Bible Quotation for today/A Rest for God's People
Hebrews 03/07-16: " So then, as the Holy Spirit says, “If you hear God's voice today, do not be stubborn, as your ancestors were when they rebelled against God, as they were that day in the desert when they put him to the test. There they put me to the test and tried me, says God, although they had seen what I did for forty years.  And so I was angry with those people and said, ‘They are always disloyal and refuse to obey my commands.’  I was angry and made a solemn promise: ‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!’” My friends, be careful that none of you have a heart so evil and unbelieving that you will turn away from the living God.  Instead, in order that none of you be deceived by sin and become stubborn, you must help one another every day, as long as the word “Today” in the scripture applies to us.  For we are all partners with Christ if we hold firmly to the end the confidence we had at the beginning. This is what the scripture says: “If you hear God's voice today, do not be stubborn, as your ancestors were when they rebelled against God.” Who were the people who heard God's voice and rebelled against him? All those who were led out of Egypt by Moses. 17 With whom was God angry for forty years? With the people who sinned, who fell down dead in the desert.  When God made his solemn promise, “They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest”—of whom was he speaking? Of those who rebelled. 19 We see, then, that they were not able to enter the land, because they did not believe.
 

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Three Syrians for every Lebanese/By: Justin Salhani/Now Lebanon/April 21/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 21/13

Ban in 1559 Report: Agreement on Electoral Law Will Help Lebanon Face Spread of Syrian Crisis

Heavy clashes in Syria near Lebanese border

Report: Hizbullah Fighter Killed in Clashes in Syria

EU to Address Hizbullah Fighting Syria during Foreign Ministers Meeting Monday

Syria Prevents Trucks from Heading to Lebanon via Abboudiyeh Crossing
Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam: I Prefer to Step Down Instead of Forming a Failed Cabinet
Charbel Reiterates Calls for Donor Countries to Meet Pledges to Aid Syrian Refugees

Reports MEA plane hit by lightning false: sources
Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam refuses to initiate talks on cabinet formation
PSP rejects one-man one-vote system
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati Meets Berri: Salam Must Be Realistic in his Efforts to Form New Govt.

Northern Storm Brigade: Positive Breakthrough in Abductees Case within 10 Days

Two Shells Fired from Syria Hit Sahlat al-Mayy Village

Abou Faour Meets Berri: Discussions over New Govt. Have Not Reached Dead-End

Russian Deputy FM in Lebanon Wednesday

Hearing in Ain Alaq Bombing Set for May 24

Friends of Syria” meet under pressure to arm rebels
Iraq Holds First Polls since U.S. Pullout as Attacks Spike

The Tsarnaev brothers were double agents who decoyed US into terror trap

Chechnya Leader Blames Boston Bombing on American Special Services
U.S. Police Snare Boston Bomb Suspect after Huge Manhunt

Syrian Opposition Says Russia 'Out of Step' with History

U.S. Set to Boost 'Non-Lethal' Military Aid to Syria Rebels

U.S. Fears Arab Spring Hopes Being Crushed

 
Heavy clashes in Syria near Lebanese border
April 20, 2013/Daily Star
BEIRUT: Syrian troops backed by pro-government gunmen fought fierce battles with rebels on Saturday in a strategic area in Homs province near the Lebanese border, activists and state media in Damascus reported.
The latest fighting came as U.S. officials said the Obama administration was poised to send millions more in non-lethal military aid to rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad.
The clashes around the contested town of Qusair, close to the Syria-Lebanon boundary, had intensified over the past two weeks amid a fresh offensive by the Syrian army and a pro-government militia known as Popular Committees, backed by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. The border region near the provincial capital of Homs is strategic because it links Damascus with the coastal enclave that is the heartland of Syria's Alawites, a sect from which Assad hails, and is also home to the country's two main seaports, Latakia and Tartus.
The U.N. Security Council has been deadlocked for months on the Syrian war, and even the most modest attempts to end the bloodshed have failed. Western and many Arab nations blame the conflict on Assad's government. Russia insists on assigning equal blame for the suffering to the Syrian opposition and rebels fighting on the ground, and has cast vetoes, along with China, to block draft council resolutions. On Friday, U.S. officials in Washington said Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to announce a significant expansion of non-lethal military aid to the Syrian opposition at an international conference on Syria he will attend Saturday in Turkey. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview Kerry's announcement publicly.
Also, the European Union is looking for ways to bolster the forces fighting to oust Assad, and is set to ease its oil embargo on Syria, two diplomats said Friday. The decision would allow the import of oil production technology and the sale of crude from territory held by the Syrian opposition, in close coordination with the movement's leaders, the diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal decision by the bloc's 27 foreign ministers at a meeting Monday in Luxembourg.
On the Lebanese side of the border, schools were evacuated Saturday in the mostly Shiite villages of al-Qasr, Bouweydah and Hawch amid fears that Syria's rebels could target the residents. Later in the day, state-run National News Agency reported that two rockets fell near al-Qasr, causing material damage.
Last week, rockets from the Syrian side killed two people in Al-Qasr and Hawch. While Assad and top officials in his regime belong to the minority Alawites, most of the rebels belong to Syria's Sunni majority.
Syria's state-run news agency SANA said government troops gained control Saturday of four key villages - Qadesh, Mansourieh, Saadiyeh and Radwaniyeh - in Homs province. The villages are all close to Qusair.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were casualties on both sides but gave no specifics. The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said Syrian warplanes were taking part in the fighting. The Popular Committees were set up last year in Syria, with Hezbollah's backing, to protect Syrian villages inhabited by Lebanese Shiites. But even though Hezbollah confirms backing the Syrian militia, it denies taking part in Syria's civil war. Qusair witnessed anti-government protests and clashes between troops and rebels in the early days of the uprising against Assad's regime. The fighting intensified after the army launched a wide attack on the area in the past weeks. Regime troops last week captured a hill overlooking several towns in the area and the highway linking Damascus with the Mediterranean coast. On Thursday, government forces captured a town in the province and rebels seized a military base in the area. The Observatory also reported fighting and shelling on Saturday west of Damascus where the army has been attacking rebel positions in the areas of Jdaidet Artouz and Jdaidet al-Fadel. It said 69 people had been killed over the past four days there. Syria's conflict, which started as largely peaceful protests against Assad's government but later descended into civil war, has killed more than 70,000 people so far, according to the United Nations.Both activist groups, the Observatory and the LCC, also reported fighting Saturday in other areas, including Aleppo and Idlib in the north, Deir el-Zour to the east and Daraa in the south. SANA said a shell fell outside a sports club in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's largest and once commercial center, killing two children.

