Saudi Arabia appoints 8 ministers in pre-budget reshuffle
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah appointed new ministers for health, higher education, transport, agriculture, information...
Tuesday, 9 December 2014
Future bloc pledges support to negotiation efforts
BEIRUT: The Future bloc Tuesday fell short of expressing support for a swap deal to secure the release of 25 Lebanese captives held by militant groups in Arsal's outskirts but said that it would stand by any decision taken by the Lebanese government.
“The bloc expresses its full solidarity with the families of the hostages and encourages and supports the government in its decision to carry out direct negotiations in any way the government and the prime minister see fit,” read a statement released after the bloc's weekly meeting.
The bloc also called for a media block over the negotiation dossier until the captives are released, stressing the need to keep the details of negotiations away from the news as to avoid an exaggeration of the facts and the ensuing tensions.
According to the Future lawmakers, media coverage of negotiations may disrupt the release of the captives, threaten the secrecy of negotiations and in turn, lead to its ultimate failure.
Shifting to the war-next-door, the bloc condemned an Israeli aerial attack that targeted areas around the Damascus airport Sunday.
“The bloc is surprised that the assault didn’t receive any response from Syrian regime forces that intimidate their people,” the statement said, pointing out the discrepancy between the regime’s non-response towards Israel and the “mass murder” of its people.
“This proves the regime’s animosity is towards its people and its people alone.”
The statement also condemned the wide-spread prevalence of illegitimate arms in the country, while slamming gunmen for blocking roads leading to Arsal earlier this week.
Roads were blocked in predominantly Shiite villages leading to the northeastern town of Arsal over the weekend shortly after the Nusra Front announced that it had executed captive policeman Ali Bazzal.
The Future bloc stressed that road closures were strictly and exclusively under the prerogatives of security forces as it urged area residents to abstain from blocking roads leading to and from Arsal. The residents of the murdered policeman's hometown of Bazzalieh announced they had reopened all roads on Tuesday in compliance with the orders of the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces.
As for highly anticipated talks between Hezbollah and The Future Movement, the convened agreed on the importance of direct and collective dialogue.
Talks would aim to resolve the presidential stalemate, revitalize state-institutions, and ease tensions in the country, the statement read.
Obama Meets Colbert: Six Unbuttoned Moments
President Obama, appearing on The Colbert Report, said "look, the election didn't go as it, uh — as I would have liked. You notice, I made a little correction there, I had a little thought bubble." Susan Walsh/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Susan Walsh/AP
President Obama, appearing on The Colbert Report, said "look, the election didn't go as it, uh — as I would have liked. You notice, I made a little correction there, I had a little thought bubble."
Susan Walsh/AP
When President Obama sat down with comedian Stephen Colbert Monday, he didn't actually loosen his necktie. But we saw a relaxed president with just two years left on the clock, playing to a receptive audience of nearly 1,500.
Here are some of the more memorable moments from the president's appearance on The Colbert Report:
Booting the host from his desk
Obama playfully took Colbert's seat on set at George Washington University, declaring "Stephen, you've been taking a lot of shots at my job, I decided I'm going to go ahead and take a shot at yours. I want you to get out of the way, what part of the segment are we in now? What were you going to be doing?"
He went on: "How hard can this be? I'm just going to say whatever you were about to say."
The president pokes fun at himself
Taking over a Colbert Report segment he renamed "The Decree" (a more presidential version of regular segment "The Word"), Obama parodied Colbert saying: "Nation, as you know I, Stephen Colbert, have never cared for our president. The guy is so arrogant, I bet he talks about himself in the third person."
The president took over a segment renamed "The Decree" on The Colbert Report. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption
itoggle caption Susan Walsh/AP
The president took over a segment renamed "The Decree" on The Colbert Report.
Susan Walsh/AP
The president's thought bubble
"Look, the election didn't go as it, uh — as I would have liked. You notice, I made a little correction there, I had a little thought bubble. But, as president the only office where you're elected by people all across the country, you've still got a lot of responsibilities," Obama said. He, of course, added that he's still committed to working with Congress, helping working families get ahead, and make sure young people can afford college.
