LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 22/2013

Bible Quotation for today/

Peter's Second Letter 1/1-11: "Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust. Yes, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence; and in moral excellence, knowledge; and in knowledge, self-control; and in self-control patience; and in patience godliness; and in godliness brotherly affection; and in brotherly affection, love. For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is blind, seeing only what is near, having forgotten the cleansing from his old sins. Therefore, brothers, be more diligent to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never stumble. For thus you will be richly supplied with the entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources

Iraq spurred America’s Mideast apathy/By Michael Young/The Daily Star/March 22/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 22/13

Three dead in Tripoli clashes, Syria frees fighter
Obama urges world to blacklist Hezbollah

Obama demands Hezbollah be named a terrorist group

Cyprus Convicts Hizbullah Man over anti-Israel Plot

Canada Commends Cyprus for Successful Prosecution of Hezbollah Operative

Obama Says he's Not Giving Up on Mideast peace

Lebanon's Interior Minister Marwan Charbel Says Alleged Lebanese Spy Undergoing 'Secret' Investigations in Saudi

Hezbollah deliberately seeks Canadians because of internationally accepted ...
World should call Hezbollah a terrorist organization: Obama
Ted Poe warns of growing Hezbollah influence in Latin America
Lebanese Cabinet Approves Reformist Articles in New Wage Scale

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to Meet Christian Parties in Next Two Days: Any Proposal Other Than 1960 Law Has My Blessing
Aoun, Geagea resist Rai’s bid to revive Berri’s hybrid vote law

Cyprus Convicts Hizbullah Man over anti-Israel Plot

EU Urges Respect for Dissociation Policy by All Sides in Lebanon, Syria
Full Jerusalem Post coverage of Obama's visit to Israel

Canada Sends Condolences to Bangladesh on President’s Passing
Peres welcomes Obama, sounding warning on Hezbollah
Ex-Hezbollah member leads movement against terror group
Hezbollah's biological threat to UN peacekeepers
Hezbollah questions purpose of Israeli flights
Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran Will 'Annihilate' Cities if Israel Attacks

PKK Leader Ocalan Calls for Ceasefire

Suicide Bomber Kills pro-Regime Cleric in Syria, 15 Others

Damascus mosque blast kills 42 including senior Syrian imam

Obama Demands Hizbullah Be Named a Terrorist Group
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/76518-obama-demands-hizbullah-be-named-a-terrorist-group
Naharnet/U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday demanded that foreign governments brand Hizbullah a "terrorist organization," slamming the party for “its attacks on Israelis”. "Every country that values justice should call Hizbullah what it truly is -- a terrorist organization," Obama said in a major speech in Israel, in remarks apparently aimed at the European Union which has declined to put the group on a list of terrorist movements.

Canada Commends Cyprus for Successful Prosecution of Hezbollah Operative

http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2013/03/21c.aspx
March 21, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Canada commends Cyprus for the successful prosecution of Hezbollah operative Hossam Taleb Yaacoub on charges of belonging to a criminal organization, conspiracy to commit a crime and money laundering.
“This prosecution comes on the heels of Bulgaria’s investigation into the 2012 Burgas bombing, which also implicated Hezbollah. These two recent examples of terrorist operations in Europe add to the large and growing body of evidence on Hezbollah’s history of terrorism in the Middle East and beyond. They are a wake-up call that the international community can no longer afford to allow Hezbollah to operate unchecked.
“Canada urges the European Union to list Hezbollah as a terrorist entity. This will starve it of the resources vital to its campaign of violence and facilitate future prosecutions. It will send a strong message that the international community rejects all acts of terrorism at home and abroad.”
Canada listed Hezbollah as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code in December 2002 and listed its principal backer, Iran, as a state supporter of terrorism under the Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act on September 7, 2012.

Cyprus Convicts Hizbullah Man over anti-Israel Plot
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/76521-cyprus-convicts-hizbullah-man-over-anti-israel-plot
Naharnet/A Cypriot court on Thursday found guilty a self-confessed Hizbullah militant who had been accused of involvement in a plot to attack Israeli interests on the Mediterranean island.
Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, a dual Lebanese and Swedish citizen arrested in the port of Limassol in July last year, was found guilty on five counts -- including participating in a criminal organization, taking part in a criminal act and money laundering. "Any logical explanation that could present these actions as innocent ones is completely lacking," judges in the Limassol criminal court said in an 80-page decision on how they reached their verdict.
"The purpose of Hizbullah in connection with the actions of the accused, constitute a criminal organization in this regard... based on the specific actions of the accused in Cyprus," the decision added.
Yaacoub, who faces a sentence of up to 14 years in prison, was however cleared of three charges pertaining to conspiracy to commit a crime because they were covered by the other offences.
The court will reconvene on March 28 to hear mitigating arguments and for sentencing.
Yaacoub told the court last month he had collected information on Israeli tourists visiting the island, but denied plotting to attack them.
The 24-year-old said he had been asked to log information on Israeli flight arrivals in Cyprus and jot down the number plates of buses carrying tourists from the Jewish state.
He said he was unaware what the information was for and was arrested last July before he could communicate the information to a handler, whom he did not know, in Lebanon.
The court said Hizbullah had ordered him to carry out six missions on Cyprus since December 2011, and that he was paid a total of 4,800 dollars by the party.
It said the accused contacted Hizbullah through various Internet cafes in different towns.
Cyprus is becoming ever more popular for Israeli tourists, with arrivals in 2012 increasing 23.5 percent to 39,420.
Shortly after Yaacoub's arrest, five Israeli tourists and their local driver were killed in a bus bombing at an airport in Bulgaria, the deadliest attack on Israelis abroad since 2004, which Israel blamed on Iran and Hizbullah.
Reacting to Thursday's court ruling, an Israeli official told Agence France Presse that Hizbullah's involvement in "terrorism" was clear. "There is abundant proof that Hizbullah is, and always has been, deeply involved in terrorist activities in Europe and elsewhere and those who do not want to see this are simply covering their eyes," the official said on condition of anonymity. In his testimony, Yaacoub denied planning any attack, but did admit to being in Hizbullah for the past four years while also insisting he worked solely in its political branch. The defendant said he received orders from a masked Hizbullah operative called Ayman and was told to stake out hotels and hospitals on Cyprus, including in Limassol and the tourist resort of Ayia Napa. He said his main reason for coming to Cyprus was business-related -- to buy local fruit juice.
Agence France Presse

