Jumblatt to miss Sleiman in politics

BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said Saturday that he would miss the political approach of outgoing President Michel Sleiman.

“We will miss President Sleiman and the political line he established,” Jumblatt said during the farewell ceremony for the president.

Prior to the ceremony, Sleiman presented Jumblatt with the National Order of the Cedar Medal “in appreciation for his national role and political moderation and his call for dialogue among political rivals.”

Sleiman expressed hope that the PSP leader would continue to play such role “to preserve the political stability in the country.”

Both Sleiman and Jumblatt classify themselves as centrists amid the sharp political divisions in the country, mainly between the March 8 and March 14 camps.

Gastrodiplomacy Gives Foreign Chefs A Fresh Take And Taste Of America

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hide captionParticipants of the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership try different foods at the State Department in Washington during a gathering of the American Chef Corps, a network of chefs from across the U.S.

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

Participants of the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership try different foods at the State Department in Washington during a gathering of the American Chef Corps, a network of chefs from across the U.S.

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

When you think of the tools of diplomacy, food isn't always high on the list. But breaking bread together can be one of the most basic ways of finding common ground. Which is why, a couple of years ago, the State Department launched the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership.

The program created an American Chefs Corps, who represent the U.S. abroad, and invited foreign chefs and culinary professionals here to taste and talk food.

A delegation of chefs and culinary professionals from North Africa and the Middle East recently visited through the program, and met with restaurateurs, chefs, bakers and grocers in cities all over the country, from New York to Portland, Ore.

The trip was designed to show off the American culinary landscape. But that started as something of an uphill battle — participants admitted that they didn't come with the most favorable impression of American cuisine.

The Salt

Gastrodiplomacy: Cooking Up A Tasty Lesson On War And Peace

Food

A Taste Of Iran, Whipped Up In The 'Conflict Kitchen'

Samira Hariri, who heads Slow Food Morocco, a non-profit that supports small producers, says she expected to find fast food restaurants every few blocks. Ashraf Abdou, who runs the Egyptian Chefs Association, concurred. After all, he says, "all of the world gets fast food through America."

But once they arrived, the visitors saw another side of American food. Farm-fresh produce. New vegetables like rhubarb and cactus leaves. And more types of hummus than they'd ever imagined.

And the exchange worked in the other direction as well. When the visitors sat down at Elephant's Delicatessen in Portland to chat with manager Nick Doughty, he wanted to know which of their country's products and food trends he should be looking into. Top recommendations included argan oil, deglet noor dates, the spice blend ras el hanout and a coffee made of roasted date pits. And, after years of hearing from customers who only want beef and chicken, Doughty says he was thrilled to find a group who shared his love of lamb dishes.

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hide captionChefs from Algeria and Oman, along with their translators and local guide, tour the kitchen at Portland's Elephant's Delicatessen.

Sydney Stead/Oregon World Affairs Council

Chefs from Algeria and Oman, along with their translators and local guide, tour the kitchen at Portland's Elephant's Delicatessen.

Sydney Stead/Oregon World Affairs Council

The notion that food can help build bridges isn't all that surprising, says Hamdy Metwally Elkawass, director of sales for Egypt's AM Foods. In Egyptian Arabic, "bread means life," he says. Both are called aish, "the first motto of the [Egyptian] revolution."

Beyond ideas for store layout and grab-and-go cases, the visitors say they're coming away with a different picture of America.

"When we are traveling around, visiting other countries, the first thing you're looking for is food," says Algerian pastry chef Djaouhar Nawel Moussi Ouyahiasay. Food helps shape our impressions of a country, because it's so basic to who we are — even from the very beginning, he says.

And, says Egyptian Ashraf Abdou, when you find American food, in all its diversity, you find America.

"Through food you can understand the cultures. And with the culture, you can understand the people," says Abdou. "In our countries, it's a negative idea about the Americans. Because they saw that only the media. They didn't know the people themselves."

And the hope is that getting to know people, and their culture, sets the table for a very basic level of diplomacy — getting a taste of who we are.

Pope Francis arrives in Jordan for Mideast trip

AMMAN: Pope Francis arrived Saturday in Jordan, kicking off a three-day trip to the Middle East that will see him get a firsthand look at the plight of Syrian refugees and witness the toll the civil war next door is taking on Jordan.

