Bolivia seizes 27 tons of coca bound for Lebanon
Bolivian authorities say they've seized 27 metric tons of shredded coca leaves that were to have been shipped to...
Monday, 2 March 2015
Bolivia seizes 27 tons of coca bound for Lebanon
Bolivia seizes 27 tons of coca bound for Lebanon
Bolivian authorities say they've seized 27 metric tons of shredded coca leaves that were to have been shipped to...
Soldier, fugitive killed in Army raid in n.Lebanon
Soldier, fugitive killed in Army raid in n.Lebanon
A Lebanese Army soldier and an outlaw were killed in an exchange of fire during a raid in the northern city of Tripoli...
Hezbollah, Future talks see ‘serious progress’
BEIRUT: The Future Movement and Hezbollah Monday made “serious progress” in their latest round of talks on key political and security issues as the two sides discussed the 9-month-old presidential election deadlock and ways of confronting terrorism threatening the country.
“Discussions continued and serious progress was made in security and political issues,” said a terse statement issued after a nearly four-hour meeting held at Speaker Nabih Berri’s residence in Ain al-Tineh. It did not elaborate.
Officials from the two sides were not available to comment on the results of the talks.
Monday’s was the seventh round of talks held by senior officials from the Future Movement and Hezbollah since December, focusing mainly on defusing Sunni-Shiite tensions exacerbated by the 4-year-old war in Syria.
At their last dialogue session on Feb. 18, the Future Movement and Hezbollah began discussing a joint national strategy to fight terrorism, highlighting the two parties’ concerns over security threats posed by Islamist militants entrenched in rugged areas near the Syrian border.
A member of the Future-Hezbollah dialogue team told The Daily Star Sunday that the presidential election would be a main topic on the agenda of Monday’s dialogue session.
Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV said “takfiri terrorism” was the second item on the dialogue agenda.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has welcomed former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s call for a national strategy to fight terrorism as Lebanon faced mounting threats from ISIS and the Nusra Front militants who have frequently clashed with the Lebanese Army in areas near the border with Syria.
Defusing Sunni-Shiite tensions is the main item on the dialogue agenda, which also includes finding a mechanism to allow the election of a president, boosting efforts to combat terrorism, promoting a new electoral law and energizing stagnant state institutions.
The dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement, whose strained ties have heightened political and sectarian tensions in the country, has won support from rival March 8 and March 14 politicians, as well as from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, the United States and the European Union.
As in previous sessions, the Future Movement was represented during Monday’s meeting by Nader Hariri, chief of Saad Hariri’s staff, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk and MP Samir Jisr.
Hezbollah was represented by Hussein Khalil, a political aide to Nasrallah, Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan and MP Hassan Fadlallah. Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil, a political aide to Berri, also attended.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tammam Salam has decided to call for a Cabinet session Thursday or early next week despite the lingering rift over the decision-making mechanism, ministerial sources close to the premier said.
The sources said Salam would not accept the continued obstruction of the government’s work, especially since his Cabinet was not responsible for Parliament’s repeated failures to elect a new president.
On the contrary, Salam has stressed on every occasion that the country cannot be on the right track without a president, the sources said.
As part of his ongoing consultations with the Cabinet parties to resolve the crisis over the decision-making formula, Salam is scheduled to meet with Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel Wednesday, sources at the Grand Serail told The Daily Star.
The three Kataeb ministers along with three ministers loyal to former President Michel Sleiman and Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb oppose Salam’s bid to change the current mechanism.
Salam, according to the sources, is seeking to replace the current mechanism with a formula based on consensus or voting over the Cabinet decisions.
Salam’s demand, which falls short of unanimity and avoids obstruction, means that when normal matters pertaining to appointments or citizens’ interests are discussed, consensus would be sought to pass them, the sources said.
But if there was disagreement among ministers, these issues would not be postponed as had happened in the past and instead they would be put up for a vote, the sources said. They added that ministers who oppose decisions passed by a simple majority vote can register their reservations or take the decision they think conforms with their interests and political objectives.
According to the sources, public appointments, especially in the military and security institutions, could be approved if there was a maximum consensus, or an agreement by the majority of the Cabinet members.
Salam last month suspended the Cabinet sessions following a heated debate between a number of ministers over a formula to govern the government’s decisions during the presidential vacuum.
Salam, backed by most ministers, is demanding a change in the current mechanism, which requires unanimous support from all 24 ministers on the Cabinet decisions. He complained that the mechanism has hampered the government’s productivity due to disagreement among ministers on decisions taken by the Cabinet.