Obama urges world to blacklist Hezbollah
March 22, 2013 /Agencies
JERUSALEM: U.S. President Barack Obama demanded Thursday that foreign governments brand Hezbollah a “terrorist organization,” slamming the group for attacks on Israelis.
On the second day of his regional visit, his first to Israel as president, Obama also appealed directly to the Israeli people to put themselves in the shoes of stateless Palestinians and recognize that Jewish settlement activity in occupied territory hurts prospects for peace.
“Every country that values justice should call Hezbollah what it truly is – a terrorist organization,” Obama said in a major speech in Israel, in remarks apparently aimed at the European Union, which has declined to put the group on a list of terrorist movements.
The U.S., which, along with Canada blacklists the Lebanese party as a terrorist organization, has blamed Hezbollah for a bus bombing last July in Bulgaria, in which five Israeli tourists and the local driver were killed.
Bulgarian authorities back this claim, but have produced no evidence to support it. Hezbollah denies involvement in the attack.
Speaking to an audience of Israeli students, Obama added, “the world cannot tolerate an organization that murders innocent civilians, stockpiles rockets to shoot at cities, and supports the massacre of men, women and children in Syria.”
He went on to say that Hezbollah’s ally, “the Assad regime – has stockpiles of chemical weapons,” and that this heightened the urgency to blacklist the Lebanese party.
On the future of Israel and Palestine, Obama acknowledged Israel’s security concerns in a region destabilized by the West’s nuclear standoff with Iran and the civil war in Syria.
But he urged Israel’s younger generation to demand that their politicians take risks for peace in an address interrupted frequently by applause, including a standing ovation for the president during a brief outburst by a heckler.
“You must create the change that you want to see,” he told his young audience.
Obama said only peace could bring true security, but he did not offer any new ideas on how to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, stalled since 2010.
“Given the demographics west of the Jordan River, the only way for Israel to endure and thrive as a Jewish and democratic state is through the realization of an independent and viable Palestine,” he said.
It was a clear warning that Israel’s continued hold over the West Bank, territory captured along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war, would ultimately lead to an Arab majority in land controlled by Israel.
“Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable, that real borders will have to be drawn,” Obama said, stopping short of calling for a construction freeze.
“Put yourself in their [Palestinians’] shoes. Look at the world through their eyes,” he said. “It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day.”
Obama has received an effusive welcome in Israel since his arrival Wednesday, hoping to reset his often troubled relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“America will do what we must to prevent a nuclear Iran,” he told his enthusiastic audience, reinforcing a main theme of his visit to Israel and adding that Washington and its allies still thought there was time for a diplomatic solution.
Sprinkling in Hebrew words meaning “you are not alone,” Obama said: “Today, I want to tell you – particularly the young people – that so long as there is a United States of America, ‘ahtem lo levad.’”
In a brief statement after Obama’s speech, Netanyahu thanked him for “his unconditional support for the state of Israel.”But in the West Bank city of Ramallah, which Obama visited before his Jerusalem speech, the mood was tinged with disappointment. Meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for three hours, Obama pressed the Western-backed leader to drop his demand for a settlement freeze before peace talks can resume. The core issue now, Obama said at a news conference with Abbas, was how to achieve sovereignty for Palestinians and security for Israelis.
“That’s not to say settlements are important. That’s to say if we solve those problems, the settlement issue will be resolved,” Obama said.
Obama said his new secretary of state, John Kerry, would spend a significant amount of time and energy trying to narrow differences between the two sides as the United States seeks to move them back to the negotiating table.
A U.S. official said Kerry would return to Israel for talks after accompanying Obama to Jordan Friday and Saturday.
As a reminder of the ever-present risks in the region, Iranian state television Thursday quoted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying Tehran would raze Tel Aviv and the city of Haifa if Israel carried out veiled threats to attack Iran.
And Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired two rockets into Sderot, a southern town that Obama visited when running for president in 2008. Police said no one was hurt.
Majles Shoura al-Mujahedeen claimed responsibility.

Obama Says he's Not Giving Up on Mideast peace
Naharnet/U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday urged Israelis and Palestinians to get back to peace talks but offered no new ideas on how they might do so, essentially abandoning his previous support of the Palestinian demand for Israel to halt settlement activity before negotiations resume. In remarks likely to disappoint, if not infuriate, the Palestinians, Obama said the United States continues to oppose the construction of Jewish housing on land claimed by the Palestinians but stressed that issues of disagreement between the two sides should not be used as an "excuse" to do nothing. He said there would be no point to negotiations if differences had to be resolved before they start. "Even though both sides may have areas of strong disagreement, maybe engaging in activities that the other side considers to be a breach of good faith, we have to push through those things to try to get to an agreement," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, West Bank. "I think we can keep pushing through some of these problems and make sure that we don't use them as an excuse not to do anything," he said. Obama's comments echoed those of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has repeatedly called for the Palestinians to drop their "preconditions" for re-launching the peace talks. The U.S. president's remarks are sure to reinforce skepticism among Palestinians that Obama is ready, willing or able to use U.S. influence to press Israel into making concessions on a matter they have identified as a top priority. During his first four years in office, Obama had sided with the Palestinians on the issue. He and his surrogates repeatedly demanded that all settlement activity cease. However, when Israel reluctantly declared a 10-month moratorium on construction, the Palestinians balked at returning to the table.
"We require the Israeli government to stop settlements in order to discuss all our issues and their concerns," Abbas said in the appearance, which was an integral part of Obama's brief visit to the West Bank on the second day of his Mideast visit. The Palestinians want a state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories Israel captured in the 1967 war — but are ready for minor adjustments to accommodate some settlements closest to Israel. Since 1967, Israel has built dozens of settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem that are now home to 560,000 Israelis — an increase of 60,000 since Obamabecame president four years ago.
Obama said he told Netanyahu "we do not consider continued settlement activity to be constructive, to be appropriate, to be something that can advance the cause of peace." But, he added, "the politics there are complex and I recognize that is not an issue that's going to be solved immediately, it's not going to be solved overnight." Obama suggested that Palestinians should not make halting the settlements a condition to resuming peace negotiations with Israel. He did say that Palestinians deserve an independent and sovereign state and an end to occupation by Israel. He said the prospect of a contiguous Palestinian state alongside a Jewish state of Israel continues to exist if negotiations would restart.
"I absolutely believe that it is still possible, but I think it is very difficult," Obama said. He also said it would be helpful if rockets weren't still being launched into Israel. In downtown Ramallah, several dozen people protested against what is perceived here as a strong U.S. bias in favor of Israel. Obama "should take immediate action to stop settlement activity because the passivity of his position toward settlements is happening while the very last option of a two-state solution is being killed by Israeli settlements," said Mustafa Barghouti, a leading Palestinian activist. On Wednesday, Obama reaffirmed the unwavering U.S. commitment to Israel's security and noted there had been no fatal attacks on Israelis from the West Bank, which is controlled by Abbas. That calm has not extended to Gaza, which is run by the militant Islamic Hamas movement. AsObama began his program Thursday, Israeli police said militants in Gaza had fired two rockets at the southern town of Sderot. One of the rockets exploded in the courtyard of a house in Sderot early in the morning, causing damage but no injuries, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. The other landed in an open field. Sirens wailed in Sderot shortly after the 7 a.m. rocket attack, forcing residents on their way to work or school to run to bomb shelters.
Obama condemned the action during his news conference with Abbas. As a presidential candidate in 2008, Obama visited the border town, which is frequently targeted by rocket attacks from the nearby Gaza Strip. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. Over the past decade, Gaza militants have fired thousands of rockets and mortar shells at Israel, prompting Israel, with considerable U.S. assistance, to develop its Iron Dome missile defense system, which it credits with intercepting hundreds of rockets. Immediately after his arrival in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured an Iron Dome battery at Ben Gurion International Airport in a vivid display of U.S. security assistance to Israel. In Jerusalem earlier Thursday, while examining the Dead Sea Scrolls and during a tour of a high tech exhibit, Obama and Netanyahu continued the easy banter that the two leaders displayed on Wednesday. As Netanyahu read a facsimile of a scroll, Obama marveled that the Hebrew language had not changed much over the centuries.
Agence France PresseAssociated Press

Lebanon's Interior Minister Marwan Charbel Says Alleged Lebanese Spy Undergoing 'Secret' Investigations in Saudi
Naharnet /Interior Minister Marwan Charbel revealed on Thursday that Saudi authorities are carrying out “secret” interrogations with a Lebanese businessman, who is allegedly suspected of espionage for a foreign country.“We haven't received yet any information about the suspect,” Charbel said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat. He pointed out that the Lebanese state has “confidence” in Saudi authorities and awaiting clarifications. On Tuesday, the Saudi interior ministry said that authorities have arrested 18 suspected spies, including an Iranian and a Lebanese, on charges of espionage for a foreign country. "Sixteen Saudis, an Iranian and a Lebanese were arrested in coordinated and simultaneous operations in four regions of the kingdom," including the capital Riyadh and Mecca, the ministry said in a statement. The suspects were working for a foreign country, which it did not name, the statement added.

