Sunday, 29 March 2015

Hand grenade wounds 3 in Lebanon’s Tripoli


Hand grenade wounds 3 in Lebanon’s Tripoli


Three people were wounded overnight when an unknown assailant tossed a hand grenade in the northern city of Tripoli, a...



Proposed Payday Industry Regulations Must Strike Delicate Balance



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






The federal government is moving to reign in the payday loan industry, which critics say traps consumers in a damaging cycle of debt. A look at the possible effects of proposed regulations and what push back they might face.



Asiri in Nasrallah retort: Speech shows Iranian confusion


BEIRUT: The Saudi ambassador to Lebanon struck back at Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Sunday, saying his anti-Saudi speech contained false allegations and reflected the state of confusion of his patron, Iran.


Ambassador Ali Awad Asiri’s strongly worded statement against Nasrallah underlined the widening rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran, exacerbated by last week’s Saudi-led military intervention against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Saudi-led campaign against Houthi targets has opened a new front in a long-simmering rivalry between the two regional powers.


Despite the new tension between the Future Movement and Hezbollah, Speaker Nabih Berri said the dialogue between the two rival influential parties would go on.


“The [Future-Hezbollah] dialogue has proven to be a national necessity. Therefore, it will go on,” Berri was quoted as saying by visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence.


“The dialogue has achieved much in terms of stability in the country. The two sides have stressed the importance of the dialogue. That’s why it will go on,” he said.


Berri, according to visitors, said the next round of talks between the two sides would be held at Ain al-Tineh on April 2. He added that a meeting of the Union of Arab Parliaments would be held in Beirut at the end of April.


In a statement issued a day after he returned to Beirut from a short visit to Riyadh, Asiri said Nasrallah’s speech “reflected the confusion experienced by the side he represents [Iran], and contained a lot of slander and false allegations against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in addition to fallacies aimed at distorting facts and misleading public opinion.”


He accused Iran of scuttling Saudi attempts to promote a political settlement between the warring factions in Yemen.


Recalling the Saudi government’s efforts to help broker an inter-Yemeni political solution to end the conflict in Yemen and preserve the country’s unity and safety of its people, Asiri said: “The same side supporting Sayyed Nasrallah and directing the Houthis does not want good for Yemen and has been behind the obstruction of all agreements and pushing the security situation in the country toward escalation and deterioration.”


In a televised speech Friday, Nasrallah lambasted Saudi Arabia for spearheading a coalition of 10 countries to launch a military offensive against Yemen. He accused Riyadh of launching the war in a bid to regain control over the impoverished country. He also criticized Saudi Arabia for failing to carry out a similar military action to save the Palestinians in their struggle with Israel.


Nasrallah’s speech drew a quick rebuke from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who dismissed it as “a storm of hatred against Saudi Arabia and Gulf states in response to the ‘Decisive Storm’ campaign against the Iranian infiltration in Yemen.”


Asiri also rebutted Nasrallah’s claim that Saudi Arabia, through an alleged veto put by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal on MP Michel Aoun’s presidential bid, was blocking the election of a Lebanese president.


“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has proven that it does not speak two languages,” Asiri said. “Its officials have announced several times that the Lebanese presidency is a purely Lebanese affair and that it [Saudi Arabia] does not engage in the game of names of candidates, but rather supports whoever is agreed upon by the Lebanese.”


The Saudi envoy said Nasrallah blaming Prince Saud for the presidential crisis was aimed at “evading responsibility for the obstruction of the presidential election for which the Lebanese blame Hezbollah and its allies and the regional sides that support them.”


Lebanon has been without a president for more than 10 months after Parliament has failed, due to a lack of quorum since April, to choose a successor to former President Michel Sleiman, whose six-term mandate ended on May 25.


Asiri rejected Nasrallah’s accusations that Saudi Arabia had failed to come to the rescue of the Palestinians reeling under Israeli occupation.


“Neither Sayyed Nasrallah, nor any other side can outdo the Kingdom in the various kinds of support it has extended to the brotherly Palestinian people over tens of years,” he said. He implicitly accused Iran of splitting Palestinian factions and playing them off against each other.


“The kingdom’s stances are clear and honest and do not need a certificate from anyone,” Asiri said. “We wish some sides would emulate the wisdom of the kingdom’s leaders and their keenness on the Arab and Islamic nations and their support for the Arab and Islamic causes instead of seeking to undermine Arab unity and mislead the peoples.”


