LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 1/2007Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 10,1-10. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate but climbs over elsewhere is a thief and a robber. But whoever enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. But they will not follow a stranger; they will run away from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers."
Although Jesus used this figure of speech, they did not realize what he was trying to tell them. So Jesus said again, "Amen, amen, I say to you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came (before me) are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. A thief comes only to steal and slaughter and destroy; I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.Free Opinions
Tehran and Washington face an opportunity to mend fences. Daily Star. May 1/07Latest News Reports From The Daily Star for May 1/07
Michel presents report on Hariri court to UN chief
Israeli war report charges Olmert with 'severe failure'
Lebanese leaders bear a responsibility to restore stability
Syria, Lebanon move to limit border crossings
Jumblatt insists dialogue is only solution
Siniora urges Lebanese not to attack Syrian workers
Sabaa urges all Lebanese sectors to promote cooperation through 'serious dialogue
50 percent of Lebanese suffer from income deprivation following summer war with Israel
Interim report on Israel's conduct during summer war
Security forces conclude that suspects in 2 killings have fled Lebanon
AUB to inaugurate new student center
3-year-old goes missing from picnic in Tripoli
New Sidon mufti to be appointed, not elected
Souk al-Tayeb promotes holistic living with focus on organicLatest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 1/07
Manhunt Continues for Four Shamas Brothers in Connection with Ziads' Killing-Naharnet
Hizbullah Ready for Lebanon Settlement-Naharnet
Ziads' Killing was Organized Crime-Naharnet
Saniora: Lebanon is Close to Finding Ziads' Killers-Naharnet
Report: Syria has underground 'missile city'.Mail & Guardian Online
Al-Moallem: Syria Is Interested in Lebanon's Security and Stability.SANA
UNIFIL rejects Lebanese Army claim of Israeli incursion in South.Daily Star - Lebanon
Human rights lawyer jailed for 5 years in Syria.Malaysia Sun
Olmert awaits Lebanon war inquiry report.Reuters
Crossfire War - Hezbollah Re-Establishes Position in South Lebanon.NewsBlaze
Syria asks Washington, Baghdad to shoulder responsibility of Iraqi ...People's Daily Online
Olmert Unshaken by Growing Resignation Calls-Naharnet
Chirac, Hariri and the International Court.Middle East OnlineManhunt Continues for Four Shamas Brothers in Connection with Ziads' Killing
An intensified manhunt for four Shamas brothers in connection with the kidnapping-murder of a youth and his 12-year-old neighbor continued across Lebanon on Monday. The daily An Nahar said house raids also continued in search for the four brothers of Adnan Shamas, 29, who was killed in sectarian street clashes in January. It said the search operation for the killers of Ziad Ghandour, 12, and Ziad Qabalan, 25, may be nearing an end unless the four brothers managed to flee the country, although this report has not been confirmed. An Nahar, citing a senior security official, said the perpetrators "executed" the youths last Monday, the same day they were kidnapped.
The sources said six minor suspects, three of whom are detained by the army's intelligence bureau and three others in police custody, were involved in facilitating logistics. They said the four Shamas brothers took part in the kidnapping of the two Ziads, whose bullet-riddled bodies were found near the town of Jadra southeast of Beirut on Thursday. An Nahar said information based on statements from those in custody indicated that Ziad Ghandour, the boy, was not directly targeted. It said one of the Shamas fugitives called Ziad Qabalan on his cell phone the day of the kidnapping-murder and fooled him into driving to Ein el-Rummaneh under the excuse that he wants to put him in charge of an aluminum workshop.
The daily said the culprits used three cars, one for "security preparations" and the two others for the kidnapping operation. It said the four brothers took the victims to the narrow coastal strip leading to the Chouf heartland where they killed them before mediation to free them was launched.