Ban in 1559 Report: Agreement on Electoral Law Will Help Lebanon Face Spread of Syrian Crisis
Naharnet/United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon noted that Lebanon is passing a critical phase due to the “dangerous challenges” caused by the Syrian crisis, reported the daily An Nahar Saturday. He said that an agreement over a the electoral process, in line with the constitution, will act as a main factor in protecting Lebanon from the repercussions of the Syrian crisis. He made his remarks in his half year report on Lebanon's implementation of United Nations Security Council resolution 1559. He added that the Lebanese powers' failure to reach an agreement over security appointments and a parliamentary electoral law will weaken Lebanon's ability to confront current challenges. The agreement over the electoral process will also help achieve stability and security throughout Lebanon, added Ban. He therefore renewed his call on all political leaderships to adhere to the Baabda Declaration, which emphasizes Lebanon's policy of disassociation from regional developments. Moreover, Ban urged Hizbullah to refrain from taking part in any fighting in Lebanon or Syria in line with the Taef Accord and resolution 1559. He also called on the Lebanese government and armed forces to take all necessary measures to prevent the party from obtaining arms outside of the authority of the state, also in line with the U.N. Security Council resolution. Syrian rebels have repeatedly accused Hizbullah of fighting alongside the Syrian regime in the country's ongoing conflict.
Syria's main opposition National Coalition called on Lebanon on Monday to control its frontiers, after rebels said they fired across the border in retaliation against Hizbullah. Hizbullah has systematically denied sending fighters into Syria, although its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged in October 2012 that party members had fought Syrian rebels but said they were acting as individuals and not under the group's direction. Meanwhile, residents of the Bekaa valley told AFP on Monday that the bodies of five Hizbullah fighters killed in Syria were brought back on Sunday and Monday for burial. "Yesterday, we buried a Hizbullah martyr, Assaad Ali Assaad, who was killed in Syria some days ago," said a resident of Khraybeh in the Bekaa. A security source in southern Lebanon meanwhile told AFP on condition of anonymity that four other fighters from the region had also been killed in Syria.

Reports MEA plane hit by lightning false: sources
April 20, 2013/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Reports that a Middle East Airlines aircraft was struck by lightning are false, sources from the Lebanese firm told The Daily Star Saturday. Several media reports said Saturday that an MEA plane was hit earlier in the day by lightning while it was landing at Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut on its return from Cairo. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the reports as false. The MEA said in a statement that all its aircraft were equipped to tackle varying environment conditions and there was no cause for alarm. “All Middle East Airlines planes are fitted with equipment allowing them to navigate in all sorts of environment conditions ... thus taking off and landing operations are running normally and there is nothing abnormal or worrisome,” a statement from the MEA’s Public Relations Department said.

Report: Hizbullah Fighter Killed in Clashes in Syria
Naharnet/A Hizbullah member was killed in the ongoing battles in the neighboring country Syria, media reports said on Saturday. According to MTV, Mohammed Asaad died recently in the clashes in Syria as European Union foreign ministers are set to discuss on Monday fears over Hizbullah's involvement in the battles. Hizbullah has announced several burials in past months, without elaborating on the circumstances of its members' deaths. The opposition March 14 camp and Syrian rebels have repeatedly accused Hizbullah of aiding the regime of President Bashar Assad militarily. Syria's conflict that erupted in March 2011, is believed to have killed more than 70,000 people. On Monday, Syria's main opposition National Coalition called on Lebanon to control its frontiers, after rebels said they fired across the border in retaliation against Hizbullah. The party has systematically denied sending fighters into Syria, although its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged in October 2012 that party members had fought Syrian rebels but said they were acting as individuals and not under the group's direction. In recent months, fighting has raged in and around several towns and villages inhabited by a community of some 15,000 Lebanese Shiites who have lived for decades on the Syrian side of a frontier that is not clearly demarcated in places and not fully controlled by border authorities. They are mostly Lebanese citizens, though some have dual citizenship or are Syrian. Before Syria's uprising erupted two years ago, tens

Syria Prevents Trucks from Heading to Lebanon via Abboudiyeh Crossing
Naharnet/Syrian authorities prevented, for the second day, trucks in Syria from heading to Lebanon, reported the National News Agency on Saturday.The authorities closed the Abboudiyeh border-crossing in northern Lebanon. The Arida border-crossing in the North was also shut before Syrian trucks seeking to sell their products in Lebanon. Syrian authorities explained that they took the decision to halt trucks from heading to Lebanon after objections were made over the abundance of Syrian vegetable imports in the Lebanese market. Lebanese farmers had warned that they would force Syrian trucks to return to their country in order to make room to sell their local products.

