Berri: Hezbollah, Future committed to 1701
Hezbollah’s and the Future Movement’s commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 remains steadfast, Speaker...
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
Berri: Hezbollah, Future committed to 1701
Berri: Hezbollah, Future committed to 1701
Hezbollah’s and the Future Movement’s commitment to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 remains steadfast, Speaker...
Girault, Rai to discuss election crisis in Vatican: report
BEIRUT: A top French official will visit the Vatican next week for talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai regarding the Lebanese presidential election crisis, local daily An-Nahar reported Thursday.
The report said French presidential envoy Jean-Francois Girault will head to the Vatican Monday for a meeting with Rai to discuss the election deadlock.
An-Nahar said the French envoy will possibly meet officials of the Holy See for consultations on the presidential crisis.
Lebanon has been without a head of state since May when President Michel Sleiman’s term expired with lawmakers failing to elect a successor due to lack of consensus.
Girault Wednesday held a new round of talks for the second consecutive day with rival Lebanese factions on how to end the political deadlock that has left Lebanon without a president for more than eight months.
The French envoy, however, has apparently failed to make any breakthrough in the presidential crisis following talks with leaders on both sides of the political divide as the March 8 and March 14 parties stood firm on their support for rival candidates.
Sources from both camps agreed that local as well as regional and international factors were blocking the election of a new president.
Comments
Your feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us their views and comments about this article.
Disclaimer: Comments submitted by third parties on this site are the sole responsibility of the individual(s) whose content is submitted. The Daily Star accepts no responsibility for the content of comment(s), including, without limitation, any error, omission or inaccuracy therein. Please note that your email address will NOT appear on the site.
Alert: If you are facing problems with posting comments, please note that you must verify your email with Disqus prior to posting a comment. follow this link to make sure your account meets the requirements. (http://bit.ly/vDisqus)
UN Security Council condemns killing of Spanish peacekeeper
UNITED NATIONS: The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" last week's killing of a Spanish peacekeeper in southern Lebanon.
Wednesday's statement comes a week after Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo was killed during the Israeli military's exchange of fire with the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group in a disputed border area.
Spain's U.N. ambassador quickly blamed Israel, and a U.N. diplomat has said Israel apologized through several sources, including an apology from its ambassador in Madrid to Spain's foreign minister.
The violence along Lebanon's border, which also killed two Israeli soldiers, was the deadliest escalation on the disputed frontier since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel.
Israel's ambassador quickly pointed out that the council statement didn't mention the Israeli soldiers or condemn Hezbollah. "The Security Council seems to think that some lives have more value than others," Ron Prosor said in an emailed statement.
A council diplomat said Russia blocked a French-drafted press statement on Tuesday that would have condemned the Hezbollah attack on the Israeli soldiers as a violation of the resolution that ended the 2006 war as well as the death of the Spanish peacekeeper, saying it was "unbalanced."
The blocked statement, supported by Spain and many other council members, also expressed grave concern over the deterioration of the situation along both sides of the so-called Blue Line separating Lebanon and Israel, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because discussions were closed.
Also Wednesday, a senior U.N. official said a U.N. technical investigation on the ground, to determine the facts of what happened in the violence, should be completed in the next three days. The U.N. is also launching a board of inquiry to look into the wider aspects of the incident.
In Detroit, Jeb Bush Makes A Campaign Must-Stop
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at a Economic Club of Detroit meeting in Detroit on Wednesday. The Detroit event is the first in a series of stops that Bush's team is calling his "Right to Rise" tour. That's also the name of the political action committee he formed in December 2014 to allow him to explore a presidential run. Paul Sancya/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Paul Sancya/AP
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at a Economic Club of Detroit meeting in Detroit on Wednesday. The Detroit event is the first in a series of stops that Bush's team is calling his "Right to Rise" tour. That's also the name of the political action committee he formed in December 2014 to allow him to explore a presidential run.
Paul Sancya/AP
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush isn't officially a presidential candidate, but by delivering a speech to the Detroit Economic Club Wednesday he sure acted like one.
The elite, nonpartisan organization is a must-stop for serious candidates — it's hosted every eventual president since Richard Nixon. The list of presidential contenders who've taken to the podium there in recent decades is long. Last year, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul was among the speakers.
The club was founded in 1934 during the Great Depression, by prominent Detroit businessman Alan Crow to hold Michigan gubernatorial and senatorial debates and talks by congressional and business leaders.
Its nearly 3,300 members include movers and shakers from Michigan's political and corporate worlds.