Despite the tension with Saudi Arabia over the Yemeni conflict, Hezbollah’s deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem vowed to pursue the three-month-old dialogue with the Future Movement.


“We have chosen the dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement despite those obstructing it because it is the path to preserve stability, spare Lebanon strife and help defuse [sectarian] tensions,” Qassem said at a Hezbollah ceremony in Beirut’s southern suburbs.


“We know that dialogue cannot succeed unless the two parties want it. This is what is happening,” he said.


He added that “some voices’ in the Future Movement which have “become known” are against the progress of the dialogue.


“We tell those: In spite of your anger, we will continue the dialogue even if you don’t like it. We will continue with every action that leads to stability. God willing, we will not let you undermine stability in Lebanon,” Qassem said.


For his part, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel-Latif Derian voiced support for the Future-Hezbollah dialogue, saying that it has reduced sectarian tensions. He said the Future-Hezbollah talks should be complemented with an inter-Christian dialogue.


“We support dialogues that lead to positive results to preserve this country’s stability, unity, security and the peace of its citizens,” Derian said at the opening of a mosque in the town of Shehim in Iqlim al-Kharroub.


“Yes, let the Future Movement engage in a dialogue with Hezbollah. It is forbidden for this dialogue to stop,” he said. “We are counting much on this dialogue, but at the same time we expect quickly from this dialogue a lot of understanding that can ease Lebanon’s crises.”


Derian added that the Future-Hezbollah dialogue has produced “positive results” with regard to eliminating sectarian tensions in the country.



Salam treads carefully on Yemen at summit


BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam avoided taking a stance during the Arab summit either supporting or rejecting the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, in a move apparently designed to avert a split within Cabinet, but said Lebanon backed any decision that preserves Sanaa’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Addressing the annual Arab League summit held in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh Saturday night, Salam announced Lebanon’s support for the creation of “a joint Arab force to fight terrorism and safeguard pan-Arab security.”


Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, the summit host, said at the end of the two-day conference Sunday that Arab leaders have agreed in principle to creating a joint Arab military force.


Salam, accompanied by the interior, foreign affairs and labor ministers, returned to Beirut Sunday after representing Lebanon at the Arab summit in Egypt.


He met on the sidelines of the summit with Sisi, alongside Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby.


Salam also met with Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah; Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas; Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal; and United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan on the sidelines of the summit.


“Out of its keenness to support constitutional legitimacy in Yemen, Arab unanimity and the unity and stability of all Arab states, Lebanon announces its support for any Arab stance that preserves Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as the cohesion of its social fabric,” Salam said in his speech at the close of Saturday’s session.


He voiced Lebanon’s support for political solutions to regional conflicts, including the crisis in Yemen, without any foreign interference in the internal affairs of Arab states.


“We affirm our belief in the importance of adopting political solutions to the internal crises without any foreign interference in the Arab states’ affairs,” Salam said, in an indirect swipe at Iran’s growing role in the region.


“We hope that security will return quickly to Yemen in order to protect the lives of our Yemeni brothers and safeguard their country’s resources as a prelude to the resumption of dialogue in the framework of a political process that will contain differences, repair relations among the various parties and draw up a road map for the future,” he added.


In line with Lebanon’s disassociation policy toward regional conflicts, the premier said: “We affirm our permanent keenness on the supreme Arab interest and our solidarity with our Arab brothers in all their rightful issues. We call [on Arab leaders] to distance Lebanon from all regional struggles which might have negative repercussions on the situation in Lebanon.”


Referring to the Saudi-led airstrikes launched since Thursday against Houthi rebels in Yemen, Salam said the summit coincided with “extremely important events in Yemen, where political struggles, driven by foreign intervention, have led to a state of political and security chaos that is threatening not only Yemen’s unity, but also posing a real danger to security in this strategic Arab region.”


“This situation prompted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in response to Yemeni President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi’s appeal, to spearhead an Arab and Muslim military coalition to prevent this danger from aggravating, and reassert legitimacy and bring the situation in Yemen back to normal,” he added.


While Salam did not explicitly voice his support or rejection of the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, he said Lebanon backed the formation of a joint Arab force to combat terrorism.


