, the only country that remains is Kuwait, which is rich and democratic and currently hosting numerous political hot potatoes, whilst there is also a long-standing political and social Muslim Brotherhood presence there.
Who knows…perhaps this is part of a bigger plan. However the awakening of the Kuwaiti “state”, and its latest resoluteness, may deny many of these aspirations, which are outside of the boundaries of the usual Kuwaiti demands for reform. Reform and development and freedom of speech are inalienable rights, not something that can be bestowed. However this is another issue, outside of what we are trying to understand here. To conclude: everybody is doing what they can, whilst at the end of the day, it is the worthy issues that remain.

Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel: Obama will protect Israel, deal with Iran
Yitzhak Benhorin/10.28.12/Ynetnews
Former White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor tells Ynet US president will continue to stand by Israel should he be elected for a second term. WASHINGTON – Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is one of US President Barack Obama's most important assets in the 2012 presidential race. While many, including Obama himself, struggle to explain to the voters the scope of the problems the president inherited from predecessor Gorge W. Bush – including a failing economy, two wars, and a myriad of internal crises – Emanuel, was able to sum up Obama's first term with one sentence: Osama bin Laden in dead and General Motors is alive.
With only days left until American cast their votes, the Obama campaign has sent Emanuel, who served as White House chief of staff for the administration's first two years, on a mission to the two most influential swing states – Florida and Ohio.
The two are home to a large number of Jewish voters, who may prove to hold the deciding vote in the close race vis-à-vis Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
As mayor of the US' third-largest city and a former congressman, Emanuel can address burning domestic issues; and as the son of a former Irgun man, who has expressed his deep ties and commitment to Israel, he can also reassure the nervous Jewish voters that Obama is good for the Jewish state.
The question of Obama's tense relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the administration's overall attitude towards Israel is often presented when Emanuel addresses Jewish voters.
He explains to them what Obama has done, and plans to do, for Israel and illustrates how involved the president is in bolstering US-Israel strategic ties and military cooperation; as well as how he pushed to speed up the development and deployment of Iron Dome batteries in Israel.
"The president is a friend of the State of Israel. He has been that as a senator and as a president," Emanuel said in an interview with Ynet. He wasted no time addressing the Iranian threat: "When it comes to the issue of Iran, when the president got into office, the US was isolated from the world, and Iran was out for nuclear weapons.
"Today the tables have turned. Iran is isolated from the rest of the world, and that's because of the leadership of one man – the president. One man determined to set his policy of crippling sanctions against Iran." "It was the president of the United States who achieved that. Everybody questioned why the US doesn’t do this or that, while Iran attempts to acquire a nuclear weapon, with all the related existential and security threats to the State of Israel. People are not questioning the US anymore, they question Iran."
Emanuel is convinced that "the steady organizing by the president of the United States to isolate Iran is working beyond people expectations," on both the economic front and political fronts. Still, the former White House chief does not digress from the party line what it comes to the chances of a US strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Declaring war, he said, needs the public's support in both Israel and the United States. Emanuel said that he has seen polls indicating that many in the IDF, as well as in the Israeli public are against a strike.
"The president is determined that all the options are on the table and he is using economic and diplomatic isolation, crippling sanctions, to force Iran to make some choices here, that in the past they could avoided making. And now, Iran is economically crippled and politically unstable." Should Obama be elected to a second term in office, Emanuel stressed that "He will continue to help Israel as we deal with the dramatic changes in the Arab world. "Israel is our closest ally, not just strategically, but as two democracies… In the next four years, you will see a president that will protect Israel and deal with Iran."
Asked whether he found it difficult to explain Obama's achievements in regards to the US economy, he said: "I just left Toledo, Ohio, and I don't think explaining that was hard in Toledo, that's dependent on the auto industry.
"Unemployment is just under 7%. When the president came to office in was 10% in Ohio. The Chrysler auto plant will have a third shift in the coming months, so they get it. We are doing very well in north-west Ohio. "People understand what the president has done in the last four years and how it influenced on their live." Unemployment, he added, has steadily dropped from 10% to 7% and that improvement has been holding steady. The situation in Florida, he explained, is more complicated: "The problem in Florida is what happened to the housing industry. There is progress but (their) not out of the woods yet."