Historically, candidates like Jeb Bush have used the forum to outline their economic policies. It was during his 2012 DEC speech that Michigan native Mitt Romney famously listed all the cars he owned, including "a couple of Cadillacs." Romney's father, automaker and former Michigan Gov. George Romney, spoke at the DEC with Nixon in the 1960s.
In 1992, Bill Clinton used the DEC platform for "a major economic address," that criticized President George H.W. Bush. A month later, Bush delivered his own address at the DEC to announce his economic agenda for his second term.
More recently, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in 2007 reprimanded Detroit auto giants from the DEC podium.
"We know that our oil addiction is jeopardizing our national security," he said. "Here in Detroit, three giants of American industry are hemorrhaging jobs and profits as foreign competitors answer the rising global demand for fuel-efficient cars."
"We politicians are afraid to ask the oil and auto industries to do their part and those industries hire armies of lobbyists to make sure that the status quo remains," he said.
Jeb Bush Continues To Test Campaign Waters In Detroit
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Detroit Economic Club Wednesday. Paul Sancya/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Paul Sancya/AP
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Detroit Economic Club Wednesday.
Paul Sancya/AP
For his first major speech since confirming that he's exploring a presidential run, Jeb Bush chose an interesting location: Detroit.
Speaking to the city's Economic Club, an establishment institution in the Motor City for more than eight decades, he praised the city's emergence from bankruptcy.
"You all are part of a great story — the revival of a city that means so much to all Americans," he told the lunch-time crowd of about 650 people. The mood had brightened significantly in Detroit over the past year. The region's automakers are again selling lots of cars and making money. General Motors announced Wednesday that it earned a net income of $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014.
But the former governor of Florida also pointed to Detroit as a cautionary tale, saying the city's deep and prolonged troubles "are an echo of the troubles facing Washington D.C." And he says he knew how Detroit hit rock-bottom: "Decades of big government policies, petty politics, impossible-to-meet pension promises, chronic mismanagement and broken services — combined with a massive loss of jobs in the auto industry — drove tens of thousands of people from this city and this region."
The core of the speech was the need to create opportunity for those who, as Bush put it, "see only a small portion of the population riding the economy's up escalator."
The sense for the yet-to-be-announced "Jeb Bush for President" campaign is that the message has much more resonance in Detroit than it would in Des Moines, Iowa or Manchester, N.H., where the first contests of 2016 are now just barely a year away.
Other highlights of the Jeb Bush Detroit speech include his reflections on what it means to be the son of a president, and brother of a president, potentially running for president himself:
"On one level, you know, I've had a front row seat to watch history unfold, a unique seat. It's given me some perspectives that are helpful," he said.
"On another level, I know it's an interesting challenge for me. One that, if I have any degree of self-awareness, this would be the place where it might want to be applied. So, if I was to go beyond the consideration of running, I would have to deal with this and turn this fact into an opportunity, to share who I am, to connect on a human level."
Then there was this, on the 2012 GOP primary line-up, which one question from the audience likened to the bar scene from the movie Star Wars. Bush was asked how he anticipated the 2016 Republican primary playing out.
After a hearty laugh, and joke that he'd get in trouble just listening to the question, he answered: "Look, politics is chaotic. ... The idea that there's some smoke-filled room where big dogs, men and women, that have all this power decide who's going to be what, that was gone a long time ago. And as the old order has been disrupted, it's been replaced by a little more of a wild West kind of process."
Finally, Bush was also asked about what has all of a sudden become the hot-button topic of the week in the race for the White House — vaccinations.
Here's the question, and Bush's entire answer from Detroit:
Q: Vaccinations are in the news. Few potential presidential candidates have stumbled on that issue this week. What's your opinion on vaccinations?
Bush: Parents ought to make sure their children are vaccinated. [Applause] Do we need to get any detail with that? I mean, just seems, um, look it's easy, I've done this, I've said things that are misinterpreted or partially interpreted and then heads explode and all sorts of media, you know, just create all this controversy. I think it's better just to say parents have the responsibility to make sure their children are protected, over and out.
So Bush has his first big speech of the year out of the way.
Now we wait, to see when he ventures into Iowa and New Hampshire where voters are anxious to get a glimpse of him in person.
Anti-terror war campaign puts presidency on back burner
BEIRUT: The election of a new president has been put on the back burner for now as the entire world is preoccupied with fighting terrorism, political sources said Wednesday, heralding a prolonged vacuum in the country’s top Christian post.
The sources spoke as French presidential envoy Jean-Francois Girault Wednesday held a new round of talks for the second consecutive day with rival Lebanese factions on how to end the political deadlock that has left Lebanon without a president for more than eight months.
However, Girault has apparently failed to make any breakthrough in the presidential crisis following consultations with leaders on both sides of the political divide as the March 8 and March 14 parties stood firm on their support for rival candidates.