Lebanese Cabinet Approves Reformist Articles in New Wage Scale
Naharnet /The cabinet agreed on Thursday on reformist articles related to the financing of the new wage scale, al-Jadeed television reported. OTV elaborated: “The new wage scale will be referred to parliament as part of a package that includes increasing working hours and making Saturday and Sunday as non-working days”. “The cabinet has also decided to extend the working hours of public sector employees to 4:00 pm and cut the judicial holiday to a month-and-a-half,” it detailed. President Michel Suleiman expressed during the session that the most important gift on Mother's Day would be approving the new wage scale, holing the parliamentary elections and issuing a state budget. “Mothers need to be assured over the future of their children,” he explained.
The cabinet convened in Baabda Palace on Thursday afternoon, amid nation-wide strikes staged by the Syndicate Coordination Committee. The ministers are set to discuss many contentious topics on the Lebanese scene, among them referring the new wage scale to the parliament for vote, the formation of a special committee to oversee the elections and the extension of several offices' terms in the public service.
"The new wage scale will be referred to the parliament for vote for political reasons,” Financial Minister Mohammed Safadi said prior to the meeting, remarking that this, however, “will be economically devastating for the country”. Meanwhile, Education Minister Hassan Diab stated: “The wage scale must be approved, or else the official exams will not take place”.
The Syndicate Coordination Committee staged a nation wide protest on Thursday to press the cabinet to refer the new wage scale to the parliament, considering that its “civilized” open-ended strike has honored Lebanon.
Demonstrators held banners demanding the referral of the wage scale amid heavy security deployment.
The government is at deadlocked on finding ways to fund the salary scale that it approved last year. But the SCC is demanding a swift decision and referral of the bill to -approved by the government last year -to parliament for vote. Agriculture Minister Hussein al-Hajj Hassan pointed out before that cabinet's meeting that Internal Security Forces chief Ashraf Rifi's term will not be extended, stressing that he will not take part in a vote on forming a committee to oversee the electoral process. Whereas Environment Minister Nazem al-Khoury said he will not withdraw from the session if the issue was suggested for vote.
March 8 rejects the formation of the authority for fears that it would lead to holding the polls based on the 1960 law, which it opposes.
But President Suleiman argues that the body should be established in line with the constitutional deadline given that rival parties have so far failed to agree on a new electoral draft-law.
Lebanon's rival leaders have so far failed to agree on a new vote law although the interior ministry has set the elections for June 9 and opened the door for the announcement of candidacies.

Aoun, Geagea resist Rai’s bid to revive Berri’s hybrid vote law
March 22, 2013 /By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai will soon invite rival Christian leaders to consult on a hybrid vote law, political sources said Thursday, in the latest attempt to break the monthslong deadlock over a new electoral system that threatens to scuttle the June 9 polls.
“Patriarch Rai will bring the Maronite leaders together in Bkirki soon to discuss a hybrid electoral plan proposed by Speaker Nabih Berri,” a Maronite source told The Daily Star. “However, Berri’s proposal is encountering opposition from Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea,” the source said, referring to the Free Patriotic Movement leader and his archfoe, the Lebanese Forces chief.
The source denied reports that the planned meeting, grouping Aoun, Geagea or an LF representative, Kataeb chief Amin Gemayel and Marada Movement leader MP Suleiman Franjieh, would take place Friday.
Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who also attended the pope’s inaugural ceremony, held meetings with Rai in Rome to discuss proposals for a new electoral law. The three were reported to have agreed on a three-point plan to break the electoral impasse.
Dubbed by local media the “Rome agreement,” the plan, according to political sources, stipulates holding elections based on a draft electoral law proposed by Berri that calls for electing 64 MPs based on proportional representation and another 64 under a winner-takes-all system. The plan also calls for the creation of a senate, allowing every sect to elect its own representatives, and the formation of a new government to supervise the elections.
Speaking to reporters at Beirut airport upon his return from Rome, Rai confirmed that he would invite the four Maronite leaders for talks in Bkirki.
“Speaker Berri, Prime Minister Mikati and I had discussed together during our meeting in Rome how to come up with an electoral law. They had ideas which are not new and which have been presented publicly and everywhere. I have talked to them about all these issues,” Rai said. He added that he would contact the Maronite leaders to agree on a date for the meeting.
Rai implied that his discussions with Berri and Mikati focused on the speaker’s hybrid vote proposal. “Everyone knows Speaker Berri’s plan. It equally combines the two [proportional representation and a winner-takes-all system]. It is a hybrid plan,” he said.
Asked if he blesses Berri’s hybrid plan, Rai said: “We bless any plan but the 1960 [law]. All the Lebanese are looking for a law that satisfies everyone. We have always repeated that we support any [law] on which the Lebanese agree. We have no preference over any law.”
“As a [Maronite] church, we must make a distinction and not deal with technical affairs because this is the job of the politicians. We don’t have a specific proposal,” Rai added.
Rai as well as officials on both sides of the political divide have rejected the 1960 law, which adopts the qada as an electoral district and is based on a winner-takes-all system. The 1960 law was used in the 2009 elections.
Batroun MP Butros Harb told The Daily Star he had received an SMS message inviting him for the Bkirki meeting, but said no date has been set yet.
Harb attended last month’s meeting of the Maronite leaders chaired by Rai in Bkirki to calm the political storm stirred by the Orthodox Gathering’s electoral proposal that was approved by the joint parliamentary committees.
Harb, one of the independent March 14 Christian lawmakers who have rejected the Orthodox draft, said he had presented a proposal calling for “one-man, one-vote with a single district under a winner-takes-all system.”
The Batroun MP sounded skeptical about the elections being held on time due to the parties’ failure to agree on a new voting system, and predicted an extension of Parliament’s mandate.
“I don’t see that the elections will be held on time because Aoun’s stance, backed by Hezbollah, is hindering an agreement on a new electoral law,” Harb said. “Things seem to be heading in the direction of extending Parliament’s mandate.”
The March 8 and March 14 parties’ inability to agree on a new law has enhanced the possibility of a postponement of the parliamentary elections, or an extension of Parliament’s four-year mandate which expires June 20.
The United States and France have repeatedly called for the elections to be held on time. U.S. Ambassador Maura Connelly has said the polls should be held on time regardless of whether politicians reach a consensus.
The Orthodox plan, which designates Lebanon as a single electoral district in which each sect elects its own lawmakers through a proportional representation voting system, has deepened the political split in the country.
As a way out of the electoral deadlock, the Future Movement and the Progressive Socialist Party are currently working on a hybrid vote law.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to Meet Christian Parties in Next Two Days: Any Proposal Other Than 1960 Law Has My Blessing
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Thursday revealed that he will meet with the Christian parties “over the next two days” to discuss with them the so-called “Rome agreement,” noting that he approves of any electoral proposal other than the 1960 law. “I will contact the Christian parties in order to meet with them over the next two days, ahead of the Holy Week, and I discussed the issue of the electoral law with Speaker (Nabih) Berri and Prime Minister (Najib) Miqati in Rome,” said al-Rahi at the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport upon his return from the Vatican. “Everyone is familiar with Speaker Berri's proposal, which is a hybrid law that equally combines proportional representation and the winner-takes-all system,” he added. “Any proposal other than the 1960 law has my blessing and we support everything the Lebanese agree on and all the Lebanese are seeking consensus,” the patriarch announced. He stressed that “Bkirki is with a law that enjoys the endorsement of all the Lebanese.” Al-Rahi noted that the executive authority “must take decisions over the pressing issues.”
“We are with any decision that achieves public welfare,” he said. Asked about the sectarian tensions and deteriorating security in the country, the patriarch said: “We are being affected by everything that is happening in the Arab world and we call on the Lebanese not to import the tensions.” “We call on the Lebanese to realize that it is necessary to turn Lebanon into an oasis of peace and refrain from engaging in the current conflicts,” he added.
Consultations are ongoing among Christian leaders ahead of a broad meeting at Bkirki on Friday to discuss the new electoral law and a two-page proposal agreed upon between al-Rahi, Berri and Miqati, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Thursday. The Phalange party, Lebanese Forces party, Marada Movement and the Free Patriotic Movement are discussing the possibility of uniting their stances over the proposal, the daily said.
It added that al-Rahi will brief the four leaders of the christian parties during Bkirki's meeting on the agreement reached with Berri and Miqati in Rome on Monday.
Media reports said that the two-page document states that political foes should consent on a hybrid electoral law that divides the parliamentary seats equally based on winner-takes-all and proportional systems or 60 percent of MPs be elected through the winner-takes-all and 40 according to the proportional system. The document also calls on the formation of a senate, where senators would be elected according to the Orthodox Gathering proposal.
The proposal also suggests the formation of an independent authority overseeing the elections and carrying out the senate elections and parliamentary elections on the same day, in addition to the formation of a new cabinet to supervise the polls. FPM leader MP Michel Aoun rejected on Tuesday any alternative to the Orthodox Gathering electoral draft-law. Al-Joumhouria reported that Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel will reiterate during Bkirki meeting his rejection to the adoption of the 1960 law, which is based on winner-takes-all system.