His plane touched down at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport, where an honor guard and Catholic leaders met him on arrival. On the flight, the pope told journalists that the trip would be "challenging," but rewarding.

"My heart beats and is looking to love," he said.

Despite a cold and fatigue that forced him to cancel some recent appointments, Francis seemed in fine health on the flight and greeted each of the reporters traveling with him one-by-one, even posing for a "selfie" photograph.

After meeting with King Abdullah II and Queen Rania at the royal palace, Francis is due to celebrate Mass on Saturday in Amman's International Stadium. The Vatican expects some 25,000 people to attend, many of them Palestinian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Later, he will meet one-on-one with refugees and disabled children at a church in Bethany beyond the Jordan, which many believe is the traditional site of Jesus' baptism.

Christians make up about 5 percent of Syria's population, but assaults on predominantly Christian towns by rebels fighting against President Bashar Assad's rule have fueled fears among the country's religious minorities about the growing role of Islamic extremists in the revolt. Christians believe they are being targeted in part because of anti-Christian sentiment among Sunni Muslim extremists and partly as punishment for what is seen as their support for Assad.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said Francis wants to offer comfort to all Christians who live in the region and encourage them to stay.

"These Christians are living stones, and without their presence, the Holy Land and its holy sites risk becoming a museum," Parolin told Vatican Television on the eve of the trip.

Jordan last month opened a third camp for Syrian refugees, a stark indication of the strains the civil war is creating for the country. The sprawling facility is designed to accommodate up to 130,000 people and potentially become the world's second-largest refugee camp. Jordan is hosting 600,000 registered Syrian refugees, or 10 percent of its population. Jordanian officials estimate the real number is closer to 1.3 million.

For the Syrian Christians who will greet Francis, his presence is a chance to show the world their hopelessness as the conflict drags on.

"We are very happy because he will see Christians in the Arab world, he will see us and see our suffering," said Nazik Malko, a Syrian Orthodox Christian refugee from Maaloula who will be among the 600 or so people to greet the pope at Bethany beyond the Jordan. "We wish that peace will be restored in the whole world, and in Syria."

Another Orthodox Christian from Maaloula, Yacoub Josef, said he couldn't wait to leave.

"We wish that the situation in Syria would be better, but we hope to immigrate because we have had enough of being homeless," he said.

Francis will visit a Palestinian refugee camp on Sunday when he travels from Amman directly to the West Bank city of Bethlehem. It's the first time a pope has landed in the West Bank rather than Tel Aviv first, and Palestinian officials are eager to show Francis the limbo endured by generations of Palestinians forced or driven out in the war over Israel's 1948 creation. Today, along with their descendants, these refugees make up more than 5 million people scattered across the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Parolin, the Vatican No. 2, said Francis would emphasize the Vatican's longstanding position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: "The right of Israel to exist and enjoy peace and security inside its internationally recognized borders, and the right of the Palestinian people to have a sovereign, independent homeland, freedom of movement and the right to live in dignity."

Technically, the main reason for the trip is for Francis and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians to mark the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting in Jerusalem by their predecessors which ended 900 years of Catholic-Orthodox estrangement. That highlight will come on Sunday, when Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I preside over a joint prayer service in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected.

Representatives of other churches also will be present, including Cardinal Bechara Rai, the first leader of Lebanon's largest Christian sect, the Maronite Catholic Church, to visit Jerusalem since Israel captured the city's eastern sector. Lebanon bans its citizens from visiting Israel or having business dealings with Israelis.

Underscoring the sensitive political nature of the trip, Rai's plans to visit Israel have drawn criticism. He angrily walked out of an interview with France 24 on Friday while in Amman, after the reporter pressed him on the motives for his visit.

"I don't come to the Holy Land for political, economic or military goals. ... Jerusalem is our city and we are in the Holy Land since hundreds of years, we cannot leave our land and our people," he said.

Francis will spend Monday in Jerusalem, visiting the grand mufti of Jerusalem and Israel's chief rabbis, albeit separately. He'll also pray at the Western Wall and visit the Holocaust memorial at Yad Vashem and will become the first pope to lay a wreath of flowers on Mount Herzl, named for the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl. He returns to the Vatican Monday night.