For his part, Gemayel spoke of what he called deliberate attempts to prevent the election of a new president. “The obstruction of the [political] system amounts to a coup against the system. This is what we are witnessing today,” Gemayel, a former president, said in a statement. “Obstruction does not apply to democratic law.”
He accused lawmakers from MP Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement and their allies in Hezbollah’s bloc of thwarting a quorum for a Parliament session to elect a president.
Sen. Mikulski, 'Ground-Breaker' For Women Legislators, Won't Seek Reelection
Mikulski, left, and her then-opponent Linda Chavez hold hands before the Maryland Senate candidates debate in 1986. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption
itoggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Mikulski, left, and her then-opponent Linda Chavez hold hands before the Maryland Senate candidates debate in 1986.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
A surprise political announcement Monday — the longest-serving woman in Congress, Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, said she will not seek reelection next year. Mikulski was first elected to the House in 1976, and 10 years later, was elected to the Senate.
Mikulski announced her decision in her hometown of Baltimore, not far from where she first became active in politics, organizing against a planned freeway that would have destroyed her neighborhood. The 78-year-old Mikulski said it came down to how she wanted to spend the next two years. "Do I spend my time raising money, or do I spend my time raising hell? Do I focus on my election, or do I focus on the next generation?"
Mikulski, though short in stature, is known as a tough and tenacious advocate. The Baltimore Sun once said she had a "bark like a vicious terrier." Trained as a social worker, she's been a reliable liberal vote on social and fiscal issues. Mikulski rose up the ladder on the Senate Appropriations Committee to become its first female chair, looking out for home state concerns ranging from the Goddard Space Flight Center to the National Institutes of Health.
Asked Monday what she was most proud of, Mikulski cited the ground-breaking nature of her career. "When I came to the Senate I was the only Democratic woman, I was the first elected in her own right. But I said though I was the first, I didn't want to be the only."
And she isn't. There are now 20 women in the Senate, whom Mikulski meets weekly for lunch.
Sen. Mikulski announces her 2004 re-election campaign in Baltimore. Steve Ruark/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Steve Ruark/AP
Sen. Mikulski announces her 2004 re-election campaign in Baltimore.
Steve Ruark/AP
Political Science Professor Roy Meyers of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County says her legacy crossed party lines. "Many of the women that came into the Senate and the House, regardless of whether they were Republicans or Democrats, really viewed her as a role model." Meyers says Mikulski was "a ground-breaker in terms of making sure the voices of women legislators were taken seriously."
In a statement, President Obama said Mikulski's leadership "serves as an inspiration to millions of women and girls across the globe to stand up and lead."
Mikulski says she has no health problems, nor is she frustrated in the Senate, though she is now in the minority. Her decision to retire is sure to set off a scramble among Democrats and some Republicans to replace her. She joked: "Maryland has a lot of talent and they'll be telling you about it within the next 10 minutes."
Meyers says if he "counted all the candidates in the Democratic Party who are thinking of going for this race I wouldn't have enough fingers on my two hands."
Among the names being mentioned, are Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; several Democratic members of the state's congressional delegation including Chris Van Hollen, and Donna Edwards; Labor Secretary Tom Perez, and former Gov. Martin O'Malley, who is currently considering a long-shot presidential bid (and whose mother works in Mikulski's Senate office).
And Republicans aren't conceding the race despite the Democrats heavy advantage in registration. Noting that Maryland elected a GOP governor last fall, the National Republican Senatorial Committee says it considers Mikulski's seat "a top pick-up opportunity." Among the Republican names being floated are former Gov. Bob Ehrlich and Congressman Andy Harris.
Celebrating Black History Month Across the Cabinet
Throughout February, a number of Departments and Cabinet Secretaries held special events and participated in activities to commemorate Black History Month. Take a look at a few of the highlights below.
Secretary Perez sat down with Rep. John Lewis to talk about the Civil Rights Movement.
Last Friday, Labor Secretary Tom Perez and Rep. John Lewis sat down for an in-depth conversation and Q&A about the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the Department of Labor’s role in the movement.
Watch some of the highlights of the conversation below -- or listen to the full conversation here.
Brother of Alawite leader assassinated
AKKAR, Lebanon: The brother of a fugitive Alawite leader died of his wounds Monday after suspected staunch opponents of the Syrian regime opened fire at his vehicle in north Lebanon. Bader Eid, brother of Arab Democratic Party leader Ali Eid, was ambushed by gunmen on the highway linking the Akkar towns of Haysa and Kouweikhat.