Canada Sends Condolences to Bangladesh on President’s Passing
March 20, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and the Honourable Julian Fantino, Minister of International Cooperation, today issued the following statement:
“We were saddened to learn of President [Zillur] Rahman’s passing. “He will be remembered as someone who fought for democracy and for the betterment of the lives of his fellow citizens.
“On behalf of all Canadians, we express our deepest condolences to the people of Bangladesh and to President Rahman’s family and friends in particular. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this most difficult time.”

Ex-Hezbollah member leads movement against terror group
Ynetnews/Hezbollah's Shiite policies and involvement in Syrian crisis raises outcry in Lebanon; new movement from group's stronghold presents national alternative .Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, once the undisputed stars of the Arab world, are rattled by surprise opposition from within their own ranks. The Lebanon NOW news website reported Tuesday that a new political movement is gathering followers right in the Hezbollah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburb. The Movement for the Lebanese Citizen (MLC), led by former Hezbollah operative Imad Kamiche, is attempting to present an alternative to the rigidly Shiite framework represented by Hezbollah and Amal, and place the Lebanese citizen at the forefront regardless of ethnicity. In the Lebanon NOW story, Kamiche blamed Hezbollah for taking advantage of the ethnicity issue to cover up its failures, an attempt that he regretfully admitted to be successful. Contrary to Hezbollah, the MLC's approach, according to Kamiche, wishes to represent different voices in the Shiite community, stressing social and economic issues, not military, in order to improve the lives of all Lebanese. Though no direct pressures have been exerted on him, Kamiche said that he has been given "advice" to steer clear of the political arena.Hezbollah affiliated sources denied the allegations, and said that the fact that opposition elements are still residing in Beirut's southern suburb is a testimony to the group's tolerance.They added that Hezbollah actually wishes to absorb the opposition and their criticism, even contacting them for that purpose.But direct opposition is not the group's only problem: The Arab media reported Hezbollah is currently under fire for sending operatives to fight in neighboring Syria.
According to Alquds Alarabi, the family of a militant killed in Syria is furious after the group falsely told them he is in Beirut right before his body was returned in a coffin. Anti-Hezbollah media outlets reported that in the family's village in southern Lebanon the families of 20 other youngsters are worried for their sons and are discontented with Hezbollah's unconvincing answers as to their whereabouts.

Hezbollah questions purpose of Israeli flights
March 20, 2013 The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah slammed ongoing Israeli breaches of Lebanese sovereignty Tuesday, questioning the purpose of the increasing flights over the country. “Israel’s persistent breaches of Lebanese sovereignty are very dangerous, especially when Israeli fighter jets are violating the country’s airspace in a perpetual and intensive manner.” MP Hassan Fadlallah said in a statement. “[This breach] casts enormous challenges on the Lebanese state and political parties in determining the hidden intentions of Israel. Is Israel concealing something?” he added. “Though reassuring [Lebanese citizens] that the resistance is vigilant and ready to confront any aggression on the country, we call on everyone to be aware of the real dangers that threaten Lebanon,” the statement said. Fadlallah also called on President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati to address Israel’s breaches and exert efforts in order to end them

Hezbollah’s biological threat to UN peacekeepers
Dr. Jill Bellamy van Aalst
All rights reserved to Israel Hayom
Recently, 21 U.N. Disengagement Observer Force peacekeepers from the Philippines were seized in the demilitarized zone on the Golan Heights. They were released unharmed in Jordan four days later. Perhaps a more worrying issue is the potential risk to U.N. peacekeepers posed by Hezbollah. As of Jan. 31, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon comprised 11,026 troops, 338 international civilians and 656 local civilian staff. Thirty-eight countries contributed military personnel to UNIFIL. UNIFIL could easily be in the crosshairs of a biological or chemical weapon attack. This type of attack is likely to come from Hezbollah, a terrorist military armed and trained mainly in the Sudan on biological and chemical weapon deployment by Iran’s elite Quds forces. Particularly vulnerable are those nations that have not paid for protection from Hezbollah’s intelligence section. Iran has assisted Hezbollah by providing advanced intelligence-gathering technology, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, eavesdropping equipment, and human intelligence assets. These can be used not only against Israel but against UNIFIL forces in developing targets for conventional as well as unconventional attacks.
In contrast to the Israel Defense Forces, which maintains a higher level of security, both technical and physical, UNIFIL forces generally have a lower standard of protection, exposing them to greater and differentiated risk. The immunization of UNIFIL forces would be of little use against the agents Hezbollah has at its disposal and serve only to create a false sense of security among those forces vaccinated against agents such as anthrax and smallpox.
The select agents Hezbollah could likely use in a deniable operation and in geographical zones where they would not necessarily need to worry about spread or transmission are the biological agents Cryptosporidium parvum, botulinum and anthrax, and the potent chemical agent saxitoxin. In terms of deniability, the first three all occur naturally throughout the region. Deploying them, their toxins and spores, especially versions of them modified in either Iranian or Syrian military biological weapon laboratories, would be formidable. UNIFIL forces could suffer higher death rates if genetically modified pathogens, toxins or agents were used against them in a geographic specific attack. Similar to planting an improvised explosive device, it is possible to target troops with certain types of biological weapons which would not spread outside those targeted. Advanced biological weapons specifically from Iran’s biological warfare complex could make UNIFIL forces sitting ducks.
To give an idea of a possible deniable operation, in 2007 there was credible intelligence that Hezbollah was planning to infect the water supply of a section of Lebanon with C. parvum, a parasite contracted from contaminated water which causes diarrhea and stomach cramps. While on the surface this may appear to be a relatively low-level attack as it generally does not kill, it does cause vomiting and diarrhea for days, and is only treatable with support therapy. This could put down an entire battalion and severely affect an operational theater. It could create a window of opportunity either to collect intelligence or engage in operations to prepare the groundwork for a second conventional strike on those forces or for a wider conflict. While UNIFIL forces generally have independent water sources, the parasite passes through all filtration methods and some forces could still be exposed if Hezbollah decided to use it. There are several scenarios in which biological weapons could be very effectively used against UNIFIL forces.
As the UNDOF peacekeepers scramble to exit the Golan, other pathogenic agents could pose far wider threats to the global community.
**Dr. Jill Bellamy van Aalst is an international expert and former consultant to NATO on biological warfare and threat reduction.

