Lebanon PM to discuss terrorism during Paris visit

BEIRUT: Terrorism, the Syrian refugee crisis, Lebanon's presidential impasse and other regional developments will dominate talks between Prime Minister Tammam Salam and senior French officials in Paris.

Salam, accompanied by Defense Minister Samir Moqbel and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, left Wednesday morning on a four-day official visit to Paris.

He is scheduled to hold talks with French President Francois Hollande and other senior officials.

“We will discuss issues that need follow-up, most particularly the French Development Agency’s humanitarian and social assistance, not to mention the political and military support,” Salam said in remarks published Wednesday, only hours before heading to the airport.

"Presidential election is on top of the agenda wherever I go because it's the key to resolving all the problems associated with Lebanon's stability," he told local daily Al-Akhbar. "It will be at the heart of discussions with Hollande,” he stressed.

Salam pointed out that France was working on "some ideas, but nothing is final yet."

He said "terrorism and extremism are also on the agenda, given France’s significant role in the region with the Arabs and towards Lebanon,” he stressed.

Salam described the visit as “significant,” saying France, which has special ties with Lebanon, “is seeking to play a bigger role amid in the difficult circumstances at both the political and military levels," particularly arming of the Army in order to endorse the strong bilateral relationship between the two countries.”

The prime minister is also expected to discuss with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian military cooperation between the two countries and the implementation of a $3 billion Saudi gift to equip the Lebanese Army with French weapons, a source close to Salam told The Daily Star Tuesday.

D.C.'s Marijuana Legalization Is Part Of Debate Over Spending Bill

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Volunteers with the DC Cannabis Campaign (left and center) talk to a voter about the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana on election day. The measure was approved, but its fate remains uncertain. Allison Shelley/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Allison Shelley/Getty Images

Volunteers with the DC Cannabis Campaign (left and center) talk to a voter about the ballot initiative to legalize marijuana on election day. The measure was approved, but its fate remains uncertain.

Allison Shelley/Getty Images

Negotiations over the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill Congress will consider this week included how to handle Washington, D.C.'s bid to legalize marijuana. Some 65 percent of the federal district's voters approved the move via ballot initiative last month.

Even before November's vote, many saw the measure's future as uncertain. Afterwards, several Republicans in Congress said they would move to block it. This week, the referendum's exact status has been a topic of conflicting reports about the shifting debate over the huge spending bill that will likely come up for a vote Thursday.

"This spending bill would prohibit federal and local funds from being used to implement that referendum," NPR's Ailsa Chang reports. "But it doesn't affect current law decriminalizing medical use of marijuana in D.C."

Restrictions on D.C.'s use of funds to regulate and tax marijuana would likely endanger the district's goal of creating a market that a city finance official said would be worth $130 million a year, as member station WAMU reported in October.

The initiative allows D.C. residents to possess up to two ounces of marijuana for their personal use, and to grow up to six marijuana plants.

We'll remind you that despite some elements of home rule in the nation's capital, Congress can review – and overturn — the city's laws. That means a ballot measure in Washington that legalizes pot must face closer scrutiny than those in Oregon and Alaska, where voters also approved legalizing marijuana last month.

From the National Journal:

"House Republicans, particularly Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers and junior appropriator Andy Harris of Maryland, had been vehemently pushing for language in the bill that would block both decriminalization and legalization."

While legalization advocates have criticized Harris and Rogers, they've also complained that Democrats aren't doing enough to defend the D.C. measure.

Calling the push to block the referendum from taking effect "outrageous," Michael Collins of advocacy group the Drug Policy Alliance said, "While we are encouraged by reports that D.C.'s legalization law may survive, Democratic leadership can do much more. We are deeply troubled by reports that the final language will prevent the District from taxing and regulating marijuana."

Congress Will Get A $1.1 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill This Week

Faced with a Thursday deadline to finance the U.S. government, leaders of both parties in Congress have worked out a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government until October 2015. But a vote isn't likely to come before the day of the deadline.

We'll add details from the bill when it's released.

"The House will be voting on the bill first," NPR's Ailsa Chang reports on All Things Considered. "That's likely to be Thursday."

That brings up a problem: If the bill passes, the Senate would only have hours, not days, to work through it and hold its own vote.

"That could theoretically happen," Chang says, "but it requires getting all the Senate Republicans to agree to bypass some procedural rules and fast-track it. And the Senate is a funny, traditional place: it only takes one senator to object to all of that."

Chang adds that some senators are against the current bill "because it would fund the president's executive action on immigration, at least in the short term."

The bill's pricetag matches the $1.1 trillion spending bill Congress approved at the start of this year. And that bill, which President Obama signed into law in January, had strong support on Capitol Hill, winning approval in the Senate by a 72-26 vote and in the House by a 359-67 margin.

If the spending bill is delayed, Congress could take up a continuing resolution that would provide a cushion of several days to let legislators take up the larger bill. And some on Capitol Hill have predicted that Congress could also take up a hybrid legislation that funds some government programs on a short-term basis, while others get full funding.

That idea has a nickname: "cromnibus," a portmanteau word that combines continuing resolution (CR) with omnibus.

In Spending Bill, A Gift For Political Party Fundraising

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President Obama walks to the podium at his 2008 nominating convention. Lawmakers are inserting into the spending bill a provision allowing political parties to collect up to $97,200 from each donor to pay for their conventions. Chuck Kennedy,Scott Andrews/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Chuck Kennedy,Scott Andrews/AP

President Obama walks to the podium at his 2008 nominating convention. Lawmakers are inserting into the spending bill a provision allowing political parties to collect up to $97,200 from each donor to pay for their conventions.

Chuck Kennedy,Scott Andrews/AP

If you're able and eager to write an annual check for roughly $100,000, you might expect to be hearing soon from the Republican and Democratic national committees.

