Obama To Pick Sally Yates To Be Deputy Attorney General, AP Reports

President Barack Obama is preparing to nominate the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta to the No. 2 position at the Justice Department, according to two people familiar with the move.

They said Sally Quillian Yates is Obama's pick for deputy attorney general. If confirmed by the Senate, she'll oversee day-to-day operations.

The individuals, not authorized to discuss the decision by name before it's formally announced, requested anonymity.

Yates is currently the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Another U.S. attorney, Loretta Lynch, has been nominated for attorney general and faces confirmation hearings early next year.

Yates has been U.S. attorney since 2010. She was previously a prosecutor in that office and prosecuted Eric Rudolph in the 1996 Summer Olympics bombing in Atlanta.

She's also served as vice chair of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee.

Jumblatt: Serious offer from captors on hostage crisis

French arms set to arrive soon: Salam

France will start delivering to the Lebanese Army weapons paid for by a $3 billion Saudi grant once the deal has been...

Geagea: If Aoun is lucky to win election so be it

Geagea: If Aoun is lucky to win election so be it

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea said he would not give up on dialogue with his rival Christian leader Michel Aoun,...

French arms set to arrive soon: Salam

BEIRUT: France will start delivering to the Lebanese Army weapons paid for by a $3 billion Saudi grant once the deal has been finally signed in Saudi Arabia within three weeks, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said Sunday.

Speaker Nabih Berri, meanwhile, said the planned dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah would kick off with the participation of senior officials from both sides before the New Year.

Salam said that during his official visit to France earlier this month, he had asked French President Francois Hollande to expedite the delivery of French arms to the Lebanese Army through the Saudi-funded deal to help it face Islamist militants threatening the country’s security and stability.

“In addition to strengthening bilateral relations, the arming of the Lebanese Army through the unprecedented $3 billion Saudi gift was one of the most important issues discussed in France,” Salam said in an interview with Al-Jadeed TV station.

“The final lists [of arms] have been finally approved and within two to three weeks, the final signature will take place in Saudi Arabia after which the delivery of arms will begin.”

He added that under the Saudi-French deal, the arms delivery will stretch over 45 months.

“During our visit to France, we hoped that the delivery of weapons which the Army needs to bolster its capabilities to face terrorism would be accelerated. There was a favorable response in this matter,” Salam said.

Following talks with Hollande on Dec. 12, Salam said the French president issued “the necessary orders to expedite the delivery of the arms, especially since the confrontation with terror is still ongoing.”

The Lebanese Army is locked in an open battle against ISIS and Nusra Front militants who are still holding hostage 25 soldiers and policemen captured during bloody clashes in the northeastern town of Arsal in August. The militants are holed up with the hostages in the rugged mountains of Arsal.

In another interview Sunday, Salam said Lebanon hoped France would deliver helicopters to the Lebanese Army faster than planned so it can fight jihadis encroaching from neighboring Syria.

France and Lebanon signed a $3 billion Saudi-funded deal in early November to provide French weapons and military equipment to the Lebanese Army, which has few resources to deal with the instability on its border and has been seeking to modernize its military hardware.

“We are still in talks for the helicopters to be delivered at the beginning of the program rather than at the end, so that we can use missiles as soon as possible against the jihadis in the mountains,” Salam told weekly paper Le Journal du Dimanche. “[ISIS] is present in the region of Arsal, on the Lebanese-Syrian border. If it manages to invade Lebanon, it will impose its extremism everywhere.”

Salam said the airstrikes carried out by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front in Syria were insufficient and symbolic.

“To beat them, you need to be on the ground. But at this stage, who wants to go there?” he asked.

Lebanon is also under severe strain from a flood of civilians fleeing the conflict, with over 1 million refugees now equaling a quarter of its population. Syrian refugees even had their food aid suspended earlier this month because a U.N. agency ran out of money, before being reinstated after an emergency fundraising campaign.

“Nobody has really grasped how fragile our situation is,” Salam said. “If the Syrian refugees in Lebanon aren’t fed, we will be confronted to a very worrisome situation, maybe even a revolt.”

In the interview with Al-Jadeed TV, Salam ruled out an imminent solution to the 4-month-old hostage crisis and criticized politicians for using the issue for media coverage.

“There is no magic wand or miracles in this issue,” he said. “There is an open media competition in this issue as well as a competition among political forces, and even among the families [of the hostages] themselves.”

“I have said from the beginning that this is a sensitive and delicate issue. This issue can be dealt with only in secrecy rather than by bazaars, show off and a folklore,” Salam said.

He denied that a new mediator has been named between the government and the kidnappers, saying he heard about it from the media.

Health Minister Wael Abu Faour has appointed Arsal Deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti to mediate talks between the government and the militants, Fliti and the hostage families said.

Fliti told The Daily Star that he was commissioned by Abu Faour under the directive of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt to take charge of mediation. Jumblatt was “adamant on resuming negotiations to release the hostages,” Fliti said.

