Turkey in talks with France over missile purchase: Erdogan

ANKARA: Turkey has resumed talks with France on purchasing a new missile system after negotiations on a controversial deal with a U.S.-blacklisted Chinese company hit a rock, the Turkish president was reported Sunday as saying.

"Some disagreements have emerged with China on the issues of joint production and technology transfer during negotiations over missile defense system," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters as he returned from the NATO summit in Wales, according to private television NTV.

"Talks are continuing despite that, but France which is second on the list has come up with a new offer. Right now we are holding ongoing talks with France," he said.

"Here joint production is important to us."

Last September, Turkey reached a deal with China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation for its first long-range anti-missile system, but the contract has sparked concerns in Washington.

Turkish officials had since said the deal with China was not finalized and that Ankara was open to new offers from other bidders.

CPMIEC beat competition from a U.S. partnership of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, Russia's Rosoboronexport, and Italian-French consortium Eurosam for the deal, estimated at $4 billion.

The Chinese group, which makes the HQ-9 missile system, is under U.S. sanctions for selling arms and missile technology to Iran and Syria.

The Turkish move also irritated its allies in NATO, which has said missile systems within the transatlantic military alliance must be compatible with each other.

Rai: Christian politicians should act on biblical values

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Christian politicians should incorporate Christian values into their political behavior and immediately elect a new president for the country, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai said Sunday.

“Christian politicians should embody the bible’s values in their family, social and national lives,” Rai said, while delivering his Sunday Mass speech at the Lady’s church in Bkirki, “to revive in the heart of citizens, and especially youth, the hope for a better future.”

Rai told the congregation that he attended the International Network of Catholic Legislators’ conference last week at Frascati, Italy, where he was impressed to see European lawmakers committed to practicing their Christian faith and values while fulfilling their civic duties.

“I was refreshed with hope when I found politicians that revived the international community’s conscience and gave a voice to the oppressed, the frustrated and the marginalized in this world,” he said.

Asking them to take these lawmakers as role models, Rai called on Lebanon’s Christian politicians “to raise a prophetic voice and help our country exit the presidential void crisis.”

He stressed on electing a president as the only thing that would “guarantee Lebanon’s unity and the well-functioning of its constitutional institutions,” and called on politicians to prioritize public interest.

“[They should] confront economic, social and security challenges by alienating themselves from private interests and liberating themselves from the captivity of their stands,” he said. “And show courage by overcoming self-[interest] and launching initiatives that would lead to the election of a new president as soon as possible.”

Rai also announced he would be leaving with a delegation of Eastern patriarchs to the U.S. Monday, to participate in the “Defending the Middle East Christians” conference, where Christian figures and American decision makers will gather for 3-days in Washington D.C.

The Christian delegation will include Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Yo, Syriac Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II and Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako.

Rifi condemns Tripoli’s church graffiti threats

BEIRUT: The ISIS slogans tagged on several church walls in Tripoli throughout the week have been condemned by the justice minister.

Ashraf Rifi joined the Mar Elias church in his condemnation while on a visit Sunday.

“I am here to [express] solidarity with our Christian brethren, and I condemn the slogans written on the Mar Elias church in Tripoli’s Minyeh,” he said.

The epidemic of graffiti threats against Christians hit the Tripoli neighborhood of Minyeh last week.

A message painted on the wall of Mar Elias Church read “the Islamic State will break the cross.”

The graffiti was written in Arabic in black spray paint.

A similar message was also painted on the wall of March Elias church in the Tripoli neighborhood of Mina.

“We came to slaughter you, you worshipers of the cross," the graffiti read.

In response to such acts, Rifi said that “the history of this city is coexistence and this history will continue to be the corner stone of national unity.”

As well as slamming ISIS slogans tagged on church walls in Tripoli, Rifi renewed his stand against the burning of an ISIS flag in Ashrafieh last week, despite coming under heavy criticism for denouncing the act.

“I know that the decision wasn’t a popular one, but it was a national [decision] par excellence, and it preserves coexistence,” he said.