In another small step on behalf of big money in politics, Capitol Hill lawmakers agreed Tuesday afternoon on a small provision to be added to the omnibus spending bill, allowing the two party committees to raise money for their presidential nominating conventions. The limit per donor would be $97,200 a year, on top of each party committee's existing limit of $32,400 per year.

The provision is intended to ease money anxieties at the national party committees. Since 1976, the conventions have gotten public financing — $18.2 million for each side in 2012. It was little more than a pittance in the grand spectacle of the party conventions, yet party leaders howled last March when Congress eliminated that public financing. (Lawmakers said the money should go into pediatric medical research.)

The Federal Election Commission provided some comfort to the parties, letting them solicit cash for newly created convention accounts. But that was a stingy move compared to what Congress intends to do.

The $97,200-per-year year limit comes to $388,800 for a four-year presidential election cycle. If the new provision had been available in 2012, just 94 donors could have matched the public financing for both conventions. Or put another way – as the pro-regulation groups would – regular contributions and the new convention account would enable a donor and spouse to funnel more than $500,000 to a party each two-year congressional election cycle.

The new provision also allows the party committees to create building funds. As recently as the 1990s, both party committees had building funds, and there was little accountability for the cash in them. On Tuesday afternoon there was no word on how the building funds would be regulated, or what their contribution limits would be.

The changes in campaign finance law surfaced without fanfare during negotiations when either Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or Minority Leader Mitch McConnell could have vetoed them.

Six groups that advocate tighter regulation of campaign cash blasted a terse letter to lawmakers: "Our organizations strongly urge you to oppose any campaign finance riders on the Omnibus Appropriations bill that will increase the opportunities to corrupt members of Congress."

George Clooney, Son of a News Man, Is Smarter Than Everyone Else Hit by the Sony Hack

In late November Sony was hacked so thoroughly that practically every piece of information ever digitally transmitted by the studio was compromised. Yes, that includes executives' emails, and one particular leaked exchange with George Clooney proves that the actor and activist might be a little farther ahead of the game than the rest of us:

We've always known Clooney to be especially guarded of his privacy. When discussing Twitter with Esquire's Tom Junod for a 2013 profile, Clooney questioned why anyone would want to make themselves so available. Earlier this year, he lashed out at The Daily Mail for making false claims about his then-future mother-in-law Baria Alamuddin. In both his criticism of that paper and in the email above, Clooney notes that he is the "son of a news man." It's an antiquated notion—that of the "news man"—but it goes a long way in explaining the high premium Clooney places on his own privacy, as well the lengths he'll go to ensure it. He understands the nature of the media, and that technology is making our lives more and more transparent, whether we want them to be or not.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go change my email signature to "...fuckers..."

[H/T: Gizmodo]

When the Rubber Hits the Road: Teaming Up with NASCAR to Act on Climate

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and John Podesta, Counselor to the President, announce with NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney the Administration's partnership with NASCAR, tire manufactures and retailers to raise awareness of tire safety and actions to cut carbon pollution and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, in front of the West Wing of the White House, Dec. 9, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)

When NASCAR drivers take a corner at top speed, they — and their tires — experience G-forces that are just about equivalent to what astronauts feel as they’re being launched into space.

So NASCAR knows a thing or two about tire performance and safety. And that’s why NASCAR driver Ryan Blaney joined Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and me at the White House today to talk about proper tire maintenance — and he brought along his #22 Mustang and the #18 “M&Ms” car to really drive the point home.

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Improving Outcomes for Our Nation’s Foster Youth

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Yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden, Valerie Jarrett, and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack welcomed over 100 current and former foster youth from across the country to celebrate several new announcements aimed at improving the outcomes of youth in and aging out of care. As part of this effort, the White House hosted the stars and creators of the new movie Annie to highlight the issue of foster care.

We know that in real life, we don’t have movie magic to make things better, which is why we’re working to help keep foster children safe and empowered through every challenge they face. And we also know that the experience of foster children in America ranges more broadly than could ever be captured on the silver screen. We hope yesterday evening’s event raises awareness about the issue of foster care and encourages more families to consider fostering or adopting.

The President and all of those in his Administration believe in the basic bargain at the heart of the American story – that every child should have a fair chance at success. And that, no matter who you are or where you’re from, if you’re willing to work hard and play by the rules, you should be able to make it. But we know that sometimes, by no fault of their own, some kids are dealt a more difficult hand.

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Lebanon formally arrests ISIS chief’s ex-wife Dulaimi

BEIRUT: Lebanon formally arrested Tuesday the ex-wife of ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi over terrorism-related charges, as the Muslim Scholars Committee announced that the government was ready to accept a swap deal to win the freedom of 25 servicemen captured by jihadis.

After mixed reports announcing their release, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk confirmed that the Iraqi ex-wife of Baghdadi, Saja al-Dulaimi, was under formal arrest, while Ola al-Oqaily, the wife of ISIS commander Anas Sharkas, was in the custody of General Security.

“Dulaimi is under arrest now, after an arrest warrant was issued against her, while Oqaily was transferred to General Security,” Machnouk said in a statement.

Dulaimi and her Palestinian husband Kamal Khalaf were formally arrested Tuesday, once the Military Court issued warrants against the two, who were already incarcerated. The arrests came after the court filed charges against the two for belonging to a terrorist group, holding contacts with terrorist organizations and planning to carry out terrorist acts, judicial sources said.

Khalaf was interrogated with Dulaimi, the sources said.

Oqaily was released after preliminary investigations concluded that she had not committed any crime on Lebanese territory, the sources said, but Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr ordered that she be handed over to General Security to investigate the legality of her stay in Lebanon.

Earlier in the day, the Muslim Scholars Committee announced after meeting Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi that Oqaily has been cleared for release and would be free “within hours” of being transferred to the General Security.

