The Lebanese Army, backed by a drone, pounded Saturday militant hideouts on the outskirts of the northeastern town of...
Republican congressman Bill Cassidy has defeated Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu in Louisiana's runoff Senate election, boosting the Republican majority in the incoming Senate.
NPR's Debbie Elliott reported Friday that Cassidy, who has pledged to repeal Obamacare, followed a campaign strategy of linking Landrieu to Obama, highlighting her support of the unpopular president.
Landrieu, meanwhile, faced funding challenges: "With the midterm elections settled elsewhere, and control of Capitol Hill solidified for the GOP, Mary Landrieu has been left largely to fend for herself. National Democratic groups have pulled spending for the Louisiana runoff."
Landrieu was the last remaining Democratic senator from the Deep South.
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army said Saturday that troops had arrested at least 900 people in the month of November on terror and drug-related charges among other crimes.
In a statement, the military said its units across the country detained 947 people of various nationalities for their involvement in terrorist activity, shooting, attacking citizens, drugs, arms smuggling and possession as well as residing in Lebanon without a valid permit.
The arrests also resulted in the confiscation of 69 vehicles, 61 motorcycles and fishing boats, a large quantity of arms, ammunition and military gear.
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Two nominees to President Obama's cabinet await Senate confirmation hearings. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with senior Washington editor Ron Elving about their prospects.
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BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea Saturday called on his presidential rival, MP Michel Aoun, to work with him to reach a compromise to resolve the long-deadlocked election.
Geagea said that Aoun had two options, either attend Wednesday's election session where "you and I would be the presidential candidates" in the "real election game, no other candidate can impose themselves.”
“Or we stop saying that Sunnis and Shiites are choosing a president and sit together to reach an understanding on some names, and we refer them to Parliament for a vote,” Geagea said. “The ball is still in our court, but we cannot tell the universe to wait for us while some are disrupting the poll.”
Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement, has said he is ready to attend a Parliament session to elect a president if the race were restricted to himself and Geagea, hinting that MP Walid Jumblatt's candidate, MP Michel Helou, should withdraw from the race.
Geagea is the March 14 coalition’s presidential nominee, while Aoun is the March 8 group’s undeclared candidate. Aoun and some March 8 MPs, including Hezbollah, have boycotted the parliamentary sessions to elect a new president, arguing that such votes are futile unless parties agree beforehand on a consensus candidate.
“We cannot leave things as they are. The presidential post is shrinking in value and we cannot leave it vacant regardless of the circumstances,” said Geagea, who has repeatedly criticized Aoun for hijacking the presidential vote to secure his own victory.
While welcoming the anticipated dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, Geagea rejected attempting to solve the presidential impasse in that forum.
“Some say that Sunnis and Shiites are heading toward a dialogue to agree on a new Christian president. Sunnis and Shiites seek to defuse the existing sectarian tensions amid a larger Sunni-Shiite conflict in the region,” he said.
“This is a blessed step, but discussing a president and other national issues requires the presence of all parties. Therefore, we should not give this dialogue more than it can handle.”
“All Christian figures in Lebanon consider the presidential post a Christian responsibility that should see a Christian agreement, but what can we do when a major Christian party is disrupting the election?”
President Barack Obama tapes the Weekly Address in the Map Room of the White House, Dec. 5, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)
In this week’s address, the President highlighted the good news in Friday’s jobs report – that American businesses added 314,000 new jobs this past month, making November the tenth month in a row that the private sector has added at least 200,000 new jobs. Even with a full month to go, 2014 has already been the best year of job creation since the 1990s. This number brings total private-sector job creation to 10.9 million over 57 consecutive months – the longest streak on record.
But even with this real, tangible evidence of our progress, there is always more that can be done. Congress needs to pass a budget and keep the government from a Christmas shutdown. We have an opportunity to work together to support the continued growth of higher-paying jobs by investing in infrastructure, reforming the business tax code, expanding markets for America’s goods and services, making common-sense reforms to the immigration system, and increasing the minimum wage.
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BEIRUT: The head of the Future bloc, MP Fouad Siniora, phoned several Shiite political and religious figures, condemning the reported killing of a Lebanese policeman at the hand of Nusra Front and describing him as a "martyr for all of Lebanon."