Peres welcomes Obama, warns of Hezbollah
By GREER FAY CASHMAN 03/20/2013/J.Post
Select LanguageFollowing meeting with Peres, US president acknowledges difficulties facing Israel including Iran's nuclear program, peace with the Palestinians; looks to a future where Israeli children are "safe from threats and rockets." President Shimon Peres often keeps his guests waiting from anywhere between five and 20 minutes, but when the guest was US President Barack Obama, Peres was waiting for him on the red carpet five minutes ahead of time.
If Peres was excited at the prospect of welcoming yet another American president, members of his staff were more so, and got in the way of journalists as they eagerly surged forward to photograph Obama with their cell phones.Palestinian anti-Obama protesters, police clashAnother visit, and stuck on the road againBut that was not as bad as members of Obama’s security detail who blocked the vision of some of the camera crews which had been positioned for hours waiting to finally get the visiting president in the frames of their cameras. An angry shout went up, and to their credit, the security
Peres and Obama embraced warmly at the President’s Residence in the capital as a group of 55 children from Jerusalem and environs began to wave American and Israeli flags and to sing “Heiveinu Shalom Aleichem” (We Have Brought Peace to You) as a symbolic gesture toward what is largely perceived as Obama’s purpose in visiting Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
Obama with a big grin on his face walked half way along the line shaking hands with the youngsters and then posing for photographs with them alongside Peres. After the photos he continued shaking hands with the other half of the line. The youngsters had been rehearsing for most of the day, so this was the reward.
Entering the main reception hall Obama sat down at a table on the stage to sign the guest book. He wrote: “It is a great honor to visit Israel and reaffirm years of friendship between our countries and our people. It is my honor to be hosted by President Peres who has contributed to every aspect of Israeli society.”
Obama then met five Israeli children who thanked him individually for what America has done for them in different spheres, and three of the five sang “Tomorrow,” a song expressing the dream of all children to live in peace. They sang it in English, Arabic – in which it’s called “Bukra” – and Hebrew (“Mahar”).
The two presidents then went out into the garden to plant a tree which Obama had brought from the United States as a sign of friendship between the two countries and between him and Peres.
As he had done in 2008 the last time he visited Israel while campaigning for the presidency the first time around, he wanted to know the secret of Peres’s longevity.
Later, after they had engaged in a working meeting, he thanked Peres for having devoted his life to making Israel strong and planting the seeds of progress, security and peace for future generations of Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs across the region.
While Peres and Obama were ensconced in their private meeting, journalists covering the visit took turns photographing or being photographed alongside Obama’s shiny black Cadillac with its Washington 800-002 number plate and its President of the United States seal. The car, which was part of a large motorcade, had been led into the presidential compound by a nine-member police motor cycle escort.
As Peres and Obama emerged from their meeting to mount the stage and deliver statements, Obama was leading, but stood aside in deference to the senior statesman, while Peres stood aside in deference to his guest. Eventually Obama went up first.
Peres, who earlier in the day at Ben-Gurion Airport greeted Obama as “a dear friend,” again used the expression as he thanked him for the long days and sleepless nights which Obama had spent in caring for Israel and its future.
Peres voiced his confidence in Obama’s policy towards Iran “which calls for non-military means with a clear statement that all other options remain on the table.”
Turning to Obama he added, “You have made it clear that your intention is not to contain but to prevent.”
Peres also spoke of Israel’s efforts to renew negotiations with the Palestinians with the goal of a two-state solution.
He emphasized that Hamas remains a terror organization that targets innocent civilians, stockpiles arms, is destroying Lebanon and supporting the brutal massacre of the Syrian people. He also warned of the dangers that could emanate from Syria’s arsenal of chemical weapons.
“We cannot allow those weapons to fall into terrorist hands,” he insisted.
Peres said that after the meeting with Obama he was more confident than ever that Obama’s vision can transform the Middle East.
Alluding to the “Tomorrow” song and what the singers had said to him, Obama said, “Their dreams are much the same as those of children everywhere, but their lives reflect a difficult reality.”
Recalling Peres’s visit to Washington last year when Obama had presented him with the Freedom Medal, Obama said that one of the advantages of talking to Peres was that he was not only a man of vision but also a practical- minded politician.
He also assured Peres that the State of Israel will have no greater friend than the United States.
Once they were outside there was more flag waving by the children who sang “Hallelujah,” the song that won Israel the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest. Obama stopped to shake hands with some of the youngsters, then set off for his meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.for Israel’s destruction,” Obama said.

Hezbollah deliberately seeks Canadians because of internationally accepted passports: senior CSIS official
Stewart Bell | 13/03/21/National post
More from Stewart Bell | @StewartBellNP
Hezbollah has been deliberately seeking Canadians because their passports allow them to travel with ease internationally, a senior intelligence official told a Parliamentary committee on Thursday.
Appearing before the standing immigration committee, Michael Peirce of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service said terrorists so value Canadian passports they will sometimes obtain citizenship just to get one.
“We see certain terrorist organizations in particular target the use of the Canadian passport because of its value, because it facilitates travel so easily and so smoothly,” said Mr. Peirce, the CSIS Assistant Director of Intelligence.
“And they will seek out dual nationals for the purpose of using that passport to facilitate travel. And we’ve seen that, at least some indications, in regard to Hezbollah for instance. So that document is an extremely valuable document and gaining citizenship in order to be able to use that document is a noted goal.”
A family affair: Canadian suspect in Bulgaria bus bombing was related to terrorist who died planting explosives
Matthew Levitt: Hezbollah’s European enablers
The official was testifying at hearings into proposed legislation that would allow the government to strip citizenship from dual nationals who engage in acts of war against Canada. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney has said he wants to amend to bill to include those who commit treason and terrorism.
Hezbollah is a Lebanese terrorist group that is trained, armed and financed by Iran. Last summer’s attack in Bulgaria was part of a wave of attempted strikes against Israeli interests abroad. Recently, Hezbollah fighters have been crossing into Syria to prop up the Assad regime. In January, Bulgaria said a Canadian Hezbollah member was behind last July’s bombing of a bus full of Israeli tourists on the Black Sea coast. The suspect, who now lives in Lebanon, had traveled to Bulgaria on his genuine Canadian passport. Concerns about the involvement of Canadian extremists in overseas terrorism also surfaced this week when the RCMP confirmed that at least one of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorists who attacked a gas plant in the Algerian desert in January, resulting in the deaths of almost 40 foreign workers, was a Canadian citizen.
National Post

Hezbollah Courier Guilty of Role in Cyprus Terror Plot Pavlos Vrionides/Associated Press
By NICHOLAS KULISH
Published: March 21, 2013
BERLIN — In a decision that could have significant repercussions for Hezbollah’s operations in Europe, a court in Cyprus on Thursday found a man guilty of participating in a plot to attack Israeli tourists on vacation there, part of a conspiracy similar to a deadly bombing last July in Bulgaria.
.The court found the man, Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, a dual Swedish-Lebanese citizen, guilty on five of the eight charges against him, including participation in a criminal organization and in the preparation of a criminal act. The three other counts were conspiracy charges, which the ruling said were already covered under the other counts. Mr. Yaacoub will be sentenced at a separate hearing. Mr. Yaacoub was initially charged with several terrorism-related counts as well.
“It has been proven that Hezbollah is an organization that operates under complete secrecy,” the head of the three-judge panel that ruled on the case, Tasia Psara-Miltiadou, said in court Thursday. “There is no doubt that this group has multiple members and proceeds with various activities, including military training of its members. Therefore, the court rules that Hezbollah acts as a criminal organization.”
Mr. Yaacoub admitted in court last month that he was a member of Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group, and that he was trained in the use of weapons and sent around Europe on missions as a courier and scout for the organization. The court rejected his assertion that he had no idea why his handlers had asked him to monitor the arrival times of flights from Israel and to track locations of Israeli tourists in Cyprus.
With his Swedish passport, Mr. Yaacoub was an ideal operative for the group, able to move within the European Union without attracting attention. He described operating in a shadowy world of code names and secret passwords, a secretive handler who wore a mask, and trips in vans with the curtains drawn so he did not know where he was going for his weapons training.
“It’s a rare opening, a rare lifting of the veil on how they operate,” Magnus Norell, a former terrorism analyst for the Swedish Secret Service who testified in the case, said in a telephone interview on Thursday. He called the plot “a textbook example of how you prepare an attack like this, pretty much a blueprint for preparing a terror attack.”
Mr. Yaacoub was initially charged with terrorism as well, but those charges were dropped, in part because Hezbollah is not formally listed as a terrorist organization. As such, experts said a conviction on the other criminal charges would be easier to win.
Hezbollah has also been blamed for the attack in Bulgaria, and Mr. Yaacoub’s conviction is likely to give further impetus to efforts to have the group designated a terrorist organization by the European Union. Experts say that in the legalistic, bureaucratic world of Brussels, a court conviction holds significantly more weight than a declaration by a government or an intelligence report.
Israel and the United States have been pressing hard for European allies to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. The fact that Mr. Yaacoub is a European citizen and that he acknowledged performing clandestine work in France and the Netherlands as well as Cyprus only raises the pressure.
But that decision is foremost a political one, and it requires the unanimous agreement of all 27 European Union states. France in particular has resisted designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, with officials saying it is necessary to keep lines of communication open with the group, which is also a major force in politics and social services in Lebanon.
“We shouldn’t need more to designate them,” said Mr. Norell, who is also a senior policy adviser at the European Foundation for Democracy and an adjunct scholar at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “It’s long overdue.”
Mr. Yaacoub was arrested in July 2012 in the port city of Limassol. During interrogation by the police, he first insisted that he was a trader traveling in Cyprus for business. After days of questioning he said that that was a cover story and that he was conducting surveillance for Hezbollah.
His lawyer argued that he had changed his story because he was frightened and intimidated by the police and that details in his sworn statements had been fabricated. The court ruled that his statements to the police were accurate.
The court found that the prosecution’s witnesses, including the managers of hotels where Israelis were staying and the drivers of buses Mr. Yaacoub watched, “have proven reliable and had no interest in lying before the court,” Judge Psara-Miltiadou said.
The judges also rejected the defense argument that Russian tourists who had visited Israel were also on the buses that Mr. Yaacoub observed. “The intention was clear,” Judge Psara-Miltiadou said. “There is no innocent interpretation of these actions and Mr. Yaacoub should know that his actions are connected to criminal offenses. All these activities prove criminal intentions on his part and on Hezbollah’s part.”
Mr. Yaacoub was also found guilty on two counts of legalizing income from illegal activities. According to his statement to the police, Mr. Yaacoub was arrested carrying thousands of dollars’ worth of cash in a variety of currencies, including Swedish kronor, euros, American dollars and both British and Lebanese pounds.
*Andreas Riris contributed reporting from Limassol, Cyprus.

Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: Iran Will 'Annihilate' Cities if Israel Attacks
Naharnet/Iran will "annihilate" the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa if it comes under attack by the Jewish state, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Thursday. "Every now and then the leaders of the Zionist regime threaten Iran with a military attack," Khamenei said in a live televised speech from the northeastern holy city of Mashhad, referring to Israel. "They should know that if they commit such a blunder, the Islamic republic will annihilate Tel Aviv and Haifa," he said. Iran is said to possess ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel. It also has close relations with Israel's foes in the region, including Hizbullah and Palestinian militants in the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip. Khamenei spoke with little sign of an easing in Tehran's position in its confrontation with the West over its disputed nuclear program of uranium enrichment. Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's sole but undeclared nuclear power, suspects that Tehran is seeking atomic arms, a fear shared by the United States and Western powers, and has not ruled out a military strike. Washington has also refused to rule out the military option, but insists it prefers a diplomatic solution to the nuclear stand-off. U.S. President Barack Obama in Israel on Wednesday accepted that the Jewish state would not cede its right to confront Iran's nuclear threat to the United States.Agence France Presse

PKK Leader Ocalan Calls for Ceasefire
Naharnet/Jailed Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan called Thursday for a ceasefire, telling his fighters to lay down their arms and withdraw from Turkey, raising hopes for an end to a three-decade conflict that has cost tens of thousands of lives.
"We are at a stage where guns should be silenced," Ocalan said in a letter written from his isolated island prison cell and read out by a pro-Kurdish lawmaker to vast crowds in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir.
The much-anticipated truce call was welcomed by Ankara, which nevertheless said it wanted to see action as well as words.
Ocalan, the founding leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), said it was time for "politics to prevail, not arms," as he called for armed militants to withdraw from Turkey.
The move caps months of clandestine peace talks between Turkey's spy agency and the state's former nemesis Ocalan, whose movement is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ocalan, branded a "baby killer" by many Turks, both appear to have staked their political futures on the renewed push to end the 29-year armed campaign for self-rule that has killed some 45,000 people, mostly Kurds.
"A door is opened from armed struggle to democratic struggle," said the 64-year-old Ocalan, known as "Apo" or uncle to Kurds who has been serving a life sentence for treason on Imrali island off Istanbul since 1999. "It is not the end of the struggle, it is the beginning of a new one," he added. "It is time for unity." Turkish Interior Minister Muammer Guler gave a cautious welcome to Ocalan's announcement.
"The language is the language of peace, we must now see it put into action," Guler was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying.
Erdogan has said he was putting his faith in the peace process "even if it costs me my political career" in the face of charges by the nationalist opposition that he was guilty of "treason."
The peace talks were launched last year after a dramatic upsurge in PKK attacks against Turkish security forces. Ocalan's announcement was timed to coincide with Kurdish New Year, or Newroz, and hundreds of thousands of people from across Turkey gathered for celebrations in Diyarbakir.
From the early hours, people poured into the main square, adorned with red, yellow and green Kurdish flags, to hear Kurdish lawmakers read Ocalan's letter both in Kurdish and Turkish.
"I believe in peace," said Ahmet Kaplan, an elderly farmer from a village near Diyarbakir. "I have a son in the mountains and one in the army. It has got to stop, we need an end to mothers' tears."
A giant placard above the stage in Diyarbakir read "Democratic solution, freedom for our leader Ocalan" as thousands waved banners chanting "In peace as in war, we are with you, chief!"
"The light of Newroz burning for peace," declared the headline in the mainstream Sabah newspaper, referring to a celebratory ritual where young men jump over flames in a sign of courage and fertility.
A solution to Turkey's ingrained Kurdish problem could etch Erdogan's name in history, in much the same way the abolition of slavery enshrined Lincoln's memory for Americans a century ago, Murat Yetkin, editor-in-chief of the Hurriyet Daily News, wrote in February. The ceasefire call is likely to be in return for wider constitutional rights for the up to 15 million Kurds in Turkey, as well as the release of thousands detained over links to the PKK, and safe passage for fighters withdrawing into northern Iraq. The ceasefire will be a crucial test for Ocalan's influence over the PKK after years of being cut off from the outside world.
At least four previous ceasefire attempts called by Ocalan were rejected by Ankara or torpedoed by hawkish rebel groups, triggering increased violence in the country. Asked if the new peace process would be successful, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin told reporters "there are no guarantees". In a sign of goodwill, the PKK last week freed eight Turkish prisoners it had been holding hostage for some two years. Under Erdogan, in power since 2002, the Kurdish minority has been granted more cultural and language rights but further reforms were dropped in the face of a nationalist backlash. Agence France Presse

Suicide Bomber Kills pro-Regime Cleric in Syria, 15 Others
Naharnet /A suicide bomber targeted a mosque in central Damascus on Thursday, killing a senior pro-regime Sunni cleric and at least 14 other people, Syrian state media and a watchdog reported.
"Senior cleric Dr Mohammed Saeed Ramadan al-Bouti was martyred in a terrorist suicide attack at the Iman Mosque in Mazraa in Damascus," the channel said, adding there were reports of more dead and wounded.
"Bouti was martyred while he was giving a religious lesson to religion students in the Iman Mosque," the station added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 15 people were killed in the attack in addition to Bouti, with dozens more wounded at the mosque in Mazraa, a district just north of the city center. State news agency SANA said at least 14 people had been killed in addition to Bouti, and more than 40 were hurt. The official al-Ikhbariya television station aired gruesome footage from inside the mosque, where dozens of corpses and body parts, including limbs and hands, were strewn on the carpeted floor.
The footage showed emergency workers collecting the remains from inside the mosque and carrying them out in grey body bags. A presenter on the channel said a suicide bomber had entered the mosque and blown himself up.
Bouti was the most senior pro-regime Sunni cleric in Syria, and his weekly addresses at Friday prayers were frequently broadcast live on state television. After news of the attack broke, one state television station interrupted its regular program to broadcast verses from the Koran, the Muslim holy book as well as footage of Bouti giving his weekly sermon. Bouti, who comes from a major Kurdish family, was reviled by the opposition, and activists say he was forcibly ejected from a mosque in 2011 after saying most of the people who went out to protest after Friday prayers did not know how to pray. He was born in 1929 and spent years studying Islamic theology, including at Cairo's al-Azhar University, according to state television.Agence France Presse