Sheikh Salem Rafei, the committee’s head, had called for the release of both women as a sign of goodwill, to bolster the group’s attempt to broker a deal with ISIS and Nusra Front militants to release the 25 hostages.

After making rounds with officials in preparation to return to mediation, the committee said the government was ready to accept a swap deal to free the servicemen. “We can assure the families [of the captives] that the state is ready to release many of the youth, but not all of them,” Rafei said after meeting Machnouk.

By “youth,” the Salafist sheikh was referring to the Islamist detainees being held in Roumieh prison over links to fundamentalist groups. ISIS and the Nusra Front, holding the hostages in northeast Lebanon, are demanding the release of the detainees as a condition to free the men.

Rafei urged ISIS and the Nusra Front to give the committee a promise to no longer kill any of the hostages. “Let negotiations resume and continue even if they take a long time,” he said.

Other than Machnouk and Rifi, the committee delegation also met with former premier Najib Mikati, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the head of the Internal Security Forces Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt.

Rafei reiterated that his committee would only accept to pursue mediation efforts once formally tasked by the government, to avoid complications associated with communication with groups deemed terrorist organizations by the government.

Following his meetings with officials, Rafei visited the families of the hostages in Riad al-Solh Square, and said the issue was now in the hands of Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

Jumblatt had also paid a visit to the protest site of the families of the hostages , and expressed support for a swap deal to secure the release of their loved ones.

“Just like Speaker Nabih Berri, I support a swap deal without conditions,” Jumblatt told reporters gathered there, adding that he backed formally tasking the Muslim Scholars Committee with carrying out mediation efforts.

The Future bloc said in a statement it expressed solidarity with the hostages’ families and fully supported the government’s negotiations. It also called for a media blackout over the negotiations dossier until the captives were released, stressing the need to keep the details of negotiations away from the news to avoid misinformation and exaggeration that would ultimately work to derail talks. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army pounded militant hideouts on the outskirts of Arsal overnight in some of the heaviest shelling in the area yet, security sources said, suggesting that the increased tempo of the offensive might signal the beginning of a large-scale operation to tighten control on the town and its environs and uproot militant fighters.

Heavy and long-range guns were used in the overnight shelling, which continued unabated until the early morning hours Tuesday, sources told The Daily Star.

The Army also raided the southern suburb of Ruwaiss and arrested 14 Syrians who were lacking legal documents, a military source told The Daily Star.

Hezbollah frosty with Hariri before assassination: Hamade

BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s relations with Hezbollah were “not warm” before his assassination and reflected tensions with Syrian President Bashar Assad, judges at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon were told Tuesday.

“The blending between Hezbollah’s policies and those of the Syrian regime reached a level preventing the party from taking decisions independent of Syria,” said MP Marwan Hamade, the former economy minister and Hariri adviser, on his sixth day of testimony in The Hague. “Any disagreement with Syria was reflected in the relations with Hezbollah.”

The court also ruled that Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a staunch ally of Hariri and Assad opponent, may be summoned to testify about the assassination.

The decision came as Hamade described in harrowing detail the assassination attempt that targeted him weeks after he opposed the extension of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud’s term, including how Lebanon’s police mailed him an envelope with pieces of brain matter from his bodyguard, who was killed in the blast.

Defense lawyers also revealed that Mustafa Badreddine, the senior Hezbollah commander indicted in connection with Hariri’s murder, fought alongside Jumblatt’s militia and the Palestine Liberation Organization for two weeks in Ouzai, a neighborhood in south Beirut, against Israel’s 1982 invasion.

Badreddine sustained a wound during the battle that is believed to have caused a permanent limp.

On relations with Hezbollah, Hamade said that Hariri had bestowed “favors” on the party, pointing to his mediation with French President Jacques Chirac in 1996 to arrange the April Understanding that ended Israel’s brutal Grapes of Wrath campaign, which limited the conflict to the military zones in South Lebanon.

“This understanding was a major milestone that made it easier for the resistance to continue its operations in a better environment, culminating in the Israeli withdrawal,” Hamade said.

Hamade’s testimony runs counter to the general belief that Hariri and Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah were close and held frequent meetings before the former’s assassination.

Still, Hamade said Hariri intended to bring about the eventual disarmament of Hezbollah through dialogue and negotiations with the party, not through coercion. He also said that while relations were “not warm,” there were still “normal exchanges” with the party.

Hamade also offered a harrowing, blow-by-blow account of an attempt on his life in October 2004.

He described the “bitter experience” of surviving the car bomb and how his bodyguard was incinerated in the blast.

“Political life should be naked of this sort of violence,” he said.

“It was a normal day, but you suddenly see a white brightness that surrounds you in all directions,” he began. “You see yourself and your colleagues in the car propelled in the air and falling back, with limbs scattered, all within seconds or parts of a second, and you are consumed with a reflexive reaction to save yourself.”

“I tried to escape this hell that the car became and my leg was broken,” he said.

“I crawled on the asphalt to get away from the car as its tank exploded. I called out to my partners.”

While his driver escaped the blast, they could not find his bodyguard.

“We did not even see his corpse in the car,” he said. “We found out later that no corpse was found, that he had almost evaporated in the heat.”

Hamade said the Internal Security Forces later sent a signed envelope containing pieces of the brain of his bodyguard by mail.

Defense lawyers began cross-examining Hamade, asking him whether he personally knew Badreddine, the senior Hezbollah commander that prosecutors allege was the “apex” of the assassination team.

Antoine Korkmaz, Badreddine’s defense lawyer, said the Hezbollah operative fought between 1977 and 1982 alongside Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party militia, as well as the PLO and other leftist nationalist militias.“Badreddine fought side by side with the militia of your own party for more than two weeks in the famous battle of Ouzai,” Korkmaz told Hamade.