Referring to the rise of extremist Islamist groups that are threatening the region’s security, Salam said: “The state of instability that is sweeping across our Arab region has led to the emergence of the phenomenon of terrorism which is sowing violence in our countries under the name of Islam ... This black terrorism has infiltrated our region from the holes of ignorance and from repressive policies that generate malice.”


Calling on Arab leaders to establish “a defensive, security, political and intellectual barrier in the face of this abnormal phenomenon,” Salam said: “We support any step taken by the summit in this respect. We affirm our support for the creation of a joint Arab force to fight terrorism and safeguard pan-Arab security.”


Salam lamented the absence of a president to head Lebanon’s delegation to the summit, saying the 10-month-old presidential vacuum has disrupted the work of constitutional institutions.


Blaming the rival factions’ political differences for the presidential deadlock, the prime minister said: “The persistent delay in the election of a president has led to the obstruction of the work of our political institutions, leaving a negative impact on our economy.”


Referring to the ongoing dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah and also between the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement, Salam said: “We are looking forward to the success of the ongoing dialogue among the political parties, which has created a positive atmosphere in the country, to create a favorable climate to hold the presidential election, which is an extremely important event.”


In his speech, Salam also highlighted the heavy socio-economic burdens on Lebanon posed by the presence of “more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees” on its territory. He said the Lebanese government would present a plan to a donor conference scheduled in Kuwait Tuesday detailing Lebanon’s needs to cope with the Syrian refugee crisis.


Lebanon hosts 1.1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UNHCR, though government estimates put that number higher, putting a severe strain on Lebanon’s feeble infrastructure and its social services.



President Assad: the STL’s elephant in the room


BEIRUT: While Syrian President Bashar Assad has been referenced on a near-daily basis at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the past few months, it is unlikely that the Syrian regime will be legally implicated in crimes the court is investigating, experts say.


While the names of the five Hezbollah suspects accused of being criminally responsible for Rafik Hariri’s February 2005 assassination have been uttered only a handful of times since political testimony began last November, both the prosecution and the defense have quizzed witnesses extensively about Assad’s role in the political and security climate which prevailed in Lebanon in 2005.


Judge Nicola Lettieri remarked frankly on Assad’s simultaneous absence and ubiquity in the proceedings – something of an elephant in the courtroom – earlier this month.


“There is a ghost who wanders in this courtroom, that is a Syrian regime and this president,” Lettieri said. Minutes later, he clarified his statement. “I spoke about ‘ghost’ because a ghost is someone who is not present in the courtroom but whose ears are always burning.”


Political witnesses allied with Hariri have for months been highlighting the fraught and even inimical relationship between the late prime minister and the Syrian president.


Still, it would be immensely difficult to prove that the Assad regime is directly tied to Hariri’s assassination, explained Rodger Shanahan, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. “Even if it had been ordered by him [Assad], it is hardly likely that there would be any admissible evidence of a standard sufficient to meet judicial requirements,” Shanahan told The Daily Star.


Many of the individuals who may have been in a position to testify to the links between Hezbollah, Damascus and the Lebanese-Syrian security apparatus have died.


Nadim Shehadi, director of the Fares Center at Tufts University, noted that “key” figures identified by United Nations investigators as potentially implicated in the crime, including top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, leading Syrian intelligence officer Jamaa Jamaa and Assad’s brother in-law Assef Shawkat have taken their secrets to the grave.


Bashar, Shehadi said, is not the ghost of the STL. Rather, the individuals who could “link” him to Hariri’s assassination are ghosts.


Moreover, Syria is not legally required to cooperate with STL. Unlike the Lebanese government, which is bound by order of the United Nations Security Council to assist the proceedings, the Syrian regime is under no obligation to provide evidence or suspects that could be material to the case.


Even if the international community applies pressure, it seems unlikely that the regime will be cooperative, said American University of Beirut Professor Sari Hanafi.


“I mean the international community ... was unable to stop Assad’s madness in Syria,” he said, referring to the bloody civil war in the country now entering its fifth year. “It will not convince Syria to deliver” its citizens to the tribunal for questioning.


Peter Haynes, who represents the victims of the blast that killed Hariri and 21 others, said Assad and the Syrian regime are unlikely to materialize in any meaningful way at the STL.


“I don’t see it being any more concrete than a spectral presence,” he said.


While the victims hold a wide range of political opinions, Haynes said that many share “general belief that the Syrians were where the buck stopped with this murder.”