Sources from both camps agreed that local as well as regional and international factors were blocking the election of a successor to former President Michel Sleiman.
Parliament has since April failed in 18 attempts to elect a president due to a lack of quorum as the feuding parties remain at odds over a consensus candidate. A new election session is set for Feb. 18.
“The Lebanese presidential election is not a priority for the international community. So far, there has been no regional or international decision to allow the presidential vote to take place because the whole world is preoccupied with fighting terrorism,” a senior March 8 source told The Daily Star.
The source also cited local factors for the presidential stalemate. “The local players’ conflicting stances on who should be elected president are prolonging the crisis,” the source said.He was referring to Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, the March 14 coalition-backed candidate for the presidency, in the face of Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who is supported by Hezbollah and its March 8 allies.
A March 14 source who attended some of Girault’s meetings said the French envoy was not carrying any new ideas to break the presidential deadlock.
“The presidential election is not imminent because the local and regional conditions are still complicated,” the source told The Daily Star.
Locally, the source said Aoun’s “unyielding stance” that either he is elected or there would be no presidential election was an obstructionist factor.
“In addition to this major local obstacle, the regional circumstances are not conducive for the election of a president,” the source said, clearly referring to strained ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Rival Lebanese leaders have argued that a Saudi-Iranian rapprochement is essential to facilitate the election of a president.
Girault, head of the French Foreign Ministry’s Middle East and North Africa Department, met Aoun at the latter’s residence in Rabieh, before holding talks later with former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in the presence of a number of Future bloc lawmakers. He also met with Kataeb Party leader, former President Amine Gemayel.
Girault met MP Walid Jumblatt at a luncheon hosted by the French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli at the French Embassy in Beirut.
The French envoy also went to Beirut’s southern suburbs for a meeting with Ammar Musawi, Hezbollah’s international relations officer.
In addition to the situation in Lebanon and the region, Girault and Musawi discussed the presidential election issue and the efforts made by the French official in this respect either during his trips to some regional countries or in his talks with Lebanese officials and political leaders in Beirut, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Girault, Gemayel said he presented an initiative in an attempt to break the presidential deadlock calling for the nomination of the four top Maronite leaders for the presidency. The four leaders are: Gemayel, Aoun, Geagea and Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Frangieh.
“The initiative is based on unanimity of the [Lebanese] leaders on the need to elect a strong and capable president,” Gemayel said. “The initiative calls for the nomination of the [four] Maronite leaders for the presidency and for supporting one of them, without closing the door to other candidates in respect of the democratic game.”
Girault, who arrived here Monday night as part of a French initiative aimed at breaking the presidential deadlock, met Tuesday with Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Speaker Nabih Berri. This is Girault’s second visit to Lebanon in less than two months as part of a regional tour.
Meanwhile, Berri said the ongoing dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement had won internal and external support.
“There is an internal and external consensus on supporting this [dialogue] approach,” Berri was quoted as saying by MPs during his weekly meeting with lawmakers at his Ain al-Tineh residence.
Cabinet session sidesteps divisive controversial issues
BEIRUT: A Cabinet session concluded Wednesday without delving into divisive issues such as the legality of civil marriages or the controversy surrounding Beirut Port’s fourth basin.
Prime Minister Tammam Salam opened the session by strongly condemning the killing of 26-year-old Jordanian pilot Lt. Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who was burned alive by ISIS militants. A video of his murder was published by ISIS the day earlier.
The premier also denounced the killing of two Japanese hostages who were being held by the militant group, and condemned a Damascus bus blast which killed six Shiite pilgrims Sunday, according to Information Minister Ramzi Joreige who spoke after the meeting.
The highly anticipated discussion about the legality of civil marriage in Lebanon was postponed after it became clear early on that a vast majority of ministers opposed the recognition of such nuptials.
Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk told The Daily Star that he raised the question legalizing civil marriages in Wednesday’s session, but that it had been set aside.
Before the meeting, Minister of State Mohammad Fneish, from Hezbollah, said “there is no place for civil marriage in [Lebanese] laws.”
Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, from the Future Movement, said his party’s stance on the issue remained unchanged since it was opposed by then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri back in 1998.
Cabinet also did not discuss the fourth basin controversy – making way for Salam to personally launch contacts with relevant parties in an effort to reach a solution.
Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said that the filling of the fourth basin had been halted, pending a solution to be brokered by the prime minister.
Truck drivers Tuesday suspended an open-ended strike that disrupted work at Beirut Port after the premier promised to find a solution to the row over the filling the basin in agreement with all parties.