Three dead in Tripoli clashes, Syria frees fighter
March 22, 2013/By Antoine Amrieh/The Daily Star
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Three people were killed and at least 18 wounded in renewed clashes Thursday between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in Tripoli, as the Army pledged to respond “decisively” to gunfire irrespective of the source.
The National News Agency reported that Yahya Thulayji, from the neighborhood of Bab al-Tabbaneh, was killed in sniper fire, while security sources indicated that two other individuals had fallen victim to the violence.
Armed clashes intensified at night between residents of the mainly anti-Assad Bab al-Tabbaneh and those in neighboring Jabal Mohsen whose residents are staunch backers of the Syrian leader. Sniping made the road connecting Tripoli to Akkar inaccessible.
The violence broke the tenuous calm that was enforced by the Army, which imposed tight security measures on the two districts throughout the day. The Army also said it had arrested Jihad Dandashi, a key suspect involved in a shootout at a public hospital in the city the day before.
The shootout at a public hospital in the Qibbeh neighborhood of Tripoli left one person dead and 10 people wounded, including two Army soldiers.
The clashes came hours after Syria released a Lebanese Islamist arrested late last year after illegally entering Syria to fight alongside the rebels.
Speaking to Syrian State TV shortly before he was freed, Hasan Sroor claimed a Lebanese Salafist sheikh had sent him to fight the Syrian army but upon arriving in Lebanon, Sroor recanted his confession.
General Security said Sroor was handed over after intense consultations between Lebanese and Syrian officials.
In footage broadcast on Syria’s state-run television station, Sroor said he had been brainwashed while in Tripoli and received military training by Islamist groups.
“When I was in Bab al-Tabbaneh, they used to show us videos of the Syrian army killing children and raping women, but while I was here I saw that it wasn’t them,” Sroor told reporters.
He added that his group had been dispatched to “fight in Syria” by Sheikh Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, a Tripoli-based Salafist preacher. “Thank God I’ve been released,” he added.
Shahhal swiftly denied the released Islamist’s claims and said that “the Syrian regime forced Sroor to say this.”Sroor received a hero’s welcome in Bab al-Tabbaneh, where residents fired celebratory gunfire in the air. Also receiving him was Sidon-based Sheikh Ahmad Assir.
Nearly 10 fighters from Tripoli were killed in the December 2012 ambush by the Syrian army in Tal Kalakh near the border with Lebanon. The bodies of the 10 men were returned to Lebanon by Syria in three installments weeks later.
For his part, the head of the Alawite Islamic Council, Sheikh Assad Assi, warned against the escalating violence targeting Jabal Mohsen, saying that the Alawite sect would defend itself if authorities failed to do so.“Strife has been rekindled ... I call on the president, prime minister and speaker, ministers, Army commander and [head of the Internal Security Forces] Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to be responsible toward members of this sect,” Assi said in a news conference in Jabal Mohsen.
“Tripoli is the city of goodness, and we stand by the side of Sunnis and honorable Salafists ... but a minority of takfiris have come to this country calling for the slaughtering of Alawite children and the raping and killing of Alawite women,” he added, referring to Islamists who support killing those who aren’t sufficiently religious.
Assi said the minority Alawite community would support the Lebanese Army as long as it protects all sects.

Maurice Vellacott, MP
Saskatoon-Wanuskewin
http://www.melisainstitute.com/pr-03082013-english.html
FOR RELEASE ON FRIDAY, MARCH 8TH 2013 @ 9am EST
Scientists discuss relationship between abortion and violence against women
New York, March 8th 2013 – Scientists of the United States of America, Ireland, and Chile met this week in New York to discuss recent scientific evidence regarding abortion as a form of growing violence against women and girls. Indiscriminate practice of abortion is significantly correlated with coercion, a history of sexual abuse, violence during pregnancy, intimate partner violence, and with psychological consequences that may lead to suicide.
The scientific evidence was discussed by Doctors Monique Chireau (North Carolina, USA), Donna Harrison (Illinois, USA), Eoghan de Faoite (Dublin, Ireland), and Elard Koch (Concepción, Chile). The meeting “Public Policies to reduce maternal mortality, a holistic focus on maternal health” took place in parallel to the 57th Session of the Commission of Women Status of the United Nations, whose priority theme is the “elimination and prevention of all types of violence against women and girls”, activity that will go on until March 15th.
The scientists discussed different epidemiological studies, showing that:
- A significant and growing proportion of induced abortions occur due to coercion by the intimate partner of the pregnant woman.
- A history of sexual abuse and violence is a risk factor for abortion and subsequent mental health problems.
- There is a significant correlation between the increase in the number of abortions and an increase in the rate of homicides against women versus those against men.
- There is an important correlation between the increase of abortions and the suicide rate of women of childbearing age.
- Countries with abortion laws that are less permissive, such as Ireland and Chile, display lower abortion rates than countries with more permissive abortion laws.
Dr. Koch, director of the MELISA Institute, presented international collaborative studies that have been recently published, which place Chile –a country with one of the least permissive abortion laws in the world– with the lowest maternal mortality rate in Latin America. Public policies ensuring more education for women, childbirth by skilled professionals universally available, and a timely access to emergency obstetric units would be key factors improving maternal health, and not the legal status of abortion. This evidence was in agreement with data presented by Dr. De Faoite, who showed evidence placing Ireland among the countries with the lowest maternal mortality in Europe, without having to modify their current abortion legislation. On the other hand, Dr. Chireau presented robust evidence regarding novel treatments for pregnant women with cancer, which are successful in safeguarding the life of the mother and her gestating child. Finally, Dr. Harrison discussed the risks related to complications following medical abortion with chemicals such as misoprostol, which are exacerbated in developing countries due the their lack of sufficient coverage of emergency facilities.
During the opening of these UN Sessions and commemorating the International Women’s Day, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remarked “There is one universal truth, applicable to all countries, cultures and communities: violence against women is never acceptable, never excusable, never tolerable.” In this context, the scientists assembled in New York voiced their concern in regards to the alarming expansion of abortion as a form of violence against women in the world, something that should not be dismissed by any nation that respects fundamental human rights.
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* For more information on this subject or to arrange an interview with doctors Monique Chireau, Donna Harrison, Eoghan De Faoite, and/or Elard Koch, please contact Lea Parks, Officer of Public Relations of the MELISA Institute, to lea.parks@melisainstitute.com or to +56 41 234 5814