An Nahar said it was already too late for such negotiation. It said that a "mediator" finally established contact with one of the kidnappers on Tuesday only to learn about the "execution" of the two Ziads. Beirut, 30 Apr 07, 07:05
Hizbullah Ready for Lebanon Settlement
Hizbullah's second-in-command has reached out to rival political leaders, announcing that his group was ready for any settlement under the emblem of national unity. "Our hands are stretched out for any national or unity proposals," said Sheikh Naim Qassem in remarks published by the Lebanese media on Monday. Referring to Druze leader Walid Jumblat's reconciliatory tone in recent statements, Qassem said, without naming him, that his words were "positive.""We, in turn, respond to these (statements) by being more positive than ever … and we are ready for any settlement away from tutelage, monopoly or domination," Qassem assured. "We are ready to open a new page that would fold the crises on all levels," he said. Qassem said that Hizbullah would like to see the pro-government camp translate words into deeds. He urged the March 14 coalition, which supports the government of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, to come forward with a "serious timetable to get (us) out of this crisis."Qassem also said a "mutual compromise" which would give both sides "what they want" was essential for any deal. Otherwise, there would be no deal, he stressed. Beirut, 30 Apr 07, 11:52
Ziads' Killing was Organized Crime
Authorities were very close to finding the kidnappers and murderers of a youth and his 12-year-old neighbor, and investigation indicated the twin murder was an organized crime. Security sources said that the probe into the killing of Ziad Ghandour, 12 and Ziad Qabalan, 25, whose bullet-riddled bodies were found on Thursday, has revealed that the crime was not in retaliation for the murder of Adnan Shamas as previously believed.
They said a thorough joint investigation by the intelligence bureaus of both the police and the army has shown that the killing of the two Ziads was in contrast to the vendetta ritual carried out by many tribes and clans. "The crime was far beyond vendetta traditions, particularly since it targeted a child," one source said. He said the architects of the crime made sure to make their misdeed look as if it were settling of scores linked to the killing of Shamas during sectarian street clashes in January.
The source emphasized that the crime was politically-motivated, adding that it aimed at "addressing more than one message to more than one internal or foreign political side." Sources close to the investigation said that the crime served multiple purposes by targeting Sunnis to which both Ziads belonged and the Progressive Socialist Party to which the victims' families belong. They said that the perpetrators have maintained close watch of the youths between the Christian neighborhoods of Dbaiyeh and Ein el-Rummaneh, and that they intended to throw their bodies in Jadra, a Christian town in the Chouf region where Druze, Christians and Sunnis coexist. They said the culprits took off from the outskirts of the southern suburbs and traveled deep into Dahiyeh before hitting the coastal highway linking Beirut with South Lebanon.
Authorities have also seized a car that was used as a cover up for two other vehicles the executors used to travel from Dahiyeh to Jadra.
According to interrogation reports with six minor suspects, names of the culprits as well as details related to the kidnapping and murder of the two Ziads have been exposed. Authorities feared, however, that the culprits may have fled the country. But the Lebanese judiciary is determined to track them down and will issue an international warrant through Interpol to arrest them. Beirut, 29 Apr 07, 16:34
Saniora: Lebanon is Close to Finding Ziads' Killers
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora said Lebanon was very close to finding the kidnappers and murderers of a youth and his 12-year-old neighbor. The crime has drawn nationwide condemnation with rival political leaders and top clerics calling for calm. "Authorities are exerting genuine efforts and we are very close to finding those who committed the crime ... and those behind it," Saniora said in remarks published by the daily Al Mustaqbal on Sunday.
"They (criminals) will be punished by the government and we will make sure they pay the price for their actions," Saniora added. He was referring to the kidnappers and killers of Ziad Ghandour, 12, and Ziad Qabalan, 25, whose bullet-riddled bodies were found southeast of the capital on Thursday. The youths were kidnapped on Monday in what was thought to be a political vendetta for the killing of pro-Hizbullah Adnan Shamas during sectarian street fights in January.