The decision by port authorities to resume work on the fourth basin had prompted the syndicate of truck drivers to launch an open-ended strike Monday in a bid to pressure the government into permanently halting the controversial project that critics say could jeopardize 1,500 jobs.
A discussion of the current mechanism of Cabinet’s work was also delayed after it was brought up at the start of the session, according to Telecom Minister Boutros Harb.
Harb said that the premier wanted to sound out the views of all ministers and obtain their approval of the voting procedure before formally raising the issue.
The Cabinet, which in addition to its executive powers is also exercising the president’s prerogatives in light of the vacuum in the post, has agreed on a mechanism that requires the approval of all 24 of its members on any key decision or decree. This mechanism has largely hindered the government’s work in view of differences among the ministers.
With controversial issues set aside, Cabinet proceeded to discuss regular agenda items. Ministers debated whether the expenses of state-contracted cleaning services should be deducted from independent municipal funds or the Finance Ministry.
Cabinet postponed the question of the cleaning expenses after agreeing to form a committee that would study the file and submit a proposal to Cabinet. Sources told The Daily Star that the issue was postponed because of disagreement over the dossier.
Cabinet approved Wednesday a request to refer the case of last month’s Jabal Mohsen bombing to the Judicial Council.
Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi told The Daily Star that that he was now preparing to refer the case of Sobhi and Nadimeh Fakhri – a couple murdered in the town of Btedaai last November – to the Judicial Council.
Counterterrorism plan needed: Ibrahim
Lebanese hostage families upbeat despite pilot killing
The families of some 25 Lebanese servicemen held hostage by jihadis on the Syrian border were optimistic over...
Hariri assassins stole identitiesto buy SIM cards, STL hears
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassins purchased cellphone SIM cards using the identities of unsuspecting Tripoli citizens who had visited phone shops in early 2005, according to the narrative advanced by the prosecution of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Wednesday.
The prosecution read witness statements from a number of Tripolitans whose names were registered to phone numbers which the prosecution claims were used by the assassins. While all the witnesses said they had purchased SIM cards in early 2005, they denied knowledge of the phone numbers registered in their names which were connected to the Hariri assassins.
Several witnesses noted spelling errors or factual flaws on the registration papers for the phone lines tied to the Hariri assassination. Khaled Yakan stated that he had purchased a line in early 2005 and had given the shopkeeper his ID to photocopy. He was shocked when he later discovered a line allegedly used by Hariri’s assassins was registered to him. When shown the line’s registration papers, Yakan found that his name was misspelled and he did not recognize the handwriting or the signature on the form. He said he did not sign any document in the shop.
This was not the first time that the tribunal has heard statements from witnesses whose identities had been falsely used to purchase SIM cards involved in the assassination plot. In January the STL heard from several other witnesses whose names had been tied to lines which the prosecution claims were used for surveillance and carrying out the attack on Hariri. All of the witnesses recounted similar stories to those heard in court Wednesday.
Later Tuesday, Judge David Re listened to arguments by the prosecution who stated their wish to call two expert witnesses to the stand simultaneously. The experts, both Argentine engineers, co-authored a report about the massive explosion which killed Hariri and 21 others on Feb, 14, 2005.
The defense vehemently objected to the simultaneous testimony, listing a host of logistical and juridical issues with the proposal.
Lawyers for the five Hezbollah members suspected of plotting the attack called the proposal for simultaneous testimony “an unusual departure from the procedures” for which there was no precedent in criminal proceedings at the international level.
The testimony is particularly contentious because the experts found that the explosion must have taken place above ground. The defense has repeatedly suggested that the blast might have been detonated below ground, casting doubt on the prosecution’s entire account of the crime.
Judge Re did not issue a decision regarding the concurrent testimony of the Argentine experts.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on February 05, 2015, on page 3.
Advertisement
Lebanese hostage families upbeat despite pilot’s killing
BEIRUT: The families of some 25 Lebanese servicemen held hostage by jihadis on the Syrian border were optimistic Wednesday over negotiations to free their loved ones, hours after ISIS militants executed a captured Jordanian fighter pilot.
The upbeat mood came after a meeting Wednesday morning between a delegation representing the hostage families and General Security head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
Spokesman for the hostage families, Hussein Youssef, said Ibrahim explained to the visiting delegation what was happening in terms of negotiations with the captors.
“Our main demand was to know what is going on. And thank God, today Gen. Ibrahim put us in the picture of the negotiations,” Youssef told The Daily Star.
“God willing, things are moving on the right track,” he added.
The families had threatened to block roads once again unless they received updates from authorities on the progress of negotiations.
