LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 25/2013

Bible Quotation for today/Do not judge others,
Luke 06/36-41: " Judging Others “Do not judge others, and God will not judge you; do not condemn others, and God will not condemn you; forgive others, and God will forgive you. Give to others, and God will give to you. Indeed, you will receive a full measure, a generous helping, poured into your hands—all that you can hold. The measure you use for others is the one that God will use for you.” And Jesus told them this parable: “One blind man cannot lead another one; if he does, both will fall into a ditch. 40 No pupils are greater than their teacher; but all pupils, when they have completed their training, will be like their teacher.1 “Why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but pay no attention to the log in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Please, brother, let me take that speck out of your eye,’ yet cannot even see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."

EU Experts call for action against Hezbollah
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=304403
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT 02/25/2013/
In light of Lebanese-Swedish man's confession to membership in Hezbollah, Swedish and Dutch experts warn of new dangers. BERLIN – Since Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, a Lebanese-Swedish man, confessed to membership in Hezbollah last week in a Cypriot criminal court proceeding, close observers of the radical Islamic group have been warning of new dangers if the group is not sanctioned.
”Terrorism is terrorism. But where it concerns the terrorist organization Hezbollah, Europe has been, and still is, a giant ostrich,” Wim Kortenoeven, a former Dutch MP and one of the Netherland’s leading Middle East experts, told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. “I fear that the European citizens are going to pay a very heavy price for this dangerous policy.”Kortenoeven added that Hezbollah and its terrorist Iranian masters are not only the enemies of the Jewish people and the Jewish State, but also of Europe and Western civilization as a whole.
“If these menacing forces are not defeated by us, they will eventually defeat us. The next Hezbollah bombing target might not be Jewish, but the Channel Tunnel or Disneyland near Paris,” he said.
Hezbollah provided financial payments, as well as weapons training, to Yaacoub to carry out tracking of Israeli flight and tourist movements on the Island, according to his own testimony.
Cyprus authorities allege Yaacoub sought to mount terror attacks against Israelis. The defendant denies planning to participate in terror acts against Israelis.
Lisa Abramowicz, secretary-general of the Swedish-Israel Information Center, told the Post that it’s time for the “EU to call a spade a spade.”
“Hezbollah is a terror organization and should be listed as such by the EU, same as the USA and Canada. It is especially important for Sweden to push for this, as two Swedish citizens have been charged with being responsible for the attack and the planning for a similar attack,” she said.
The EU’s refusal to designate Hezbollah a terror entity attracted attention last week in the US media.
The New York Daily News editorialized on Saturday “Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, plain and simple,” and asked and answered its own question: “Should the continent’s authorities systematically choke off Hezbollah’s extensive European fund-raising networks? A trial in Cyprus screams the answer louder than any white paper or hearing could: Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.”Writing in his New York Post column, the Mideast commentator Benny Avni noted last week, “Not all Europeans are so wishy-washy.
The Netherlands, for one, unilaterally put Hezbollah on its terrorist list back in 2008. And Britain is now lobbying the entire EU to do the same. As are Canada and the Obama administration, which deserves some kudos.”

Christian parties, Hezbollah and Amal firm on Orthodox plan
February 25, 2013 /By Hasan Lakkis/The Daily Star
Opposition and majority sources told The Daily Star that ongoing talks have not yet broken the deadlock over a new electoral law but said this week could be decisive.
Free Patriotic Movement MP Alain Aoun told The Daily Star that no one had contacted FPM leader Michel Aoun or any other FPM official to discuss the topic in the past few days, adding that the party had not changed its support for the Orthodox Gathering’s proposal, which would restrict voters’ choices to MPs from their own sect. Parliamentary sources from the Lebanese Forces also said their stance in favor of the Orthodox draft was firm. They added that the party’s MPs planned to vote for the law in the General Assembly, and would not back any other law unless it provided fair representation for Christians in line with the Taif Accord.
As for Kataeb, leader Amin Gemayel affirmed that it also backed the Orthodox proposal, but added that the party had its own draft.
Sources from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement assured The Daily Star that they were firm in their backing of the draft, and would vote for it in Parliament because they believed it allayed the concerns of the country’s Christians. A media official from Bkirki said that the Maronite Church was also in favor of the draft, adding that it was open to other ideas that provide fair representation for Christians.
But despite this harmony among Christians parties and Hezbollah and Amal, the Future Movement and Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party remain opposed to the Orthodox Gathering’s suggestion, and sources said they planned to propose their own joint draft and remained open to ideas from Speaker Nabih Berri.
Parliamentary sources from the majority who took part in the meetings of a Parliament subcommittee on the electoral law said time had run out for an in-depth discussion of a new law, and that if Jumblatt and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri truly believe Berri can broker a deal, they should accept the draft law MP Ali Bazzi proposed on behalf of Berri’s bloc. This hybrid law calls for 64 MPs to be elected by proportional representation and 64 by a winner-takes-all system. The sources said if Hariri and Jumblatt accepted this proposal, Amal and Hezbollah might be able to convince their Christian allies in the FPM and the Marada Movement to abandon the Orthodox proposal. But the sources acknowledged the challenges in such a move, given that Aoun said last week Berri’s proposal did not meet his expectations.