Salam said his Cabinet is split between one side that supports a swap deal with the kidnappers and another that opposes it. He said nine hostages are held by ISIS and the other 16 are held by the Nusra Front.

Asked if the Army had political cover from the government to launch a military operation to release the hostages, Salam said: “When the Army sees that it can achieve results through a military plan, it will not hesitate. We have given the Army a full political cover for everything a long time ago.” He praised the Army’s role in establishing stability in the country.

Meanwhile, Berri said the planned dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah would start between senior officials from both sides before the New Year. He said the agenda of the talks between the two rival factions is open to all topics, except the divisive issues of Hezbollah’s arsenal and the party’s military intervention in the war in Syria.

“I am ready to host the dialogue because I will be sponsoring the first session,” Berri was quoted by visitors as saying. He said officials from the two sides are welcome to meet at his residence in Ain Al-Tineh.

“What matters is direct contacts between the two sides. We will try to see that this dialogue is serious and productive away from bickerings,” Berri said. He added that the most important outcome of the upcoming dialogue is to defuse Sunni-Shiite tensions in the country.

The speaker said he would convene a legislative session early next year once the joint parliamentary committees have finished studying a number of draft laws.

Berri said matters concerning the oil and gas exploration in Lebanon’s territorial waters have been put on the right track, adding that the Cabinet would hold a session to approve the two decrees necessary for the offshore gas licensing

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai warned that Lebanon’s existence was at risk if it continued to be left without a president.

“Lebanon is passing through a very critical phase threatening its existence if it continues to be left without a president and if the violation of the Constitution and the [National] Pact [on power sharing] persists,” Rai said during Sunday’s Mass in Bkirki.

He renewed his call on lawmakers to elect a president “because he is the sole protector of the Constitution, the guarantor of national unity and a source of legitimacy for every activity in constitutional institutions.”

Arsal fears another attack by Christmas Day

ARSAL, Lebanon: Fears that militant infighting by the unmarked border between Lebanon and Syria will spill over during the holiday season have gripped the beleaguered residents of Arsal.

Security sources meanwhile contend the northeastern border town will not likely be targeted by ISIS or the Nusra Front.

The Lebanese Army strictly monitors individuals, especially Syrian nationals, entering and leaving Arsal, reinforcing its checkpoints leading to the outskirts of Arsal, where militants are positioned across a 30 km stretch.

Arsal’s residents are concerned about the implications of infighting between ISIS and the Nusra Front, as well as the Free Syria Army in the Syrian border area of Qalamoun.

The town is already weary of tough entry and exit measures in place since August, when four days of clashes consumed Arsal.

Nusra and ISIS militants worked in tandem and overran Arsal between Aug. 2-6 until a cease-fire brokered by the Muslim Scholars Committee led militants to withdraw, taking at least 30 captive servicemen with them.

Four captives have since been executed and it is believed 25 still remain in their custody.

“We are afraid to speak about the situation around Syrian refugees because they have the power to threaten Arsal residents with kidnapping; they have ties with the militants in the outskirts,” resident Mohammed Fliti said. Militants were known to have taken refuge in Syrian refugee camps in the town prior to the clashes in August.

According to Fliti, a shop owner was threatened with kidnapping after he demanded that a Syrian refugee customer pay him for goods from his shop. He claims Arsal residents suspected of collaborating with Hezbollah have also been “summoned” by a religious court run by the militants in the outskirts.

With time on their hands and trepidation occupying their thoughts, residents trade stories about the significance of infighting in the outskirts and how it might affect them in the near future. Rumors, based only on anecdotes, have served to fuel the residents’ sense of foreboding.

One resident claimed that three officials from Raqqa, ISIS’ de facto capital in Syria, had arrived in Qalamoun, bringing with them 2,000 fighters.

Out of ISIS, Nusra and the Free Syria Army, all of whom are positioned in the outskirts, ISIS is the strongest, with the greatest access to supplies and funds.

Rumors are circulating in Arsal that ISIS will soon overtake the FSA, having given the group a deadline to pledge allegiance to their movement.

A source with the FSA in Qalamoun said that new ISIS members from Raqqa have not arrived to Qalamoun, but confirmed that vast numbers of FSA fighters were defecting to the group.

Khaled Hujeiri, an Arsal resident, said many stories were being propagated regarding when the militants might overrun the town, with some convinced the group will launch an attack during Christmas.

Others said they believe Al-Qaa or Ras Baalbek might be next, or even the Shiite village of Brital.

Residents say they are fearful because they lack confidence in the Lebanese Army’s ability to defend the town in the event of such an attack, pointing to the August clashes when militants temporarily took over warehouses and kidnapped soldiers. The militants have also evaded military artillery fire by hiding out in caves and other areas across the outskirts.

The security situation has prompted Arsalis to purchase weapons to defend themselves in the event of another attack.