While Youssef condemned the killing “in the most horrible way possible” of 26-year-old Jordanian pilot Lt. Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who was burned alive by ISIS militants, he said the pilot’s case does not resemble that of the Lebanese hostages.
“No doubt this ugly killing has raised fears among us [hostage families], but we believe this case is a separate one,” he said. “We cannot tie the two cases together, God forbid.”
He said he was hopeful that progress was being made to secure the release of the Lebanese soldiers and policemen held captive on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal since early August.
Militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front briefly took over Arsal last August and kidnapped more than 30 Army soldiers and policemen. They are still holding at least 25.
It Gets Brighter offers hope for the mentally ill
BEIRUT: Mental illness is not like a broken bone; it can’t be photographed or observed on the body. Conditions like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder and others may not be immediately clear, but their effects chip away at the lives of those afflicted, many of whom suffer in isolation.In a self-generated video for the newly launched It Gets Brighter campaign, Kareem Zreik asks viewers to consider the similarities between gravity and mental illness.
Like gravity, he said, “mental illness weighs you down. It, too, is invisible,” said the 27-year-old Lebanese student, who identifies himself as having bipolar II disorder.
His video is one of a growing number of submissions on the campaign’s website, officially released on Jan. 29, by a group of students at Oxford University. On the site’s homepage, Zreik’s video and others form a patchwork of voices seeking to break down the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Georges Karam, psychiatrist and senior director at Lebanon’s Institute for Development, Research, Advocacy and Applied Care, has carried out extensive research on mental illness in Lebanon. He was one of several mental health practitioners in the country to take notice and join the cause of It Gets Brighter.
“Twenty-five percent of Lebanese will have a mental disorder at some point in their lifetime,” he said, citing data from his previous studies. The lack of awareness of mental health symptoms and the stigmatization of those with mental disorders are among the foremost barriers to getting proper treatment. He said that campaigns like It Gets Brighter shed light on misunderstood mental conditions and break through silence by starting necessary discussions on causes and symptoms.
It Gets Brighter is international in scope, seeking to gather individual testimonials across the world into a virtual space where encouragement is shared. In his 1963 book analyzing the stigmatized, sociologist Erving Goffman found that ostracized groups often find comfort and increased ability to cope when organized and in communication with one another.
Campaign organizers say that there is courage in the vulnerability of sharing a personal story, and there is power in collective storytelling to address misconceptions and stereotypes of mental illness.
“This is about creating a community of support, and building recognition that the people around us might be suffering from a mental health issue, and we might not even know it,” said Josh Chauvin, Oxford doctoral student in Experimental Psychology and campaign founder.
He has previously worked on anti-stigma campaigns in Canada, and wanted to create a campaign based on video narratives, that would gather and share the insight of therapists, family members and those suffering from a mental disorder.
Video submissions can be made anonymously for those keen to protect their privacy, Chauvin said. The site also features a list of NGOs where people can turn for help.
In a 2006 national epidemiological survey of mental disorders in Lebanon tracking prevalence and treatment, Karam, the IDRAAC founder, concluded that the rates of mental disorders in Lebanon don’t differ markedly from those in Western Europe. What makes Lebanon unique is that many Lebanese with mental health problems don’t find help. Of the 308 respondents to Karam’s 2006 study, only 10 percent had been treated.
According to Karam, the low treatment rates are caused by a number of factors, including lack of awareness, and denial that mental health conditions need professional treatment. “Some think it’s just a phase and it will pass,” he said, adding that many people wait up to 20 years before seeking help for anxiety disorders.
Lebanon’s unstable security context doesn’t help. The study also found a significant association between exposure to war-related trauma and mental health conditions related to mood, anxiety and impulse control. The compound effects of political insecurity and high poverty rates also exacerbate disorders like depression and anxiety. Suicide attempts are widespread, according to data from the WHO and the Lebanese Health Ministry, but remain underreported.
While barriers to treatment may be self-imposed, Lebanon’s weak mental health care infrastructure has a reputation for alienating those who do reach out. This past October, the Health Ministry took steps to improve the situation, launching a mental health program that would boost training of the country’s primary health care staff.
Community pressure often causes those suffering to stay silent, for fear of discrimination.
Such stigma is tightly bound with somatization of symptoms, or the manifestation of psychological illness as physical symptoms.
“People need to realize that these are medical disorders,” Karam said, explaining that a mental health condition should be viewed in the same manner as a physical health condition, rather than a mark of shame that defines a person. He also cited financial barriers to treatment as a reason as to why many are deprived of help, as private health insurance plans often don’t cover psychiatric services.
Zeina Daccache, executive director of Catharsis, the Lebanese Center for Drama Therapy, said the It Gets Brighter campaign is much needed in Lebanon. She has worked with psychiatric patients to foster creative expression of their experiences.