Two Shells Fired from Syria Hit Sahlat al-Mayy Village
Naharnet /Two shells from Syrian territories landed on Saturday in Sahlat al-Mayy region on the outskirts of the town of al-Qasr in northeast of the Hermel district. The state-run National News Agency reported that the shelling only caused material damage. The two-year long violence in Syria has increasingly spilled over into Lebanon, with cross-border shelling in the north and east. On Wednesday, Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdul Karim Ali denied that caretaker Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour had handed him a letter of protest over the recent cross-border attacks, playing down an attempt to file a complaint with the Arab League.
Top Lebanese leader had decided on Monday to submit to the Arab League a letter of protest condemning the spillover of fire from Syria onto Lebanon. The officials tasked Mansour with preparing documents and reports drafted by the army on the attacks on border towns and villages and refer them to the Arab League. Two people were killed and four others wounded when rockets fired from Syria landed in al-Qasr and Hosh al-Sayyed Ali regions in the northeastern Hermel district on Sunday. The rebels claimed to have fired the shells, blaming Hizbullah for firing from Lebanon and positions inside Syria on rebel-held areas in the strife-torn Qusayr area in Syria, near the border. However, recent raids on the northeastern town of Arsal and the northern district of Akkar have been likely carried out by Syrian regime troops. Ali claimed Wednesday that the Syrian regime hasn't bombarded Lebanese territories. “It has only responded to the sources of fire.”Syrian authorities had threatened to attack Lebanese territories if “terrorists” continue to infiltrate the country from Lebanon.
Lebanese parties are sharply divided over the developments in Syria despite the dissociation policy that was adopted by the state.

Russian Deputy FM in Lebanon Wednesday
Naharnet /Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Michael Bogdanov is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Wednesday on a visit where he is set to meet with a number of Lebanese officials. He is expected to meet with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Premier-designate Tammam Salam, as well as March 8 and 14 camp officials.Media reports said that Bogdanov is expected to inquire about various Lebanese opinions over local affairs and the Syrian crisis. Sources told al-Liwaa newspaper that the Russian official had scheduled his visit before Miqati's resignation on March 22. They revealed that he is set to deliver to Salam a message of support from Russia. Salam had conducted a series of consultations with various political powers in order to form a new cabinet. The March 14 forces are demanding the formation of a neutral government, while the rival March 8 forces are demanding a political one. Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has meanwhile announced that he opposes the establishment of a one-sided cabinet.

EU to Address Hizbullah Fighting Syria during Foreign Ministers Meeting Monday
Naharnet/Lebanon is set to be the focus of discussions at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers on Monday, announced the French Foreign Ministry on Friday. Western sources told An Nahar daily reported Saturday that the meeting, held in Brussels, stems from fears over Hizbullah's fighting in Syria. Hizbullah's involvement in the unrest, at Iran's behest, will “inevitably” have repercussions on the internal Lebanese scene, especially in light of Syrian shelling of Lebanese territories in recent weeks, they added. Meanwhile, EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst told al-Joumhouria daily Saturday that getting involved in fighting in regional countries violates the Lebanese government's policy of disassociation. Hizbullah must be aware of this and realize the consequences of its actions, she stressed. The EU will continue on supporting Lebanon, but its government should prevent fighters from heading to Syria, she demanded. Syria's main opposition National Coalition called on Lebanon on Monday to control its frontiers, after rebels said they fired across the border in retaliation against Hizbullah.
Rebel commanders confirmed insurgents had fired shells into the Bekaa valley's Hermel towns on Saturday and Sunday in retaliation to Hizbullah shelling of Syrian territories. The party has systematically denied sending fighters into Syria, although its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged in October 2012 that party members had fought Syrian rebels but said they were acting as individuals and not under the group's direction. Meanwhile, residents of the Bekaa valley told AFP on Monday that the bodies of five Hizbullah fighters killed in Syria were brought back on Sunday and Monday for burial. A security source in southern Lebanon meanwhile told AFP on condition of anonymity that four other fighters from the region had also been killed in Syria.

Hearing in Ain Alaq Bombing Set for May 24
Naharnet /A trial in the case of the 2007 Ain Alaq bombing took place on Friday. The trial took place against three suspects currently in custody and two others who are still at large, with the next hearing set for May 24. Friday's trial took place against Kamal al-Naasan, Yasser al-Shuqairi, and Mustapha Sio. Naasan was able to attend the session, while al-Shuqairi was not taken to the court due to a hunger strike is he is staging.
Sio was also unable to attend the hearing because of back pain. The in absentia trials took place against Shaker al-Abssi, the head of the Fatah al-Islam militant group, and Mubarak al-Naasan.
Three people were killed and at least 20 others were wounded in a the bombing of two buses in the town of Ain Alaq, south of Bikfaya, on February 13, 2007.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam: I Prefer to Step Down Instead of Forming a Failed Cabinet
Naharnet/Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam stressed that he prefers to step down from his post to form a new cabinet instead of forming one that fails the first test it faces, the As Safir daily quoted him as saying on Saturday. “I refuse to form a cabinet that fails the first hurdle and I prefer to excuse myself from the mission instead of failing,” he said. Salam, who was nominated this month to form a new cabinet, has taken a firm stand to form a government of national interest with a homogeneous team of ministers not involved in politics and that would guarantee fair parliamentary elections. However, he faces a difficult task in light of the March 8 alliance's insistence to form a national unity cabinet and the March 14 coalition's call for a government whose members are not running in the elections. Salam told the daily that he is ready to hear the opinions of all parties, slamming media reports claiming he rejected to set a meeting with the March 8 alliance and caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, saying: “I await their visit at any time they wish in order to listen to their viewpoints.”“I am a consensual person and everyone knows that,” he said. “The national interest I seek can only be achieved through consensus. I will not contact each bloc or figure separately, like my predecessors did, in order to avoid political debates or a possible quota formula that could lead to an inharmonious cabinet,” he added. On fears that a cabinet cannot be lined-up if consultations with political parties did not take place, Salam stressed: “I am ready to hold consultations with everyone.”