But Hamade denied personally knowing Badreddine, saying he was not involved in the military activities of the PSP.

Hamade described the Hariri assassination as a “seismic tremor” that directly led to the sectarian division in Lebanon, persistent economic decline, violence and terrorism.

“This country is going down to the abyss,” he said. “The assassination of Rafik Hariri was a turning point.”

Earlier in the day, Judge David Re, the president of the trial chamber, ruled that Jumblatt’s evidence, which wouldd cover the breakdown of relations between Hariri and Syria, was relevant to the case and could help clarify the motive behind the assassination.

Jumblatt has indicated in the past that he would be willing to testify before the tribunal.

Judges also allowed the prosecution to summon journalist Ali Hamade, Marwan’s brother and a confidante of Hariri, to testify.

Congress Says Goodbye To Its Last World War II Vets

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  From left, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., Rep. Ralph Regula, R- Ohio, Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Tex., Rep. Cass Ballenger, R-N.C., and Rep. Amo Houghton, R-N.Y., stand at a House of Representatives ceremony honoring World War II vets in 2004.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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  U.S. Rep.-elect Daniel Inouye of Hawaii and his wife, Margaret, wave as they arrive in Washington, D.C., Aug. 9, 1959. Inouye, a one-armed World War II hero, was the the first Japanese-American to serve in Congress. Inouye died in 2012.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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  Rep. John Dingell is sworn in by mentor and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas in 1955. Dingell decided not to run for reelection this year and described himself and Rep. Ralph Hall as the last leaves on the tree.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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  In this 1945 photo, Sen. Bob Dole recuperates from injuries received while serving in Italy during World War II. Dole went on to a long run representing Kansas in the U.S. Senate, and received the Republican presidential nomination in 1996.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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  91-year-old Rep. Ralph Hall of Texas was defeated in a primary runoff in the spring. He and Rep. John Dingell are the only two World War II veterans still serving in Congress, and both will leave after the current session.

  
  

  
  
  
  

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The World War II era is about to officially draw to a close in the United States Congress. This comes after seven full decades during which there was always a veteran of that war in the legislative body.

The last two World War II veterans will leave office at the end of the current session of Congress. They are 88-year-old Michigan Democrat John Dingell and his longtime friend, 91-year-old Republican Ralph Hall of Texas. Dingell, who represents southeast Michigan, was elected in 1955 and is the longest-serving member in the history of Congress. He decided not to seek re-election this year. Hall, who represents the corner of Texas that borders Oklahoma and Arkansas, is not retiring of his own volition. He ran for re-election but was defeated in a primary runoff in the spring.

They are the last to depart out of hundreds who served in the military during that war and who went on to careers in the U.S. House and Senate.

From torpedo boats to the halls of the Capitol

The first of the World War II veterans to serve in Congress arrived even before the war was over.

George Andrews, a lawyer and former district attorney, had run for Congress before and lost. But in 1944, the death of the sitting congressman meant there was an open seat, so he declared his candidacy even though he was still an active member of the U.S. Navy serving in Pearl Harbor. He could run, but he couldn't just pack up and go home to campaign. Additionally, he was forbidden, as a member of the service, to publicly take political positions.

U.S. House historian Matthew Wasniewski says the solution was to have Andrews' wife, Elizabeth Bullock Andrews, campaign on his behalf. He won and was sworn into Congress in March of that year, putting him, as Wasniewski says, "at front end of that wave" of World War II vets serving in office at the U.S. Capitol.

Two years later, when the war was over, the first big wave of World War II veterans came to Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives class of 1946 included some 70 members who had served in the war. Among them was John F. Kennedy, whose exploits as the commander of a torpedo boat in the Pacific were already well-known to the public thanks to a 1944 article in The New Yorker, written by John Hersey.

It's a tale that would, years later, get blockbuster Hollywood treatment in a film called PT 109.

Other veterans elected in '46 included some of the biggest names in 20th century American politics, including Richard Nixon and future House Speaker Carl Albert. One election later, in 1948, another future president, Gerald R. Ford, entered Congress.

The number of veterans kept growing, and they moved into the top leadership positions. By the 1970s nearly 4 of 5 members of Congress were veterans, the majority from World War II. Today, only 1 in 5 is a vet.

House historian Wasniewski says the shared experience of World War II brought a moderating influence to their politics.

"The House has always been a partisan place; from the beginning it's been partisan," he says. But "that period from the late 1940s to early 1970s when that World War II group hits their peak [by the numbers], is in a lot of ways the exception to the rule when it comes to bipartisanship."

The final two: Reps. Dingell and Hall

Dingell was just 15 years old when he got an up-close glimpse of a pivotal moment in the war's history. In December 1941, he was working as a page in the U.S. House chamber when President Roosevelt delivered his "Day of Infamy" speech the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Dingell enlisted when he turned 18 in the summer of 1944. He notes that he never saw combat and "never had a particularly romantic or exciting assignment."

Dingell eventually went to officer candidates school and says he would very likely have been in the wave of an American ground attack on Japan. It's an attack that never happened because of President Truman's decision to drop the atomic bomb. Dingell says that probably saved his life.

In an interview with NPR in his office at the Capitol, Dingell spoke of the success and importance of the GI Bill, which paved the way for millions of veterans to go to college, get a mortgage or get a loan to start a business.

Dingell says that Truman "thought it was a great thing. Republicans thought it was a great thing. Democrats thought it was a great thing. And the end result was a great achievement for the United States."

Both Dingell and Hall, a former Navy pilot, went to college on the GI Bill. Dingell decided not to run for re-election this year.

They are old friends, and now the final of the hundreds of World War II veterans to serve in Congress. They are — as Dingell has described himself and Hall — the last leaves on the tree.

Muslim Scholars Committee: friend or foe?