Describing psychiatric patients involved in her 2013 play, “From the Bottom of my Brain,” she said, “These individuals are rejected ... many of them have been judged, whether by their village, friends, or family who have labeled them as crazy or a shame to the family.”
This is exactly the problem that the leaders of It Gets Brighter seek to address. Ghia Osseiran, the campaign’s wellbeing and outreach coordinator for Lebanon, said that the conversations generated help bridge the divide and challenge the notion of “us” and “them.”
“We are a society that has long suffered from all sorts of stereotypes and stigma rooted in racism, sexism, homophobia and mental illness,” she added. “It Gets Brighter is an invitation to learn and listen instead of passing judgment.”
Secretary Of Defense Nominee Appears Headed For Easy Confirmation
Theoretical physicist and former high-ranking Pentagon insider Ashton Carter is fully expected to be the next Secretary of Defense. His confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee is less about him and more about President Obama's defense record, which Republicans consider feckless.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 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.
Jeb Bush Continues To Test Campaign Waters With Detroit Speech
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush isn't an official candidate for president yet. But his speech to the Detroit Economic Club is being closely watched.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 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.
How The Voting Debates Will Be Different In 2015
Citizens cast their ballots at the South Shore Park building in Milwaukee on Election Day 2014. Darren Hauck/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Darren Hauck/Getty Images
Citizens cast their ballots at the South Shore Park building in Milwaukee on Election Day 2014.
Darren Hauck/Getty Images
State legislatures are back in session, under more Republican control now than at any other time in U.S. history. One issue they'll be debating a lot is voting — who gets to do it and how.
It's a hot topic, but this year's debate could be less contentious than it has been in the past. One reason is that lawmakers will be considering a lot of proposals to make voting easier and more efficient.
"In many states the most divisive battles have already been fought," says David Becker, director of election initiatives at the Pew Charitable Trusts. "That does give these states an opportunity to address more of these good governance issues. Things like, how do we make the voter registration process more effective, bring it into the 21st century? Should we adopt early voting, for instance? Should we expand the reach of mail voting?"
There are many such proposals among the 1,200 voting bills already introduced in state legislatures this year.
Several measures would expand online voter registration, something half the states already allow. Voters like the option and it saves money — something both parties can support.
Many lawmakers also want to clean up voter registration lists, which are often filled with outdated and invalid entries.
Wendy Underhill, who follows voting laws at the National Conference of State Legislatures, says there's a lot of interest in making sure that voter registration rolls are accurate. Several bills would require states to compare their voting lists with other states and national databases to weed out duplicate names.
There are also proposals in Arizona, Georgia, Hawaii, New York and Oregon to do something completely new — automatically register eligible citizens to vote, unless they opt out.
Underhill says there are also many measures that would expand early and absentee voting.
"Right now, there are 37 states that offer such an opportunity for their voters," she says. "But that leaves another 13 states that don't have one of those options. And it looks like there is legislation in nine of those."
Becker says the bottom line is that voters today want convenience and lawmakers have gotten the message. Politicians have also realized that they might benefit.
"In the 2014 election cycle, both parties, particularly the Republican Party, used early voting quite effectively to their advantage to turn their voters out prior to election day," says Becker. "So this is something that both parties like. A voter they turn out early is a voter they don't have to worry about turning out on Election Day."
Of course, it's difficult to predict which of the many bills introduced will pass.
And it doesn't mean there won't be any big fights over voting in state legislative chambers. Republican lawmakers in Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico are trying to push through bills requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls, something Democrats strongly oppose. And, Underhill says, there are similar efforts in West Virginia and Nevada that will be especially interesting to watch.
"Because, in both cases, the legislature was in the hands of Democrats until the 2014 elections and now, in both cases, the legislature is in the hands of Republicans," she says. "So it's possible that voter ID will have more of a chance there than in previous years."
She adds that there might be fewer contentious voter ID proposals so far this year because voter ID laws already enacted in other states are being challenged in the courts. Proponents might wait to see how that plays out first, before pushing ahead with their own proposals.
Lebanese fashion school scouts talent in refugee camps, orphanages
BEIRUT: It's in the refugee camps and orphanages of Lebanon that Creative Space Beirut, a fashion school, looks for emerging talent for its three-year program taught by top Lebanese and international designers.
Sarah Hermez, 28, founder and director of Creative Space, chooses ten underprivileged students from different backgrounds to join her school in the art district of east Beirut.
They hope to join the success story of Lebanon as the fashion center of the Middle East and home to designers making dresses worn by Hollywood stars on the red carpet.