Poll: Health care law still fails to impress

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama celebrated when sign-ups for his health care law topped 8 million, far exceeding expectations after a slipshod launch. Most Americans, however, remain unimpressed.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that public opinion continues to run deeply negative on the Affordable Care Act, Obama's signature effort to cover the uninsured. Forty-three percent oppose the law, compared with just 28 percent in support.

The pattern illustrates why the health care law remains a favored target for Republicans seeking a Senate majority in the midterm elections.

The poll does have a bright spot for the administration: Those who signed up for coverage aren't reeling from sticker shock. Most said they found premiums in line with what they expected, or even lower.

But even that was diminished by another finding: More than one-third of those who said they or someone in their household tried to enroll, were ultimately unable to do so. For the White House, it's an uncomfortable reminder of the technical problems that paralyzed the HealthCare.gov website for weeks after it went live last fall.

The example of business owner Henry Kulik shows some of the cross-currents of public opinion.

Kulik is disabled as a result of Lou Gehrig's disease, a condition that destroys the brain's ability to control muscle movement. His family runs several stores that sell ice cream and other summer refreshments in the Philadelphia area.

Kulik says he doesn't believe the federal government should require people to carry health insurance, as the law does. And he can understand worries about the cost to taxpayers. On the other hand, he's been able to slash what his family pays for health insurance by purchasing coverage through the law's new insurance markets and by taking advantage of tax credits to lower the premiums.

Before the law, his family was paying $2,400 a month. Now it's several hundred dollars. And Kulik says the insurance for himself, his wife, and three children is comparable to what they had before.

"I think there is a lot of misinformation," he says.

Obama's health care law offers subsidized private coverage to middle-class people who have no health plan on the job, and it expands Medicaid to pick up low-income uninsured adults. But last fall's launch of new health insurance markets was paralyzed technical problems. The debacle contributed to the departure of health secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

After Congress approved the law in 2010, a political backlash over its Medicare cuts, tax increases and new regulations helped Republicans win the House. This fall the GOP is following a similar strategy with the Senate at stake.

"Republicans hold an advantage on this issue among people who feel strongly about it," said Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health, who follows opinion trends on health care.

Still, just 17 percent of poll respondents said the law will be completely repealed. While that represents an increase of 5 percentage points from March, the poll found that 67 percent believe the health law will be implemented with changes, whether major or superficial.

In Walhalla, South Carolina, digital publisher Greg Freeman says he's no big fan of the president. But now into his late 30s, Freeman thought it would be a good idea to get health insurance through the new law. It took several tries to navigate the federal enrollment website, but Freeman says he's generally satisfied. His main complaint is that his new doctor is about an hour away, in a bigger town to the east.

"I can see if some of the kinks can be worked out this could be a very positive thing in the long run," Freeman said. "We should be in a position to be healthiest country in the world."

The poll found that sign-up success translated into higher approval for the health care law. Among those who succeeded in purchasing coverage, 51 percent back the law, compared with 30 percent among those who tried to sign up and weren't successful.

In the tiny coastal Oregon town of Reedsport, locksmith Marvin Plunkett says he's disappointed that public opinion about the law remains so negative. He was able to gain coverage through the state's expanded Medicaid program.

Plunkett recalled former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's discredited charge that the law would set up "death panels" to judge whether seniors should receive medical care. "The truth about it is pretty mundane," he said. "But the lies are really exciting and emotional."

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted May 16-19, 2014 using KnowledgePanel, GfK's probability-based online panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. It involved online interviews with 1,354 adults, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for all respondents.

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Associated Press News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.

Online:

AP-GfK Poll: http://bit.ly/1p3ze84.

Friday's Sports In Brief

DONALD STERLING

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Donald Sterling is turning his ownership stake in the Los Angeles Clippers over to his estranged wife, and she is in talks with the NBA to sell the team, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The individual, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the deal, said the couple reached the agreement after weeks of discussion. Neither Shelly Sterling nor her attorney had any comment. They have been in talks with NBA lawyers for the last couple weeks.