Iraq spurred America’s Mideast apathy
March 21, 2013 /By Michael Young/The Daily Star
One of the more appreciable aspects of articles written for the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war is that most American and European commentators have finally taken Iraqis into consideration. For a long time Westerners saw Iraq almost entirely through the prism of how the war affected the United States or the United Kingdom, with no room left for the Iraqis themselves. The reason for this turnaround is the so-called Arab Spring. The narrative today necessitates recognition of Arab aspirations, because in the past two years these have driven developments in the Middle East. Even in Iraq, the U.S. was more often overwhelmed by Iraqi dynamics than the contrary, forcing American military units on the ground to immerse themselves in the details of Iraqi society.
It is that realization, perhaps, that has made President Barack Obama imitate the ostrich by sticking his head in the sand on most regional developments. The president, in one of his first speeches, addressed America’s ties with Islam, and virtually apologized for Washington’s actions. None of us realized at the time that this was an adieu of sorts, a way of telling Arabs that with George W. Bush gone and America having fulfilled an act of contrition, U.S. attentions would now turn elsewhere.
Yet the Arab uprisings have shown that Bush’s desire to bring down Saddam Hussein’s regime was prescient. Whatever else one might say, American actions in Iraq spoke to what would, starting in 2011, become a broader Arab impulse to be rid of authoritarian regimes and replace them with more representative orders. Obama has embraced the Arab revolts with a lack of enthusiasm rooted in caution, so he will never acknowledge that his predecessor was on to something. Nor will he admit that his own disinterest in Iraq has only helped ensure that the country remains polarized along sectarian lines, thanks to the errors of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, backed by Iran.
The conflict in Syria has shown us that the Obama administration, like the Bourbons, has learned nothing and forgotten nothing. The Arab uprisings have not led to a change in the American outlook when it comes to understanding and acting upon the democratic aspirations of Arab societies. Such a change would mean, first, giving some credit to Bush’s decision to oust one of the worst mass murderers the region had ever seen, in favor of a more democratic Iraq.
And the administration has forgotten nothing in fitting events today, above all those in Syria, into a flawed template of conflicts past. Nothing was done to arm Syria’s armed opposition, for fear that Salafi jihadists would triumph as they did in Afghanistan. Yet America’s unwillingness to act only ensured that the Salafi jihadists would fill the void created by this obtuse reasoning.
The problem is that the U.S. has profoundly changed toward a region hitherto at the very core of its concerns. The Middle East is no longer a priority for Obama, and the pillars of U.S. involvement in the region have either been seriously eroded or allowed to deteriorate. American minimalism in the region is a direct consequence of Obama’s erroneous reading of the Iraq conflict, which the president chose to explain in the context of a clash of cultures.
As Obama put it in his speech in Cairo in June 2009, “I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition.”
In that way the president showed he understood nothing of what had transpired before he came to office. Iraq was not a confrontation between America and Islam. Even in those interpretations most critical of the Bush administration, the war was fundamentally a political act, not engagement in a cultural war by other means.
What were the dual pillars of American involvement in the Middle East? Immediately after World War II, the principle motivation was the defense of oil supplies, which led to a close partnership with Saudi Arabia. Because of its vast oil reserves, the kingdom became the main stabilizer of oil markets.
By the late 1970s, a second strategic goal was the pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace, built on the foundations of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. To consolidate the treaty, the U.S. began providing Egypt with large amounts of foreign aid, as it had done with Israel. The U.S. thus became the main sponsor and ultimate guarantor of Arab-Israeli negotiations.
Under Obama, the U.S. has shown little more than passing interest in these objectives. America has emerged as a leading oil producer in the world, importing just 20 percent of the oil it consumes. The International Energy Agency predicts that by 2020, the U.S. will be the world’s largest oil producer, overtaking Saudi Arabia and Russia. Given such trends, America’s unwillingness to prioritize its partnership with the Saudis is hardly surprising.
As for Arab-Israeli peace, Obama’s personal commitment to that objective has been nominal. Egypt is in dire economic straits, yet Washington seems strangely disinterested. On his first foreign visit, Secretary of State John Kerry did not travel to Cairo, once an obligatory early stop for secretaries wanting to get the pulse of the Arab world. Instead, Obama is now visiting Israel to mend fences, though this seems largely to be for domestic political reasons rather than to restart talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
If Iraq was regrettable in one respect, it was in pushing Obama to embrace destabilizing minimalism in the Arab world. The U.S. has left a void that contending actors are seeking to fill, to the detriment of all. Obama no longer wants the U.S. to be the world’s policeman, and in that he has been revolutionary. But minimalism has come with a price tag as the world adjusts, and it will be measured in Arab lives. Perhaps the American narrative invariably dominates after all.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Damascus mosque blast kills 42 including senior Syrian imam
March 21, 2013/Daily Star
BEIRUT: An explosion at a mosque in the Syrian capital on Thursday killed at least 42 people, including a senior pro-government Muslim cleric, and wounded 84, the Syrian health ministry said.
State television and anti-government activists earlier had reported 15 dead. The television said a "terrorist suicide blast" hit the Iman Mosque in central Damascus, and Mohammed al-Buti, imam of the ancient Ummayyad Mosque, was among the dead.
"The death toll from the suicide bombing of the Iman Mosque in Damascus is 42 martyrs and 84 wounded," the health ministry said later in a statement.
While attacks in the capital during Syria's two-year-long rebellion have become almost commonplace, an attack on a mosque was deeply shocking to both sides in the conflict.
Buti, a government-appointed cleric reviled by the Syrian opposition movement, delivered the official weekly Friday mosque sermons on state television.
In one of his televised speeches, Buti described those fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad as 'scum'. He also used his position to call on Syrians to join the armed forces and help Assad defeat his rivals in the rebellion.
Rebel spokesman Loay Maqdad said units associated with the opposition's Free Syrian Army were not behind the attack.
"We in the Free Syrian Army do not take any responsibility for this operation. We do not do these types of suicide bombings and we do not target mosques," he told Al Arabiya television.
Video released by Syria's al-Ikhbariya channel showed dozens of limp bodies lying on the bloodied carpet of the mosque, as emergency workers rushed in to give survivors first aid. Mangled limbs lay among the wreckage.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across Syria, said earlier that around 15 people died in the blast in central Damascus.
The Observatory said it was unclear if the explosion was caused by a car bomb or a mortar shell. Dozens more were wounded in the attack it said.
The Iman mosque is next door to the offices of Assad's ruling Baath party, as well as other government compounds.
Locals were panicked after the blast and described seeing ambulances rushing to the area while traffic came to a standstill. Residents near the mosque said the strong, acrid smell of gun powder still hung in the air.
Buti, 84, led the funeral prayers for Assad's father, the late President Hafez al-Assad.
The imam's critics saw him as a religious mouthpiece in support of Assad. When the revolt started in March 2011, he quickly threw his support behind the Assad family, which has ruled Syria for more than four decades.
Buti was a Sunni Muslim, the sect which makes up the majority of Syria's population.
Sunnis have led the revolt against Assad, a movement that began as peaceful protests but devolved into bloody civil war that has sparked sectarian bloodshed between Sunnis and Assad's minority Alawite population.
It was unclear who was behind the Damascus blast, although Syria TV immediately accused "terrorists," a term frequently used to described rebels. If opposition fighters were responsible, it would signal the ease with which they are able to strike in the heart of the capital compared to a year ago.
Some opposition activists argued the rebels could not have been behind the attack, and called it a government plot. They said it was unlikely that rebels, many of whom are deeply religious, would target a mosque.
"The regime eliminated Buti," said Leena al-Shami, a Damascus activist speaking on Skype. "One of the last things he said is that Assad is the prince of Muslims and Syrians fight with him, as in jihad (holy war).
"I don't think Buti could have done more, his role was over. Now the regime wanted to make a martyr of him."
Some locals recalled one of Buti's more memorable sermons from early on in the revolt, in which he told President Assad he had a vision that Syria would 'receive God's wrath', but would survive.

Ex-Hezbollah member leads movement against terror group
Ynetnews/Hezbollah's Shiite policies and involvement in Syrian crisis raises outcry in Lebanon; new movement from group's stronghold presents national alternative .Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, once the undisputed stars of the Arab world, are rattled by surprise opposition from within their own ranks. The Lebanon NOW news website reported Tuesday that a new political movement is gathering followers right in the Hezbollah stronghold of Beirut's southern suburb. The Movement for the Lebanese Citizen (MLC), led by former Hezbollah operative Imad Kamiche, is attempting to present an alternative to the rigidly Shiite framework represented by Hezbollah and Amal, and place the Lebanese citizen at the forefront regardless of ethnicity. In the Lebanon NOW story, Kamiche blamed Hezbollah for taking advantage of the ethnicity issue to cover up its failures, an attempt that he regretfully admitted to be successful. Contrary to Hezbollah, the MLC's approach, according to Kamiche, wishes to represent different voices in the Shiite community, stressing social and economic issues, not military, in order to improve the lives of all Lebanese. Though no direct pressures have been exerted on him, Kamiche said that he has been given "advice" to steer clear of the political arena.Hezbollah affiliated sources denied the allegations, and said that the fact that opposition elements are still residing in Beirut's southern suburb is a testimony to the group's tolerance.They added that Hezbollah actually wishes to absorb the opposition and their criticism, even contacting them for that purpose.But direct opposition is not the group's only problem: The Arab media reported Hezbollah is currently under fire for sending operatives to fight in neighboring Syria.
According to Alquds Alarabi, the family of a militant killed in Syria is furious after the group falsely told them he is in Beirut right before his body was returned in a coffin. Anti-Hezbollah media outlets reported that in the family's village in southern Lebanon the families of 20 other youngsters are worried for their sons and are discontented with Hezbollah's unconvincing answers as to their whereabouts.