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati Meets Berri: Salam Must Be Realistic in his Efforts to Form New Govt.
Naharnet/Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Saturday the need for a new government to be formed “as soon as possible.”He said: “Premier-designate Tammam Salam should be realistic, not idealistic, in his efforts to form a new cabinet.” He made his remarks after holding talks at Ain el-Tineh with Speaker Nabih Berri. “We hope that we can overcome this difficult phase and lead Lebanon to safety,” he added.
Furthermore, he voiced his readiness to assist Salam in his attempts to form the government. Discussions between Miqati and Berri also addressed the ongoing efforts to reach an agreement over a new parliamentary electoral law. Salam had conducted a series of consultations with various political powers in order to form a new cabinet. The March 14 forces are demanding the formation of a neutral government, while the rival March 8 forces are demanding a political one. Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has meanwhile announced that he opposes the establishment of a one-sided cabinet. Salam has meanwhile asserted that he is seeking a government of national interests that is capable of staging and overseeing the elections and that is not comprised of political figures.

Northern Storm Brigade: Positive Breakthrough in Abductees Case within 10 Days
Naharnet/The case of the nine Lebanese abductees in Syria's Aazaz will witness an important positive breakthrough within the next 10 days, a spokesman for the Northern Storm Brigade said on Friday. And as he declined to clarify the nature of the declared breakthrough, the spokesman told Turkey's Anatolia news agency that “a list containing the names of dozens of Syrian women detainees will be submitted soon to the Syrian regime through mediators, in order to swap them for the nine Lebanese nationals.” Asked why it took so long to prepare the list, the spokesman said “the circumstances of the fighting against the Syrian regime in the Aazaz area were very difficult and intense over the past days.” He also noted that “those in charge of protecting the Lebanese were in areas in northern Syria where there is no power feed, the thing that delayed the process of communicating with the mediators and the parties concerned.”On March 1, the Northern Storm Brigade announced that it is willing to free the hostages in return for the release of all women detainees from the prisons of the Syrian regime.
“After several and repeated mediation efforts by international and humanitarian organizations and committees, we announce that we agree to free the nine Lebanese 'guests' in return for the release of all women detainees held in the prisons of Assad's gangs,” the Brigade said on its Facebook page. “This is our only demand and we do not want anything else, neither in public nor under the table,” the Brigade noted.
It said the swap deal must happen “in full coordination with the organizations and official committees that are seeking the release of the Lebanese guests, especially the Turkish state and the Arab Gulf countries, topped by the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Committee of Muslim Scholars in Lebanon.”The Brigade described its offer as “an initiative of brotherhood towards the Lebanese people.”
The families of the abductees have stepped up protests demanding their release in recent days. Earlier on Friday, the families briefly erected a tent near Turkish airlines in al-Azarieh building in downtown Beirut, preventing employees from entering its offices. On their second day of protests near the Turkish airlines offices, the families of the nine men called on President Michel Suleiman to take a firm stance concerning the matter and to press Turkish authorities to resolve this crisis. “Suleiman should summon Turkey's ambassador (Inan Ozyildiz),” protesters reiterated. They revealed that the abductees are in the custody of the Turkish intelligence.
“Our endeavors will not be halted and will escalate further,” they added. Adham Zogheib, the son of one of the kidnapped men, told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that protesters will keep on preventing Turkish refrigerated trucks from unloading shipments at the Karantina fish market, which began on Monday. On Thursday, the relatives of the nine men vowed to obstruct Turkish interests in Lebanon, calling on the citizens to boycott all Turkish products. They threatened to protest near Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport and to halt inbound and outbound flights. Eleven men were kidnapped in May 2012 in northern Syria's Aleppo province as they returned by land from a pilgrimage in Iran. Two of them were released in August and September. They were later taken to the Aleppo town of Aazaz. The kidnapping was claimed by a man who identified himself as Abu Ibrahim and says he is a member of the rebel Free Syrian Army, but the opposition group denies any involvement in the abductions. On Monday, the families scuffled with army troops during a protest they held near the Turkish embassy in Rabiyeh. Last week, the families of the pilgrims stopped Syrian workers in Beirut and its suburbs from going to work in a bid to put pressure on those holding their relatives.

Charbel Reiterates Calls for Donor Countries to Meet Pledges to Aid Syrian Refugees
Naharnet /Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel reiterated on Saturday calls for the donor Arab and other states to meet their promises and pay the aid set to assist with the influx of Syrian refugees.
“The friendly countries that pledged to aid us during Kuwait conference should swiftly meet their promises to enhance the conditions of the refugees,” Charbel said during a meeting at his ministry in the presence of UNHCR Representative in Lebanon Ninette Kelley. He also called on all countries to divide the burdens and to welcome as well Syrian refugees on their territories to share the responsibility.
Charbel pointed out that all the interior ministry agencies are on alert to carry out their duties within the available capabilities.He hailed the efforts undertaken by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees to aid the refugees and to ease their agonies. Lebanon appealed in January for $180 million from Arab countries to help it meet the Syrian refugee influx.The Lebanese government, which has promised to keep its border open to refugees, called in early December for 363 million dollars to cope with the influx.The Arab League decided to send a team to Syria's neighboring countries to assess the status of refugees ahead of a donor conference in Kuwait on January 30.
Around 97 percent of the refugees have fled to neighboring Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. The U.N. says more than 70,000 people have been killed in Syria's two-year conflict, which broke out after the army unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent, turning the uprising into a bloody insurgency. The number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon have soared to more than 400,000 the U.N.'s refugee body said in a recent report.