Eid was shot in the stomach while in his car, sustaining critical wounds. He lost control over his car and hit a pole. He was rushed to the Rahhal Hospital.
The attack was claimed by a group calling itself the “Kouweikhat group.”
In a statement released after the attack, the group called on the Eid family to leave the Akkar area by Monday at 10 p.m. Eid, who is wanted for allegedly aiding one of the main suspects into the bombing of two mosques in Tripoli in 2013, is believed to be currently residing in an Akkar area known as Khat al-Petrol right on the border between Syria and Lebanon.
The statement claimed the demand was made because members of the Eid family and residents of the predominantly Alawite Akkar village of Haysa “put up pictures of Syrian President Bashar Assad ... and assaulted the land.”
The group warned that if the Eids did not leave, then they would be met with “fire and metal.”
Some staunch opponents of the Syrian regime are suspicious of Akkar’s Alawites and believe that they are loyal to Assad.
The situation in Akkar became even more strained when the Military Tribunal summoned Alawite leader Ali Eid for questioning over his alleged involvement in helping Ahmad Merhi, a suspect in the twin Tripoli bombings, to flee the country.
The mayor of Kouweikhat, Omar Hayek, held an emergency meeting for local authorities at his residence Monday.
The mayor distanced himself and residents of the town from the statement issued by the Kouweikhat group, asserting that the people of the town were keen on preserving coexistence and civil peace.
Hayek also called on security forces to determine the identities of the individuals behind the statement, deeming it an attempt to stir up sectarian strife in the area.
Last week, Ali Eid’s son and the ADP’s politburo chief Rifaat Eid was found guilty by a military court of inciting sectarian tensions, fueling tensions between the Tripoli neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen, which is predominantly Alawite and Sunni Bab al-Tabbaneh and the possession and distribution of weapons. Eid, who is also at large, was sentenced to life in absentia.
FSA soldiers live in fear in Arsal
BEIRUT: When Omar leaves his tent in Arsal every morning he feels as though danger stalks him from all directions. A Free Syrian Army troop commander chased from Syria by ISIS, Omar fears the Islamist militants in the hills surrounding Arsal will attack his refugee camp.
Still, the Lebanese authorities accuse him and other FSA members of working with ISIS. “We’re living between two fires: the Islamic State on one side and the Lebanese government on the other side, and we are afraid of both,” he told The Daily Star. “They both want us dead.”Lacking both the tactical resources to fight ISIS in Syria and the trust of the Lebanese authorities, FSA members are stuck in a desperate and uncertain limbo in Arsal.
Having suffered the double injustice of both fleeing ISIS and standing accused of colluding with its members, morale is desperately low among FSA ranks in Arsal.
“We have reached a situation that is very bad. It couldn’t get worse,” said Mohammad, also an FSA commander residing on the outskirts of Arsal. “The Syrian revolution has been orphaned.”
Life for FSA fighters turned refugees in Arsal is austere. Funding for the revolution, once abundant if not flush, has dried up, and some high-ranking FSA members have recently moved into refugee camps.
Many line up for United Nations-funded food distributions in the town alongside other refugees, and perform manual labor to earn enough money for heating oil.
Abu Fidaa, who served for 31 years in the Syrian army before joining the revolution, said that he is living on handouts. “My daily expenses come from what charities and aid organizations offer,” he said. “I never expected to end up like this in Arsal.”
Not all FSA members have accepted the privation.
“We have had defectors,” said Mohammad, also an FSA commander in Arsal. “A lot of people are convinced that the Islamic State is rich and can provide them with money and goods ... We have tried a lot to explain to these soldiers that it’s not right to go with the group [ISIS] but their need to live pushed them to do this.”
Mohammad said that he personally knew at least 60 FSA members who had defected to ISIS.
“If you prevent us from making ends meet, we will have to do anything possible to preserve our lives,” said Abu Ahmad, another high-ranking FSA member in Arsal.
While the Lebanese security forces have been engaged in a fierce but intermittent battle with ISIS-affiliated militants near Arsal since last summer, FSA members said the Army’s heavy-handed security plan for the town could incentivize some to join deep-pocketed Islamist groups.
Largely cut off from the rest of Lebanon, FSA members said they have few employment options, little freedom of movement and constantly fear arrest at the hands of Lebanese authorities who group them alongside Islamist militants.
“If I try to leave Arsal [and go seek work inside Lebanon], I will be arrested or accused of being an extremist,” Abu Ahmad said. “A lot of people will be forced to defect in order to survive.”
