NEW YORK -- Cotton futures No. 2 closed $4.30 a bale higher to $5.30 lower Monday.
The average price for strict low middling 1 & 1-16 inch spot cotton declined 104 cents to 84.18 cents per pound Monday for the seven markets, according to the Market News Branch, Memphis USDA.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Jerry Brown is getting ready to update his spending plan for the coming fiscal year, a budget that is bolstered by California's economic turnaround and voter-approved tax hikes.
Revenue is running ahead of expectations by more than $2 billion, but the Democratic governor is expected to press lawmakers Tuesday to maintain fiscal restraint.
Brown is expected to emphasize the need to pay down tens of billions of dollars in debt and long-term liabilities.
California's general fund is expected to reach a record high, likely exceeding $107 billion. The expected surplus is a stark turn-around from the days of multibillion dollar shortfalls, state worker furloughs and state-issued IOUs.
TOKYO -- Nissan's quarterly profit edged up nearly 5 percent as sales grew around the world and a favorable exchange rate helped earnings.
Nissan Motor Co. reported Monday that January-March profit totaled 114.9 billion yen ($1.1 billion), up from 109.7 billion yen the year before. Quarterly sales rose more than 20 percent to 3.2 trillion yen ($31 billion).
Nissan said its sales growth was outpacing the industry. The Japanese automaker is expecting continued growth for the current fiscal year that began April 1, according to CEO Carlos Ghosn.
Yokohama-based Nissan forecast annual net profit of 405 billion yen ($4 billion), up 4 percent from 389 billion yen ($3.8 billion) in the last fiscal year.
Both its quarterly and annual profit results were better than Nissan's own forecasts and the projections by analysts surveyed by FactSet.
A weak yen has been a boon for Japanese exporters such as Nissan, which makes the March subcompact, Infiniti luxury models and the Leaf electric car, and is allied with Renault SA of France.
But the perk is not expected to continue. Although the dollar soared to about 100 yen during the past fiscal year from about 80 yen the fiscal year before that, it's unlikely to keep rising at that pace, to 120 yen, for instance.
And that's weighing on the prospects of all the Japanese automakers, including Nissan, Japan's No. 2 automaker, because profits are unlikely to keep growing at the current pace.
Toyota Motor Corp., the world's top automaker, chalked up a record annual profit and sales above 10 million vehicles for the first time, but is forecasting a slower year as the momentum from a weak yen fades. It's forecasting a 1.78 trillion yen ($17.5 billion) profit for the fiscal year through March 2015, down from 1.82 trillion yen ($17.9 billion) the previous year.
Honda Motor Co., which sold 4.3 million vehicles for the fiscal year ended March 2014, is forecasting a 4 percent rise in annual profit for the fiscal year through March 2015 to 595 billion yen ($5.8 billion).
Nissan sold 5.2 million vehicles around the world in the fiscal year ended March, controlling about 6.2 percent of global auto market. It expects to sell 5.65 million vehicles during the fiscal year through March 2015, which would raise its global market share to 6.7 percent.
Ghosn said the results announced Monday, although "satisfactory," still fall short of Nissan's potential because of its manufacturing capacity, management and competitive standing.
"This means pursuing profitable growth opportunities, focusing relentlessly on quality and enhancing our sales power," he said.
Nissan's sales were better than the industry growth rate in almost all markets. Nissan sales were especially strong in China, where its sales increased 17 percent to 1.27 million vehicles for the fiscal year through March 2014. Its sales grew 13 percent in the U.S. to 1.29 million vehicles.
In Japan, where overall sales grew by 9 percent as consumers tried to beat a sales tax rise kicking in April 1, Nissan's sales rose 11 percent to 719,000 vehicles.
NEW YORK -- Irish drugmaker Shire said Monday it will buy privately-held Lumena Pharmaceuticals for more than $260 million in a deal that gives Shire new experimental treatments for liver diseases.
Shire said it will make another payment when the sale closes, and it could make additional payments based on results from studies of Lumena's drugs. The amounts of those payments were not disclosed.
It said Lumena's products will fit in with its treatments for gastrointestinal diseases, including the ulcerative colitis drugs Lialda and Pentasa, and Resolor, which is approved as a treatment for chronic constipation in women. Shire reported $800 million in revenue from gastrointestinal disease treatments in 2013.
Shire said Lumena's drug LUM001 is being studied as a treatment for four rare liver diseases. The drug is in mid-stage clinical studies and could be approved in 2016. It said a second drug, LUM002, is ready for mid-stage testing as a treatment for non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, is a chronic liver disease that can cause inflammation and scarring, which may lead to cirrhosis, liver failure and death.
Shire said Lumena's products could be approved as orphan drugs, which would give them additional marketing exclusivity and bolster sales. It said the purchase of the San Diego company shouldn't affect its guidance in 2014.
U.S. shares of Shire PLC lost $1.40 to $166.75 in morning trading Monday. Its shares had risen 19 percent so far this year through Friday's close.
BILLINGS, Mont. -- A Republican congressman from Montana said Monday that his state's power generation and mining industries would suffer under a Washington state proposal to cut carbon pollution by eliminating imports of coal-fired power.
U.S. Rep. Steve Daines called on Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to reconsider an executive order the Democrat signed in April to reduce Washington's greenhouse gas emissions. Inslee's plan includes phasing out electricity generated from burning coal, although no timeline has been established.
The vast majority of Washington's electricity comes from hydropower, with just over 13 percent coming from coal. But coal is responsible for almost 80 percent of utilities' emissions of carbon dioxide — a gas that scientists say is helping drive climate change.
Most of Washington's coal-generated electricity comes from power plants in Montana and Wyoming. By setting the goal of eliminating "coal by wire," Inslee has put himself at odds with elected officials in the two states.
"Your policy would have serious consequences for Montana jobs, the financial integrity of financial institutions and the price of electricity for families and businesses across the region," Daines wrote in a letter to Inslee. The first-term Republican lawmaker is running for U.S. Senate and met with coal industry representatives in Billings on Monday to tout his efforts on their behalf.
Inslee has made climate change one of his key issues. He issued the April order after a bipartisan panel of state legislators deadlocked on strategies to reduce the state's greenhouse gas emissions.
Inslee said at the time that it was "the right time to act." A spokesman for the governor said in response to Daines that Washington state faces economic risks of its own as climate change threatens to hurt some businesses.
"Coal has a major impact on the health of Washington state," said David Postman, Inslee's director of communications. "A growing number of industries, led today perhaps by the shellfish industry, are concerned about what climate change and ocean acidification will mean."