U.S. singer Jennifer Lopez wore a silver dress by Zuhair Murad at the Golden Globes last month, attention-grabbing with a thigh-high slit. British actor Kate Beckinsale wore an eye-catching grey Elie Saab dress to the same event.
At Creative Space, students sketch ideas in books on large white tables, surrounded by tailor's dummies and spools of different coloured thread.
Hermez co-founded the school with her New York-based former professor Caroline Simonelli and says it is for "people who are very talented, very passionate about design, but would never have had an opportunity to pursue design."
When she opened the school in 2011, she traveled around Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country, searching for talent in refugee camps, orphanages, poor neighborhoods and women's centers. Students then applied for a place. New students come in when slots open up.
Some students focus on evening wear but many make the school's ready-to-wear line, including trousers and kimonos. They sell for between $100 and $200 a piece, with high-end fabrics donated by designers that include Donna Karan.
All profits go back into the school, which also receives donations and partners with shops to raise funds.
Creative Space has only two graduates so far. One, a Palestinian refugee from Ain al-Hilweh camp in southern Lebanon, is now doing work for a design house in Lebanon and teaching her skills to others for a charity.
Ahmad Amer, a 21-year-old from south Lebanon, started the program two months ago. He painted from an early age and wanted to study fashion but could not afford the fees.
"It would have stayed as a hobby and I would have worked on it on a personal level only," he said, showing his sketch book filled with drawings of women in veils.
"These three years will make a big difference in my life, I have a place to work in and I have material to use," he said.
Hermez, who graduated from the Parsons School of Fashion in New York, said that starting out with as little as her students used to be the norm in the fashion industry, and that design became a vocation for the elite only in the last decade.
"If you look back into any famous designer, most of them have come from backgrounds where they had to work. They had to work and build themselves up."
Hezbollah condemns killing of Jordanian pilot
Syria to Jordan: Help us fight ISIS
Syria urges Jordan to work with it to fight ISIS and Al-Qaeda's Syria wing, condemning what it described as the...
The Faces of Health Care: Bill S.
"Dear Mr. President, you saved my life and I can never thank you enough."
For 12 years, Bill, a 55-year-old man from New Jersey, wasn't able to afford health insurance as a self-employed person. After the passage of the Affordable Care Act, however, his state decided to expand Medicaid, and Bill became eligible for health insurance under the expansion.
It happened just in time. Last year, Bill experienced swelling and tingling in his legs and feet, and was having difficulty breathing. Under his new coverage, he was able to make an appointment with a doctor to get to the bottom of what was happening.
Email: "It Changed My Life, it Could Change Yours:"
Student Elana Simon sent the following message to the White House email list today, sharing how Precision Medicine -- a cutting-edge new way of treating disease -- changed her life, and how it could change the lives of millions more Americans.
Didn't get the email? Sign up to receive messages like this one here.
Fibrolamellar hepatocellular carcinoma.
It's not a term that any kid typically knows, or should ever have to learn first-hand. But when I turned 12 years old, that was my diagnosis -- and it became a defining part of my life.
It's a specific kind of liver cancer that affects children. It's rare -- you don't see it in your average patient. So I knew, even then, that it would take something more than a generic treatment to cure this unique disease.
So I got to work. And thanks to incredible technological advances and the help of a community of scientists and fibrolamellar patients like me, I was able to identify the change in the DNA that leads to this kind of cancer. Rather than focusing broadly on all liver cancer, I examined a precise patient group -- which allowed for such a precise discovery.
Today, I'm 19 years old, in college, and in remission.
There's a name for the approach we used. It's called "Precision Medicine" -- an approach that uses data-driven treatments that are unique to your own body. It's a proven way to treat more difficult diseases. And it's a field of medicine the President's 2016 budget is investing in.
UNIFIL tripartite meeting focuses on Shebaa attack
Syria to Jordan: Help us fight ISIS
Syria urges Jordan to work with it to fight ISIS and Al-Qaeda's Syria wing, condemning what it described as the...
Lebanon Army rounds up four terror suspects in east Lebanon
Gunmen stick up Beirut pub, restaurant
Two masked gunmen went on a robbing spree before dawn Friday, raiding a pub in Beirut and a restaurant in Metn within...
Ibrahim calls for counter-terrorism defense plan
Citizens have role in fighting terrorism: Lebanon General Security chief
Counter-terrorism efforts should not be restricted to security forces, General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said...
Berri: Dialogue enjoys widespread support
Berri: Dialogue enjoys widespread support
The ongoing dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement enjoys both domestically and internationally backing,...
NSA's Bulk Collection Of Phone Data Continues, Intelligence Review Says
A year ago, President Obama proposed doing away with the National Security Agency's practice of collecting Americans' phone records in secret. Has that change been accomplished?