Many FSA members in Lebanon entered illegally and do not have the proper paperwork. A representative from the FSA based in Arsal was recently sent to speak with General Security about the issue. “He never came back,” Omar said.
Many, however, said that they would remain loyal to the FSA despite the economic hardship and crippling military losses. “After what they [ISIS] did in Mosul and after they were trying to build an Islamic State in my country, I felt that this was really an attack on my dignity,” Mohammad said.
“I won’t allow myself to go with them ... I am still convinced that we want a free Syria, a democratic country where the people can decide. I know the Islamic State will not provide me with that,” he said.
But the situation of the FSA has drastically changed since the beginning of the Syrian revolution, as Arsal-based members know well. “We used to offer the revolution everything we had, but today we have become a burden on the revolution because we don’t have anything to offer anymore except our lives, and that is our last option.”
Berri hails Army’s achievements as ‘ray of light’ in dark days
BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri hailed Tuesday as an “important accomplishment” the Lebanese Army’s regaining of two strategic hilltops in northeast Lebanon. “Offensives make up the best defense strategies,” Berri argued.
“This Army is among the best [armies] of the region,” Berri told his visitors, adding that the Army sometimes lacked “the personnel, the weapons, the equipment and sometimes the political will.”
The speaker said that in light of the darkness witnessed on the Lebanese scene, the “Army is perhaps the only ray of light.”
Berri said he wished the political class had listened to his advice two years ago to recruit 5,000 additional soldiers. “They would have been fully operative and ready to fight by now,” he said.
Berri said investing in the security sector was crucial to establishing security and political stability.
Last week, an Army operation drove jihadi militants off two strategic hilltop positions along the northeastern frontier with Syria, in a pre-emptive operation aimed at protecting residents of border villages from extremist groups.
Since then, the Army has been repelling attempts by Syria-based militants to infiltrate Lebanese territories in search of safe havens on a near daily basis.
Commenting on ISIS’ smashing of antiquities at a museum in Mosul, Berri said that “anyone who finds it easy to kill human beings will find it easy to destroy statues.”
Berri maintained that the only solution to put an end to the atrocities the region was witnessing was to revert back to the principles of Arab nationalism. “Arab nationalism is the solution,” Berri said. “Only Arab nationalism can put an end to labels such as Sunni, Shiite, Christian, Druze and others.”
Berri also saluted the Kurdish forces’ combat against ISIS, saying it was the Kurds clinging to their nationalism and identity that led to their triumph in Kobani (Ain al-Arab). He added that by adhering to their national identity, the Kurds transcended religious differences.
“Frankly speaking if I am left to choose between Arab nationalism in its current state and Kurd nationalism, I would definitely opt for the later,” Berri said.
Investigators rule school head’s death a murder
'Concrete results' in Russia-Lebanon arms talks
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Hezbollah firm on Aoun, wants understanding
Gulf between blocs delays electoral law
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Jumblatt mourns French journalist Rouleau
No end to Lebanese University conundrum in sight
Education Minister Elias Bou Saab’s decision to pin the blame on premier Tammam Salam and his government for not...
Maryland Sen. Mikulski Says She Won't Seek Reelection In 2016
The Maryland Democrat is the longest-serving woman in Congress and was the first woman to chair a full appropriations committee.
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Politics
Maryland Sen. Mikulski Says She Won't Seek Reelection In 2016
Politics
Clinton's Portrait Has Hint Of Lewinsky's Blue Dress, Artist Says
Politics
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Congress' Longest-Serving Woman, To Retire
Politics
Netanyahu In Washington For Controversial Speech To Congress
More
Brother of Alawite leader shot by Assad opponents
Brother of Alawite leader shot by Assad opponents
The brother of a fugitive Alewite leader was severely wounded Monday after staunch opponents of the Syrian regime...
Clinton's Portrait Has Hint Of Lewinsky's Blue Dress, Artist Says
Artist Nelson Shanks' 2005 portrait of former President Clinton, which hangs at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery. National Portrait Gallery, Nelson Shanks/AP hide caption
itoggle caption National Portrait Gallery, Nelson Shanks/AP
Artist Nelson Shanks' 2005 portrait of former President Clinton, which hangs at the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery.
National Portrait Gallery, Nelson Shanks/AP
Here's a story about that blue dress. No – not that blue dress.
Artist Nelson Shanks, who has painted royalty, popes and world leaders, tells the Philadelphia Daily News that his portrait of President Clinton for the National Portrait Gallery has a not-so-obvious reference to the infamous blue dress worn by Monica Lewinsky, the White House intern with whom Clinton had an affair.