Postman pointed out that market forces are also taking their toll on the coal industry. Demand for the fuel has fallen due to low prices of natural gas while power plant operators grapple with rising costs to comply with more stringent pollution laws.
Each of Washington's three private electric utilities gets some power from Montana's Colstrip power plant, which they also co-own.
Washington utility Puget Sound Energy Inc. has a 32 percent stake in Colstrip, a 2,100-megawatt plant operated by PPL Montana. Washington's two other utilities, Avista and Pacificorp, have a combined stake in Colstrip of 18 percent, said Pete Simonich with PPL Montana.
OAK RIDGE, La. -- The family that owns a renovated 89-year-old school building in Oak Ridge is offering it free to anyone who will finish restoring it and use it to create jobs in the city of 29,300.
CenturyLink founder Clarke Williams bought the vacant Oak Ridge High School building and spent about $2 million restoring it before his death in 2002.
Williams' son-in-law, Harvey Perry, tells The News-Star (http://tnsne.ws/RG578T ) that Williams did not have any fixed plans for the building.
The 22,000-square-foot, four-level building was completed in 1925 and graduated its first class in 1926.
The biggest impediment to marketing the building for business is that it's in a very rural area of Morehouse Parish.
Renovations included restoring the exterior, stripping most of the interior to the studs, and installing an elevator.
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Developers proposing to build a casino in Orange or Dutchess counties must commit to investing at least $350 million in the project, the panel overseeing the licensing process announced Monday.
The requirement is designed to maximize the economic impact of a casino in the area, and to ensure that any Las Vegas-style facility approved for the area is a "high-quality, large-scale destination" casino, according to the state's Gaming Facility Location Board, which released requirements for each region now authorized to host a casino.
Developers are now finalizing proposals to build one of four casinos authorized for upstate. The minimum investment thresholds vary by region, with the highest minimum investments required for Orange and Dutchess counties. Those areas, with their proximity to New York City, have attracted the most interest from potential developers.
The minimum investment requirement doesn't include other costs, including land, financing costs or the state's licensing fee. The board estimates that when those costs are included the total investment for an Orange County casino will exceed $472 million.
While they haven't publicly released their total planned investments, several casino bidders told The Associated Press on Monday that their proposals exceed the requirements.
"We think those numbers are very good and show a lot of thought and consideration," said Rita Cox, a spokeswoman for Saratoga Casino and Raceway, one of several groups pitching plans for an Orange County Casino.
Other bidders for Orange County — just an hour north of the city — include Genting Group, the Cordish Companies and Greenetrack. Another contender, Caesars Entertainment, has said its Orange County casino proposal would represent an investment of $750 million.
Areas within the Southern Tier-Finger Lakes region have the lowest investment requirements at $85 million. The required investment could be decreased even further if two casinos are authorized for the same region.
Casinos are authorized in three upstate regions: the Catskills and mid-Hudson River Valley — including Dutchess and Orange counties; the Albany-Saratoga area and the Southern Tier-Finger Lakes region. No more than two casinos may be located in any single region.
Final applications for a casino license are due June 30.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- After more than two years of competition, the last resort-casino proposal remaining for western Massachusetts is in Springfield, a former manufacturing hub where an $800 million project straddling its downtown and South End neighborhoods represents the city's biggest economic development undertaking in a generation.
The proposal by MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mirage, Bellagio, MGM Grand and other casinos, was approved by city voters last July and has advanced farther than four others in the race for the state's sole western region casino license. Plans by Penn National Gaming and Ameristar Casinos never went before Springfield voters, while plans by Mohegan Sun in Palmer and Hard Rock International in West Springfield were defeated in local referendums.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is holding a final public hearing on the project Wednesday in Springfield ahead of a possible June decision.
"If casinos are going to come, I'd rather see them come to Springfield," said David Glantz, who owns a Main Street smoke shop a block from the proposed casino site and across from a vacant lot where an office building had to be razed after the tornado. "I'd like to see this city get back to what it used to be, with economically viable people willing to spend money every day."
The gambling commission, created by the state's 2011 casino law, will award licenses to at least three casino projects in Massachusetts. It has already granted Penn National Gaming the sole slot parlor license for a project at the Plainridge harness race track in Plainville.
Jeffrey Ciuffreda, president of the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield, says the MGM project will be a boon to the regional economy.
He points to the minimum $50 million in goods and services the casino pledges to buy each year from local companies, to local spending from the project's 2,000 temporary construction workers and its projected 3,000 permanent casino employees — 35 percent to be hired from among city residents.
The new casino could also bolster Springfield city government, which had been on the verge of bankruptcy in 2003 and emerged from state control in 2009. Under its host community agreement, MGM will pay Springfield $15 million in up-front and advance payments and another $25 million annually once the casino opens. The casino has also reached agreements with eight other surrounding communities totaling about $2 million upfront and about $1.5 million annually.
Still, not all area residents are convinced of the casino's economic potential.
Al Cabot, who helped lead the successful campaign to defeat Hard Rock's casino proposal in neighboring West Springfield, suggests the casino would draw largely from western Massachusetts's poor and working class residents.
"I don't know of an example in the country where an urban environment has been revitalized by the introduction of a casino," Cabot said. "There are four casinos in Detroit. But Detroit doesn't seem to be prospering."
Cabot and other anti-casino advocates are seeking a November ballot referendum asking voters if they want to repeal the state' casino law altogether and effectively scuttle projects like MGM's. The decision now rests with the state's supreme court.
Some downtown businesses are also anxious about their future.
"We have to relocate whether we want to or not, but we've been totally blind as to what's really going on," said Kenneth Elsner, who owns O-Mi Oriental Grocery, which is among a dozen or so downtown businesses that would have to be relocated — likely with compensation — to make way for the casino project. "The situation has really tied our hands. You can't run a business this way."
KENNER, La. -- Louisiana oyster industry representatives have launched a new campaign to fight sediment diversions from the Mississippi River.
Save our Reefs is the slogan for the new effort that seeks to build public opposition against the proposed diversions that are a pillar of the state's coastal restoration plan.
"Our biggest challenge right now is dealing with what the Louisiana coast will look like. Plans to change the coast are going to be the biggest part of that," said John Tesvich, president of the Louisiana Oyster Dealers and Growers Association and chairman of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force.
The new campaign was discussed recently at the Louisiana Oyster Convention in Kenner.
The oystermen's concern is that large-scale water diversions meant to spread sediment carried by the river's water across dying wetlands will drastically alter the habitat of major oyster reefs.