Though Assad may remain a ghost before the STL, Haynes said that evidence presented at trial may well pave the way for future lawsuits against the regime.


“I think the trial chamber is perfectly entitled to make findings that the Syrian regime had the dark hand in all of this. And that may be sufficient for subsequent civil claims against them [the regime],” Haynes said. Specifically, if adequate evidence against Assad is presented before the court, victims may be able to sue the regime for compensation.


“But that’s a long away from indicting any individual connected to the regime,” he acknowledged.


“It is unlikely [Assad] will be prosecuted for the attack on Hariri or for any other act before [the] tribunal,” agreed lawyers Karlijn van der Voort and Anne-Marie Verwiel, who run a blog about the STL.


Still, evidence against the regime raised at the STL may help generate momentum to bring Assad to justice.


“It may serve to gain international political will to have Assad and his allies tried before either the ICC or, if that remains impossible, to create a Special Tribunal for Syria,” they said in a joint email.



Man from Arsal allegedly killed by ISIS


Man from Arsal allegedly killed by ISIS


A Lebanese national from the northeastern town of Arsal has allegedly been executed by ISIS and another resident of...



Car accident in Sidon kills young girl


North Lebanon potato farmers protest imports


Farmers in the north Lebanon town of Hissa protested Thursday potato imports they said would devastate their sales,...



Man arrested after murder in Chtaura


Saudi gold merchant robbed near Beirut airport


A Saudi national carrying around $150,000 worth of gold products was robbed by unknown gunmen near Lebanon’s airport...



Berri re-elected as head of the Amal Movement


BEIRUT: The Amal Movement re-elected Speaker Nabih Berri as its leader at the end of its 13th general conference, the National News Agency said in a statement Sunday.


The conference featured discussions and meetings held between Amal officials in various Lebanese districts over a span of three months. One of Lebanon’s veteran politicians, Berri was elected the head of Amal for the first time in 1980, succeeding Hussein Husseini, now a former speaker. The movement was founded by charismatic Shiite Imam Sayyed Musa Sadr six years earlier.


Sadr and his two companions, journalist Abbas Badreddine and Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub, disappeared on Aug. 31, 1978, when on an official visit to Libya on the invitation of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Amal will release a statement Monday including details about the conference.




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Indiana Governor: Lawmakers To 'Clarify' Anti-Gay Law



Some of the hundreds of people who gathered outside the Indiana Statehouse on Saturday, for a rally against legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Mike Pence.i



Some of the hundreds of people who gathered outside the Indiana Statehouse on Saturday, for a rally against legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Mike Pence. Rick Callahan/AP hide caption



itoggle caption Rick Callahan/AP

Some of the hundreds of people who gathered outside the Indiana Statehouse on Saturday, for a rally against legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Mike Pence.



Some of the hundreds of people who gathered outside the Indiana Statehouse on Saturday, for a rally against legislation signed Thursday by Gov. Mike Pence.


Rick Callahan/AP


Indiana Gov. Mike Pence — facing a major backlash from a new law that would allow businesses in the state to cite religious objections to refuse to serve gay people — says he supports an effort to "clarify the intent" of the legislation while acknowledging surprised over the hostility it has sparked.


As we reported on Saturday, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act – approved by the Republican-dominated Indiana legislature and signed by Pence on Thursday – immediately touched off a vociferous online campaign against the law, as well as a protest on Saturday in front of the Statehouse.


The law, due to go into effect in July, has also caused some high-profile businesses, such as Angie's List, to rethink expansion plans in the Hoosier state, potentially costing it tens of millions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs.


In an interview on Saturday with The Indianapolis Star, Pence, a Republican with strong conservative credentials who served in Congress for a decade before becoming governor, said: "I just can't account for the hostility that's been directed at our state.


"I've been taken aback by the mischaracterizations from outside the state of Indiana about what is in this bill," he said, reiterating his support for the legislation.


However, he said the governor's office was in discussions with lawmakers this weekend "to see if there's a way to clarify the intent of the law." He said those changes would likely be introduced sometime this week.


Asked by the Star if he might make gay and lesbians a "protected legal class" in the state, Pence replied: "That's not on my agenda."


On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered to protest at the Indiana Statehouse. Although police didn't provide an exact figure for the number of people who turned out, member station WFYI reported it was about 3,000. Many chanted "Pence must go!" and others held signs that read "No hate in our state."