The sources said the majority could vote the Orthodox law through Parliament because of the added backing of the LF and Kataeb parties, despite warnings that President Michel Sleiman would challenge the law in the Constitutional Council.The sources also expressed confidence that the current legislation, referred to as the “1960 law,” would not be used, given that they were blocking the Cabinet from appointing an election supervisory committee in line with this law. But independent parliamentary sources doubted that the proposal would make it through Parliament, saying Berri’s hybrid draft was the only way out of the crisis.

Maronite patriarch asks whether officials have a conscience
February 25, 2013/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The Maronite patriarch used his Sunday sermon to lash out at government officials for their performance in dealing with illegal weapons, kidnappings and several other issues, asking whether they had a “conscience.” Speaking in Bkirki, Beshara Rai addressed politicians and asked pointedly, “Where are your consciences, when illegal weapons, enjoying political cover, spread throughout the country? The authority of the state is receding dramatically as innocent people, young and old, are being kidnapped in exchange for ransoms.” A report on the recent spate of kidnappings written by the country’s three main security bodies was referred to the country’s leaders, security sources told The Daily Star. The report was sent to President Michel Sleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, as well as relevant security and judicial officials, the sources said.
The report, which was compiled by the Internal Security Forces, the Lebanese Army and General Security, and published by An-Nahar newspaper Saturday, said various gangs were behind the spree of kidnappings that has recently disturbed stability. It added that the security forces were able to identify 37 members of such gangs, which operate across Lebanon and control their activity from various towns.
“These gang members control their activity from private lairs in their hometowns,” said the report. “These gang members also have branches in the southern suburbs of Beirut and they hire former detainees or wanted people to work with them,” it added.
According to the report, the gangsters are of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationalities.
Since last year a spree of kidnappings has targeted a number of businessmen, women and even children.
The patriarch challenged officials to acknowledge that they were unable to handle their responsibilities as a whole, and “take as an example the courageous decision” of Pope Benedict XVI to relinquish his duties as pontiff.
“Are you truly able of carrying out your weighty responsibilities? Is your professional conscience at ease, when the political crisis paralyzes the country and threatens the existence of this nation?” Rai asked.
“After years of study in committee and the putting forward of proposals, you are unable to author a [parliamentary] election law,” the patriarch said. “If the elections do not take place on time, God forbid, you will have done away with the final aspect of democracy, namely rotation of power.”
Rai and leading Christian parties have advocated the adoption of an election law proposal that would see each sect elect its own MPs, but Parliament has yet to endorse the legislation, threatening a postponement of the June polls. The patriarch lashed out at officials’ performance on the economy, asking, “Where are your consciences when poverty eats away at the overwhelming majority of the people and our country’s economy faces a frightening collapse?”Rai complained that corruption and the squandering of public funds were rampant, while a series of strikes, which have targeted the education sector, was causing difficulties for tens of thousands of students and their families.“Is your professional conscience at ease because of the strikes by teachers and closure of schools, and thus the punishment of students and their parents, and educational programs?”
Rai also criticized what he said was a “heretical” call for enacting retroactive pay raises for teachers, because this would lead to the closure of private schools. “It will fan strife between the school administrations and the parents,” the patriarch warned. An open strike at public and private schools began last week, to pressure the government into sending the pay raise legislation to Parliament, although private schools have not uniformly heeded the strike call. School administrations have warned that they would increase tuition fees if Parliament enacts the wage hike. Turning to Syria, Rai urged the warring sides in Lebanon’s neighbor to accept negotiations in order to halt the “bleeding” that was threatening Syria and Lebanon. “Where are the consciences of those who are fighting? They are not stopping their crimes against humanity, and they are not sitting down at the negotiation table to have mercy on their people, their country and their future,” Raid said.The patriarch also urged Lebanese officials to act swiftly to protect the country from the dangers resulting from the war in Syria. He warned that the current figure of more than 300,000 refugees, officially registered with the United Nations, could rise to 700,000 by June, while another 50,000 Palestinians had also fled to Lebanon from the fighting in Syria.
“Do our officials ask about the future of Lebanon in terms of security, society, demographics, politics and culture amid this displacement [of Syrians]?” Must Lebanon bear all of the misfortunes of the war in Syria? How will our country be protected in the face of these repercussions, and this war?”