An alternative health care plan: Mitch McConnell-care
Obama riffed on his signature his health law: "Now that Republicans control both the House and the Senate, they could pass a bill repealing Obamacare," he said to boos from the audience. But, he said, "the president still has the veto, and if I know that guy he is willing to use it."
"Even if Republicans did somehow repeal it, they'd have to replace it with their own health care plan," he continued. "Once they touch it they own it. Then if anything goes wrong, suddenly, everyone will be complaining about Mitch McConnell-care."
At home, his family gives him a hard time
Asked if he liked the sound of "President Barack Obama," the president said no.
"I love the job, it's an incredible privilege," he said. "But when you're in it, you're not thinking of it in terms of titles, you're thinking about how do you deliver for the American people."
"Also, when I go home, Michelle, Malia and Sasha give me a hard time. There are no trumpets. And they tease me for my big ears or my stodgy suits." He went on to answer that even he leaves socks on the floor and no, that doesn't go over well.
About those nuclear launch codes
Colbert asked if the president knew the nuclear weapon launch code sequence. The president wouldn't go there.
"Can you tell me if there's a 5 in there?" Colbert asked.
"No."
Senate Panel's Report On CIA Calls Harsh Tactics Ineffective
Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee released a report saying the CIA misled higher-ups and didn't accurately describe its post-Sept. 11 interrogation tactics. The CIA disputes the findings.
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State willing to release Islamists: Muslim Scholars
BEIRUT: The Lebanese government is ready to accept a swap deal with jihadists, announced the Muslim Scholars Committee, as they made rounds with Lebanese officials in preparation to return to mediation.
“We can assure the families [of the captives] that the state is ready to release many of the youth, but not all of them,” Sheikh Salem Rafei, the committee head, said after meeting Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk as part of a tour with officials to discuss the association's return to the negotiations as principle mediators to release 25 soldiers and policemen beind held captive.
By “youth,” the Salafist sheikh was referring to the Islamist detainees being held in Roumieh prison over links to fundamentalist groups. ISIS and the Nusra Front, holding the hostages in northeast Lebanon, are demanding the release of the detainees as a condition to free the men.
Rafei reiterated that his committee would only accept to carry on with mediation efforts once officially tasked by the Lebanese government, who, he said, must also release the detained ex-wife of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the wife of an ISIS commander in Syria.
“Sister Saja [Dulaimi] is at the military court, while sister Ola [Olayli] was handed over to General Security,” Rafei said, in reference to Baghdadi’s divorcee and the wife of ISIS commander Anas Sharkas, better known as Abu Ali al-Shishani.
Rafei said that neither two women, whom he deemed “innocent,” had been found guilty of any charges related to terrorism, despite the fact that Lebanon’s military court issued an indictment that same day against Dulaimi on the charges of belonging to a terrorist group, holding contacts with terrorist organizations and planning to carry out terrorist attacks, judicial sources said.
The Military Tribunal also issued an indictment against her Palestinian husband, Kamal Khalaf, who was interrogated beside her.
Before meeting with Machnouk, the sheikhs met with Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and the head of the Internal Security Forces Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous.
Around 7 p.m., the sheikhs arrived to Clemenceau to meet with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt, who had visited the families of the captives at their permanent protest site in Riad al-Solh earlier in the day.
The Muslim Scholars is insisting on an official recongition by the government as mediators to avoid complications for associating with groups the government formally deems as terrorist organizations.
New CIA Report Paints a Gruesome Picture
The Senate Intelligence Committee has released a much-discussed report more than 6,000 pages long describing the CIA's brutal tactics in the years following 9/11. Of that, a 525-page executive summary has been declassified, revealing that the agency routinely misled both the White House and the public about the severity of its actions, which included waterboarding, sexual threats, and extended sleep deprivation. The report describes "near-drownings" as well as "rectal feeding" and "rectal hydration," which were used as tools for enacting "total control" over prisoners. Read the executive summary here, and a detailed breakdown of the findings from the Washington Post here.
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