Donald Sterling was banned for life and fined $2.5 million by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after the release of a recording last month in which Sterling made racist remarks involving blacks, which comprise the majority of players in the league.

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PRO BASKETBALL

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Pacers star Paul George was cleared to play after being diagnosed with a concussion.

George said at practice that he feels like he is 100 percent after he was injured Tuesday night during the Game 2 loss to Miami that evened the Eastern Conference finals at 1-1.

The Pacers announced several hours later that he is expected to play in Game 3 on Saturday night.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The San Antonio Spurs never believed Serge Ibaka was out for the Western Conference finals, even after the Thunder said they expected him to miss the rest of the playoffs with a calf injury.

Looks like the Spurs might have been on to something. The Thunder said that their defensive standout now is day-to-day after his strained left calf showed improved movement and stability and a significant decrease in swelling. The Thunder have missed Ibaka badly as San Antonio has raced to a 2-0 lead in the series, and his possible return gives the Thunder hope as they prepare for Game 3 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

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PRO HOCKEY

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Rangers' smooth ride to the Stanley Cup finals has suddenly become much rougher. Not only did the Broadway Blueshirts let the Montreal Canadiens back into the Eastern Conference finals with a 3-2 overtime victory Thursday at Madison Square Garden, they might have to play without top forward Derek Stepan, whose broken jaw required surgery.

The Rangers will carry a 2-1 series lead into Sunday's Game 4, but finishing off the Canadiens could be more difficult if Stepan is sidelined long term. The center was injured 2:48 in when he was struck by a hard, blindside hit from Montreal's Brandon Prust, who wasn't penalized for the shot that left Stepan sprawled on the ice for several moments. Prust was given a two-game suspension for interference by the league's department of player safety.

The NHL also gave Rangers forward Daniel Carcillo an automatic 10-game suspension after he was ejected for physical abuse of officials during the first period of Game 3.

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PRO FOOTBALL

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — His voice cracking with emotion, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice acknowledged that he "failed miserably" and apologized for the actions that led to his arrest on assault charges.

Rice was arrested following a Feb. 15 altercation in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in which he allegedly struck fiancee Janay Palmer. The couple married in late February, and both went to the stage at the team training complex for their first public comment since the arrest.

Wearing a light gray suit and striped tie, Rice spoke for just over six minutes and didn't take questions. His speech was not prepared, but he often referred to notes on his cellphone. Rice was accepted Tuesday into a diversion program, which upon completion could lead to the charges being expunged.

NOBLESVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Prosecutors charged Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay with two misdemeanor counts stemming from his intoxicated driving arrest near his home in March.

Hamilton County prosecutors said Irsay was charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated and operating a vehicle with a schedule I or II controlled substance or its metabolite in the body, which carry maximum penalties of 60 days in jail and $500 fines for each count. A probable cause affidavit said Irsay was driving under the influence of oxycodone and/or hydrocodone, both powerful painkillers.

Irsay was arrested near his home at about 3 a.m. on March 16 with $29,000 in cash and bottles of prescription drugs in his vehicle.

DENVER (AP) — Broncos safety T.J. Ward was charged with misdemeanor assault and disturbing the peace for allegedly throwing a glass mug at a female bartender at a Denver strip club earlier this month.

Ward, 27, appeared in court to face the charges stemming from the incident at 2:40 a.m. on May 10 at PT's All Nude club. According to court documents, Ward was seen on video surveillance picking up the mug from the bar and throwing it at the bartender after being told he couldn't bring a drink into the club. A court date was set for June 23.

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SOCCER

STANFORD, Calif. (AP) — A day after announcing his momentous decision to drop the most accomplished player in American men's soccer, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann hinted at answers without ever saying specifically why Landon Donovan was among the final seven cuts.

"As a coach, you have to make a decision based on what you want to execute in Brazil, what you want to see, how do you want to build those components into the entire group. And then I felt — we coaches felt — the guys that we chose, they're a little step ahead of Landon in certain areas," Klinsmann said.

The 32-year-old Donovan, the American record holder with 57 international goals and second with 156 appearances, was trying to make his fourth World Cup roster.