Tension high after Syria army kills four in Lebanon
February 25, 2013/The Daily Star
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Lebanon’s president and prime minister urged Syria Sunday to stop shelling Lebanese territory after four Lebanese were killed by gunfire from the Syrian side of the border, in incidents that heightened tensions on the two neighbors’ frontier.The renewal of deadly incidents on the Lebanese-Syrian border, which had claimed the lives of several Lebanese citizens last year, evoked fresh calls by the opposition March 14 parties for the deployment of the Lebanese Army and U.N. troops along the two countries’ common boundaries. President Michel Sleiman voiced regret over the death of Lebanese citizens by Syrian shelling in the northern Wadi Khaled region and the village of Heesha near the border with Syria, while Prime Minister Najib Mikati asked Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to protest to Syrian authorities over these incidents. “[Sleiman] stressed the need to remain committed to the neutral stance [of Lebanon] which calls for not interfering in the affairs of other countries, particularly Syria,” according to a statement released by the president’s office. Sleiman also urged the Syrian side “to refrain from shooting or firing shells toward Lebanese territory,” the statement said. It added that Sleiman made a series of contacts with concerned officials and asked the relevant security agencies to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incidents. Mikati condemned the shelling of Lebanese border areas, notably Wadi Khaled, as a result of clashes between the Syrian army and rebel groups in Syrian territory close to the border and called on Damascus to prevent a recurrence of these incidents.“We deplore the death of Lebanese victims as a result of incidents with which they have nothing to do. We call on the relevant Syrian authorities to take the appropriate measures to prevent a repetition of such acts,” Mikati said in a statement released by his office.
He added that he had asked Mansour to officially inform the Syrian authorities of Lebanon’s rejection of these incidents and its demand that they should not recur.
Heavy shelling and gunfire from the Syrian side of the border with Lebanon over the weekend claimed the lives of four Lebanese in the Wadi Khaled region, raising tensions in the northern area.
The shelling, described by residents of Wadi Khaled as unprecedented, targeted Heesha and villages in the northern region, where sporadic incidents linked to the nearly two-year conflict in Syria have occurred in the past. Ahmad Shihab, a member of Heesha Municipality Council, was killed in overnight shelling, residents of the area said, adding that his brother, Hani, also died from shrapnel wounds, villagers said.
Elsewhere in Wadi Khaled, residents said Hussein Ismail was also killed when a hail of bullets ripped through his vehicle while he was returning home with his brother Saturday. Heavy shelling on several border villages soon ensued, they added.
Ismail, 40, was the nephew of former MP Jamal Ismail and served as his uncle’s personal driver, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Residents of Wadi Khaled, who say the attacks from the Syrian side of the border are selective, said the weekend violence was unjustified as there had been no gunmen or reason to provoke such a response.
AFP, quoting a Lebanese security source, said fierce fighting erupted Saturday night on the Syria-Lebanon border between Syrian troops and unknown gunmen, leaving a Lebanese man dead and four wounded. The Syrian army used artillery, mortars and automatic weapons fired from the Syrian village of Mcherfe as they clashed with the gunmen, the source said. He was unable to say whether the gunmen were Lebanese or Syrians opposed to the regime of President Bashar Assad.The Lebanese Army said a man it identified as Hussein Mohammad Ezzo was shot in the head Saturday night in Bqaiya, which borders Syria. He was transported to a hospital but later died from his injuries, the military said in a statement, adding that troops were deployed to the area after the incident. The Army statement did not say how Ezzo was shot in the head.
However, Akkar MP Mouin Merhebi said Ezzo had been killed by sniper fire from the Syrian side of the border and appealed to Sleiman to order the Army deployment on the Lebanese-Syrian frontier. He also demanded that U.N. troops be deployed on the border in order to prevent Syrian attacks on Lebanese villages.
“We condemn the killing by Assad’s gangs of Akkar resident Hussein Ezzo in Wadi Khaled by sniper fire while he was moving in his village,” Merhebi said.
Merhebi, a member of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc, deplored what he called “negligence” by the Lebanese Army and the government to deploy troops on the border in to order to protect citizens from Syrian attacks. “In the face of these attacks, I call on the president, who is the supreme commander in chief of the armed forces, to fulfill the oath he took to protect the country and people by issuing clear orders to our national Lebanese Army to deploy on the border and ask the United Nations to implement Security Council Resolution 1701 under Chapter Seven by seeking the assistance of U.N. troops to protect our exposed territory,” he said. Future lawmakers and some March 14 MPs have called for the deployment of U.N. troops along the border to better monitor the poorly demarcated frontier as well as prevent Syrian incursions into Lebanese territory.
For his part, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said the government had failed to implement its policy to disassociate Lebanon from the developments in Syria, which led rival Lebanese factions to get involved in the bloody conflict there.“Hezbollah is fighting inside Syria on Iran’s orders. ... The Lebanese government has failed to implement the disassociation policy, which prompted parties in the March 14 coalition to fight alongside the Syrian people,” Jumblatt said in an interview with Al-Jazeera television.Meanwhile, hundreds of residents, as well as a group of Muslim scholars and preachers, gathered at the entrance of the Bekaa town of Deir Zannoun Saturday, holding Syrian rebel flags and vowing to block the road leading to the Masnaa border crossing in order to prevent the passage of 11 Syrian tanker trucks loaded with fuel from driving to Syria, security sources told The Daily Star.Similar protests broke out earlier this month in north Lebanon as residents blocked the way of trucks heading to the Arida border crossing. Protesters say that they are against such trucks entering Syria because the fuel they load from Lebanon will go to the Syrian regime to aid its violent crackdown on a popular uprising.