"Oyster reefs are the most productive type of water bottom we have in our state," Tesvich said. "The public seed grounds contain 29,000 acres of reefs. I did a rough calculation. If the average rate was five or six thick, 29,000 acres at present just raw value of cultch, you come to over $6 billion in just shell material. You can't just replace that. They talk about we will build new reefs somewhere else. Where are you going to get that money?"
Tesvich called the state's oyster reefs one of the most valuable assets the state has, but lamented the fact few people know about them.
This new campaign, endorsed by the state's Oyster Task Force, will seek to change that.
"There is no consideration of this significant loss of value in the master plan," Tesvich said.
River diversion proponents believe re-establishing something like the natural flooding process of the Mississippi River is the most feasible way of slowing the continuing erosion of land to open water.
The delta was built over thousands of years by river floods. When the Mississippi River was high, it would overtop its banks and flood the landscape, depositing sediment, nourishing the existing land and building new land.
After the river was leveed in to prevent flooding, the delta began to sink and erode, deprived of that natural process.
Diversions would open up the river in selected locations and allow water to flow into the estuaries.
State officials have argued diversions are the most cost-effective method of building land — as opposed to the labor-intensive process of dredging sediment and either hauling it or piping it to the project area.
But that argument isn't perfect, according to a study published in March by economists from Louisiana State University and Mississippi State University.
The study, "Trajectory economics: Assessing the flow of ecosystem services from coastal restoration," found that some sediment dredging projects are more cost-effective because they begin building land immediately, whereas diversions would take several years to produce benefit.
The claim that diversions are more effective than dredging assumes the diversions are working at full capacity, which ignores certain social and political pitfalls of diversions, Rex Caffey, director of LSU's Center for Natural Resource Economics and Policy, said at the convention.
"Social opposition that affects the flow rate is something that should be looked at, especially in the absence of socio-economic mitigation," he said.
Caffey said the report does not advocate for one method of marsh restoration over the other but notes some assumptions are made in blanket statements of diversion methods' superiority.
The study is limited by lack of concrete data. Much of the information about sediment diversions are projections. The study also notes that sediment pipeline methods are limited by distance. Once the distance begins to increase, the cost-benefit analysis shifts.
That's of particular interest to Lafourche and Terrebonne parishes, where dying wetlands are too far for diversions or any state-planned pipeline. Terrebonne Parish is pursuing the feasibility of a sediment pipeline from the Atchafalaya River.
Jerome Zeringue, executive assistant to the governor for coastal activities, said at the convention the state can't simply "dredge our way out of this situation."
The state plans to spend more on dredging than diversions over the next 50 years because saving the coastline will require more than one solution, he said.
"If we relied on dredging alone, just to keep up with the land loss, we would have to spend $2.4 billion per year just to keep up with what we lost," Zeringue said.
Zeringue said models, designs and studies are still being developed for such projects. He added the concerns of oystermen would not fall on deaf ears.
"We really don't know when it comes to oysters when it comes to effects. ... The reality is pattern abundance is not well correlated with salinity," Zeringue said.
BEIJING -- Stocks in China and Hong Kong soared Monday on promises of financial reform but markets elsewhere were subdued after a record close for the Dow Jones industrial average.
China's Shanghai Composite jumped 2.1 percent to 2,052.87 after the Cabinet promised in an announcement late Friday to allow local governments to issue bonds and to streamline the approval process for initial public stock offerings. It gave no details, but the news also boosted Hong Kong's market with the Hang Seng up 1.8 percent to 22,261.61.
Other markets were more subdued despite a rebound in U.S. tech stocks which pushed the Dow to a record close on Friday. Tensions between the West and Russia over the future of Ukraine continue to provide a negative backdrop for investment sentiment.
Pro-Russian insurgents who organize autonomy referendums in two regions of eastern Ukraine say about 90 percent of voters have backed their calls for sovereignty. The Ukrainian and Western governments have condemned the balloting as a sham and a violation of international law.
"The state of affairs in Ukraine is appalling," said Mizuho Bank in a report. "The fears are that separatists in Ukraine involving Russian complicity could ratchet up instability in Eastern Europe."
In Europe, France's CAC-40 was down 0.2 percent to 4,469.83 while Germany's DAX added 0.3 percent to 9,607.67. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.3 percent to 6,833.15.
Futures augured modest gains on Wall Street. Dow futures rose 0.1 percent to 16,550 and S&P 500 futures climbed 0.2 percent to 1,876.70.
In Asia, the regional heavyweight, Tokyo's Nikkei 225, shed 0.4 percent to 14,149.52. Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.2 percent to 5,448.40. Markets in Southeast Asia were mostly lower.
Benchmark U.S. oil for June delivery was up 19 cents to $100.18 a barrel amid concern the Ukraine crisis might disrupt supplies from Russia, a major exporter.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3763 from $1.3758 late Friday. The dollar rose to 101.98 yen from 101.87 yen.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- After immigrating to Oregon from the Mexican state of Oaxaca more than two decades ago, Paula Asuncion worked on farms and in minimum wage jobs at fast-food restaurants — a widow struggling to feed six children, sharing cramped apartments with other families.
Her prospects changed two years ago after she joined a program that helps immigrants open small culinary businesses. After training with the microbusiness incubator at Portland nonprofit Hacienda CDC, Asuncion now runs a catering service, employs other immigrants, and has bought a home for her family.
Asuncion's story is not uncommon. Experts say the economic downturn brought new interest in self-employment from people having a difficult time finding well-paying jobs, and that has spurred significant growth in microbusiness development programs that teach skills such as business plan writing, marketing and accounting.
Interest in opening a business is especially high among immigrants and refugees. Many have low incomes and less access to employment opportunities than the general population because they have limited English language skills, lack reliable transportation or an American diploma, and are still learning how American society works.
Many of them see self-employment as a shot at the "American dream."
"The biggest concern among immigrants is having stable work. They come to us and say, 'I want to start a taco stand. How do I do that?'" said Janet Hamada, executive director of Next Door Inc., a social service agency in Hood River, 60 miles east of Portland. The organization plans to expand its business coaching services into a full microbusiness development program aimed at Spanish speakers.
Microbusinesses, defined as enterprises with five or fewer employees, have long been the backdrop of the economy and make up the majority of U.S. businesses. They account for about 26 million jobs in the economy — more than the total number of people employed in local, state and federal governments, according to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, which provides advice and support for microentrepreneurs.
Though the businesses are tiny — from farmers planting on a few acres, to adult care home owners, to food cart vendors — their impact can be significant, said Marilyn Johnson-Hartzog, executive director of the Oregon Micro Enterprise Network. The newly minted entrepreneurs hire family members and eventually other community members, and their quality of life soars. They spend more money on goods and services and re-invest in the business.