A Lebanese security source agreed that ISIS was strengthening its capabilities in Qalamoun, especially areas bordering Arsal, Al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek. Another source close to Hezbollah corroborated the security source’s remarks.

But the security source said that although intelligence suggests that ISIS’ ultimate goal is to consolidate power in the Qalamoun area to connect it to Deraa and Qunaitra, in a bid to besiege Damascus, any progress made on this front would constitute a threat to Lebanon.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army have been preparing for ISIS’ expansionary goals to play out in Lebanon, the source said, and it will be very difficult for the militant group to successfully infiltrate the country.

Arsal fears another attack by Christmas Day

ARSAL, Lebanon: Fears that militant infighting by the unmarked border between Lebanon and Syria will spill over during the holiday season have gripped the beleaguered residents of Arsal.

Security sources meanwhile contend the northeastern border town will not likely be targeted by ISIS or the Nusra Front.

The Lebanese Army strictly monitors individuals, especially Syrian nationals, entering and leaving Arsal, reinforcing its checkpoints leading to the outskirts of Arsal, where militants are positioned across a 30 km stretch.

Arsal’s residents are concerned about the implications of infighting between ISIS and the Nusra Front, as well as the Free Syria Army in the Syrian border area of Qalamoun.

The town is already weary of tough entry and exit measures in place since August, when four days of clashes consumed Arsal.

Nusra and ISIS militants worked in tandem and overran Arsal between Aug. 2-6 until a cease-fire brokered by the Muslim Scholars Committee led militants to withdraw, taking at least 30 captive servicemen with them.

Four captives have since been executed and it is believed 25 still remain in their custody.

“We are afraid to speak about the situation around Syrian refugees because they have the power to threaten Arsal residents with kidnapping; they have ties with the militants in the outskirts,” resident Mohammed Fliti said. Militants were known to have taken refuge in Syrian refugee camps in the town prior to the clashes in August.

According to Fliti, a shop owner was threatened with kidnapping after he demanded that a Syrian refugee customer pay him for goods from his shop. He claims Arsal residents suspected of collaborating with Hezbollah have also been “summoned” by a religious court run by the militants in the outskirts.

With time on their hands and trepidation occupying their thoughts, residents trade stories about the significance of infighting in the outskirts and how it might affect them in the near future. Rumors, based only on anecdotes, have served to fuel the residents’ sense of foreboding.

One resident claimed that three officials from Raqqa, ISIS’ de facto capital in Syria, had arrived in Qalamoun, bringing with them 2,000 fighters.

Out of ISIS, Nusra and the Free Syria Army, all of whom are positioned in the outskirts, ISIS is the strongest, with the greatest access to supplies and funds.

Rumors are circulating in Arsal that ISIS will soon overtake the FSA, having given the group a deadline to pledge allegiance to their movement.

A source with the FSA in Qalamoun said that new ISIS members from Raqqa have not arrived to Qalamoun, but confirmed that vast numbers of FSA fighters were defecting to the group.

Khaled Hujeiri, an Arsal resident, said many stories were being propagated regarding when the militants might overrun the town, with some convinced the group will launch an attack during Christmas.

Others said they believe Al-Qaa or Ras Baalbek might be next, or even the Shiite village of Brital.

Residents say they are fearful because they lack confidence in the Lebanese Army’s ability to defend the town in the event of such an attack, pointing to the August clashes when militants temporarily took over warehouses and kidnapped soldiers. The militants have also evaded military artillery fire by hiding out in caves and other areas across the outskirts.

The security situation has prompted Arsalis to purchase weapons to defend themselves in the event of another attack.

A Lebanese security source agreed that ISIS was strengthening its capabilities in Qalamoun, especially areas bordering Arsal, Al-Qaa and Ras Baalbek. Another source close to Hezbollah corroborated the security source’s remarks.

But the security source said that although intelligence suggests that ISIS’ ultimate goal is to consolidate power in the Qalamoun area to connect it to Deraa and Qunaitra, in a bid to besiege Damascus, any progress made on this front would constitute a threat to Lebanon.

Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army have been preparing for ISIS’ expansionary goals to play out in Lebanon, the source said, and it will be very difficult for the militant group to successfully infiltrate the country.

Tearful reception for Air Algerie crash victims

BEIRUT: The cargo terminal of the Rafic Hariri Airport hosted hundreds of relatives, soldiers, government officials and journalists Sunday night, all waiting in the cold for the arrival of the 19 Lebanese victims of the Air Algerie crash. Relatives of the victims dressed in black greeted each other with kisses on the cheek and warm embraces as they patiently waited for hours to see their loved ones.

It has been five months since the fatal accident and the families have been desperately calling for the bodies to be returned.

The flight from Algeria to Burkina Faso mysteriously crashed in Mali and claimed the lives of all 116 passengers, 19 of whom were Lebanese. After months of negotiations between France, Algeria and Lebanon, the bodies were finally returned to their families.