Rival Lebanese groups fighting in Syria: Jumblatt
February 24, 2013/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Rival Lebanese groups are fighting in Syria – some in support of President Bashar Assad and others against the embattled leader – Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblatt told Al-Jazeera television in an interview to be aired Monday.“Hezbollah is fighting inside Syria with orders from Iran,” Jumblatt said, adding that a failure by the Lebanese government to implement its dissociation policy had also “prompted parties in the March 14 coalition to fight alongside the Syrian people.”Lebanon has adopted a policy of disassociation, which aims to help keep the country neutralized from regional developments, particularly in Syria, given the local divisions over the crisis. Jumblatt’s remarks come days after the Free Syrian Army accused Hezbollah of fighting alongside Assad loyalists and warned it not to attack rebels in villages near the border with Lebanon. Three members of Hezbollah and 12 Syrian fighters were killed last week during battles in the Syrian town of Al-Qusair, northeast of Lebanon, security sources told The Daily Star.
Both Hezbollah and March 14 groups deny any military involvement in the crisis in Lebanon’s neighbor. Although denying any participation in the fighting in Syria, Hezbollah has said that in a number of Syrian border villages with mainly Lebanese Shiite Lebanese, residents have been forced to defend themselves against rebel attacks but not upon the request of the resistance group.The March 14 coalition says its support to the uprising in Syria in based purely on moral and humanitarian grounds. Jumblatt, who also commented on the upcoming elections in Lebanon, said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri was keen on political parties reaching consensus on a new electoral law to govern to June polls. He told the television station that “he has information indicating Speaker Nabih Berri will not allow the approval of the Orthodox Gathering law, which mandates that each sect elect their own MPs, because the components of the Lebanese people are absent from it.”“Berri is keen on consensus in Lebanon,” Jumblatt was quoted as saying.The main Christian parties have thrown their support behind the Orthodox Gathering proposal, which is also backed by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. The proposal, however, has been fiercely rejected by the Future Movement, the PSP, the country’s president and the prime minister as well a number of independent Christian MPs.Opponents of the Orthodox Gathering law argue it would only deepen existing sectarian divisions in the country and allow for the rise of extremists.The lack of agreement over a new electoral law for the June parliamentary elections has raised concerns on whether the elections will be held on time, possibly paving the way for an extension to the terms of both the Parliament and Cabinet.

Lebanon's PM, Miqati Asks Mansour to File Complaint over Syrian Fire on Border Areas
Naharnet /Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Sunday condemned the cross-border shelling from Syria into border towns in northern Lebanon. “We denounce the death of Lebanese citizens in incidents they have nothing to do with and we call on the relevant Syrian authorities to take the appropriate measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents,” said Miqati in a statement distributed by his office.“I have asked the minister of foreign affairs (Adnan Mansour) to officially inform Syrian authorities of our rejection of this behavior and our demand that its recurrence be prevented,” Miqati added.Fierce fighting erupted during the night on the Syria-Lebanon border between Syrian troops and unknown gunmen, leaving a Lebanese man dead and four wounded, a Lebanese security source told Agence France Presse on Sunday. The violence was triggered by the death hours earlier of another Lebanese man, who was killed on Saturday in gunfire coming from the Syria side of the border near a river separating the two countries, the security source said. Members of his clan took part in the clashes against Syrian troops during the night in the Buqayaa region of northern Lebanon, a Lebanese official told AFP. The Syrian army used artillery, mortars and automatic weapons fired from the Syrian village of Mcherfe as they clashed with the gunmen, according to the security source, who said a Lebanese man was killed and at least four others wounded in the fighting. He was unable to say whether the gunmen were Lebanese or Syrians opposed to the regime of President Bashar Assad. Since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011, there have been numerous deadly clashes along the northern and eastern borders of Lebanon, usually between the Syrian army and armed Syrian or Lebanese groups backing the rebellion against the regime in Damascus. There have also been clashes between armed groups and the Lebanese army seeking to prevent the infiltration of fighters into Lebanon.

Head of Hizbullah's religious committee Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek to Lebanese Residents of Syrian Towns: We Won't Forget You
Naharnet/Hizbullah on Sunday announced that it will not neglect the issue of protecting Lebanese residents who live in border towns inside Syria, stressing that “there will be no solution in Syria except through politics and dialogue.”“To those screaming that the state should be in charge of defending its people: Has the state protected and defended the Lebanese residents who live inside Syria?” head of Hizbullah's religious committee Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek said. “All the Lebanese must raise their voices high in defense of the Lebanese residents of Syrian towns who are suffering harm and injustice,” Yazbek added during a memorial service held at the Hermel town of al-Qasr for Osama Msarra, one of the Lebanese killed in recent clashes with Syrian rebels in the border area.