Klinsmann also said his son should apologize to Donovan for a "disrespectful" tweet after the U.S. star was cut from the World Cup roster. Jonathan Klinsmann, a goalkeeper on the U.S. Under-18 roster announced last month, followed Thursday's roster announcement by tweeting: "HAHAHAHAHAHAH DONOVAN HAHAHAHAA I DIDNT EVEN NOTICE UNTIL MY PHONE NOTIFIED ME" followed by four emoticons with tears and another "HAHA." The account was quickly deleted.

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NCAA

A federal judge denied motions by the NCAA that would delay trial on an antitrust suit by former UCLA basketball player Ed O'Bannon and others, ordering the trial to go forward next month in California.

Judge Claudia Wilken ordered a June 9 trial in Oakland on the antitrust lawsuit. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction that would allow Division I players the right to band together to sell their services in an open market. If successful, the lawsuit could upend the NCAA's current model built upon the concept college athletes are amateurs and shouldn't be compensated beyond tuition and basic room and board.

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BASEBALL

DETROIT (AP) — Prince Fielder was placed on the disabled list, days before he is scheduled to have season-ending neck surgery.

The move by the Texas Rangers came a day after the team said Fielder would have cervical fusion surgery Tuesday for the herniated disk in his neck. General manager Jon Daniels said he expected a second opinion to confirm the initial recommendation for the operation.

ATLANTA (AP) — Nolan Arenado's ill-fated head-first slide into second base left the Rockies without a key bat in the middle of their lineup.

Arenado appears bound for the disabled list after breaking his left middle finger in Colorado's 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Arenado is hitting .305 with six homers and 28 RBIs. He led off the second with a double to left field. Justin Upton's throw was caught by Dan Uggla, who flipped the ball to shortstop Andrelton Simmons at second base. Simmons kept the glove down as Arenado slid past the bag.

Wall Street insider teaching financial literacy

GREENWICH, Conn. -- At the YMCA of Greenwich, Bob Salomon had already worked his way through bonds, commodities, futures and economic principles when he got to his trip to the Middle East in 1982.

"I was asked to go speak at the Kuwait Stock Market," he said, looking out at a group of 16 adults seated in red chairs in the second-floor meeting room. The students had printouts that listed a couple dozen of the world's greatest market bubbles since the Dutch Tulip Mania of 1637.

Back in the early '80s, Salomon said, Kuwaiti markets were booming thanks to a concept called "post-dated checks," which were provoking investors to pump billions of dollars into companies that didn't actually have business plans.

Salomon's visit - along with that of other foreign investors - was supposed to lend an air of legitimacy to the whole operation, he said. Instead, he tried pointing out flaws in the system, but no one seemed to care. Eventually, someone managed to raise the issue of how many post-dated checks were outstanding.

"And as soon as they asked the question, the whole market collapsed," he said.

The story was a mix of textbook and scrapbook that typified Salomon's 90-minute lecture, which was the latter half of a two-day seminar on financial literacy. Salomon, who is 77 and lives in Stamford, earlier covered topics like money, banking, financial statements, hedge funds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

On the second day, he moved on from bubbles to discuss topics like university endowments and the curious animal argot of Wall Street: including bears, bulls, "dogs of the Dow," sheep (investors who follow the crowd), ostriches (investors who stick their heads in the sand, hoping for better days) and pigs (investors who've grown obscenely greedy).

It was a freewheeling and informal talk, which Salomon delivered while perched on the edge of a table. He was clad in jeans, sneakers and a white button-up shirt. "I spent my whole life in the business; I have a knowledge base," he later said. "I'm anxious to share it."

Indeed, Salomon's Wall Street roots are deep. His career began in the college training program of U.S. Trust Company in New York. He stayed with the company for 17 years, rising to senior investor, before leaving it in 1978 for Salomon Brothers, which his grandfather had founded. There, he helped build the firm's equity research department and rose to chief equity strategist. In 1995, he left to create an investment management company with his wife. Over the decades, he's served on the Merrill Lynch mutual fund board of directors, the BlackRock mutual fund board, the Wilton-based Commonfund board and he's written columns for Forbes magazine, he says.

The world has changed dramatically over that time, he noted.