Jihad Assadallah Dhaini’s brother Bilal, his sister-in-law Karina Bird and their three children, Malik Olivia and Rayane, all died in the crash. He and his brother both lived in West Africa, and Bilal was on his way back to Lebanon for Eid al-Fitr. He spoke to him shortly before he boarded.

“You can’t imagine how I’m feeling right now,” Dhaini, who is from south Lebanon, told The Daily Star. “This isn’t something that people are supposed to feel. This was forced upon us I wouldn’t wish this upon anybody.”

Dhaini said it was critical to know how and why the flight crashed, to prevent such incidents in the future. The investigation into what exactly happened is ongoing and the cause of the crash is still unclear.

However, Hasan Suleiman, whose cousin Mounji was on the Air Algerie flight with his wife and four children, said the investigation was pointless.

“What difference does the investigation make? The person we care about died. What is it going to bring us?” he asked.

“I feel devastated right now. We’re accepting our family as cargo and not in the arrival terminal.”

Suleiman was also irritated by the fact that the government officials in attendance, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk and Public Works and Transport Minister Ghazi Zeaiter, as well as MPs and religious figures, were all occupying seats while his cousin’s siblings were all made to stand.

The victims’ arrival was mired by a feeling of confusion.

Journalists scrambled to get quotes from the relatives and government officials, while soldiers attempted to keep everybody in order and away from government ministers. The sound of somebody weeping was never far away.

Families were growing noticeably more and more irritated by the combination of journalists hounding them and continuous delays by security forces. These feelings came to a boil when the 19 Red Cross ambulances, each carrying a coffin draped in a Lebanese flag, poured out from the plane.

The soft weeping turned into loud wailing as the families pressed against the ambulances to get a look at the coffins of the loved ones.

A military band played funeral music with the flood lights illuminating the scene reflecting off their saxophones. Soldiers present lifted their hands for a salute while the family members buried their heads in theirs in disbelief.

Moments later, the scene was disturbed by a man screaming, “We don’t want a picture! Get away from me!” at a group of photographers attempting to photograph his crying mother. His screams were slowly drowned out by several sheikhs reciting prayers as the ambulances passed by.

After all 19 ambulances had passed the gate, the religious figures formed a line with government officials and some family members behind them to pay their respects and give their respective blessings.

Facing them, behind the cameras and photographer, one man was almost hanging from an ambulance with his face pressed against the glass, staring at a coffin and weeping. As they recited their prayers, his voice rang out, “Why God, why?”

Derian forms pact with Saudi Islamic affairs minister

Lebanon Grand Mufti forms pact with Saudi Islamic Affairs Minister

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Latif Derian joined forces with the Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs Sunday, with...

Arsal deputy mayor appointed mediator, meets ISIS

BEIRUT: The Progressive Socialist Party took the lead in negotiations with jihadi militants holding 25 Lebanese servicemen captive Sunday, as Health Minister Wael Abu Faour appointed Arsal’s deputy Mayor Ahmad Fliti to mediate talks with the Nusra Front and ISIS. Fliti told The Daily Star that he was commissioned by Abu Faour under the instruction of Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt to take charge of mediation efforts. Jumblatt was “adamant on resuming negotiations to release the hostages,” Fliti said.

Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party has clamorously supported efforts to secure the release of the Lebanese hostages.

Throughout negotiations, the health minister has worked with informal mediators such as divisive Arsal sheikh Mustafa Hujeiri in order to avert, albeit temporarily, the execution of captive Ali Bazzal.

Fliti, who will serve as a liaison between the militants and Abu Faour, noted that he was commissioned by only a faction in the Lebanese government and not the Cabinet as a whole. An official appointment by the Lebanese government may be possible, he said.

The deputy mayor expressed confidence in his appointment.

“I am on the ground, and always at the scene of events so in case of any emergency, I will always be ready,” he said.

According to the deputy mayor, who met with ISIS militants on the outskirts of Arsal earlier Sunday, the group expressed its readiness to work with him.

During the meeting, ISIS militants conveyed their demands, Fliti said, noting that the group wants a unified government stance over the acceptance of a swap deal.

Fliti refused to disclose their other demands.

With regard to his next meeting with the captors, Fliti said there was no scheduled date, but highlighted that he would go if Jumblatt or the health minister requested him to.

Earlier Sunday, a spokesperson for the families of the captives, Hussein Youssef, told The Daily Star that one of the family members had received a call from ISIS militants in which the jihadi group announced that it had accepted Fliti’s appointment as a mediator in negotiations with the Lebanese government.

According to the spokesperson, the Nusra Front has yet to officially accept the selection.

Youssef was optimistic over Fliti’s appointment, expressing his beliefs that the deputy mayor could play a positive role in negotiating the release of the captives.

“The acceptance of Fliti’s appointment is a very positive indicator,” Youssef said.