Iraq Holds First Polls since U.S. Pullout as Attacks Spike
Naharnet /Iraqis voted on Saturday in the country's first polls since U.S. troops departed, a key test of its stability in the face of a spike in attacks that has claimed more than 100 lives.
But the credibility of the provincial elections has come into question, with attacks on candidates leaving 14 dead and a third of Iraq's provinces -- all of them mainly Sunni Arab or Kurdish -- not even voting.
"I came this early because I was very excited to vote. I think some of the current provincial council members did not do a good job," university student Abdulsahib Ali Abdulsahib, 22, told AFP at a polling station in central Baghdad after voting began at about 7:00 am (0400 GMT). "Security is the most important problem that all of them should be working for; without this, life would be so difficult. I hope this is the first thing they work towards."
Voters were searched twice before being allowed to enter, and Iraqi security forces had a heavy presence in the area. Only pre-approved vehicles were allowed on the streets, largely deserted except for police and soldiers.
Security forces fielded large presences elsewhere in the country, but measures were toughest in Baghdad. Despite the tight restrictions, militants were still able to carry out attacks, though casualties were limited.
Overall, eight mortar rounds, one roadside bombing and three stun grenades, all outside Baghdad, left one policeman wounded, officials said.The elections are the first since parliamentary polls in March 2010 and also the first since U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011. An estimated 13.8 million Iraqis are eligible to vote for more than 8,000 candidates, with 378 seats being contested.
Every Iraqi who votes "is saying to the enemies of the political process that we are not going back," Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said on state television after casting his ballot at the Rasheed Hotel in Baghdad's heavily-fortified Green Zone. "I say to all those who are afraid for the future of Iraq and afraid of a return of violence and dictatorship that we will fight by casting ballots," Maliki said.
The polls are seen as a gauge of Maliki's popularity ahead of a general election next year, but major issues affecting voters such as poor public services and rampant corruption have largely been ignored during the campaign.
"I don't believe this election will provide a magic solution for the problems of Iraqis, and the problems in the country," said Ihsan al-Shammari, a politics professor at Baghdad University.
But, he said, a well-run vote with a high turnout could bolster Iraqi belief in democracy, a decade after U.S.-led forces ousted now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein.
The lead-up to the vote was blighted by a rise in violence that left more than 100 people dead in the past week and 14 election candidates killed since campaigning began.
Six of Iraq's 18 provinces are not participating -- two because authorities say security cannot be ensured, and four because of various political disagreements. Those two factors have led diplomats to worry about the credibility of the election, as they could result in a low voter turnout, leading to results that are unrepresentative or not broadly accepted. Iraqi forces were responsible for security on polling day, the first time they have been in charge without support from American or other international forces during elections since Saddam was toppled. While violence in Iraq has fallen significantly since the height of its sectarian war, it still faces significant security challenges, mainly from Sunni militants linked to Al-Qaida who launch attacks in a bid to undermine confidence in the Shiite-led government. Provincial councils are responsible for nominating governors who take charge of the provinces' administration, finances and reconstruction projects, and have sway over key local issues such as sewerage and other services. But while several contentious issues fall under the purview of the provinces, campaigning is rarely on ideological or policy lines. Candidates generally appeal to voters on the basis of shared sectarian, ethnic or tribal identities. Source Agence France Presse.