Here's the excerpt:
Q: Who did you find was the hardest to capture?
Clinton was hard. I'll tell you why. The reality is he's probably the most famous liar of all time. He and his administration did some very good things, of course, but I could never get this Monica thing completely out of my mind and it is subtly incorporated in the painting.
If you look at the left-hand side of it there's a mantle in the Oval Office and I put a shadow coming into the painting and it does two things. It actually literally represents a shadow from a blue dress that I had on a mannequin, that I had there while I was painting it, but not when he was there. It is also a bit of a metaphor in that it represents a shadow on the office he held, or on him.
And so the Clintons hate the portrait. They want it removed from the National Portrait Gallery. They're putting a lot of pressure on them. [Reached by phone Thursday, a spokeswoman from the National Portrait Gallery denied that.]
The portrait, which was unveiled in 2006, is also notable for not depicting Clinton's wedding ring.
Hezbollah-Future start seventh dialogue session
Hezbollah seeks secular, democratic state: MP
Hezbollah is seeking to establish a nonsectarian, democratic Lebanese state, party MP Ali Fayyad said Monday.
Bassil to expats: national identity before alliances
BEIRUT: The Lebanese should focus solely on their national identity and distance themselves from the struggles of Syrians and Palestinians, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said from Venezuela Sunday.
“Abroad, Lebanese, Palestinians and other Arabs must unite because we have the same cause,” the foreign minister told Lebanese expats in the city of Maturin. “But in Lebanon, we must only be Lebanese.”
The Lebanese people, whom Bassil described as “Phoenicians and Levantines,” should view Arab alliances as subordinate to national identity, he said.
“We are Lebanese first, after that we can be Syrian and support the Syrian people, or be Palestinian and support the Palestinian people.”
Bassil also dealt a heavy-handed blow to Turkey by slamming the fact that many Lebanese are referred to as Turks abroad.
“We are not Turkish, the Turkish have killed us and starved us,” he said in what may be read as a reference to Ottoman rule over Lebanon. “We are not united, neither by language, history nor race - we are Arab they are not, so please don’t refer to us as Turks.”
Speaking on the Syrian conflict, the foreign minister said it was Lebanon’s duty not to betray Syria because of deep historic ties between the two countries. With Israel as Lebanon’s southern neighbor, Bassil said the country did not have many options and should therefore maintain ties with Syria.
Bassil said his commitment to supporting Syria served to ensure the war-torn country did not “consider entering our nation again and think that it needs to protect Lebanon.”
Venezuela was the fifth and final leg of Bassil’s tour of Latin America launched one week ago.
Earlier Friday, Bassil met with his Venezuelan counterpart Delcy Rodriguez Friday and signed a memorandum of understanding, a joint cooperation agreement and an agreement on visa exemptions for diplomatic, service and special passports.
Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Congress' Longest-Serving Woman, To Retire
Longtime Maryland Democrat Barbara Mikulski has served in the Senate since 1987. Mark Wilson/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Longtime Maryland Democrat Barbara Mikulski has served in the Senate since 1987.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md), who has served in the Senate and in Congress longer than any other woman, says she will not seek a sixth term in 2016.
Mikulski, 78, announced her decision Monday in Baltimore.
She was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1976 and has served in the Senate since 1987. Mikulski was the first woman to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee. Known as the "Dean" of women in the Senate, she had a reputation for taking female senators under her wing.
The Baltimore native was a social worker before she was a politician.
The Washington Post, which broke the news of Mikulski's retirement, notes that she is "a forceful presence on many pieces of legislation, passionately liberal on certain issues but also committed to working closely with Republicans."
She's considered to be one of the more liberal members of Congress. She has been a fierce champion of environmental issues and equal pay for women.
In 2012, when NASA discovered an exploding star, they named it in her honor.
Her retirement will spark a heated Democratic primary. Potential candidates to replace her include U.S. Reps. Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards, and former Gov. Martin O'Malley, who is said to be considering a White House bid in 2016.
Lebanon transport minister meets EU envoy over air safety
BEIRUT: Public Works and Transport Minister Ghazi Zeaiter met with EU’s ambassador to Lebanon Monday over the failure of Beirut airport to meet EU safety standards.
“The European Union fully supports the efforts of the Lebanese government and the good cooperation in issues related to air safety,” Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst said after a meeting with Zeaiter at his ministry, the National News Agency quoted her as saying.
Eichhorst said the two also discussed Zeaiter’s announcements last week about the measures to be taken at Beirut's international airport.