On Saturday, Jumblatt confirmed that Abu Faour has remained in contact with the jihadis despite stalled negotiations.

“Upon my authorization, Wael [Abu Faour] will remain in contact with ISIS and the Nusra [Front] because what matters to us are the lives of the servicemen,” Jumblatt wrote on Twitter.

Fliti clarified that he has been acting as Abu Faour’s liaison with the militants, denying that the health minister was holding direct contact with the captors.

In a series of tweets Saturday evening, Jumblatt called on Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and General Security Chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to join efforts to free the policemen and soldiers by accepting a swap deal.

ISIS and Nusra have been keeping the captives on the outskirts of Arsal since August, when they engaged in fierce battles with Lebanese Army troops.

Each of the two fundamentalist groups has so far executed two of the servicemen.

Sheikh Wissam Masri, an informal mediator who met with ISIS earlier Thursday, told The Daily Star that he welcomed Fliti’s appointment.

Masri, who is not tasked by any official group, noted that his efforts are focused on receiving a pledge from ISIS to stop executing and threatening the hostages, adding he was “halfway there,” to fulfilling his goal.

Foreign officials agree on need to elect consensus president

French, Russian, British and European Union officials who visited Lebanon recently as part of stepped-up political activity to help break the 6-month-old presidential deadlock have agreed on the need to elect a consensus president, diplomatic sources said.

An agreement to elect a consensus candidate will exclude the four top Maronite leaders from the presidency race, the sources said, clearly referring to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel, and Marada Movement head MP Sleiman Frangieh.

Geagea is the March 14-backed presidential candidate, while Aoun is supported by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies for the country’s top Christian post.

Following a two-day visit to Beirut earlier this month by Jean-François Girault, chief of the French Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa Department, as part of a French presidential initiative in coordination with the United States and the Vatican, final touches are being put to a plan to set the presidential election process into motion, the sources said.

Girault, who held talks with Lebanon’s top leaders and rival politicians on the presidential crisis, had said France was ready to facilitate an agreement on the election of a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-year term ended on May 25.

According to the sources, some Western officials have become convinced of the need to reduce the list of presidential candidates to three, while the search goes on for the role required from the next president and whether he should be a politician, a security man or an economist.

Western countries prefer the next Lebanese president to be a mixture of the three characters in view of the political, security, military and socioeconomic burdens endured by Lebanon as a result of regional conflicts, particularly the war in Syria, said the sources, which are closely linked to Lebanese political leaders.

They added that developments surrounding the presidential crisis are taking a positive trend as reflected by the calm atmosphere internally with the imminent launch of the planned dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, or the expected meeting between Geagea and Aoun.

The main topics of these inter-Muslim and inter-Christian meetings will focus on confronting the threat of terrorism and takfiri factions coming from Lebanon’s eastern border with Syria and protecting the internal situation by quickly ending the presidential vacuum to gear efforts toward facing the political, security and administrative challenges, the sources said.

Referring to the visits of Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Girault to Beirut, the sources said the Russian envoy’s trip was aimed at laying the foundation for a solution to the Syrian conflict by trying to persuade the internal and external opposition groups, excluding the takfiri factions, to work together and close ranks in order to engage later in a dialogue with the Syrian regime in a conference to be held either in Geneva or in Moscow.

But Girault’s trip, which was coordinated with Washington and the Vatican, was based on three factors: The historic distinctive Lebanese-French relations; France’s regional role by virtue of its balanced ties with various countries, particularly Saudi Arabia and Iran, and in Lebanon, Paris stands at the same distance with March 8 and March 14 parties; and France’s experience in sponsoring Lebanese compromise solutions in coordination with the Vatican, the sources said.

On this basis, France, fearing that the Christians might lose their role and weight in the country’s national political setup, is seeking to eliminate internal and external hurdles blocking the presidential election and is helping to outline the president’s qualifications without entering into the game of names, they added.

In outlining the president’s qualifications, the diplomatic sources said any head of state should adopt economic measures and political reforms that would help in Lebanon’s recovery.

Noting that Lebanon has a strong economy founded on a private initiative and hard currency sent home by Lebanese expatriates, the sources said that what is required is a fair distribution of this wealth through balanced development in all areas.

The balanced development should be accompanied by a political, reformist and administrative transparency to be translated by the election of a president who has wide and deep knowledge of the region’s history and peoples on the basis that Lebanon is not an island isolated from its environment, the sources added.

GOP Sens. Rubio, Paul Square Off Over Cuba Policy Shift

i i

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the son of Cuban immigrants, expresses his disappointment in President Obama's initiative to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba, on Wednesday. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

itoggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., the son of Cuban immigrants, expresses his disappointment in President Obama's initiative to normalize relations between the U.S. and Cuba, on Wednesday.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

In what could prove a sneak peek at the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a strong critic of President Obama's decision to open relations with Cuba, appears to be stepping up an attack on fellow Republican Sen. Rand Paul over his support of the policy shift.