Given a rise in demand for training and coaching for new entrepreneurs, even social service organizations have recently added microbusiness development programs, Johnson-Hartzog said.
"The recession, the lack of employment opportunities for seniors, undocumented immigrants, or people of color means there is definitely a need for those trying to lift themselves out of poverty," she said. "A lot of people are hanging out the microbusiness shingle because there are no other resources."
In Durham, North Carolina, a new organization called Accion Emprendedora USA aims to help microbusinesses grow in the Hispanic community through training in business planning, marketing and accounting.
Michigan's Global Detroit initiative, built around the idea that immigration can drive an economic rebound, is developing a collaborative to provide training, technical assistance, and microloans — very small, short-term loans at low interest — to immigrant entrepreneurs.
And in Oregon, interest in microdevelopment is so high that Adelante Mujeres — a Forest Grove nonprofit that runs a 10-week small-business course and an agriculture enterprise program for Latinos — has developed a replicable model for training aimed at Spanish speakers and is helping two other nonprofits to implement it this year.
Demand for business training is especially high among Latinos, partly because some of them immigrated illegally and the federal government has increased pressure on businesses not to hire them, said Adelante Empresas program director Eduardo Corona.
"Anti-immigration laws have led to people having a really hard time finding jobs, even on farms," Corona said. "Since they have to put food on the table, they're starting to explore their abilities and thinking of opening a business."
At Portland's Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization, known as IRCO, several new microenterprise programs have long waiting lists — including a program that teaches refugees how to start their own home-based childcare businesses. IRCO partners with licensed childcare agencies to provide training, and help with paperwork and coaching. Since 2011, it has trained nearly 100 refugee women who arrived in Oregon from conflict-torn nations like Somalia and Myanmar.
"The demand is really high," said program coordinator Tina Do. "A lot of immigrant women come with young children, English language barriers, transportation barriers. It's really difficult for them to compete with other people out there, even for a minimum wage job."
When immigrant women start a childcare service, Do said, the benefits spread to other immigrants, who can enter the workforce because they now have culturally appropriate childcare near their home.
Asuncion's catering service in Portland has also spread its benefits to others. The financially struggling farmworker who sold tamales to neighbors has become a full-time entrepreneur who owns Mixteca Catering and runs food stands at four Portland area farmers markets. Asuncion, 54, now employs three of her adult children and a nonrelative, and the family hopes to eventually open a restaurant.
There's potential for microbusinesses to grow into companies worth billions of dollars. Corporations like Apple, Google and Disney got their start in someone's garage.
Asuncion credits the Hacienda CDC's incubator program for teaching her how to sell and advertise to an American public, giving her information on food safety laws, providing access to a commercial kitchen and microloans to purchase equipment, and links to markets and festivals.
"They have really supported us and helped motivate us," Asuncion said. "I am proud of what my family has accomplished."
Hacienda is expanding on such success by building the Portland Mercado, a market dedicated to small Latino businesses that will include an 11-week course for aspiring entrepreneurs.
"The goal is to show immigrants how to access resources and teach them to do it independently," said Hacienda's market coordinator Caitlin Burke. Their businesses, she said, can then serve "as a bridge to share Latino culture with other communities."
BEE CAVE, Texas -- To meet the growing water needs of western Travis and northern Hays County, officials at a regional water authority are looking more than 80 miles to the east.
They are hoping water that burbles up beneath the blackland soil in northern Lee and southern Burleson counties will solve the needs of their growing customer base in the sprawling subdivisions around Bee Cave and Dripping Springs.
The far-flung span of the potential water play suggests how creative — or desperate — officials in general are becoming as they contemplate the best way to slake the thirst of their growing population, the Austin American-Statesman reported (http://bit.ly/1s4MfLH).
One plan involves hundreds of millions of dollars, eventually to be recovered through ratepayers in Hays County and other Central Texas governments, to build a pipeline to deliver water to the Interstate-35 corridor before the water gets hooked up with pipes in western Travis and northern Hays counties.
Another plan floated by the chief western Travis County water utility involves Austin acting as a kind of middle man, with the city's right hand catching water from the east, and the left releasing it to the west. But that effort, haunted by the legacy of environmental conflict over the delivery of water to the Hill Country, appears doomed to failure in Austin.
In a way, the water planning projects are a miniature version of the regional water challenges that have long bedeviled the state, of moving H2O from water-rich areas in the east of the state to the seemingly unquenchable cities in its central corridor.
The water in Bee Cave, Dripping Springs and a dozen or so subdivisions is provided by the West Travis County Public Utility Agency, whose service area sprawls over 200 square miles. The agency, created in 2012, is the inheritor of a controversial Lower Colorado River Authority project dreamed up in the late 1990s that sent water pipelines down U.S. 290 that accelerated growth in the parts of the Hill Country nearest Austin.
Right now, the utility's customers — it serves about 45,000 people — use only about half the water the utility is entitled to take from the Colorado River, its sole source of water. But with the population forecast to grow by as much as 8 percent annually, and anxious about long-term drought consequences on the Highland Lakes, agency officials have begun searching for ways to augment their supplies.
"As we expand we have to develop new supplies," general manager Don Rauschuber said. "We have to look 30 to 40 years ahead. All the easy options are already taken."
The utility wants to expand its holdings by as much as 10 million gallons of water per day, or roughly enough to satisfy the daily needs of 35,000 average Austin households.
To get there, the water authority has had talks with Austin and BlueWater Systems about a "wheeling" collaboration: BlueWater would pump water through an existing pipeline from its well field in Burleson County to Manor, on the eastern flank of Austin's service area; the water would be lightly treated and softened and then incorporated into Austin's water network; and, on its southwestern flank, Austin would hook into the West Travis County Public Utility Agency's system to provide water.
A molecule of Burleson County water may not actually reach a faucet in Dripping Springs, but the plan would be a "mass balance," said Rauschuber, with roughly equal amounts of water flowing in and out of the Austin system.
Austin Water Utility director Greg Meszaros had a meeting with Public Utility Agency officials this year, but he told the American-Statesman that the wheeling plan "has no legs for us." "It's not that we're not looking for water. But the City Council had a long-standing policy of not facilitating growth in the drinking water protection zone."
That's the area of the Hill Country nearest Austin whose streams ultimately contribute to the Barton Springs portion of the Edwards Aquifer.
"(This project) would be going against a lot of long-standing practices," he said. "It's a creative idea, but not something for us. I don't really see a pathway for that to work."
In other words, any deal involving Austin would face deep skepticism from the city's environmentalist bloc.