BEIRUT: The Muslim Scholars Committee is making the headlines again.

The committee’s head, Sheikh Salem Rafei, met Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian Monday and said his group was ready to resume mediation efforts to release around 25 security personnel captured by ISIS and the Nusra Front in August.

However, he said the committee had two conditions: first, to be officially tasked with the mediation by the government; second, approval – in principle – of a swap deal involving the release of Islamist detainees in Roumieh prison, a key condition of the Nusra Front and ISIS.

The initiative, which came after Qatar announced that it was pulling out of the negotiations, is not the first to be launched by the committee. So what is the committee, and what are its goals?

The committee, established in 2012, comprises around 400 preachers from Sunni political party Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, Salafist movements and other Islamist groups.

“The goal of the group is to preserve the rights of the Sunni sect and to support the uprising in Syria against the oppressive regime,” said Sheikh Adnan Amama, the committee’s spokesperson.

“Our goal is also to complement the role of Dar al-Fatwa and other official religious institutions in Lebanon,” he told The Daily Star.

The committee has a 60-member Shura Council that wields legislative power, and a 17-member administrative office with executive power.

The committee’s name emerged as it tried to mediate an end to violent conflicts that were blighting several parts of the country.

In June 2013, the group offered to mediate a cease-fire to end clashes between the Army and Islamist militants loyal to fugitive preacher Sheikh Ahmad Assir after they opened fire on Army posts in the Abra suburb of Sidon.

However, the Army rejected the offer and was able to crush Assir’s gunmen within 24 hours.

Then, in August this year, the committee brokered a cease-fire that ended five days of clashes between the Army and militants of ISIS and the Nusra Front who had invaded the northeastern town of Arsal. The jihadis withdrew from the town, but took with them more than 30 Army soldiers and Internal Security Forces personnel as hostages.

The Nusra Front has since released seven of the hostages and killed two, while ISIS has executed a further two.

According to security sources, the committee maintains good ties with the Nusra Front, but has no relations with ISIS.

Amama said that the committee had yet to contact ISIS and the Nusra Front as part of its renewed efforts to release the servicemen.

“We haven’t contacted them yet. Their ideology is totally different than ours,” Amama said. “They insist on swapping the captives with Islamist detainees. Otherwise, they do not see any religious objection to killing the servicemen,” Amama said. “The state has two choices only: a swap deal or slaughter.”

But many accuse the committee of sympathizing with ISIS and the Nusra Front, saying that it constantly belittled the Lebanese Army and blew the military’s mistakes out of proportion.

Recently, there have been divisions within the group, culminating in the resignation of Sheikh Malek Jdaydi, the president of the body, who has since come out strongly against the committee.

Speaking to The Daily Star, Jdaydi said he was planning to form a new committee that truly represented Islam.

He said the Muslim Scholars Committee constantly attacked the Army and state institutions, refused to cooperate with moderate people from all sides, and ignored assaults by Nusra Front and ISIS on Lebanon, even occasionally defending them.

“Why do they always make accusations against the Army – which is protecting the country – and always defend others?” he asked, referring to Nusra Front and ISIS. “They said that the arrest of a woman is illegal. But what about the slaughtering of soldiers? Is this legal?”

Rafei Monday called for the unconditional release of Saja al-Dulaimi, the ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Ola Mithqal al-Oqaily, the wife of a Nusra Front leader, as a show of good will to stay threats to execute more hostages.

Jdaydi said that the committee’s sympathies could compel the two groups to cooperate with its mediation efforts, but said this would be counterproductive.

“They [the Nusra Front and ISIS] might honor them by releasing one of the soldiers with the aim of reviving the role of the committee and undermining people’s confidence in the state,” he said.

Amama dismissed Jdaydi’s claims as “unjust” and motivated by personal interests.

“It is a personal issue. None of the committee members have resigned with Sheikh Malek and none support his recent stances,” Amama said.

He said that Jdaydi had launched his campaign against the committee after its decision to shorten his term from one year to six months.

“Why was it just now that he made these stances? The committee was moderate when he headed it and was no longer moderate after his resignation?” Amama said.

But Jdaydi hit back, saying that he had voiced his intention to resign long before his term was shortened and that he began voicing his opposition to the committee’s rhetoric as soon as he became its head. He also said that many preachers had resigned from the group but that they had done so secretly, away from media.

“Let’s see if they can bring together just 200 scholars to a meeting now,” he said.

Future wants to expedite dialogue with Hezbollah

BEIRUT: The parliamentary Future bloc called Tuesday for starting a long-awaited dialogue with Hezbollah with the aim of ending the 6-month-old presidential vacuum and defusing sectarian and political tensions fueled by the war in Syria.

Meanwhile, the new EU foreign policy chief called after talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam for the election of a new president.

Salam is scheduled to begin a four-day official visit to Paris Wednesday for talks with President Francois Hollande and other senior French officials on the situation in Lebanon, including the presidential deadlock, the Syrian refugee crisis and regional developments, a source close to the premier told The Daily Star.

Salam, accompanied by Deputy premier and Defense Minister Samir Moqbel and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, is also expected to discuss with French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian military cooperation between the two countries and the implementation of a $3 billion Saudi gift to equip the Lebanese Army with French weapons.

His visit comes as Jean-François Girault, head of the French Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa Department, ended a two-day trip to Lebanon Tuesday during which he had met with the country’s top leaders and rival politicians to urge them to accelerate the election of a president. He also said France was ready to facilitate an agreement on the election of a president.

Before his departure Tuesday, Girault held talks with MP Michel Aoun, Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel, and Ammar Musawi, Hezbollah’s official in charge of international relations.

The Future bloc lamented the continued vacuum in the presidency post and the aggravating crises at various levels.