In a statement, his office said Siniora contacted Speaker Nabih Berri, deputy head of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, Shiite scholar Sayyed Ali Fadlallah, Sayyed Ali al-Amin and Sayyed Mohammad Hasan al-Amin, along with Prime Minister Tammam Salam.
In his conversation with the Shiite leaders, Siniora deplored the awful crime that targeted Bazzal, saying: "There is a continued effort to drag the country into a damned and rejected strife."
"Ali Bazzal is a martyr for all Lebanon and not just his village or his honorable family. What is needed is for anyone to be aware of the plot designed by terrorists and agencies belonging to tyrannical regimes trying to incite strife and destroy Lebanon,” Siniora said.
"Lebanon is our country and the Lebanese won't be satisfied with an alternative ... They will not allow anyone to serve a blow to moderation.”
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BEIRUT: The families of 25 Lebanese servicemen held by the Nusra Front and ISIS since August blocked a major highway in the capital Saturday and another in north Lebanon, after the latter group allegedly threatened to kill hostages.
The families said they received messages on their phones that ISIS would execute its hostages in a few hours, urging the government to act quickly.
"We announce that we will escalate our actions in an open-ended manner and hold the government responsible for the killing of Ali Bazzal," one of the relatives said, standing in the Beirut neighborhood of Saifi while others held an enlarged poster of Bazzal carrying his infant daughter.
Using cement blocks and trash cans, relatives of Ibrahim Mgheit blocked the Qalamoun road leading to the northern city of Tripoli while families in Beirut sat at the eastern entrance to Downtown, prompting police to redirect traffic.
The escalation comes hours after the Nusra Front said it had killed Bazzal, a policeman it had held hostage, and vowed to kill another unless the government released women and children who had been detained in the country.
The Al-Qaeda affiliate was referring to the arrest of two women: the wife of an ISIS commander and his two children, and the ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and her children.
Nusra Front has so far killed two of its hostages and ISIS has also killed two since they took dozens of soldiers and policemen during clashes with the Army last August in Arsal, a border region.
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Jihadists seize part of the key regime air base at Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria in fierce fighting, activists said.
BAALBEK, Lebanon: Tensions soared in the Bekaa Valley Saturday after Nusra Front said it killed policeman Ali Bazzal, one of the servicemen it was holding hostage, as residents in his village held a prominent Arsal figure responsible for their son’s murder.
Hours after Nusra Front announced that it executed Bazzal, posting a picture of a man with a machine gun firing shots toward the policemen who was seen kneeling down, residents of Bazzalieh kidnapped three men near the town around midnight.
The men were released in the early hours of the morning and were identified as Mohammad Hujeiri, Mohammad Atrash and Bassam Hujeiri. They were traveling through the road linking Bazzalieh and Labweh when they were abducted.
The kidnappers shot and wounded a Syrian man who accompanied the three. He was transferred to a Baalbek hospital.
“Residents here are very angry and the men erected checkpoints at the entrances of the town and inspected people and their vehicles,” the head of the federation for eastern municipalities, Khalil al-Bazzal, told The Daily Star.
“No one should try to come to Bazzalieh until the situation calms down.”
Bazzal said the roads, which were blocked in the predominantly Shiite village quickly after the Nusra announcement, were soon reopened.
He said residents held “Mustafa Hujeiri and his family responsible for the murder of their son,” adding that residents from the nearby town of Arsal were unwelcome.
“All roads are open for all citizens except for Arsal residents,” he said.
Mustafa Hujeiri is wanted by authorities for belonging to Nusra Front, but he has been following up on the negotiations between the government and the Qatari mediator, who was tasked by Doha to help release 25 policemen and soldiers held by Nusra and ISIS.
The militants took the servicemen hostage during clashes with the Army in the northeastern town of Arsal in August. Both groups have demanded the release of prisoners in Lebanese and Syrian prisons but the government has not agreed to their demands.
Nusra Front, the Al-Qaeda-affiliate, had previously killed one soldier and ISIS has so far executed two.
Last month, the Nusra Front threatened to kill Bazzal unless the government became serious about negotiations, but Hujeiri and Health Minister Wael Abu Faour were able to postpone the execution then.
Tensions between the Sunni-majority Arsal and neighboring Shiite villages in the Bekaa have been running high over the crisis in Syria as well as Hezbollah’s role in the conflict alongside regime troops.