U.S. Police Snare Boston Bomb Suspect after Huge Manhunt
Naharnet/U.S. police on Friday captured an ethnic Chechen teenager suspected of staging the Boston Marathon bombings, after a desperate manhunt that virtually paralyzed the city and its suburbs.
Responding to a tip from a local resident, police found Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, hiding in a boat in a suburban backyard in Watertown, wounded and weary after a gun battle overnight in which his accomplice brother was killed.
"Captured!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won. Suspect in custody," the Boston police department said on Twitter after Tsarnaev was taken away to applause from relieved residents.
Hundreds of people later descended into the streets of Boston to celebrate, chanting: "USA! USA!" Some climbed onto car roofs while others danced in the streets.
A neighbor alerted police after finding Tsarnaev "covered with blood" in the boat where he had taken refuge, Boston police chief Ed Davis told reporters.
The University of Massachusetts student was surrounded by a small army of police for a final showdown which lasted nearly two hours. Attempts to negotiate with him failed as he was "not communicating," Davis said.
"We exchanged gunfire with the suspect who was inside the boat, and ultimately, the hostage rescue team of the FBI made an entry into the boat and removed the suspect," Davis told a press conference.
Following his capture, Tsarnaev was taken to hospital, where he was in serious condition.
"We will determine what happened. We will investigate any associations that these terrorists may have had. And we'll continue to do whatever we have to do to keep our people safe," President Barack Obama said after the capture. The arrest ended a dramatic four days after two bombs exploded at the marathon finish line, killing three people and wounding about 180 in the worst attack on the United States since the September 11, 2001 atrocities. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan were named as the main suspects. They were also at the center of a violent spree in which one policeman was killed and a second officer wounded.
The bombings traumatized the city with investigators at first seeming to be struggling to find the attackers.
A major breakthrough came when the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Thursday released video and picture images of the Tsarnaev brothers as they walked in Boylston Street where the attacks took place.
Within hours of that press conference, the brothers embarked on a final rampage through the Boston suburbs.
A police officer was killed in a "vicious assassination," Davis said, and the suspects then carjacked a Mercedes, sparking a high-speed police chase to Watertown.
Police said the two men hurled explosives out of the car window before the elder brother was shot. Tamerlan Tsarnaev died of bullet wounds and injuries from explosives strapped to his body, a hospital doctor said.
Police launched a huge manhunt on Friday with 9,000 police surrounding Watertown and parts of nearby districts hoping to isolate the teenager who was believed wounded in the shootout in which his brother was killed.
Boston ground to a standstill as authorities halted all public transport, ordered schools and universities closed and told people in most of the region to stay in their homes.
The Tsarnaev brothers are ethnic Chechen Muslims who moved to the United States about a decade ago. Their social media pages appeared to express sympathy with the struggle of Chechnya, which has been ravaged by two wars since 1994 between Russia and increasingly Islamist-leaning separatist rebels.
The suspects' father Anzor Tsarnaev told Russia's Interfax news agency his sons had been "set up by the secret services because they are practicing Muslims." But an uncle, Ruslan Tsarni said the pair had put "shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity." "Somebody radicalized them," he said of his nephews. "It's not my brother."The FBI acknowledged on Friday that an unnamed foreign government had asked about Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011 but they had found no key information. Obama said the bombing suspects had failed to achieve whatever it was they were seeking. "They failed because the people of Boston refused to be intimidated," he said. "They failed because as Americans, we refuse to be terrorized." Boston has held emotional tributes to the dead -- eight-year-old Martin Richard, Boston University graduate student Lu Lingzi of China and Krystle Campbell, a restaurant manager.
More than 100 of the wounded have left Boston hospitals and fewer than 10 remain in critical condition. Source Agence France Presse.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam refuses to initiate talks on cabinet formation
Now Lebanon/Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam said that his door “is open for political parties to present their suggestions on the cabinet formation,” adding, however, that he would not do the initiative to call parties himself. “I will not do what my predecessors did and call every [parliamentary] bloc and every personality as [was] customary, and enter the bazaar of distributing ministerial shares to parties, [because] this would lead to an unharmonious cabinet, which ministers would disagree during their first session,” Salam told As-Safir newspaper. “I refuse to form a cabinet that would fail on the first occasion, I’d rather abdicate than fail,” the designate-PM said. Salam also denied reports that he had refused to set an appointment to meet with representatives of the March 8 coalition or with Caretaker Energy Minister Gebran Bassil. “[These are rumors], I am waiting for their visit anytime they want and listen to their opinion,” Salam said. Lebanon is awaiting the formation of a new government after caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced his resignation last month citing differences within his cabinet over electoral and security issues. PM-designate Tammam Salam’s efforts to form a new government are still on-going following several days of discussions with the country’s MPs and political forces.

Friends of Syria” meet under pressure to arm rebels
AFP /The main international backers of Syria's opposition gather in Istanbul on Saturday with the rebels hoping Western and Arab countries will step up their support, including with arms.
The 11-nation core group of the "Friends of Syria" -- including the United States, European nations and Arab countries -- will hold talks with key figures in the opposition battling President Bashar al-Assad.The group has so far struggled to come up with a united strategy to end the violence in Syria, despite fighting that has seen more than 70,000 killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes.
The opposition is pressing its foreign allies to supply arms to the rebels, but analysts said it was unlikely Saturday's meeting will mark a major breakthrough.
Speaking to US lawmakers this week, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the talks would be an effort to "get everybody on the same page," but also voiced caution.
"We're trying to proceed carefully, to make sure that we're not contributing to a worse mess, but that we're actually finding a constructive path forward," Kerry said.
A senior US official said late Friday that Kerry would propose boosting Washington's non-lethal aid to the rebels at the Istanbul meeting.
The aid would be for "moderate opposition groups, including the Syrian Opposition Coalition, local councils, civil society organizations and the Supreme Military Council," a senior State Department official told reporters.
US media reports have already suggested Washington was preparing to provide battlefield gear to the rebels such as body armor, vehicles and night-vision goggles, but not arms.
Many in the West have raised concerns about arming the rebels, fearing weapons could fall into the hands of Islamist groups like the Al-Nusra Front, which this month pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda.
Britain and France have been pushing for a European Union arms embargo to be allowed to expire by the end of May, but have appeared more wary since the Al-Qaeda pledge.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told European lawmakers this week there is a "whole series of arguments" on both sides of the arms debate and that the issue would be discussed in Istanbul.
Supporters of arms supplies have said the rise of Islamist groups like Al-Nusra is only a stronger argument for providing weapons to more moderate voices in the Syrian opposition.
Among opposition figures expected to attend the talks are Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, the outgoing head of the main opposition Syrian National Coalition, and Ghassan Hitto, who last month was picked as prime minister of an opposition interim government. Analysts said much of the talk would focus on getting the transitional government up and running in areas of Syria under rebel control, mainly in the north. Salman Shaikh, the director of the Brookings Doha Center, said the meeting was coming at a "crucial time" after Hitto's election. He said he expected talks to focus on how to help the interim government build its capacity to rule and provide humanitarian aid.
"The truth is they [the interim government] are not a factor on the ground and they won't have any credibility until they are," he said. "They've got a very long way to go." Michael Stephens, a Qatar-based researcher for the RUSI think tank, said he doubted there would be any movement on meeting the rebels' demands for arms. "That debate is still well and truly stuck in the mud," he said.
Many have accused the Friends of Syria of dithering while the country burns, with Shaikh dubbing the group "The Coalition of the Unwilling." Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov of Russia, which has been Assad's strongest diplomatic backer, said this week the group was making a "negative contribution" by undermining efforts at political dialogue. But Stephens said the gatherings were still important. "These meetings have to keep happening in order for there to be any hope of anything other than endless war," he said.