Addressing the residents, Yazbek went on to say: “Excuse them, they are busy with the electoral laws, showoffs and the blocking of roads, but we will not overlook your plight and we will remain loyal. We will stand on the side of right and the side of the aggrieved.” “We are not attacking anyone but we will not allow anyone to attack us. We cannot stand idly by as our people, women and children are being aggrieved. We cannot tolerate to be uprooted from the land we have inhabited for tens of years as long as there is blood in our veins,” Yazbek added. Three Lebanese Shiites have been killed in fighting in Syria, a Hizbullah official said Sunday, as the Syrian opposition accused the Lebanese group of intervening on the side of the regime. He said they were acting in "self-defense,” without specifying if they were Hizbullah members.
Just hours earlier, the main bloc of the Syrian opposition accused the Damascus ally of having intervened "militarily" on the side of the regime, and warned this posed a threat to ties between neighbors Syria and Lebanon.
But Yazbek stressed that “our only enemy is Israel.” “Those who believe they are strong must seek to liberate the holy sites and to defend Palestinian captives in Palestine. Why don't they send fighters to liberate Palestine?” Yazbek added. He pointed out that “there will be no solution in Syria except through politics and dialogue.”Hizbullah has systematically denied sending fighters into Syria, though 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.
Nasrallah clarified that the Hizbullah fighters were killed while defending Lebanese-inhabited border towns inside Syria. He explained that there are 23 Syrian border towns and 12 farms that are inhabited by Lebanese residents of various religious beliefs, adding that around 30,000 Lebanese residents live in these towns. “The residents of these towns took the decision to stay and defend themselves against the armed groups and did not engage in the battle between the regime and the opposition,” Hizbullah's leader added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the three slain Lebanese were members of pro-regime militias who had been trained by Hizbullah.
Louay al-Meqdad, spokesman for the Supreme Council of the Free Syrian Army, has accused Hizbullah of shelling Syrian territory with artillery and rocket launchers from bases inside Lebanon.

Protesters Ask for 'Justice' for Islamist Prisoners, Vow 'Intifada' and 'Vengeance'
Naharnet/Hundreds of protesters demanded on Sunday that trial procedures be accelerated for Islamist prisoners, who have been held in Roumieh prison without charge since 2007, and vowed an uprising and “vengeance” against the authorities. “We ask today for justice or else let them (officials) burn in hell,” they said at the protest held in downtown Beirut's Martyrs Square. The protest was given a boost by controversial Salafist cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Asir, who came along with his supporters from the southern city of Sidon to Beirut to attend the rally. "We are being treated this way because we are members of the defeated (Sunni) sect," said al-Asir in a speech. He called for “an Intifada to end the hegemony.”He also accused some judges at the military court of coming under political pressure, saying “we don't have trust in your magistrates and your tribunal.” Addressing President Michel Suleiman and every official, al-Asir said: “Release them immediately because we don't accept that they be tried after being seized for six years.”Most other speakers at the protest warned the Lebanese authorities that the families and supporters of the detainees “won't remain silent” and will “take vengeance.”“They should be released through fair trials,” they said, adding they would call for compensations.Pretrial hearings for 86 Islamists were held at Beirut's Justice Palace earlier this month, the first legal action taken by the Lebanese judiciary ahead of their trial. Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi has promised speedy trials for the Islamists without political intervention.
Sunday's protest caused bumper-to-bumper traffic at Beirut's entrances, mainly in Dora, after security forces set up checkpoints ahead of the event. The Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon was almost totally destroyed during a months-long conflict between the Lebanese military and the al-Qaida-inspired group Fatah al-Islam in 2007.The fighting killed some 400 people, including 168 soldiers. Some Islamist leaders escaped despite the army siege of the camp.The inmates were arrested on charges of fighting or aiding the Fatah al-Islam fighters in Nahr al-Bared that lies near the northern coastal city of Tripoli.
Several of them have escaped from Roumieh in daring prison breaks.

Syria Rebels Close in on Last Regime Bastion in Western Aleppo
Naharnet/Syrian rebels closed in on a police academy in the town of Khan al-Assal in Aleppo province on Sunday, as regime warplanes bombarded their positions there, a watchdog said. "Should they take the academy building, the whole of northern Aleppo province will fall out of regime control," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The rebels already have large swathes of northern Syria under their control, chiefly Idlib province to the northwest and Raqa and Hasake east of Aleppo. The army also used tanks to shell the Tariq al-Bab district in eastern Aleppo city, the Observatory said, just two days after dropping three powerful missiles there. Violence meanwhile raged in several Syrian flashpoints, according to the Observatory. According to a toll compiled by the Britain-based watchdog, at least 63 people were killed in violence across the country on Sunday. The Observatory also updated its death toll from a missile attack on Friday on the northern city of Aleppo, saying it killed at least 58 people, among them 36 children.