Al Mustaqbal said police search for the killers continued across Lebanon. It quoted security sources as saying that authorities will only announce details after crime data and other information is gathered. The sources said two cars, one of which had been used during "some phases of the crime," have been seized. "But the leading criminals are still at large and search is underway to find them," one source told Al Mustaqbal. The daily An Nahar said on Friday that interrogation with a number of witnesses has determined that the license plate number of one of the two cars used by the kidnappers corresponds to the Shamas family. It said the license number likely belonged to the brother of Adnan Shamas. The Shamas clan, however, has said in a statement that it had nothing to do with the abduction of Ghandour and Qabalan. Beirut, 29 Apr 07, 08:10
Report: Syria has underground 'missile city'
Jerusalem, Israel -30 April 2007 10:31
Syria has built a fortified complex buried deep underground and cloaked in secrecy to manufacture and store ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel, an Israeli newspaper said on Monday. The complex includes 30 reinforced concrete bunkers, production facilities, development laboratories and command posts, the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot quoted "foreign experts" as saying, without specifying its location.
The "missile city" houses mainly Scud missiles capable of reaching anywhere in Israel. Given its weak air power, Damascus is boosting its arsenal of surface-to-surface missiles and protecting them in the complex, Yediot said. According to the paper, Syria has 200 Scud-B missiles, 60 Scud-C and a certain number of North Korean Scud-D missiles with a range of 700km, and has developed chemical warheads for all its Scuds.
The chemical warfare agents are stored in a separate facility, Yediot quoted the foreign experts as saying.
It also said that Iran recently supplied Syria with about 100 Chinese shore-to-sea C-802 missiles -- the same missile that Hezbollah used to hit an Israeli warship during last year's Lebanon war. In March, military and government sources told Agence France-Presse that Syria had positioned thousands of rockets on its border with Israel, as part of indications that Damascus may be preparing for future "low-intensity warfare".
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made peace overtures in recent months to Israel but the Jewish state rejected them, saying Damascus must first stop supporting militant groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Peace talks between Israel and Syria collapsed in 2000, mainly because of deadlock over the return of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981. -- AFP
THURSDAY APRIL 26, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LEADERS OF THE AMERICAN LEBANESE COALITION HOLD MEETINGS
AT THE UNITED NATIONS WITH MEMBERS OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL
The United Nations, New York. - Within the context of periodic visits by the American Lebanese Coalition (ALC) to the United Nations, a delegation of ALC leaders, headed by ALC President Dr. Joseph Gebeily, held a series of meetings April 24th, 25th and 26th with members of the United Nations Security Council and with the office of the Secretary General of the United Nations The delegation included Milad Zohrob, Dr. Elie Semaan, Fadi Farhat, Paul Hindi, Dr. Edgard El Chaar, and Adel Sleiman
The delegation presented each mission with a comprehensive policy paper that delineated ALC’s positions on fundamental issues of concern to the Lebanese people, the Lebanese American community and the Lebanese Diaspora. These positions included complete compliance with the wording and the spirit of Lebanese constitution vis-a-vis the election of a new president for the Republic of Lebanon and the democratic and uneventful transfer of presidential powers and of the official seat of the presidency to the next constitutionally-elected president; enactment by the United Nations of the international tribunal that would try the assassins of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and of other martyrs of The Cedar Revolution; disarming Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias on Lebanese soil; rapid and final resolution of the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon; opposition to repatriating Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the dangerous ramifications of naturalizing them on Lebanon’s precarious demographic make-up; safeguarding Lebanon’s sovereignty; full and urgent implementation of all UN Security Council resolutions relevant to Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence, including but not limited to UNSC Resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701; demarcation of the Lebanese-Syrian border, starting with the Shebaa Farms without further delays; expanding the UNIFIL’s mandate to include the monitoring of the Syrian-Lebanese borders;; taking an active role in demanding the return of Lebanese prisoners in Syrian jails.
Moreover, the delegation emphasized the need to respect the fundamental principles of non-interference in Lebanese affairs by regional powers and the disengagement of Lebanon from all regional conflicts and of sustaining a consensual democracy, which guarantees the rights of individuals and communities in a pluralistic society that is inherently comprised of minorities.
After the meetings, President of ALC, Dr. Joseph Gebeily said:"We sensed an unwavering commitment from the UNSC and The Secretary General to protect Lebanon’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We also received assurances that all UNSC resolutions regarding Lebanon will be fully implemented."