Saudi envoy denounces Nasrallah’s speech as ‘slanderous’


BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah’s latest speech was full of slander and false accusations, Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abduallah Asiri said Sunday.


“The speech made by Hezbollah’s General Secretary Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah expressed the confusion experienced by the sides he represents [Iran], and contained a lot of slander and false allegations against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Asiri said in a statement.


He said Nasrallah words "aimed to distort facts and mislead public opinion.”


Nasrallah’s heated speech Friday slammed Saudi Arabia for the recent military campaign against the Houthis in Yemen.


“The same side supporting Sayyed Nasrallah and directing the Houthis does not want good for Yemen and has been behind obstructing all agreements and pushing the security situation in the country toward escalation and deterioration,” Asiri said, in reference to Iran.


“We wish some sides would emulate the wisdom of the kingdom’s leaders.”


Nasrallah had also dismissed accusations that Iran was blocking the election of a Lebanese president that isn't supported by Tehran, saying the side responsible for the disruption was Saudi Arabia.


“The Saudis have proven that they do not speak two languages,” Asiri responded. “And its officials have announced several times that the Lebanese presidency is a pure Lebanese matter and that it [Saudi Arabia] does not engage in the game of nominations and candidates, but rather supports whoever is agreed upon by the Lebanese.”


Nasrallah contended in his speech that the presidential election crisis was due to a veto by Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Faisal against the candidacy of FPM chief Michel Aoun.


Asiri stressed that Nasrallah’s claim was false, saying the purpose behind the allegation was to “throw ash in the eyes and escape from responsibility.”


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



Clinton Seeks A 'New Relationship' With The Press



Audio for this story from Weekend Edition Sunday will be available at approximately 12:00 p.m. ET.





Some of Hillary Clinton's most vocal critics are from those in the media. NPR's Rachel Martin talks to correspondent Mara Liasson about Clinton's evolving relationship with the press.



Jumblatt congratulates Syrian rebels for liberating Idlib


BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt congratulated Syrian rebels Sunday for liberating the northwestern city of Idlib, which fell into the hands of Islamist groups including the Nusra Front Saturday night.


“My salutes to the rebels who liberated Idlib,” Jumblatt said in a message posted on his Twitter account, hours after the rebels announced the liberation of the city from regime forces.


A coalition of Islamist fighters seized full control of Idlib Saturday after five days of fighting in the city.


The grouping, known as the Army of Conquest, brings together jihadis from Nusra Front with Islamist allies including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham organization.


Jumblatt also commended the rebels for liberating Busra al-Sham, an ancient southern town in the Daraa district.


The Druze leader then denounced Druze figures in Syria who are siding with the regime in the current conflict.


“Shame on these suspicious calls by some religious clerics that ask the regime for arms to fight the Syrian people,” he said. “These [calls] are putting the Syrian Arab Druze at risk.”


Jumblatt had been criticized for his contention that the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, was not a terrorist group because of its popular support in Syria.


The group had claimed responsibility for several suicide bombings on Shiite neighborhoods in Lebanon and participated in a number of attacks on the Lebanese Army.


Along with ISIS, Nusra Front still holds 25 Lebanese servicemen hostage in the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal.



US to pledge $500M in aid to Lebanon at Kuwait III conference: reports


U.K. envoy opens renovated fish market


British Ambassador Tom Fletcher inaugurated a refurbished fish market in south Lebanon Friday, part of a project...



Lebanese star Najwa Karam molested at Kuwaiti airport: report



BEIRUT: A Kuwaiti youngster was apprehended by police in Kuwait after harassing Lebanese signer Najwa Karam upon her arrival at the national airport, Kuwaiti media reported.


After her landing at Kuwait International Airport, Arab star Najwa Karam was surrounded by a group of fans, among whom one “behaved indecently,” the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai said Saturday.


The young man, who “committed a scandalous act” according to Al-Rai, was confronted by one of Karam’s bodyguards and a fight broke out between the two.


Security agents intervened and stopped the clash, and the two men were referred to a police station in Jleeb al-Shuyoukh, the closest Kuwaiti town to the airport.


The dispute was resolved when the police station was “showered with calls and mediations” to avoid a lawsuit against the young Kuwaiti citizen.


The man signed a written pledge and the dispute was resolved “amicably,” the report said.


Karm is visiting Kuwait to participate in the fourth day of a music festival.



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