Rifi said that he has appointed judicial units to follow up on both the Tripoli and Ashrafieh cases, saying that the appointed authority would also track down the perpetrators, who still remain at large.

Official: Hezbollah won’t target refugees

BEIRUT: Hezbollah won't assault Syrian refugees, an official assured Sunday, after the Nusra Front and ISIS warned that any attempts to target Syrians in the country would result in the deaths of more captives.

“We will not assault any Syrian refugees,” said the head of Hezbollah's religious committee, Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, arguing that such a move would only serve to spark sectarian and civil strife.

“If ISIS and those aiding it are planning on sectarian strife in this country, then we will turn off the sectarian flame,” he said.

The Hezbollah official expressed his party’s commitment to coexistence and civil peace, calling on all religious sects to provide a unified front against threats facing the country.

Tensions have been rising in the country following ISIS' beheading of two Lebanese soldiers in the past weeks, with a flyer surfacing in Beirut’s southern suburbs overnight Saturday following the news of Medlej’s slaughter.

“In honor of our brothers Ali al-Sayyed and Abbas Medlej, we request of all Syrians, without exception, to leave this street by Sept. 15,” the flyer stated.

In the Bekaa Valley, Syrian refugees residing in a camp near the Riyaq Baalbek - Hawsh al-Ghanam highway near Baalbek, packed their belongings and left towards the western Bekaa.

In further evidence of mounting tensions, several tents belonging to Syrian refugees were set ablaze in the Bekaa town of Brital.

Concerns over revenge attacks on Syrian refugees have prompted both ISIS and Nusra to release statements late Saturday warning against any assault.

“The response will be harsh and we will start killing our military detainees” if Hezbollah infringes on Syrian refugees in Lebanon, warned the Nusra Front in a statement released on Twitter.

Similarly, ISIS said that any infringement on a Syrian refugee would prompt a very harsh response, saying that it would hold the Lebanese government accountable for the slaughter of all Shiite captives.

Industrial boom driving Ascension Parish

DONALDSONVILLE, La. -- More than 2,000 construction workers are building a $2.1 billion expansion of CF Industries' nitrogen complex in Ascension Parish.

The 100-acre addition to the nation's largest nitrogen plant is expected to be completed in 2016. More than 17,000 pilings have been driven into the ground to support the foundations of three production units planned in the former cane field off Louisiana Highway 70 near Donaldsonville.

Parish officials tell The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1pDM1Pj ) that the project is the largest among several underway in Ascension.

They've fueled robust sales tax growth over the past two years, to a record estimated $147.2 million in combined sales taxes last year.

Ascension officials believe 2014 sales tax collections will set another record.

Family of second beheaded Lebanese soldier call for calm and unity

BEIRUT: The family of the Lebanese soldier who was executed by ISIS Saturday called for unity against takfiri groups, saying citizens need to support the state and the Army, and not slip into civil strife.

“Our choice remains as is, Lebanon a country of coexistence for all its components,” said the statement by the family of Abbas Medlej Saturday night, appealing for calm. “The terrorist act that killed our son Abbas is a crime against all Lebanese; Shiites, Sunnis, Christians and Druze.”

The Medlej family called for Lebanese to prevent “takfiris from penetrating into our national fabric,” and thus stop them from achieving their goal of division among the Lebanese.

The family also placed their trust in the Army, calling on the authorities to “act immediately to put an end to the remaining soldiers’ suffering.

“We call on all our people to show self-control and to behave in a manner that respects the heroic martyrs,” the statement said.

The Turkish news agency Anadolu had reported Saturday afternoon that an ISIS commander told one of its reporters that the extremist group had beheaded Medlej because he was trying to escape.

After the news, both the Nusra Front and ISIS warned Saturday that any attack on Syrian refugees in Lebanon would prompt them to behead more of the kidnapped Lebanese soldiers.

“We will slaughter all the captive Shiite soldiers if Hezbollah or his fans attack Syrian refugees in Lebanon,” an ISIS commander reportedly told Anadolu.

The two groups’ threat came in light of a serious concern that the second beheading in recent weeks would prompt revenge attacks on Syrian refugees or militants' relatives in Lebanon.