PSP rejects one-man one-vote system
National Struggle Front MP Akram Chehayeb said in remarks published on Saturday that his party rejects an electoral law proposal based on the one-man one-vote system. During an interview with As-Safir newspaper, Chehayeb, who represents the Progressive Socialist Party, reiterated his call for the mixed electoral law. He also called for resolving the disagreement among Lebanese parties on the electoral law issue. The mixed electoral law proposal is based on majoritarian voting in 26 electoral districts and proportional voting in 9 other districts. Lebanon’s politicians have been working to hammer out a deal that would tackle the issue of fast-approaching technical deadlines on candidacy registration and other technical procedures. March 14 and PSP figures have expressed fears that a suspension of deadlines would cancel the 1960 law without an alternative in place.

Three Syrians for every Lebanese
Justin Salhani/Now Lebanon/After war has forced many of them from their homes, Syrians in Lebanon have found themselves heavily exploited by locals for labor, sometimes working for as little as half or even a third the minimum cost of a Lebanese worker. In addition to the detrimental effect this practice has on Syrians barely able to make ends meet. it has also sparked resentment from mostly lower-class Lebanese workers.
Ibrahim Mustafa runs the Tripoli branch of a charity named Tawasol out of his shop. Tawasol aims to help the less fortunate residents of Tripoli and its environs but has recently taken a firm focus on impoverished refugees. According to Mustafa, hiring Syrians to work for less money than Lebanese is rife, even if the Syrians are more qualified. Mustafa told NOW the story of a refugee who owned his own shop where he performed steel work in Syria. His talent apparent, a Lebanese shop owner hired him. The Syrian soon found out his salary was only two-thirds that of the other workers, despite being the most talented of the employees.
“The shop owner told him he only received that much because of his talent,” said Mustafa. The shop owner told the Syrian if he didn’t like it, he could leave and be replaced by two other Syrians for the same price he is being paid. Labor rights activist Bassem Sheet says the discrimination faced by Syrian refugees trying to make a living is racism. “It’s not something new,” said Sheet, “it’s been there since forever, and it’s not only [against] the refugees but any non-European foreigner.” Hussein Jaffar, from the town of Baalbek in the Bekaa Valley, told NOW that these problems have been exacerbated by the war in Syria. “We used to just have the men come live and work here, but now because of the war they’ve brought their families,” he said.Most refugees are being paid less than minimum wage in a country where even many with masters’ degrees struggle to pay their own rent. And with them willing to work for such low salaries, many Lebanese employers have begun selecting Syrians over Lebanese in certain service industries.
The result has been resentment from Lebanese that are not making as much money as they have in the past.
“Lebanese people who are losing their jobs are attacking Syrian workers and shops,” said Ahmad Dirani of the Lebanese Labor Monitor.
NOW encountered numerous stories of Lebanese nationals verbally and sometimes even physically assaulting Syrians. A young Syrian woman said she fled the Lebanese town of Zahle after school-aged children yelled obscenities at her multiple times. A man in Tripoli told NOW gangs of Lebanese have threatened him in the past simply because he works selling oranges by the side of the road.
Sheet, though, believes Lebanese should stop blaming Syrians and look at their compatriots. “The same Lebanese employer who hires a Syrian for half price says the problem is the Lebanese economy and Lebanese workers are not finding jobs in this economy,” said Sheet. “Basically they hire and exploit these workers just for profit.” Dirani agrees, “[Lebanese] should be attacking their government and their labor law which does not protect them against business men and employers wanting to make big profits.”He added that there was no legal framework to prevent Lebanese from current hiring practices.
“Migrant work should be regulated by a certain number of work permits delivered by the Ministry of Labor and depending on the market need,” he said, adding that this type of regulation does not exist due to corruption and other factors. The Ministry of Labor did not respond to NOW’s request for an interview. Sheet said that the problem went deeper than simply passing legislation. “The solution should be on many different levels,” he said. “The first step is eradicating any institutional racism that exists in Lebanese labor laws or working laws. The ideal thing would be to force all employers to register all employees with [the National Social Security Fund], whether they are Lebanese or non-Lebanese. The [NSSF] fund is a right for every worker and every employer should be forced to register employees.”Sheet said that unfortunately for the time being, the government isn’t doing enough to combat institutional racism. However, he noted that certain civil campaigns and movements are “putting light on breaches of human and worker’s rights,” though a large scale movement hasn’t materialized to date.
Additional reporting by Yara Chehayed (@yarachehayed)