Another option: In March, Public Utility Agency water authority board members began reviewing a draft engineering report, obtained by the Statesman, that examined a possible collaboration with Hays County to build a pipeline from northern Lee County to import groundwater pumped by the company Forestar Real Estate.
Total project costs come to between $170 million and $350 million, depending on the pipeline route, infrastructure involved and the number of collaborators on the project, as estimated in the $40,000 report by Murfee Engineering.
But that potential collaboration also faces significant hurdles.
Forestar is engaged in a legal battle to pump and export water, and Hays County officials have had little luck in finding cities or other counties willing to commit to the project.
Pix Howell, a paid consultant on water matters for both Hays County and the West Travis County utility, said counties could use a new population to help pay down the debt on roadway projects — but they need water in place to serve the new population.
"There's a paradigm shift that needs to take place in the suburbs for how they use water," said Howell, "but conservation alone won't furnish the need."
Environmental groups that fought the LCRA pipelines that were constructed along U.S. 290 into the Hill Country a decade or so ago see echoes in the current proposals. Save Our Springs Alliance executive director Bill Bunch said the utility wants more water to "grow an empire and expand their business."
But the board of the West Travis County agency, with Rauschuber's support, has pledged to apply to its entire service area a 2000 agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the LCRA that limits asphalt and rooftop development in the region.
In an early test, that agreement is at play as the West Travis agency grapples with providing water to proposed subdivisions along Hamilton Pool Road.
"We have an obligation to provide water (in our service area)," said Rauschuber, "but not to the density requested by a developer."
The Public Utility Agency could choose a third option: to buy more raw water out of the Highland Lakes from the LCRA. But that would require an expensive upgrade to its pipes and a likely new water treatment plant.
Rauschuber estimated that new "wet water" is three to 10 years off.
"We're always planning way ahead about where that next drop of water is going to come from, whether it comes from Lake Travis or from a groundwater pipeline, or from conservation," he said.
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Information from: Austin American-Statesman, http://bit.ly/1h43OZN
Eds: This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the Austin American-Statesman.
Some examples of questionable costs that government auditors found in the building of Brasilia's stadium for the World Cup:
—Auditors allege that nearly one-third of the $900 million in costs for the stadium are fraudulent.
—The tab for transportation of prefabricated grandstands in Brasilia was supposed to be just $4,700, but the construction consortium billed the government $1.5 million.
—$16 million was lost when Brasilia's city government inexplicably failed to enforce a fine against the consortium building the stadium despite a five-month delay in completion of the main portion of the arena.
—Materials worth $2.3 million were listed multiple times on bills.
MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester City has deposed its neighbor as Premier League champions for the second time in three years, but is not close to usurping United's global supremacy — both as a football club and as a brand. For many people, the word "Manchester" still equates simply with "United."
Even Premier League officials marked the end of the season by assuring United's American owners of the team's enduring power.
"They are the world's largest football club in my view with huge resources, with huge determination and a fantastic fan base," league chief executive Richard Scudamore told Sky Sports television. "Of course their time will come again."
However glum United fans felt as the blue half of Manchester celebrated into Monday morning, it's too early to see the humiliating seventh-place finish as the start of a downward spiral. Declarations that the balance of power has shifted in Manchester would be as premature as they were in 2012, when City last wrestled the trophy off United only to end the following season 11 points adrift.
United claims to have 659 million fans worldwide; City hasn't even tried to provide an estimate. United has been valued at $2.8 billion by Forbes magazine — behind Real Madrid and Barcelona — while City is seventh in the rankings at $863 million. And while City's income last year was around $449 million, United's was $602 million.
The big difference this time, however, is that there is no Alex Ferguson to plot the reclamation of the trophy. The immediate implication of United's fall from grace is the failure to qualify for Europe for the first time in 24 years. But falling short even of the Europa League spots might have been United's biggest achievement in a season when David Moyes' reign was curtailed with four matches remaining.
With nothing like the TV revenue or prestige of the Champions League, which United won in 1999 and 2008, the Europa League would have been a grueling slog across the continent to play less-illustrious teams in what seems to be a never-ending competition. While United earned around $50 million from the 2012-13 Champions League, it would have generated less than $14 million from UEFA for even winning the Europa League.
Missing out on that competitions provides another — possibly much more lucrative — way to cope with the loss of TV and ticket revenue. Taking advantage of its massive popularity abroad, United has considered using the mid-week breaks to play lucrative, trouble-free friendlies in the Middle East, which would also provide a paid-for warm-weather break.
United, most likely under Louis van Gaal, can focus its resources on the Premier League, and seek to emulate Liverpool's ascent from seventh to second in a year.
A prolonged absence from the elite European competition could, however, dissuade transfer targets from joining English football's most successful club or drive up the wages they can demand.
Globally it is difficult to assess the impact City has made, but it will take more than a couple of years of silverware to capture any fickle fans from rivals. When Barcelona fans came to Manchester for a Champions League match against City in February, many flocked to Old Trafford to visit English football's most famous club stadium.
United has a history of success, with 20 English titles and three European Cups alone. City's history is one largely based on near-misses and tales of the plucky loser forever in United's shadow. Despite more than $1 billion being injected into the club by Abu Dhabi's ruling family since its 2008 takeover, City only managed to win its fourth title on the final day of the season on Sunday ahead of a Liverpool side that has enjoyed a fraction of the investment.
City's principal problem is its spending. Or overspending, as UEFA sees it, in breach of Financial Fair Play regulations. City should be able to celebrate its newly elevated status in world football and the admirable investment in youth teams and a new training complex springing up next to the Etihad Stadium, but the club's leadership struggles to promote this grand vision to the world. Perhaps wary of having their accounts even more heavily scrutinized, City's leadership — not just owner Sheikh Mansour but every executive — remains silent in public in England.
City is embarking on a contrasting global strategy to its local rival. While United's commercial team is gobbling up sponsors of every product imaginable across every major continent, Mansour is amassing football clubs.
There's a team in New York that expects to start playing competitively in 2015, an existing club in Melbourne taken over this year, and Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi, but there will be little traction for these sides beyond the local markets.
United, with its brand strength, vast following and so many years of success to fall back on, should not be too troubled by its neighbor yet. But wary, yes. If their contrasting fortunes are repeated next season and United's share price in New York slumps, the Glazers might start to worry about their cash-rich Gulf rivals.
PHOENIX -- More than 4 million passengers passed through Phoenix's international airport during the month of March, setting a record.
City officials announced Monday that March marked the busiest month in the history of Sky Harbor as well as a 3.2 percent increase over the numbers recorded in March 2013.