Despite its staunch opposition to Hezbollah’s military intervention in Syria and its arsenal, the bloc voiced support for the planned talks with the Shiite party in a bid to facilitate the election of a president and reduce sectarian tensions.

“Although it is fully convinced that there are several thorny issues in the relationship with Hezbollah concerning its arms and its involvement in the war in Syria ... the bloc, aware of the increased dangers surrounding Lebanon, aggravated by the failure to elect a president, underlines the importance of starting contacts with Hezbollah for dialogue aimed at opening the horizons of consensus to end the presidential vacancy, and subsequently elect a new president,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

“The election of a president will lead to a quick return of all constitutional institutions, and consequently help in reducing tensions in the country and paving the way for confronting the worsening crises at various levels,” it added.

Speaker Nabih Berri, who has been pushing for the Future-Hezbollah talks, said he was fully assured about the outcome of the dialogue.

Berri, according to visitors, said he hoped a preliminary session of the planned dialogue would be held before the end of the year. “There is no retreat from commitment to dialogue by the two sides.”

On his meeting with Girault, Berri said the French official did not carry any initiative to break the presidential deadlock but stressed the need to quickly elect a president.

Berri said Girault briefed him on the results of his recent visits to Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Vatican to discuss the Lebanese crisis.

Meanwhile, Federica Mogherini, the EU’s high representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, vowed the EU’s support to help Lebanon meet security and political challenges linked to the Syria conflict.

“We in the European Union realize that Lebanon is going through difficult times in terms of security challenges, particularly on the border [with Syria] and inside its territory due to the fallout of the crisis in Syria and due to the challenges caused by extremists on its territory. Lebanon needs support,” Mogherini told reporters after meeting Salam at the Grand Serail. The meeting was attended by Angelina Eichhorst, EU’s ambassador to Lebanon.

She said she had assured Salam of EU’s support for Lebanon to cope with the challenge of more than 1 million Syrian refugees on its territory.

The EU official said she discussed with Salam internal issues, including the presidential deadlock. She underlined the need for the rival factions move ahead to reach results over the presidential election.

Noting that the election of a president is a matter of international and European concern, Mogherini said: “We will provide all support in order for Lebanon to overcome its crisis, thus allowing Parliament to hold new elections.”

Mogherini said that her visit serves to express the EU’s deep ties to the Lebanese people as well as its state institutions.

Before leaving Wednesday, Mogherini will meet with several officials and discuss the role the EU plays in supporting Lebanon during this critical phase.

For his part, Aoun, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, who has refused to withdraw from the presidential race, said he was ready to negotiate to save the republic.

“The election of a president is a purely Lebanese issue. I am ready to negotiate for the sake of the republic, or else I am staying in the [presidential] battle,” Aoun told reporters after chairing a weekly meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc in Rabieh, north of Beirut.

“The problem is not about electing someone to the presidency of the republic. Our problem is about electing a republic and the survival of this republic.”

Aoun’s comments came in response to March 14 accusations that he was not ready to accept anyone other than himself in the country’s top Christian post.

He rejected foreign interference in the presidential vote. “The problem cannot be resolved anywhere [in the world,] it can only be resolved on Lebanese land,” Aoun noted. He said his political rival, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, was welcome in Rabieh.

The FPM leader criticized the performance of Lebanon’s political leaders, stressing that the positive items of the 1989 Taif Accord, which he had opposed, were never implemented. “There is no equal share of power in Parliament or in [government] posts. There is no partnership and no electoral law that respects the National Reconciliation Charter,” Aoun said, referring to the Taif Accord.

Foreign flurry fails to break presidential impasse

The presidential stalemate, now in its seventh month, is set to drag on with no solution in sight, despite a flurry of intensified political activity by foreign officials aimed at facilitating the election of a new president.

The gloomy presidential outlook comes as Parliament is scheduled to meet Wednesday in the 16th attempt since April to choose a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year tenure ended on May 25.

However, all signs indicate that Wednesday’s Parliament session is destined to fail like previous ones over a lack of quorum, heralding a prolonged presidential vacuum. Thus, Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to postpone the session until after the Christmas and New Year holiday.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam will not attend the Parliament session because he leaves Beirut Wednesday on an official visit to Paris for talks with French President Francois Hollande.

Ahead of the Parliament session, Jean-François Girault, head of the French Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa department, left Beirut Tuesday after meeting Lebanon’s top leaders and rival politicians to urge them to accelerate the election of a president.

Girault’s visit came a day after Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov ended a two-day trip to Beirut during which he held talks with rival Lebanese leaders on the presidential impasse and the Syrian crisis.

Bogdanov stressed that Moscow supported the election of a consensus president.

In addition to the French and Russian officials, Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, arrived in Beirut Tuesday to discuss with Lebanese officials the presidential deadlock, among other things.

However, despite the visits of foreign officials to Beirut, particularly the French envoy, ahead of Wednesday’s Parliament session, no progress has been made in the presidential crisis, a number of lawmakers from various blocs said.

What has been reported by the foreign visitors pertained to the expression of their wishes for the Lebanese to speed up the election of a president in order to preserve stability and the state institutions, the MPs said.

They added that during the foreign officials’ visits, no solutions were suggested over names of candidates and no serious proposals were made to overcome the presidential crisis.

There are reports that the upcoming dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah could be decisive in choosing the next president and that the countries concerned with the presidential impasse, namely the Vatican, Iran and those in Europe, would seek to persuade MP Michel Aoun to withdraw his candidacy in favor of a consensus candidate.

Aoun, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, cannot face such pressure and he will have to comply with the choice of a consensus candidate in exchange for a consolation prize for his parliamentary bloc, the MPs said.

However, Aoun, who is backed by Hezbollah and March 8 parties for the country’s top Christian post, will not budge from his tough stance on the presidency issue.