SourceAgence France Presse

U.S. slams Scud attack in Syria, invites opposition for talks
February 24, 2013lDaily Star/WASHINGTON: The United States condemned a Syrian army Scud missile attack that killed dozens of people on Friday in the city of Aleppo, and invited the Syrian opposition for talks on finding a negotiated settlement to the conflict.A State Department statement said the attack on a district of Aleppo and other assaults such as strikes on city blocks and a field hospital were "the latest demonstrations of the Syrian regime's ruthlessness and its lack of compassion for the Syrian people it claims to represent."The statement, released on Saturday, could help placate the main Syrian opposition grouping, which turned down invitations to visit Washington and Moscow to protest what it described as international silence over the destruction of the historic city of Aleppo by government missile strikes.
Almost two years since the start of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, rebels have wrested large swathes of Syria from the control of Assad's forces but the areas remain the target of army artillery, air strikes and, increasingly, missiles.The decision by the Syrian National Coalition to spurn the invitations and to suspend participation in the Friends of Syria conference of international powers has put peace initiatives on ice.
In the State Department statement, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington hoped to meet soon with the leadership of the opposition umbrella group "to discuss how the United States and other friends of the Syrian people can do more to help the Syrian people achieve the political transition that they demand and that they deserve."
Invitations from Washington and Moscow had been extended to opposition coalition leader Mouz Alkhatib after he met the Russian and U.S. foreign ministers in Munich earlier this month.
Alkhatib has tried to open channels to Russia and Iran, Assad's only remaining foreign backers, to put pressure on the Syrian strongman to leave power.
Alkhatib, a cleric from Damascus who has said he is morally obliged to try to seek an exit for Assad without more bloodshed, has been criticised by others in the SNC for acting alone.
The rocket attacks on an eastern districts of Aleppo, Syria's industrial and commercial hub, killed at least 29 people on Friday and trapped a family of 10 in the ruins of their home, opposition activists in the city said.
On Tuesday, activists said at least 20 people were killed when a large missile hit the rebel-held district of Jabal Badro, also in the east of the contested city.

Pope, on last Sunday, says following God's wishes
By Philip Pullella/Reuters
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict spoke from his window for the last time on Sunday, telling the faithful packed into St. Peter's Square that the first papal abdication in centuries was God's will and insisting he was not "abandoning" the Church.Four days before the 85-year-old's often troubled eight-year rule ends, new talk of scandal hit the cardinals who will choose his successor; one of them, a Scottish archbishop, had to deny a media allegation of misconduct with young priests in the 1980s. With an American cardinal urged not to go to the electoral conclave due to his role in handling sexual abuse cases in the United States, and the Vatican accusing media of running smears to influence the vote, the Church faces a stormy succession. Benedict, however, defended his shock decision to resign as dictated by his failing health; his address to tens of thousands of well-wishers was met with calls of "Viva il Papa!" "The Lord is calling me to climb the mountain, to dedicate myself even more to prayer and meditation," the German-born pontiff said in Italian, his voice strong and carrying clearly.
"But this does not mean abandoning the Church. Actually, if God asks this of me, it is precisely because I can continue to serve her with the same dedication and the same love I have shown so far," he said, adding that he would be serving the Church "in a way more in keeping with my age and my strengths". As he spoke, two of the some 117 cardinals who are due to enter the conclave to choose his successor as leader of the 1.2 billion Roman Catholics next month were mired in controversy. Britain's top Catholic cleric, Cardinal Keith O'Brien of Edinburgh, rejected allegations published in the Observer newspaper that he had been involved in unspecified inappropriate behavior with other priests in the past. The paper said O'Brien, known for his outspoken views against homosexuality, had been reported to the Vatican by three priests and a former priest, who said they had come forward to demand O'Brien resign and not take part in the conclave. "Cardinal O'Brien contests these claims and is taking legal advice," a spokesman for the 74-year-old cardinal said.
He was the second cardinal to be caught up in controversy over his attendance ahead of the conclave, where 117 "princes of the Church" under 80 will elect a new pope from their ranks.
On Saturday, Catholic activists petitioned Cardinal Roger Mahony to recuse himself from the conclave so as not to insult survivors of sexual abuse by priests committed while he was archbishop of Los Angeles.
In that post from 1985 until 2011, Mahony worked to send priests known to be abusers out of state to shield them from law enforcement scrutiny in the 1980s, according to church files unsealed under a U.S. court order last month.
SAINTS AND SINNERS
Benedict's papacy was rocked by scandals over the sex abuse of children by priests in Europe and the United States, most of which preceded his time in office but came to light during it.