Phoenix Aviation Director Danny Murphy says spring training, students on spring break and Arizona's weather helped to attract visitors in March.
In the first three months of this year, the airport saw a 3.3 percent increase in passenger numbers compared to the same time period in 2013.
Officials say April statistics for Sky Harbor are not yet available.
Hotels and resorts throughout the valley also saw a nearly 3 percent increase in occupancy in March compared to the same time last year.
JACKSON, Miss. -- The Federal Aviation Administration is giving 14 Mississippi airports a total of more than $4.8 million to improve safety and operations.
Airports at Bay St. Louis, Belzoni, Belmont, Clarksdale, Columbia, Columbus, Corinth, the Golden Triangle, Grenada, Houston, Lexington, Madison, Okolona and Starkville are getting the Airport Improvement Program grants.
The largest is $1 million to Golden Triangle Regional Airport, which serves Columbus, West Point, Starkville and Lowndes County. The money will be used to improve the terminal building and repair the runway and taxiway.
The George M. Bryan Airport in Starkville is getting $540,000 for runway safety area improvements
Fletcher Field Airport, serving Clarksdale and Coahoma County is getting $531,750 for taxiway construction.
NEW YORK -- New York's pension fund for state and local government workers has reached a record high of $176.2 billion, with a 13 percent return on investment last year, riding a bull market for stocks, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Monday.
The Common Retirement Fund also paid a record $9.7 billion to beneficiaries in the fiscal year that ended March 31, according to DiNapoli, its sole trustee. The fund for some 650,000 government employees pays benefits to about 400,000 retirees and beneficiaries.
The average employer contribution rate is 20.1 percent of salary for most public workers and nearly 27.6 percent for police and firefighters. After the strong earnings year, DiNapoli said, new contribution rates in August could be lowered, though it's too soon to say with certainty.
"The strength of the domestic equity market, coupled with strong private equity and real estate returns drove much of our growth," DiNapoli said. Almost 38 percent of its holdings are in domestic stocks, which rose 22 percent during the fiscal year.
Last year, the fund earned a 10.4 percent return on investments and was valued at $160.7 billion. It paid out $9.45 million in benefits. In August, it lowered contribution rates by 0.8 percent for most municipal and state workers and 1.3 percent for police and firefighters.
The fund currently has almost 27 percent of its investments in fixed-income holdings, which showed slight negative returns for the year.
DiNapoli said it's hard to speculate whether the bull stock market now in its sixth year will falter.
He said the U.S. market remains "a safer harbor for capital to be deployed" than some challenged Western European and emerging markets, something he doesn't expect will change soon. "But we do know bull markets don't last forever. ... It's gone on longer than many people expected, but I don't see it abating any time soon," he said.
This afternoon, the President and Vice President welcomed America's "TOP COPS" – some of our nation's best law enforcement officials – to the White House to honor their remarkable service and sacrifice.
hide captionKeith Crisco, a North Carolina textile entrepreneur locked in a too-close-to-call Democratic Party primary with former American Idol singer Clay Aiken, died suddenly in a home accident on Monday.
Keith Crisco, a North Carolina textile entrepreneur locked in a too-close-to-call Democratic Party primary with former American Idol singer Clay Aiken, died suddenly in a home accident on Monday.
A week after apparently losing his nomination bid for Congress, Keith Crisco has died.
Despite extensive experience in business and government, Crisco is fated to be best known as the person who finished behind former American Idol star Clay Aiken in a Democratic primary in North Carolina last Tuesday.
"The president of the company founded by 71-year-old Keith Crisco says Crisco died at home on Monday after an accident," The Associated Press reports.
The Asheboro Courier-Tribune, which first reported the death, says "early information" indicates that Crisco suffered injuries from a fall at his home and had died by the time emergency workers arrived at the scene.
In addition to founding Asheboro Elastics Corp., a textile company, Crisco had served as state commerce secretary and as a member of the Asheboro City Council.
None of that was enough for him to outpace Aiken, a political newcomer. Aiken was leading by 369 votes by last count.
Roll Call reports that Crisco was planning to call Aiken on Tuesday to concede.
"I had spoken with Keith earlier in the day," Brad Crone, a Democratic strategist and Crisco friend, told the Capitol Hill newspaper. "Keith was going to concede the election tomorrow morning and would be calling Mr. Aiken to congratulate him."
Declaring himself "stunned and deeply saddened," Aiken said he was suspending his campaign for the time being.
NPR's Charlie Mahtesian notes that either Democrat would have faced an uphill climb against Republican Rep. Renee Ellmers. She took 56 percent of the 2nd District's vote in 2012, while GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney performed slightly better.
"That's a district that's pretty comfortably Republican, so it won't be easy for a Democrat to win there," Charlie said last week on Here and Now.
BEIRUT: Increasingly worried about a presidential vacuum, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai is seeking a constitutional amendment that would keep President Michel Sleiman at Baabda Palace until a successor is elected, sources in Bkirki said Monday.
“Patriarch Rai is giving lawmakers the choice of either electing a new president on time to avoid a presidential vacuum, or amending the Constitution so that President Sleiman can stay at Baabda Palace until a new head of state is elected,” a senior source in Bkirki, the seat of the Maronite patriarchate north of Beirut, told The Daily Star.
This possibility, if approved by Parliament, would make Sleiman a caretaker president, unprecedented in Lebanon’s turbulent political history and its power-sharing formula.
While Lebanon’s Constitution allows a resigned Cabinet to serve in a caretaker capacity until a new government is formed, it makes no mention of a caretaker president.
The Bkirki source said Rai will not accept the country’s top Christian post to become vacant after Sleiman’s six-year term expires on May 25.
“Patriarch Rai will not endure a vacuum at Baabda Palace. He wants a president to be elected according to the Constitution and the lawmakers to fully shoulder their responsibilities by electing a new president on time,” the source said.
Rai sees that a constitutional amendment can prevent a vacuum in the presidency if Parliament fails to elect a president before May 25, the source added.
“If Parliament is unable to elect a president on time, Patriarch Rai supports a constitutional amendment that would allow the President [Sleiman] to stay in office and exercise his prerogatives until a new president is elected,” the source source.
In the latest flurry of activity focusing on the presidential polls, Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel met in Paris with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, while Nader Hariri, the head of Hariri’s office, met Rai in Bkirki.
No details emerged from the Hariri-Gemayel meeting and The Daily Star’s attempts to reach the Kataeb MP were unsuccessful.
Gemayel’s father, Kataeb leader Amine Gemayel, confirmed the Paris meeting, saying that Hariri emphasized the importance of preserving state institutions and the role of Christians in these institutions.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Rai, Nader Hariri said he was assigned by the head of the Future Movement to consult with the patriarch on the presidential election.