The Tsarnaev brothers were double agents who decoyed US into terror trap
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis April 20, 2013/
The big questions buzzing over Boston Bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have a single answer: It emerged in the 102 tense hours between the twin Boston Marathon bombings Monday, April 15 – which left three dead, 180 injured and a police officer killed at MIT - and Dzohkhar’s capture Friday, April 19 in Watertown. The conclusion reached by DEBKAfile’s counterterrorism and intelligence sources is that the brothers were double agents, hired by US and Saudi intelligence to penetrate the Wahhabi jihadist networks which, helped by Saudi financial institutions, had spread across the restive Russian Caucasian.
Instead, the two former Chechens betrayed their mission and went secretly over to the radical Islamist networks. By this tortuous path, the brothers earned the dubious distinction of being the first terrorist operatives to import al Qaeda terror to the United States through a winding route outside the Middle East – the Caucasus. This broad region encompasses the autonomous or semi-autonomous Muslim republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya, North Ossetia and Karachyevo-Cherkesiya, most of which the West has never heard of. Moscow however keeps these republics on a tight military and intelligence leash, constantly putting down violent resistance by the Wahhabist cells, which draw support from certain Saudi sources and funds from the Riyadh government for building Wahhabist mosques and schools to disseminate the state religion of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis feared that their convoluted involvement in the Caucasus would come embarrassingly to light when a Saudi student was questioned about his involvement in the bombng attacks while in a Boston hospital with badly burned hands. They were concerned to enough to send Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal to Washington Wednesday, April 17, in the middle of the Boston Marathon bombing crisis, for a private conversation with President Barack Obama and his national security adviser Tom Donilon on how to handle the Saudi angle of the bombing attack.
That day too, official Saudi domestic media launched an extraordinary three-day campaign. National and religious figures stood up and maintained that authentic Saudi Wahhabism does not espouse any form of terrorism or suicide jihadism and the national Saudi religion had nothing to do with the violence in Boston. “No matter what the nationality and religious of the perpetrators, they are terrorists and deviants who represent no one but themselves.” Prince Saud was on a mission to clear the 30,000 Saudi students in America of suspicion of engaging in terrorism for their country or religion, a taint which still lingers twelve years after 9/11. He was concerned that exposure of the Tsarnaev brothers’ connections with Wahhabist groups in the Caucasus would revive the stigma.
The Tsarnaevs' recruitment by US intelligence as penetration agents against terrorist networks in southern Russia explains some otherwise baffling features of the event:
1. An elite American college in Cambridge admitted younger brother Dzhokhar and granted him a $2,500 scholarship, without subjecting him to the exceptionally stiff standard conditions of admission. This may be explained by his older brother Tamerlan demanding this privilege for his kid brother in part payment for recruitment. 2. When in 2011, a “foreign government” (Russian intelligence) asked the FBI to screen Tamerlan for suspected ties to Caucasian Wahhabist cells during a period in which they had begun pledging allegiance to al Qaeda, the agency, it was officially revealed, found nothing incriminating against him and let him go after a short interview.
He was not placed under surveillance. Neither was there any attempt to hide the fact that he paid a long visit to Russia last year and on his return began promoting radical Islam on social media.
Yet even after the Boston marathon bombings, when law enforcement agencies, heavily reinforced by federal and state personnel, desperately hunted the perpetrators, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was never mentioned as a possible suspect 3. Friday, four days after the twin explosions at the marathon finishing line, the FBI released footage of Suspect No. 1 in a black hat and Suspect No. 2 in a white hat walking briskly away from the crime scene, and appealed to the public to help the authorities identify the pair.
We now know this was a charade. The authorities knew exactly who they were. Suddenly, during the police pursuit of their getaway car from the MIT campus on Friday, they were fully identified. The brother who was killed in the chase was named Tamerlan, aged 26, and the one who escaped, only to be hunted down Saturday night hiding in a boat, was 19-year old Dzhokhar.
Our intelligence sources say that we may never know more than we do today about the Boston terrorist outrage which shook America – and most strikingly, Washington - this week. We may not have the full story of when and how the Chechen brothers were recruited by US intelligence as penetration agents – any more than we have got to the bottom of tales of other American double agents who turned coat and bit their recruiters.
Here is just a short list of some of the Chechen brothers’ two-faced predecessors:

In the 1980s, an Egyptian called Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed offered his services as a spy to the CIA residence in Cairo. He was hired, even though he was at the time the official interpreter of Ayman al-Zuwahiri, then Osama bin Laden’s senior lieutenant and currently his successor.
He accounted for this by posing as a defector. But then, he turned out to be feeding al Qaeda US military secrets. Later, he was charged with Al Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam.
On Dec. 30, 2009, the Jordanian physician Humam Khalil al-Balawi, having gained the trust of US intelligence in Afghanistan as an agent capable of penetrating al Qaeda’s top ranks, detonated a bomb at a prearranged rendezvous in Kost, killing the four top CIA agents in the country. Then, there was the French Muslim Mohamed Merah. He was recruited by French intelligence to penetrate Islamist terror cells in at least eight countries, including the Caucasus. At the end of last year, he revealed his true spots in deadly attacks on a Jewish school in Toulouse and a group of French military commandoes.
The debate has begun over the interrogation of the captured Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarmayev when he is fit for questioning after surgery for two bullet wounds and loss of blood. The first was inflicted during the police chase in which his brother Tamerlan was killed. An ordinary suspect would be read his rights (Miranda) and be permitted a lawyer. In his case, the “public safety exemption” option may be invoked, permitting him to be questioned without those rights, provided the interrogation is restricted to immediate public safety concerns. President Barack Obama is also entitled to rule him an “enemy combatant” and so refer him to a military tribunal and unrestricted grilling. According to DEBKAfile’s counter terror sources, four questions should top the interrogators' agenda: a) At what date did the Tsarnaev brothers turn coat and decide to work for Caucasian Wahhabi networks?

b) Did they round up recruits for those networks in the United States - particularly, among the Caucasian and Saudi communities?
c) What was the exact purpose of the Boston Marathon bombings and their aftermath at MIT in Watertown?
d) Are any more terrorist attacks in the works in other American cities?