Zeaiter last week announced that measures were being taken to enhance Lebanon’s air safety conditions to meet EU and international standards.
Last month, the EU sent a memo to the Public Works and Transportation Ministry informing it of a decision to stop transporting goods from Beirut airport. The decision was made after Lebanon failed to meet the EU’s standards for air transportation safety.
British Airways became the first to implement the EU’s decision after it began banning the transport of goods from Beirut’s airport on March 1.
In Monday's meeting, Zeaiter said Lebanon was doing everything it could to meet the standards, saying the cooperation was “to the maximum.”
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Lebanon creates committee to organize dairy sector
BEIRUT: Agriculture Minister Akram Chehayeb launched Monday a coordination committee for Lebanon’s dairy sector, after a week of heated protests by dairy farmers over the low demand for milk.
The committee will include two representatives from local dairy factories, two dairy farmers and a ministerial representative.
The committee, which will have a center in the ministry, will follow-up on daily developments in the sector, according to a statement released by Chehayeb’s media office.
It is tasked with overseeing the pricing of milk and cheese, the sale and distribution of local dairy products, and will ensure the compatibility of the produce with health standards.
The move comes almost a week after the agriculture minister announced that the price of a liter of milk will be set at LL1,000 - dropping from LL1,100.
The decision prompted livestock breeders and members of the Milk Producers Cooperative Unions to stage protests in front of the Department of Agriculture in Zahle.
Dairy farmers in the Bekaa Valley also staged protests last week over the recent closure of dairy factories in the area and the low demand for milk products.
The decrease in demand was the result of the closure of over half a dozen dairy factories that violated food safety standards.
After meeting with representatives from Lebanon’s dairy factories and dairy farmers Monday, Chehayeb announced efforts to protect local dairy production.
In addition to launching the coordination committee, Chehayeb also vowed to crack down on bulk imports of white cheese that are being fraudulently marketed as locally produced.
The agriculture minister also said that he has called on Lebanese Customs to halt the smuggling of white cheese from Syria into Lebanon.
Chehayeb also said that he is considering the implementation of dues on imported powdered milk in an effort to boost local production.
The ministry will also ensure that dairy factories distinguish between dairy produce made by fresh milk or its powdered alternatives.
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Netanyahu In Washington For Controversial Speech To Congress
A handout image provided by the Israeli Government Press Office shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sarah, leaving Tel Aviv on their way to Washington Sunday. Handout/Getty Images hide caption
itoggle caption Handout/Getty Images
A handout image provided by the Israeli Government Press Office shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Sarah, leaving Tel Aviv on their way to Washington Sunday.
Handout/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington, D.C., where he'll deliver a speech to Congress Tuesday — an event that's causing debate both in the U.S. and Israel. The leader's plans were made without consulting the White House; he will not meet with President Obama during the visit.
Netanyahu will appear Monday morning at the annual conference of AIPAC, a powerful pro-Israeli lobby, where he's expected to urge the U.S. to impose sanctions on Iran instead of making a deal over the country's nuclear ambitions.
"Normally the AIPAC conference is an opportunity for the White House to publicly support Israel and its leaders," NPR's Jackie Northam reports for Morning Edition. "But this year, it wasn't clear it was going to send anyone. It was only at the last minute, that it was announced two administration officials would attend."
Those officials include National Security Adviser Susan Rice, who said last week that Netanyahu's speech is "destructive to the fabric of U.S.-Israeli ties."
The Israeli leader's U.S. visit comes as two important dates approach:
- March 17 — Israel will hold parliament elections, in a tight campaign year.
- March 31 — A deadline arrives in the U.S.-led negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.
Netanyahu was invited to address Congress by House Speaker John Boehner, in a move that didn't include Democrats. The plan has also rankled the Obama administration because it breaks with a U.S. policy of not hosting foreign leaders who are about to face an election.
"The move has created bad blood between Netanyahu and Obama, and relations between the two countries have suffered," Jackie reports.
Here are some quotes that show where things stand:
— "According to the signs, in most of the U.S., there is support for Israel. So I can have differences with the U.S. president, that is legitimate, so what is not legitimate about us speaking our minds? Especially when the majority supports us," Netanyahu said Friday, according to Jerusalem Post.
— "We don't want to see this turned into some great political football," Secretary of State John Kerry said on ABC's Sunday program This Week.
— In Israel, a group called the Commanders for Israel's Security "warned that Netanyahu's upcoming speech to Congress is a clear and present danger to the strategic alliance between the U.S. and Israel, and actually helps Iran," reports Israel's Ynet News.