"There are a lot of people in the world who were brought up in a society where you never had to know anything about investments," he said.

These days, there are a lot of people keen to know more about IRAs, 401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans and other financial concepts.

"Everyone is all of a sudden going to become an investor," he said.

While that may include the 16 men and women in his class, Salomon also made a point of identifying people spread far and wide who have also become more reliant on complex financial markets.

While discussing derivatives, he recalled a trip he once took to Aroostook County, Maine, which is about as far north as you can get before crossing over into Canada. He was there to visit a potato farmer who'd long endured the anxiety of not knowing if he would sell his harvest of potatoes at a decent price before the crops spoiled.

"This poor guy sits at home, every day, looking at the newspaper, thinking, 'Should I sell today?' " he said. "All of a sudden there's a futures market, and he can now sell his crop for future delivery anytime during the year. He doesn't have to sit there all winter worrying about it."

With that, Salomon opened a Wall Street Journal to page C-8. He pointed out the small area devoted to listing cash prices of commodities and the much larger space devoted to the prices of futures.

"Everyone wants to deal with the futures market," he said, and then paused. Chances are, he added, no one in the room would ever really invest in commodities. Which got him ready for the next topic.

"I want to talk about the economy for a bit," he said. "And I want to make you economists in 10 minutes."

Lebanon's Arabic press digest – May 24, 2014

The following are a selection of stories from Lebanese newspapers that may be of interest to The Daily Star readers. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.

An-Nahar

The farewell day, the dawn of vacuum

President Michel Sleiman will leave this afternoon, less than 12 hours before the end of his mandate that started on May 25, 2008, Baabda’s Presidential Palace to become, starting tomorrow, a former president.

The March 14 lawmakers decided to come to Parliament Saturday to express their determination to carry out the presidential election within the constitutional deadline.

Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel suggested that the coalition's lawmakers stay in Parliament from 6 p.m. until midnight. His proposal was approved by the Lebanese Forces and Future lawmakers. Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora also contacted Speaker Nabih Berri asking that the latter’s bloc joins the gathering.

The March 14 coalition is also trying to convince Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt to participate in the afternoon’s parliamentarian gathering.

A March 14 parliamentary source said that “this symbolic move aims to express our sadness over the failure to elect a new president.”

As-Safir

Sleiman from vacuum ... to vacuum!

With the “golden end” of President Michel Sleiman’s term, the country starts a new unpredictable phase whose next president remains unknown.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai is set to launch a call for Christians, mainly Maronites, to save the presidency and get out of the state of “voluntary suicide” that can topple the role of Christians for good.

United States diplomats would also base their calls for electing a new president after May 25 on the need to preserve stability in Lebanon. They are set to advise the Lebanese officials not to sacrifice their country for the sake of the regional crisis.

Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is keen on keeping the channels of communication open with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. Sources close to Aoun quoted him as saying “let us give this contact its full chance because it may lead to a good solution.”

Al-Akhbar

Religious naturalization [with Israel]

‘Naivety rhetoric’ defends Rai’s visit

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party issued a statement rejecting the visit of Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai to Israel.

They said that the visit holds “dangerous indicators about the legal status of the occupied Jerusalem directly and about the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon indirectly.”

The statement said that Lebanon’s non-recognition of Israel and its boycott to the repercussions of the occupations “are linked to the file of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the rejection of their settlement in the country.” They added that any breach to such legal behavior endangers the Palestinian’s right of return.

They added that the church would be better to show more concern over the Palestinians in Lebanon, especially regarding their civil and social rights.

Al-Joumhouria

First day of vacuum tomorrow and a governmental achievement in refugees file

Future Movement sources denied that Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s chief of staff, Nader Hariri, held a meeting recently with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and suggested extending the term of outgoing President Michel Sleiman for a year.

The sources said Hariri did not hold a meeting with Aoun Thursday evening and that he attended a meeting for the March 14 alliance leaders at the Center House to discuss the presidential deadlock.

Meanwhile, Cabinet formed a ministerial committee to follow up on the Syrian refugee crisis and confront the influx of refugees. The government is set to organize the Syrian displacement to Lebanon according to national standards and will seek to secure their return to their country and to form refugee camps along the border inside Syria.