On the contrary, he has become more intransigent than before, telling his visitors that even if they threatened him with an “atomic bomb,” he would not back off from his right to the presidency. Aoun argues that each sect chooses its leader and it’s high time for the Christians to pick their leader for the presidency.

Aoun, according to parliamentary sources in the FPM, had restated this stance during his meetings with the Russian and French envoys, and all countries concerned with the presidential issue have been informed through their ambassadors in the region of this stance.

The FPM sources said that the solution to the presidential crisis begins with all political factions putting their demands and problems to Aoun as the next president, so that he can draw up a road map to resolve all outstanding issues, including a new electoral law, a new government and Lebanon’s relations with neighboring countries.

However, political sources said Aoun ignored an irreversible reality when former Prime Minister Saad Hariri was clear in crossing out the four top Maronite leaders (Aoun, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel and Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh) from his presidential calculations. Hariri called in a recent TV interview for the election of a consensus candidate because the March 14 coalition is vetoing Aoun’s candidacy and the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance is vetoing Geagea’s nomination.

Attempts made by some Christian parties, with the encouragement of the Maronite Church, to bring Aoun and Geagea together to discuss how to face Hariri’s exclusion of the four Maronite leaders have not so far yielded any concrete results, the sources said.

They added that Berri would continue calling for Parliament sessions to elect a president for the foreseeable until conditions were ripe to either convince Aoun to withdraw from the presidency race, or elect a president from outside the names of candidates being floated.

Extremists infiltrating Ain al-Hilweh: sources

BEIRUT: Extremists of various nationalities have managed to infiltrate Ain al-Hilweh camp, according to Western information, bolstering last week’s reports that wanted Islamist fugitive Shadi Mawlawi is hiding in the Palestinian settlement. Lebanese security bodies have recently received information from Western sources confirming that dangerous extremist groups and cells have entered Lebanon’s largest camp for Palestinian refugees.

Around 33 extremists from different nationalities who pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi are currently residing in the camp’s Safsaf neighborhood, according to the information, and have entered Lebanon with the help of Jund al-Sham, a long-established terrorist group that is reported to be loyal to ISIS.

Among those listed are fugitive Salafist preacher Ahmad al-Assir, Sheikh Khaled Hablas and Mawlawi, all wanted by authorities. It is believed they have joined extremist groups that are preparing to destabilize the situation inside the camp.

Extremist groups have been working to gain military strength in Ain al-Hilweh in order to turn it into an safe haven for jihadis to pressure the state and Hezbollah at the same time.

The head of a Lebanese security body informed representatives of Palestinian factions in Ain al-Hilweh that Assir, Mawlawi and Hablas, along with Fadel Shaker – a singer-turned-Salafist militant who backs Assir – are being hidden by a Palestinian military faction, according to the Western sources.

They are believed to be in the Hettin neighborhood with a Palestinian called Naim A., who is considered to be one of the major accomplices of the Nusra Front-affiliated Naim Abbas. Abbas was arrested earlier this year and charged in connection to two bombings in the Beirut southern suburb of Haret Hreik.

The same sources revealed that military commanders in Jund al-Sham have been training tens of members aged between 19 and 23 in the camp’s Al-Joura al-Hamra area on how to use explosive belts.

Brig. Gen. Ali Shahrour, the chief of military intelligence in the south, has asked the Palestinian factions to take responsibility and maintain the volatile situation in Ain al-Hilweh.

At the same time, sources explained that Hezbollah has intensified its meetings with Ansar Allah, a Palestinian group established and funded by Iran. The sources revealed the party’s security official in Sidon has begun supporting the group logistically to confront any attempt by ISIS and Nusra to take over the camp.

Separately, Lebanese security bodies have received information that groups belonging to ISIS are preparing for a series of terrorist attacks on Rafik Hariri International Airport and the U.S. and French embassies.

According to the information, ISIS cells are also planning to assassinate a French diplomat and to attack the Russian Cultural Center in Verdun, the French Cultural Center in Tripoli, Army facilities such as hospitals as well as other targets in Beirut.

Sidonians scramble to stay clear of food scandal

SIDON, Lebanon: Shop owners in Sidon have been busy making sure their businesses remain open following a nationwide crackdown on restaurants with poor health and safety records by the Health Ministry last month. The ministry campaign named and shamed places violating health standards and selling contaminated food, threatening to close them down for good, and the fear elicited by the scandal seems to have done its job.

“One of my branches has been closed,” said Marwan Aitour, who owns a chicken rotisserie shop.

“So I am working hard in the other branch where a sample has been taken [by ministry inspectors] and it [the results] came out matching the health conditions necessary for public safety.”

Aitour, who fully supports Health Minister Wael Abu Faour’s campaign, proudly points to a poster that reads: “Daily slaughtering based on safe health standards from the producer to the consumer.”

He stressed that although it requires a lot of effort, there’s nothing more important than cleanliness.

Some owners whose shops have been shut down by the inspectors have been working on setting things straight by following through with the inspectors’ demands.

Those not yet in trouble are taking precautionary measures in order to prevent the closure of their businesses. Such measures include renovating and cleaning their sites, becoming stricter with their employees and keeping an eye on their work.

A diligent few were already following food safety health standards and laws set by the health, economy and environment ministries long before Abu Faour announced his food safety campaign, which does not appear to be in danger of losing steam anytime soon.

Abu Faour’s move has thrust the issue of food safety into the limelight, prompting numerous establishment owners to refocus their attention on what they’re serving for the sake of public health.

Since the Health Ministry ordered the closure of several dairy factories in the Bekaa Valley and Sidon, consumers are increasingly opting to produce dairy products in their homes.

“Upon order of the public prosecution, this place has been shut down,” is a killer statement for any shop or eatery owner to hear.

Touffic Jamal, a butcher, said he placed a lot of weight on maintaining the hygiene of his venue, located in Sidon’s souk.