— "The more the White House criticizes Netanyahu, the more votes he gets from the right, and to a certain extent, from the center." Israeli professor Eytan Gilboa, quoted by Politico.
"More than two dozen Democratic members of Congress, in addition to GOP Rep. Walter Jones (N.C.), have publicly pledged to skip the speech," The Hill reports.
"Don't lose focus. The bad guy is Iran," Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., told an AIPAC audience Sunday. "We can never allow Israel to become a political wedge issue."
Lebanon committee approves whistleblower protection act
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Kaag meets Arab League chief in Cairo visit
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U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag discussed the situation in Lebanon and the region with Arab League...
Hezbollah seeks secular, democratic state: MP
BEIRUT: Hezbollah is seeking to establish a secular, democratic Lebanese state, party MP Ali Fayyad said Monday.
“We [Hezbollah] believe in equality among all the Lebanese, and in this country we seek to establish a nonsectarian, democratic state,” Fayyad said during a visit of the former Israeli Khiam prison in southern Lebanon.
He noted that all Lebanese should enjoy equal rights.
“Although [Hezbollah] is a Muslim party we believe that all those fighting against imperialism, racism, discrimination, occupation and injustice, and those who are defending freedom – wherever they are – are our comrades, our partners and our brothers.”
Fayyad stressed that Hezbollah’s posture in Lebanon will remain defensive.
“And for this goal, we have every right to possess all the means to defend our people, our nation and our land, especially since the Israeli enemy we are facing is backed by the U.S. and a large number of European countries, which supplies [Israel] with the most-advanced means of fighting, killing and destruction, including nuclear bombs,” he said.
“Hence, we stand on our national territory to defend this country and all the Lebanese people without distinguishing between Muslims and Christians or between Sunni and Druze.”
Netanyahu To Preview Speech To Congress Before AIPAC Conference
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington, D.C, where he is expected to give a contentious speech before Congress on Tuesday. He appears before a powerful pro-Israeli lobby on Monday.
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East Lebanon customs workers strike over conditions
BEIRUT: The owners of customs clearance offices in east Lebanon’s al-Masnaa border crossing went on strike Monday to demand better equipment and less bureaucracy.
“We decided today to announce an open-ended strike and stop working until the bureaucratic method in this border center is changed,” Hasan Dib, one of the office owners, said in a news conference.
Dib explained that the border crossing lacks, among other things, industrial research laboratories that examine the loads to determine whether a truck passes.
“It is unacceptable that a truck remains stranded for more than 15 days waiting for paperwork and research results,” Dib said, adding that the importer or exporter will have to pay up to $100 to the driver for every lost day at the customs areas.
The decision came after “years of calls and revisions” where the officers contacted officials asking for the reforms, but to no avail, he said to reporters.
The research equipment notwithstanding, the crossing lacks basic equipment.
“Could anyone imagine that the customs areas in Masnaa’s crossing... are neither equipped with toilets nor with enough lighting?” Dib asked, explaining that the areas are also unprotected against robberies.
Electricity cuts are also another problem hindering the officers’ work, he said, and power generator “suffer from many problems.”
The officers demanded a reform in the bureaucratic procedures to end the delays, and the installing of all equipment for their work and the truckers’ safety.
“[We are calling] at least [for] the implementation of the law, which classifies al-Masnaa’s crossing as a first class border crossing,” Dib said.
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Supreme Court To Weigh Power Of Redistricting Commissions
Arizona state Sen. Andy Biggs flips through redistricting maps during a special legislative committee hearing to discuss the state commission's proposed maps in 2011. Ross D. Franklin/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Ross D. Franklin/AP
Arizona state Sen. Andy Biggs flips through redistricting maps during a special legislative committee hearing to discuss the state commission's proposed maps in 2011.
Ross D. Franklin/AP
Take a look at a congressional district map, and it can look like a madman's jigsaw puzzle. The reason is, in part, that the district lines are drawn by state legislators seeking to maximize partisan advantage. It's a process that critics say is responsible for much that's wrong with Washington.
That's why some states have tried setting up independent commissions to draw the map. Arizona voters created such a commission in 2000. But when the commission chair displeased the governor and state Senate, they tried, unsuccessfully, to remove her.
The power of the commission to draw district lines has now reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which could hand that power back to the legislators in Arizona, California, and a dozen other states.
Although the Supreme Court has viewed partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts as a bad practice that deprives citizens of fair representation, the court has also thrown up its hands when it comes to policing the practice. The reason is simple: the justices have been unable to come up with neutral and judicially-manageable rules for drawing electoral boundaries. So, in recent years, some states have been experimenting with independent commissions.