“As a political side, we are worried about a [presidential] vacuum which we do not consider as a normal matter,” he said. “What we are concerned with is that the Christian component remains as a symbol of the country.”
A Future source denied reports that Nader Hariri had informed Rai that the Future bloc supported the extension of Sleiman’s term. Rai’s campaign for Sleiman to stay longer at Baabda Palace beyond his mandate amounts to a veiled extension of the president’s tenure, which is staunchly opposed by Speaker Nabih Berri’s bloc, Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun and the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition.
Furthermore, any constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority (86) of the legislature’s 128 members, which is hard to secure given the sharp split between the March 8 and March 14 parties.
Neither side can garner a majority vote in Parliament to forge ahead with any constitutional amendment, let alone secure the required two-thirds quorum for any Parliament session.
In a bid to prevent a presidential vacuum, Sports and Youth Minister Abdul Mutaleb Hinawi also proposed that Sleiman stay in office until a new president is elected. “As there is a solution to prevent a vacancy in the presidency of the legislative and executive branches of power, a formula should be found to ensure the continuity of the current president until a new president is elected,” said Hinawi, who is loyal to Sleiman.
Rai’s planned move comes amid mounting fears that the country is increasingly inching toward a power vacuum after Parliament failed last week to meet to elect a new president for the third consecutive time for lack of a quorum.
Rai warned Sunday a vacuum would run contrary to the 1943 National Pact and eliminate Christians’ role in the country’s power-sharing system.
Parliament is scheduled to meet again in a fourth attempt in less than a month to elect a president amid growing signs that Thursday’s session is also doomed to fail in the absence of a local and regional accord on a compromise candidate acceptable to the March 8 and March 14 parties.
Lawmakers from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, Hezbollah and its March 8 allies have thwarted the required two-thirds quorum by boycotting the three Parliament sessions in order to pressure their March 14 rivals to agree beforehand on a consensus candidate for the presidency.
After meeting Rai to brief him on the outcome of his talks with various political parties, Amine Gemayel again warned of dire consequences of a vacuum in the presidency after May 25. “There was full agreement in viewpoints with regard to fears of a vacuum,” Gemayel said after meeting Rai in Bkirki.
“It is very important to intensify efforts to hold the presidential election on time because a vacuum would have dangerous consequences for Lebanon’s future and its institutions,” he added.
Meanwhile, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly called on Lebanese lawmakers to elect a president on time.
“The presidential election process is now entering a crucial phase, with less than two weeks remaining to 25 May. Having discussed the matter with members of the International Support Group, which includes the five permanent members of the Security Council, I would like to make two or three points on behalf of the group collectively,” he said after meeting Berri in Ain al-Tineh.
“The first is to emphasize that the process is an entirely Lebanese one, which should remain free of foreign interference,” he said. “The second is to stress nonetheless that Lebanon’s friends in the international community have a keen interest in the successful completion of the process, on time and in accordance with constitutional practice.”
Plumbly stressed that a vacancy in the presidency should be avoided. “We earnestly hope that members of Parliament will engage fully in the coming days to secure the election of a president by the date set in law.”
BEIRUT: The editor-in-chief of Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar newspaper will not appear at Tuesday’s hearing for contempt before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, after the court apparently failed to address the newspaper’s request to postpone the session, in the latest twist in the controversial case against two Lebanese media outlets.
Ibrahim al-Amin was scheduled to appear at 4:30 p.m. Beirut time before the STL’s contempt judge, after Karma al-Khayyat, the deputy head of news at Al-Jadeed TV, who traveled to The Hague to attend the hearing.
The two journalists are charged with contempt over news reports in which the outlets disclosed details of alleged STL witnesses.
The decision, which Amin confirmed in a telephone interview with The Daily Star, poses a dilemma for the court, which has avoided issuing arrest warrants for the editors.
Al-Akhbar’s management said in a statement that it asked the court on May 8 to postpone the hearing in order to “secure all the rights of the defense.”
But the newspaper said the STL only responded Sunday, saying it had received the letter that morning, without taking a decision on the matter.
In response, Al-Akhbar said Amin would not appear before the court, and held the STL responsible for any harm that may befall the newspaper’s staff as a result of the accusations.
“I have an enormous number of clarifications that if I do not get a response to I will of course not appear before it [the court],” Amin told The Daily Star.
The issues include whether STL staff are immune from being summoned as witnesses in the case, whether the contempt charges contravene Lebanese laws, and what criminal codes the STL relied on to accuse the journalists of contempt.
When asked by The Daily Star to comment on Amin’s decision, STL spokesman Marten Youssef said: “There is a summons to appear that has been served up on him and he is expected to appear either by video link or in person.”
Amin accused the STL of suppressing freedom of the press, saying the contempt charges go against human rights laws.
“It has no role other than to prevent Lebanese media from scrutinizing the work of the tribunal,” he said.
Amin said he would also raise the legality and legitimacy of the court’s creation. “We are fighting a political, media and legal battle to abolish this court, which has no constitutional or international legitimacy,” he said.
Amin also criticized the Lebanese government for surrendering to the STL’s authority.
“The Lebanese authorities from 2005 until today are partners in a crime of violating Lebanese sovereignty,” Amin said.
The STL is tasked with prosecuting those responsible for the 2005 bombing that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others. It has indicted five members of Hezbollah in the case.
The summoning of journalists has triggered criticism and protests by some Lebanese groups against The Hague-based court. The STL says prosecuting the journalists is necessary in order protect witnesses who were intimidated by the disclosures.
SIDON, Lebanon: Sporadic clashes between rival gunmen in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh left eight wounded Monday, mostly civilians, as a separation force was established to try and quell the fighting.
Prior to the deployment of the force, Palestinian sources had told The Daily Star that the situation in the camp, located in the southern city of Sidon, was likely to deteriorate further as camp officials seemed incapable of calming the warring factions.
The deterioration in Ain al-Hilweh’s security came after a series of assassinations recently rocked the largest Palestinian camp in Lebanon.
Tensions were sparked after two gunmen from the disbanded Fatah al-Islam group headed by Bilal Badr shot at a Fatah Movement headquarters run by Fatah officer Talal al-Urduni, prompting the guards to shoot back.
The ensuing intermittent fighting forced schools inside the camp and nearby Sidon neighborhoods to evacuate students by midday, while shops and other centers closed down.