“Representatives [inspectors] from the Health Ministry came here, examined everything and asked that the garbage bin should have a lid,” said Jamal, describing the instruction as “important.”

“I take care of cleanliness because Islam ordered us to do so and linked it to faith” he added.

Inside an old bakery that produces bread and manakeesh, employees have started covering their hair and wearing a clean uniform following a warning from the ministry.

Citizens like Khodor Aafara expressed their support for the food safety campaign, saying they hoped it would continue.

“The minister [Abu Faour] should continue with his duty,” Aafara said, adding that the health of the citizen was what was important

“This has come late – ministers before him should’ve done it.”

For some owners, however, the decision to shut down their venues came as unexpected and unwelcome news. Talal Habesh’s dairy factory was shut after he had already closed it in order to renovate it.

“Representatives from the Health Ministry came here and they had some remarks such as [the need for] health certificates for employees, tiling certain places and stressing the need to own a fire extinguisher,” Habesh told The Daily Star. “However, I was surprised that after a week they shut down the factory knowing that I closed it. This is unfair.”

Despite the criticism the campaign has been subjected to, however, food safety should be a priority for owners, Nader Ousta stressed.

“Why is it that we need to wait for comments and closure or warnings?” asked Ousta, a butcher known in Sidon for his cleanliness. For him, checking what he is serving to his customers is a must, a duty.

“But before all of that, God is watching us,” he added. “Our institutions are generating money for us that we need to spend on clean things and people’s safety.”

These comments were echoed by the director-general of Al-Baba Sweets, Aouni Baba.

“First of all, you have to fear God and know that he’s watching all your work and what you are serving to the people,” Baba explained.

Speaking from his Oriental sweets factory, Baba said the increased food safety vigilance needed to be an ongoing thing. “Each one of us is capable of making errors, but following up on your employees and products are sufficient to get on top,” he said. “Don’t wait for a campaign by governmental institutions.”

According to Baba, workers in the in the ISO (International Organization for Standardization)-certified sweets shop are being monitored constantly to maintain cleanliness.

But the damage has already been done for some.

The demand for tomatoes, parsley and coriander has decreased, explained a vegetable seller.

“Those are being watered and irrigated in cultivated lands with sewage water,” Mohammad Honaiqer said.

Still, he said he supported the move by Abu Faour, because revealing the names of incompliant establishments scared others and prompted them to boost their standards.

Throwing open the doors to policymaking at a local level

BEIRUT: Lebanese citizens often complain about the disconnect between their ideas and the policies enacted on their behalf by the country’s politicians. But a new program is trying to change all that.

“A Citizen Consultation Mechanism” brings together citizens of all ages, genders and economic and social classes to discuss the country’s most pressing local issues.

“There’s lots of conversations about politics that are foreign-policy oriented politically that don’t enable a lot of participation and remove [the] focus off of daily life,” said Victoria Stamadianou, the Lebanon director for International Alert, an international NGO working in partnership on the initiative with local organizations FRAME and Legal Agenda.

The new program is divided into three stages.

In the first stage, NGOs and local coordinators gather a variety of citizens to identify common priorities. So far, such meetings have taken place in Beirut, Nabatieh, Tyre, Baalbek and Sidon. More meetings are scheduled for the next two weeks in Hermel, Beirut’s southern suburbs, Jbeil, and Kesrouan.

The project will hopefully create a successful method for participatory decision-making in Lebanon as well as an implementation mechanism for solutions to problems facing the general population on a local level.

The second stage is to invite participants to a similar discussion held at the governoratelevel, where the focus is on specific and common policy issues.

The third stage is at the national level, and participants meet at a space allotted by the parliamentary administration to discuss issues and patterns brought up around the country.

“The third phase of the program will hold a series of forums at Parliament inviting participants to discuss issues with civil society, members of Parliament and high-ranking public servants,” said Ali Sayyed-Ali, co-founder of FRAME, an organization that uses creative mediums to engage and encourage citizens to tell their stories. The participants will then present the common issues to the MPs and other figures and engage in a “deeper discussion.”

“It’s a formal way for people to get involved in an open and transparent way,” Sayyed-Ali said. “Across the country people can sit at the same table and identify priorities affecting their lives.”

The idea is that citizens will feel engaged in policymaking and crucial decisions made at a local level.

Sayyed-Ali said communities in Lebanon rarely get to gather and express their shared grievances.

The pressing issues discussed at meetings already taken place include clientelism (or wasta), corruption, youth unemployment and the failure of the state to provide enough water and electricity for its citizens.

When all the meetings are completed and a core group of select issues are decided upon, Legal Agenda, a nonprofit organization comprised of lawyers that focuses on legal reform and activism in the Arab world, will draft legal briefings. These briefings will detail what has been done on the various core issues, such as draft legislation and ideas for reform that are already on the table.

“These are just options for people to look at,” Sayyed-Ali said.

While the meetings have mostly discussed run-of-the-mill issues in daily life, there have also been a few surprises for the organizers.

“In most groups the majority of people want to move on,” he said. “I disagree with people saying citizenship [in Lebanon] is dead. There’s a clear demand for it. People want to feel involved with things that affect their lives and to take responsibility as a citizen.”

Advocate's Comments On ACA Now A Liability For Law's Supporters

Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.

Lawmakers grilled an MIT professor on Tuesday over controversial comments he made about Obamacare. Jon Gruber has been one of the law's strongest advocates, but he also said the law passed with a big assist from voters' "stupidity."

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Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Congress Pushes Up Against Deadline To Keep Government Funded

Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.

Congress has just over two days left to pass a spending bill before the government runs out of cash, and lawmakers appear to be pushing it to the wire. So far, no one is worried about an actual shutdown, despite some policy arguments that have delayed completion of the legislation.

Copyright © 2014 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.