The commissions vary in form and in how much influence they allow incumbents to have in drawing their own districts.
Arizona's independent commission presents the test case before the Supreme Court on Monday. Fifteen years ago the state's voters overwhelmingly approved a referendum that amended the state constitution to put the decennial redistricting in the hands of an independent, five-person commission. Two of the commissioners were to be Republicans, two Democrats, and the commission's chair was to be an Independent.
In a state with 35 percent registered Republicans, 35 percent Independents, and 30 percent Democrats, the congressional map the commission drew after the 2010 census had four safe Republican seats, two safe Democratic seats, and three competitive districts.
"Some of the most competitive races in the country are in Arizona now, and I attribute that directly to the commission's work," says Commission Chair Colleen Coyle Mathis.
Even before the map was completed, however, the Republican who was governor, Jan Brewer, fired Mathis, backed by a vote of the Republicans in the state Senate, who had a two-thirds majority.
The controversy ended up in the Arizona Supreme Court, which held a hearing and took just two hours to overrule the firing. The unanimous ruling was that there was no sufficient cause for removing Mathis as chair.
Having failed to block the commission's work that way, Republican state officials went to federal court, to challenge the commission as unconstitutional. Their appeal has now reached the U.S. Supreme Court.
At the heart of the case is the Elections Clause of the Constitution, which says that the "times, places and manner of holding elections" for Congress "shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof."
Those words resolve the issue, says former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, now representing the Arizona State Legislature in the Supreme Court.
"We make the radical claim that when the Framers used the word 'legislature' they meant the word 'legislature,'" says Clement.
Not so, says former Solicitor General Ted Olson. He contends that the founding fathers were "actually very suspicious" of state legislatures and wanted to have "the people" hold the ultimate power over legislatures.
"We looked back at the definition of 'legislature' at the time the Constitution was written and it didn't mean a particular body, it meant the entity or collection of individuals that made the law," says Olson. And that includes the people in Arizona who created the commission there.
Olson and Clement served, one after the other, as the top legal advocate in the George W. Bush administration. But in this case they are on opposite sides.
Olson filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of Republican former governors of California who pushed for the creation of that state's independent commission. He argues that leaving redistricting to the legislature means that in the age of computers, the party in power can manipulate the drawing of district lines to be "whatever they want it to be." And the result is self-perpetuating, polarized districts, where incumbents are guaranteed re-election and are accountable only to the extremes of their party to fend off primary challenges.
The Framers, he argues, wanted the people to be able to extricate themselves from this sort of gridlock, to experiment and have wide authority over the election process.
"What California and Arizona have done," says Olson, "is simply to try to fulfill the goals of the Framers to make a system where our elections are reasonably competitive, and that the people then have a choice and aren't boxed in to one particular party or the another."
Clement counters that the Framers did not believe in direct democracy.
"The whole idea of the Constitution was that we're going to form a republican government, that we can't have direct democracy," he contends. "They didn't give this authority to the people at large, they gave it specifically to the state legislature."
Olson rebuts that proposition, pointing to the second part of the Constitution's Elections Clause. That clause gives Congress the power to make laws to alter state election regulations.
And Congress, he maintains, did just that in the early 20th century when it adopted a statute allowing states to be redistricted by referendum instead of by the legislature.
That statute, as amended, permits redistricting "as prescribed by the law of the state." And the law in the state of Arizona, he argues, is the state constitutional amendment enacted by referendum giving the power to redistrict to an independent commission.
Clement dismisses that argument, calling it "just a red herring."
"The one thing the second Clause doesn't give Congress is the ability to rewrite the first Clause," he says. "It's not the people who will formulate these election maps in Arizona. It's five unelected state officials as part of this commission."
Indeed, Arizona's state Senate President Andy Biggs complains that the Independent Redistricting Commission leaves the state legislature all but impotent in the redistricting process.
"We're just totally irrelevant to the process other than at the beginning where you have slight participation," says Biggs, referring to the legislature's mandate to pick commissioners from a slate of vetted candidates.
Of course, the legislature does have the power to put the redistricting commission on the ballot again to get it repealed. But Biggs confesses that effort would likely be futile. So what would he tell the voters who seem to like the Independent Redistricting Commission?
"I would tell them, 'I understand your cynicism and skepticism, but the reality is the U.S. Constitution says that the legislature's supposed to draw the congressional lines,'" he says.
Now the Supreme Court will decide whose reading of the Constitution will prevail.
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