Palestinian sources told The Daily Star that Monday’s clashes were connected to last week’s attempt to assassinate Alaa Ali Hujeir, a Palestinian member of Fatah al-Islam, which left him in a critical condition. Badr accuses Fatah of being behind the act, but the movement denies any involvement.
In wake of the clashes, Fatah and other secular and Islamist factions in the camp intensified contacts in a bid to defuse the situation. Frustrated with the fighting, hundreds of Ain al-Hilweh refugees marched to the scene of clashes in a bid to bring them to an end. Many fled the camp, fearing further escalation.
Sheikh Jamal Khattab, who was chairing a meeting of his Islamic Jihad Movement when the fighting began, told The Daily Star that Monday’s incidents were a reaction to “false news” about Hujeir’s death.
“Issues of disagreement can’t be solved with shooting,” said Khattab, the spiritual leader for Islamist groups inside Ain al-Hilweh. “Such attacks can’t be justified. The clashes should end here.”
Khattab said he expected the clashes to end, as they resulted from an “individual dispute.”
Late Monday, it was announced that a separation force, composed of the Usbat al-Ansar Islamist group and the Islamic Jihadist Movement, had been created to contain the clashes. Members of the two-group force were shot at earlier in the evening but were still working to calm the situation, according to Khattab.
He said the forces were dispatched to sensitive places but emphasized that this was a temporary fix rather than a final solution.
Khattab said the camp was also waiting for the newly announced Palestinian security force to be formed, which is likely to compose of 100-150 members representing different Palestinian factions, including Islamist groups.
The camp has been on edge following a series of assassinations and disputes that have led to fears of clashes similar to the 2007 Nahr al-Bared fighting. The northern camp was flattened during hostilities between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam. More than 35,000 people were displaced by the fighting.
BEIRUT: The Lebanese judiciary began Monday interrogating former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s senior aide, arrested last month in Beirut over an Interpol warrant for links to the mafia, a judicial source told The Daily Star.
Marcello Dell’Utri, 72, was apprehended on April 11 on charges of mafia connections after he fled to Beirut to escape trial in Italy.
Dell’Utri was interrogated by public prosecutor Nada al-Asmar after Italian authorities handed Lebanese authorities the businessman’s file last Friday, including charges against him along with a request to extradite him back to Rome to be tried there.
After being questioned for an hour and a half, Dell’Utri was returned to Al-Hayat Hospital, where he is under medical supervision.
Dell’Utri’s attorney, Akram Azouri, who was present at the interrogation, told The Daily Star that the court hearing was “good.”
“Judge Asmar adjourned the hearing without setting a new date for interrogation,” Azouri said.
Lebanon’s State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud told The Daily Star he’d review the results of the questioning and then give a recommendation to the Cabinet over whether Lebanon should hand Dell’Utri over to Italy.
“Whatever decision the Cabinet takes, it will be appealed in front of the Shura Council,” he said. That appeal can be either made on Dell’Utri’s behalf or on behalf of the Italian government.
Italy’s top court last week confirmed a seven-year sentence for Dell’Utri for having ties to the mafia, concluding a legal case launched in 2004.
Although he did not give any further details on the case, Azouri hinted at possibly filing an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg against the Italian court’s decision.
Dell’Utri led the advertising arm of Berlusconi’s media business empire, and helped launch the disgraced premier’s political career in the early 1990s.
Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Dell’Utri was sent to Lebanon by Berlusconi at the request of Russia to help Kataeb leader Amine Gemayel win the presidential election. Gemayel denied the claims.
BEIRUT: Participants clashed over the legitimacy of Hezbollah’s arms during a conference discussing the Bkirki National Charter Monday, as others stressed the importance of the memorandum calling for the revival of National Dialogue between the various political parties.
The Israeli threat to Lebanon, the inability of the Lebanese Army to defend the country and the recent emergence of extremist groups “has made the arms of the resistance today more than an obligation and a necessity,” said retired Brig. Gen. Amine Hoteit, a supporter of Hezbollah.
According to Hoteit, it is “unacceptable” to propose that Hezbollah give up its weapons before the Lebanese government is able to replace it with another force that can defend the country.
Former MP Salah Honein rejected Hoteit’s idea, and said it was objectionable to discuss “defending the country except in regard to legal Lebanese forces.”
Honein called for “unified, exclusive weapons” that would only be in the hands of the state.
The panel on Hezbollah’s arms was moderated by talk show host Walid Abboud and titled “The decision of war and peace in the Bkirki National Charter.”
The document, announced by Rai in February, calls for Lebanon’s neutrality and for keeping military power under the exclusive authority of the state as well as abolishing what it called “self-security,” a reference to Hezbollah’s arsenal.
The charter also stresses the need for the timely election of a new president and for a Muslim-Christian partnership to run Lebanon.
The panel discussion was part of a conference held at the Hilton Hotel and titled “ Bkirki National Charter: a National Project.” The event was organized by the Civic Committee under the patronage of President Michel Sleiman, and aimed to celebrate three years since the election of Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai.
The conference’s opening remarks saw a focus on the document’s call for National Dialogue, the last session of which occurred last week and was boycotted by most March 8 figures and some from March 14.
“The charter demands a Dialogue and open debate,” said former MP Farid Khazen. “The charter is an attempt to avoid the abyss.”
He said Lebanon was in “dire need” of a countrywide reconciliation in light of the precarious security situation.
Maronite Bishop Samir Mazloum said a real dialogue needed to take place “far from foreign interference, which will lead to a reconciliation between the Lebanese and the rebuilding of society.”
Another panel at the conference examined the issue of neutrality, something that has been heavily debated since the beginning of the Syrian conflict and Hezbollah’s involvement in it.
Sami Nader, a professor of economics and international relations at Université St. Joseph, explained that it was the first time in Lebanese history such a matter had been being debated at length.
“The Bkirki National Charter opened the door for a new reality concerning neutrality,” Nader said, adding that “commitment to neutrality was the main step,” particularly militarily.
“Neutrality has become a national demand even if not everyone is abiding by this,” he said.
The charter expresses support for the Baabda Declaration, which aims to keep Lebanon away from regional and international conflicts.
Former Minister Issam Naaman said Lebanon needed to be strong to neutralize itself, adding that it currently was not.
“Achieving independence is a first priority, so that it [Lebanon] can defend itself and its people,” Naaman said, but added that it would be nearly impossible to neutralize Lebanon from regional conflicts.
The panel also included a discussion on the current situation of Christians in the Mideast. According to Minister of State for Administrative Development Nabil de Freige, Christians’ fears in the region were justified, as their numbers were significantly dwindling. He said that in that regard, he supported Rai’s upcoming controversialvisit to occupied Jerusalem.