Speaking to ABC's This Week today, Rubio, who is of Cuban descent, took the Kentucky senator to task for supporting the new U.S. policy. Both lawmakers are considered potential White House contenders.

Rubio reiterated his displeasure with the president's decision, calling it "absurd." He said Paul had become Obama' s "chief cheerleader."

Last week, Paul told a West Virginia radio station that starting trade with Cuba is "probably a good idea."

"Rand, if he wants to become the chief cheerleader of Obama's foreign policy, he certainly has a right to do that," Rubio said after This Week host George Stephanopoulos asked about the growing feud between the two senators over Cuba policy.

"I'm going to continue to oppose the Obama — Obama-Paul foreign policy on Cuba because I know it won't lead to freedom and liberty for the Cuban people, which is my sole interest here," Rubio said.

On Wednesday, the president announced the historic shift in U.S. policy.

For more than five decades, the U.S. has maintained a commercial, economic and financial embargo on Cuba and isolated the nation diplomatically. The tense relations were triggered by Cuban leader Fidel Castro's communist revolution that in 1959 overthrew the regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista, who enjoyed U.S. support.

Relations continued to sour as the Soviet aid went to Castro's government and a CIA-sponsored invasion of the island at the Bay of Pigs failed in 1961. A year and a half later, the U.S. and USSR nearly came to war over Soviet missiles based in Cuba. The so-called "Cuban Missile Crisis" ended with Moscow withdrawing the weapons.

NGO seeks to forge ties between Lebanese and migrants

BEIRUT: A blend of cultures and cuisines was on display in Verdun Sunday for the launch of SGR, an NGO that hopes to forge ties between Lebanese and the country’s migrant communities.

The SGR Team is a group of women from a variety of different backgrounds who started the organization to offer free educational services, including English and Arabic classes, to migrants in Lebanon.

The classes, held at a center in Verdun, are also open to Lebanese citizens. Founding member Ghada Khairy said she hopes their classes will promote cultural exchange between Lebanese and migrant communities.

“Some organizations are just for foreigners, but we don’t want to separate from the Lebanese people,” Khairy said. “We want to change the stereotypes Lebanese may have of foreigners.”

Khairy herself is of Sudanese origins but was born and raised in Lebanon. She lamented that people in Lebanon sometimes have misconceptions about Sudanese people. For instance, they may think that the don’t speak Arabic, and she hopes that these views may change through having a Sudanese teacher or learning alongside other Sudanese people.

“We want society to accept us ... [We want to show that Sudanese people] speak Arabic and we know how to teach and we’re educated,” she said.

The team currently consists of Iraqi, Syrian, Sudanese and Lebanese women. Each member brings their own expertise and teaches a class in that field. Eman Mahdi is a Lebanese member and she teaches arts and crafts while Sudanese-British Sit El Benat Elgali teaches English classes.

Ghada’s sister, Samar, who is also a founding member of SGR, which stands for Samar-Ghada-Rafa, told The Daily Star that coming up with SGR seems like a dream now. Rafa is the third founding member.

“We were sitting around, three girls. We decided we wanted to start something of our own,” she recalled. “So we decided to start a team named after ourselves.”

They weren’t sure what they wanted to do with the team at first. They eventually decided they needed people with more expertise and reached out to older women to get them on board. Slowly they realized their vision for SGR.

“It enables women to work and also provides assistance to the migrant communities,” she added.

The official launching of the team’s center where they offer the classes took place Sunday. There was a rich mix of food offered from several different cuisines. Sudanese dishes such as asida, a porridge-like wheat-based meal, sat next to Lebanese grape leaf wraps, which reflected the guests who attended.

The center has already begun to offer classes in arts and crafts and languages, and the students who have signed up for the free lessons were also in attendance.

There was a buoyant atmosphere at the event and Samar Khairy is optimistic about the team’s future. They’ve already begun networking with other organizations that offer services to migrant communities, such as the Migrant Community Center (MCC) and Kafa, and they want to continue to build on that.

Khairy said they also want to start working more on promoting issues related to women’s empowerment.

“We also want to shine a light on the qualities and customs of other cultures,” she said. “We all have our own customs in food and music and we want to have events that show these different customs.”

Khairy said their main goal will continue to be building dialogue between migrants and those native to Lebanon.

“Before race or nationalities we want people to respect others simply for being human beings.”

The plane carrying the remains of Lebanon's 20 Air Algerie crash victims has landed in Beirut

Lebanon prepares to receive Air Algerie crash victims

Lebanon will receive Sunday the bodies of its 20 nationals killed in the summer plane crash of an Air Algerie flight...

Lebanon Grand Mufti forms pact with Saudi Islamic Affairs Minister

Syria calls on Lebanon to respect labor pact

Syria’s labor minister criticized Sunday restrictions on Syrian workers in Lebanon, calling on Beirut to respect a...