His reign also saw Muslim anger after he compared Islam to violence. Jews were upset over his rehabilitation of a Holocaust denier. During a scandal over the Church's business dealings, his butler was convicted of leaking his private papers. But the minds of those in the crowd in St Peter's Square, some holding banners reading "Thank you Holy Father," were not on scandals, real or potential, but on the Church history unfolding around them.
"It's bittersweet," said Sarah Ennis, 21, a student from Minnesota who studies in Rome. "Bitter because we love our Pope Benedict and hate to see him go, but sweet because he is going for a good reason and we are excited to see the next pope."Others, however, saw it as a possible harbinger of bad moons for the Church.
"This is an ill wind blowing," said midwife Marina Tacconi."It feels like something ugly could happen. I'm 58 years old, I have seen popes come and go. But never one resign.
"I don't see it as a good thing."The Sunday address was one of Benedict's last appearances as pontiff before the curtain comes down on a problem-ridden pontificate.
On Wednesday, he will hold his last general audience in St. Peter's Square and on Thursday he will meet with cardinals and then fly to the papal summer retreat south of Rome.
The papacy will become vacant at 8 p.m. Rome time (1900 GMT) on Thursday, February 28.Cardinals will begin meetings the next day to prepare for a secret conclave in the Sistine Chapel.
They have already begun informal consultations by phone and email in the past two weeks since Benedict announced his shock abdication in order to build a profile of the man they think would be best suited to lead the Church through rough seas.On Monday, the pope is expected to issue slight changes to Church rules governing the conclave so that it could start before March 15, the earliest it can be held under a detailed constitution by his predecessor John Paul.Some cardinals believe a conclave should start sooner than March 15 in order to reduce the time in which the Church will be without a leader at a time of crisis.
But some in the Church believe that an early conclave would give an unfair advantage to cardinals already in Rome and working in the Curia, the Vatican's central administration, which has been at the centre of accusations of ineptitude that some say led Benedict to step down.The Vatican appears to be aiming to have a new pope elected by mid-March and then formally installed before Palm Sunday on March 24 so he can preside at Holy Week services leading to Easter.Benedict and his predecessor, John Paul II, made sure any man awarded a cardinal's red hat was firmly in line with key Catholic doctrine supporting priestly celibacy and Vatican authority and opposing abortion, women priests, gay marriage and other liberal reforms.(Additional reporting by Naomi O'Leary; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Death for Preaching Christ in 'Liberated' Libya
by Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPageMagazine.com
http://www.meforum.org/3453/libya-christians-arrested
Four foreign Christians—including one who holds American-Swedish citizenship—were arrested days ago in Libya. According to the Guardian, their crime is arousing "suspicion of being missionaries and distributing Christian literature, a charge that could carry the death penalty."
Apparently the four Christians had "contracted a local printer to produce pamphlets explaining Christianity." Proselytizing to Muslims—that is, preaching to them another religion—was banned even under the late Col. Muammar Gaddafi.
Libyans—strongly supported by U.S. President Obama in the name of "freedom"—got rid of Gaddafi but kept the distinctly anti-freedom law.
Discussing this case, Libyan security official Hussein Bin Hmeid, trying to justify the Islamic ban on free speech, observes: "Proselytizing is forbidden in Libya. We are a 100% Muslim country and this kind of action affects our national security." Indeed, Muslim governments—most notably Iran's—constantly suppress any talk of Christianity, claiming it threatens "our national security."
Such is the tribal mentality of Islam which everywhere seems to declare: If you're not one of us, you must be an enemy trying to subvert our way of life.
Is the flip side of this prevalent mentality also true—that if Muslims are not one of us, they must be trying to subvert our way of life?
Nor should the arrested Christians expect much sympathy from more "moderate" Libyans. According to Benghazi lawyer and "human rights activist" Bilal Bettamer, Christians should not offend Muslims by trying to share their faith: "It is disrespectful. If we had Christianity we could have dialogue, but you can't just spread Christianity. The maximum penalty is the death penalty. It's a dangerous thing to do."
Indeed, like "blasphemy"—whether in the guise of Muhammad cartoons or movies—proselytizing to Muslims is one of the many forms of free speech to be specifically banned by Islamic Sharia. According to Muslim tradition, this ban goes back to the second "righteous" caliph, the 7th century Omar. After conquering a group of Christians, he stipulated any number of humiliating conditions for them to live by, including: "Not to produce a cross or [Christian] book in the markets of the Muslims…. Not to display any signs of polytheism, nor make our religion appealing, nor call or proselytize anyone to it."
As Muslims continue turning to Islam—all to Western praise and encouragement—expect the things of Islam to continue returning in big ways.
The Guardian report adds: "Libya, a conservative Muslim country, has no known Christian minority, and churches, the preserve of foreign residents, have seen few of the attacks seen in Egypt and Tunisia, where there have been church burnings."The Guardian reporter may have wanted to point out that, less than two months ago, on Sunday, December 30, an explosion rocked a Coptic Christian church near the western city of Misrata, in the very place where U.S. backed rebels hold a major checkpoint. The explosion killed two people and wounded two others.