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 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.
Senate Panel Holds Hearing For Ash Carter, Defense Nominee
Ash Carter is poised to become the fourth secretary of Defense under President Obama. Carter has been working off and on in the Pentagon for nearly 30 years.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 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.
Hooligans storm Nabatieh court, steal documents
Cabinet to shy away from divisive issues
Wednesday's cabinet session will likely avoid divisive issues such as the legality of civil marriages and the...
Lebanese doctors to file complaint against Abu Faour
Lebanese doctors to file complaint against Abu Faour
The Lebanese Order of Physicians announces that is set to file a complaint against Abu Faour after he called for...
Body of missing employee retrieved from burned factory
Cabinet to shy away from divisive issues
Wednesday's cabinet session will likely avoid divisive issues such as the legality of civil marriages and the...
Cabinet to shy away from divisive issues
BEIRUT: A cabinet session that kicked-off Wednesday will likely avoid divisive issues such as the legality of civil marriages and the controversy surrounding the Beirut Port’s fourth basin, ministerial sources said.
Speaking before a session chaired by Prime Minister Tammam at The Grand Serail, ministerial sources revealed that a vast majority in Cabinet oppose legalizing civil marriages performed in Lebanon. “Even if the bill was proposed in Cabinet it would not pass,” sources told The Daily Star.
Hezbollah’s Minister of State Mohammad Fneish categorically said that “there is no place for civil marriage in [Lebanese] laws.”
The Future Movement’s Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said his party’s stance on the issue remains unchanged since it was opposed by then-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri back in 1998.
An optional civil marriage bill drafted at the request of former President Elias Hrawi was shelved by Hariri because of staunch opposition from religious authorities, especially the Muslim clergy.
As the meeting went on, NGOs and civil rights activists demonstrated outside the Grand Serail to press for the recognition of a number of civil marriage performed in Lebanon under the mandate of former Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.
Ministerial sources told The Daily Star that Salam will most likely take the lead on the controversial issue of Beirut Port’s fourth basin without delving deep in to the issue during cabinet session. According to the source, Salam will launch contacts with the relevant parties in an effort to reach a solution.
Truck drivers Tuesday suspended an open-ended strike that disrupted work at Beirut port after Salam promised to find a solution to the row over the filling of the fourth basin in agreement with all parties.
The decision by port authorities to resume work on the fourth basin had prompted a syndicate of truck drivers to launch an open-ended strike Monday in a bid to pressure the government into permanently halting the controversial project that critics say could jeopardize 1,500 jobs.
Obama Reluctant To Raise Federal Gas Tax
Some lawmakers are pushing for a hike in the federal gas tax to help pay for roads and bridges. The White House wants to spend on infrastructure too but not through an increase in the gas tax.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 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.
Red States Move To Expand Medicaid Under Obamacare
Republican governors in Indiana, Tennessee, Utah and other states are pushing Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act — something many at first resisted.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 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.
House Votes Again To Repeal Affordable Care Act
Tuesday's vote gave House Republican freshmen their first chance at repealing the law, and this is the first full repeal vote since millions of Americans signed up for coverage under the program.
Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
Copyright © 2015 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.
Lebanese hostage families upbeat despite pilot killing
BEIRUT: The families of some 25 Lebanese servicemen held hostage by jihadis on the Syria border were optimistic Wednesday over negotiations to free their loved ones, hours after ISIS militants executed a captured Jordanian fighter pilot.
The upbeat mood came after a meeting Wednesday morning between a delegation representing the hostage families and General Security head Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
Spokesman for the hostage families, Hussein Youssef, said Ibrahim explained to the visiting delegation what was happening in terms of negotiations with the captors.
“Our main demand was to know what is going on. And Thank God, today Gen. Ibrahim put us in the picture of the negotiations,” Youssef told The Daily Star.
“God willing, things are moving on the right track,” he added.
The families had threatened to block roads once again unless they received updates from authorities on the progress of negotiations.
While Youssef condemned the killing “in the most horrible way possible” of 26-year-old Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath Al-Kaseasbeh, who was set ablaze alive by ISIS militants, he said the pilot’s case does not resemble that of the Lebanese hostages.
“No doubt this ugly killing has raised fears among us [hostage families], but we believe this case is a separate one,” he said. “We cannot tie the two cases together, God forbids.”
Youssef said he was hopeful that progress is being made to secure the release of the at least 25 Lebanese soldiers and policemen held captive on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal since early August.
Militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front briefly took over Arsal last August and kidnapped over 30 Army soldiers and policemen. They are still holding at least 25.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)