Syrian crisis has cost Lebanon $20B: Social Affairs Minister

In Lebanon, Syrian newborns risk statelessness

Nearly 30,000 Syrian children born as refugees in Lebanon are in a legal limbo, not registered with any government,...

Ready To Hit The Cuban Beach? Americans Still Have To Wait

i i

A couple walks on the beach in the resort area of Varadero, Cuba. Varadero is home to upscale hotels and resorts that cater to foreign tourists, but there aren't yet enough to handle a potential influx of Americans. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption David Gilkey/NPR

A couple walks on the beach in the resort area of Varadero, Cuba. Varadero is home to upscale hotels and resorts that cater to foreign tourists, but there aren't yet enough to handle a potential influx of Americans.

David Gilkey/NPR

With President Obama beginning the process of normalizing relations with Cuba this week, many may envision soon soaking up the sun on a warm Cuban beach, sipping a refreshing rum drink.

In reality, that's not likely to happen for quite a while. But just the increased opportunity for travel between the two countries has those with longtime ties to Cuba already thinking about the possibilities it will bring.

Tom Popper is thinking about it. As president of the New York-based travel company, Insight Cuba, Popper has fought long and hard for an end to the U.S. ban on travel to Cuba, and he's seen his hopes rise and fall with the ebb and flow of Cuban-American relations over last couple of decades.

To say Obama's announcement Wednesday was a bit of a shock is an understatement.

"When I first heard the news on my way to the office that morning, I almost drove off the road," Popper says. "It's wonderful news for the U.S., for travelers, for business interests, for relations between the two countries."

Simon Says

Despite Its Beauty, Cuba Isn't Quite Ready For Tourists

Popper sees a greater opportunity for educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries, but cautions that some restrictions, including the ban on tourist travel to Cuba, remain in place.

The Two-Way

What's Next For Cuba? The Headlines That Tell The Story

All Tech Considered

For An Island Trapped In The '50s, An Instant Digital Revolution

Despite the ban, Eben Peck, head of government affairs for the American Society of Travel Agents, calls the agreement a step in the right direction.

"It's going to mean more business for our members who participate in the Cuba market, but the full benefits of freedom to travel to Cuba is not going to be felt until the travel ban is lifted in its entirety," Peck says.

Right now, only charter flights are allowed to fly between the U.S. and Cuba.

Cruise ship companies such as Carnival say Cuba presents some exciting possibilities, but note the country needs investments in docks and other infrastructure to accommodate big ships. A handful of international chains have hotels in Cuba, but far too few to handle large volumes of U.S. tourists.

A tourist takes pictures in Havana last week.. Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images

And here's something American travelers won't be able to find at all in Cuba: a Starbuck's.

"There's nothing like this in Cuba, and there actually won't be for a very, very long time," says Achy Obejas, a writer who was born in Cuba. "For there to be a Starbuck's or a McDonald's or any kind of American business of this nature, the embargo has to be lifted, and these new policy changes do not affect the embargo."

But Obejas says the agreement to begin to normalize relations is huge, because it finally starts the conversation about eventually ending the trade embargo, which she says is critical to Cuba's future.

The first step, she says, is making it easier to travel between the two countries — and Obejas should know: She's lived there for extended periods of time and has spent much of her adult life traveling back and forth.

"It is a bit of a nightmare," she says. "You need a license, you have to ask permission, you have to join a group, you have to do something. It's not like just getting on a plane and going to the Bahamas. You actually have to go through some, you know, B.S."

Along with freer travel to and from Cuba, banking restrictions will be eased, so American travelers, for the first time, will be able to use credit and debit cards in Cuba, and they won't have to carry large sums of cash. That could free American visitors to spend more, and it would help Cuban businesses.

But the best thing for Obejas: The country will begin to be normal. The easing of travel restrictions will reconnect families, create economic and educational opportunities and encourage those Cubans who do leave the island nation to go back, Obejas says.

"Cuba will cease to be special in about five or six years," she says. "It will be one more country in the Caribbean to which you can access, which sounds banal, but is actually wonderful, to not be an outlier, to not be this dark forbidden place."

ISIS appoints Arsal deputy mayor to mediate: hostage families

Aoun: Include the families in the crisis cell

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun called Wednesday for including a representative of the families of captive...

Christian politicians must abide by 'biblical values': Lebanon Maronite Patriarch

BEIRUT: The absence of a president exacerbates Lebanon's already tense situation, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said Sunday, reiterating calls for Christians to stay in Lebanon and urging Christian leaders not to lose their "biblical values."

“Lebanon is passing through a very critical phase threatening its foundations,” Rai said during the Sunday mass at Bkirki’s Cathedral, stressing that the absence of a president and the “ongoing violation of the constitution, the national pact, the customs and traditions” were worsening the situation.