And even though it is true that there are few church attacks in Libya, that is simply because there are few churches to attack in the first place—not because of some Libyan "tolerance" to churches. After all, one never hears of church attacks in Saudi Arabia. Yet that is not because Saudis are "tolerant," but rather because they have nipped the church problem in the bud by not allowing a single church to exist on Saudi soil. Hence, no churches for Muslim mobs to attack, bomb or burn. Conversely, where there is a large Christian population, such as in Nigeria, which is roughly half Christian, Muslims are bombing churches on practically a weekly basis.
Finally, there is the rewriting of history that is foisted by Muslims everywhere, not to mention ignorant Westerners, as exemplified in this report. All of those quoted—including the writer—seem to think that Libya was born a Muslim country. Hence, in the words of Libyan "human rights" activist Bilal Bettamer, "you can't just spread Christianity."
What, then, do we do with real history? The fact is, although Libya is today practically entirely Muslim, it certainly wasn't always so. In fact, before the 7th century Islamic invasions, Libya was predominantly Christian. The fact that Libya's immediate neighbors to the west and east, Algeria and Egypt, were backbones of early Christianity—giving the world giants of theology like St. Augustine and St. Athanasius, to name but a few—certainly suggests that Libya was primarily a Christian nation, excluding some Berber tribes.
Yet Islam came and killed and converted them all to itself. And now, to keep them in line, it will kill any who try to proclaim a different message, especially the message of their conquered forefathers.
*Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Iran announces uranium finds, days before nuclear talks
By Marcus George/Reuters
DUBAI (Reuters) - Days before resuming talks over its disputed atomic program, Iran said on Saturday it had found significant new deposits of raw uranium and identified sites for 16 more nuclear power stations.
State news agency IRNA quoted a report by the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) which said the reserves were discovered in northern and southern coastal areas and had trebled the amount outlined in previous estimates.There was no independent confirmation. With few uranium mines of its own, Western experts had previously thought that Iran might be close to exhausting its supply of raw uranium.
"We have discovered new sources of uranium in the country and we will put them to use in the near future," Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, head of the AEOI, was quoted as saying at Iran's annual nuclear industry conference.
The timing of the announcement suggested Iran, by talking up its reserves and nuclear ambitions, may hope to strengthen its negotiating hand at talks in Kazakhstan on Tuesday with the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
Diplomats say the six powers, known as the P5+1, are set to offer Iran some relief from international sanctions if it agrees to curb its production of higher-grade enriched uranium.
The West says Iran's enrichment of uranium to a fissile purity of 20 percent demonstrates its intent to develop a nuclear weapons capability, an allegation the Islamic republic denies.
FROM MINE TO CENTRIFUGE
The enriched uranium required for use in nuclear reactors or weapons is produced in centrifuges that spin uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6) at high speeds. The UF6 is derived from yellow cake, a concentrate from uranium ore discovered in mines.Iran's reserves of raw uranium now stood at around 4,400 tonnes, taking into account discoveries over the past 18 months, IRNA quoted the report as saying.
In another sign that Iran is intent on pushing forward with its nuclear ambitions, the report also said 16 sites had been identified for the construction of nuclear power stations.
It did not specify the exact locations but said they included coastal areas of the Gulf, Sea of Oman, Khuzestan province and the Caspian Sea.
Iranian authorities have long announced their desire to build more nuclear power plants for electricity production. Only one currently exists, in the southern city of Bushehr, and that has suffered several shutdowns in recent months.The announcements could further complicate the search for a breakthrough in Kazakhstan, after three unsuccessful rounds of talks between the two sides in 2012.
"We are meeting all of our obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and we should be able to benefit from our rights. We don't accept more responsibilities and less rights," Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, was quoted as telling Saturday's conference.
In what Washington has called a provocative move, Iran is also installing new-generation centrifuges, capable of producing enriched uranium much faster, at a site in Natanz in the centre of the country.
Western diplomats say the P5+1 will reiterate demands for the suspension of uranium enrichment to a purity of 20 percent, the closure of Iran's Fordow enrichment plant, increased access for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and agreement to address concerns on existing uranium stockpiles.
In return, the latest embargoes on gold and metals trading with Iran would be lifted. Iran has criticized the offer and says its rights need to be fully recognized.
"If the P5+1 group wants to start constructive talks with Tehran it needs to present a valid proposal," said Jalili. "It needs to put its past errors to one side ... to win the trust of the Iranian nation."
In a statement issued before the Iranian announcement, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the six-power group wanted to enter a 'substantial negotiation process' over Tehran's nuclear program.
"The talks in Almaty are a chance which I hope Iran takes," he said.
(Additional reporting by Alexandra Hudson in Berlin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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