Lebanon has been without president since May 25 when former President Michel Sleiman left at the end of his term.

“I tell the Christians in Lebanon that their role today, more than any past day, is to commit to preserving Lebanon, its essence, people and institutions, as well as its culture and symbolism inside the Arab and Islamic world,” the patriarch added.

He addressed Christian political leaders in Lebanon, reminding them of the need to apply "biblical values" and the recommendations of late Pope Jean Paul II in their political behavior.

“They should remember that Lebanon owes its uniqueness and its particularity, which distinguish it from other Arab countries, to the Christians in particular,” Rai said.

The mass was attended by former French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and the accompanying delegation, as well as the French Ambassador to Lebaon Patrice Paoli and Lebanon's Ambassador to UNESCO Simon Karam.

Lebanon PM urges France to expedite helicopter deliveries

PARIS: Lebanon hopes France will deliver helicopters to its army faster than planned so it can fight jihadis encroaching from neighboring Syria, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said in an interview on Sunday.

France and Lebanon signed a $3 billion Saudi-funded deal in early November to provide French weapons and military equipment to the Lebanese Army, which has few resources to deal with the instability on its border and has been seeking to modernize its military hardware.

Paris plans to start supplying the equipment in the first quarter of 2015 and over a period of three years, ending with the delivery of helicopters, a defense ministry source said last month.

"We are still in talks for the helicopters to be delivered at the beginning of the program rather than at the end, so that we can use missiles as soon as possible against the jihadis in the mountains," Salam told weekly paper Le Journal du Dimanche.

"[ISIS] is present in the region of Arsal, on the Lebanese-Syrian border. If it manages to invade Lebanon, it will impose its extremism everywhere," he said.

Lebanon, whose own sectarian divisions have been exacerbated by the Syrian war, fears Islamist insurgents are trying to expand their influence into Sunni Muslim areas in its north.

Salam said the airstrikes carried out by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS and al-Qaeda's Nusra Front in Syria were insufficient and symbolic.

"To beat them, you need to be on the ground. But at this stage, who wants to go there?," he asked.

Lebanon is also under severe strain from a flood of civilians fleeing the conflict, with over one million refugees now accounting for a quarter of its population. Syrian refugees even had their food aid suspended earlier this month because a U.N. agency ran out of money, before being reinstated after an emergency fundraising campaign.

"Nobody has really grasped how fragile our situation is," Salam said. "If the Syrian refugees in Lebanon aren't fed, we will be confronted to a very worrisome situation, maybe even a revolt."

Rifi urges Tripoli residents not to take up arms

Ancient city of Byblos drawing new crowds

Not as crowded as the usual hangouts in Beirut but still busy enough to have a buzz, there is something more dignified...

Restricting jobs to Lebanese not racist: Labor Minister

BEIRUT: Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi denied Sunday that the recent decision to restrict dozens of types of jobs to Lebanese citizens was racist.

Azzi called into a morning talk show on Al-Jadeed TV after former state minister Marwan Kheireddine told the program's host that last week's labor ministry decision was intended to bar Syrians and Palestinians from employment and was therefore racist.

“When you say that a decision is racist, this is big [accusation], because racism means hating the other, and not protecting yourself, your society, generations, students and employers.”

Azzi announced last week a decision to limit 62 jobs to Lebanese citizens only. The jobs covered the sectors of administration, banking, insurance, education, pharmaceuticals, technical professions, trade, finance, engineering, printing and publishing, medicine, law and auto repairs, among others.

The minister has also reserved exceptions for some foreigners such as a manager or a representative of a foreign company registered in Lebanon, a foreigner who has been a resident of Lebanon since birth and a person of Lebanese origin or born to a Lebanese mother.

“When we have 1.5 million Syrians competing with us for everything, while the international community is not helping us, I think the least the Labor Ministry and the government can do is protect the Lebanese,” he said. “As Lebanese, we need to learn how to choose the expressions we use to take positions.”

He also said it did not make sense to give work permits to foreign engineers, lawyers, and doctors while Lebanon graduates many professionals from those industries.

He also explained that the decision was not his own invention, and was introduced by former Labor Minister Salim Jreissati, but said the difference was that he was brave enough to announce it.

Palestinians born on Lebanese territory, who are officially registered in the Interior Ministry and are listed in municipal records, are generally not subjected to the restrictions, except with regards to free contractors and other professions legally prohibited for non-Lebanese.

For decreeing this exception, Azzi said he received a message from the Palestinian Cabinet praising his policy, saying it “protects the rights of Palestinians in the Lebanese labor market.”

“All states make laws to protect national labor,” Azzi said, explaining that the measure does not prevent companies from hiring a Syrian engineer, for instance, if no Lebanese candidate could meet the requirements.

“There is a national responsibility on the Labor Ministry to protect Lebanese labor,” Azzi stressed. “I made this decision because Lebanese immigration today exceeds what we witnessed between 1975 and 1977.”