Medlej, according to the ISIS commander's account to the Anadolu Agency, had said he was going to the bathroom but shot at ISIS members instead. No account was given as to how he obtained a weapon. Medlej, who was 24 years old, hailed from the town of Maqneh in the northern Bekaa Valley.

Earlier this week, Lebanon laid First Sgt. Ali al-Sayyed to rest, who was beheaded by ISIS over a week ago.

Sayyed and Medlej were captured, along with at least 27 of their colleagues from the Lebanese Army and the Internal Security Forces, during clashes with jihadists from ISIS and the Nusra Front in the northeastern town of Arsal.

They were seized during major fighting that began on Aug. 2 and lasted for five days, between the Army and jihadists who had flooded in from neighboring Syria.

The militants have requested the release of several high profile Islamist prisoners as a pre-requisite for the release of the soldiers and policemen.

The Lebanese government rejected negotiating a prisoner swap with the militants, but a Qatari negotiator has recently started a mediation to break the deadlock over the abducted troops.

Lavender farmers rebel against EU chemical rules

PARIS -- The sweet smell of lavender is tinged with bitterness this year in the south of France, as farmers who harvest the flower protest European regulations linking the plant to chemical toxins.

Billboards proclaiming "Lavender is not a chemical" dot fields that yield what in Provence is known as blue gold — lavender oil, worth over 100 euros a kilogram. The plant is cultivated by around 1,500 producers, representing 30,000 full-time jobs that include catering to the millions of tourists in the south of France who come for the panoramic views of purple fields.

For many, Provence is synonymous with lavender, both fine lavender — used for perfumes, cosmetics and aromatherapy — and hybrid lavender, called lavandin. Lavandin is cheapest and used to scent soaps, detergents and air fresheners.

And they fear European Union rules adopted last year and due to come in force by 2018 will threaten that. According to regulators, lavender oil's potential to produce allergies places it firmly within regulations on chemical toxins. That means lavender products will have to bear labels involving bold black and red warning labels with messages such as "CAN BE FATAL IF SWALLOWED OR INHALED."

Producers say the rules are too extreme — they note that lavender oil allergies usually produce only rashes — and too expensive for small farmers.

Lavender producers are now fighting "to survive," said Francis Vidal, honorary president of APAL, an organization of lavender essential oil producers. In addition to the billboards, the group has organized an online petition, signed by over 15,000 people.

"The consequence of this ruling, in the very short term, would be the ruin of our plantations and the disappearance of lavender from our Provencal countryside," APAL wrote in a letter sent to President Francois Hollande and other politicians.

Advocates point out that lavender oil was used as an antiseptic until the beginning of the 20th century, and even today is prized for its healing and calming properties.

"Lavender has been used for thousands of years," Vidal said. "We never heard of any serious problems. Instead, we know that lavender oil helped save tens of thousands human lives."

Even the European Commission acknowledges that any substance whose contents depend on the amount of sun it receives and the kind of soil it springs from is difficult to classify as a chemical product.

"Natural substances whose composition is variable require more effort and expertise in order to be registered compared to 'classical' industrial chemicals. Other products subject to natural variations, like wine for example, aren't covered by the chemicals directive but are governed by the relevant food safety and sanitary rules," the commission said in a document provided to the AP.

EU authorities met with lavender producers in April and are now working on ways to help producers to conform to the law. Proposals are to be made this autumn, according to the commission document.

But producers claim lavender oil should simply be reclassified under agricultural products.

French producers don't oppose mentioning a potential allergy risk on their product, Vidal said, but they are adamantly against the kinds of dire labels that can be found on chemicals used in industrial processes, such as hydrochloric acid or cleaning products.

"There is a risk being linked to a chemical, and can lead to confusion for consumers," said Emilie Zamora, in charge of communication for the PPAM, the union of producers of perfume, aromatic and medicinal plants.

In addition, producers would themselves be responsible for carrying out the chemical analysis. Many are small farmers who couldn't afford the expensive procedure, Vidal said.

Lavender farmers have received support from Raymond Chaillan, a French perfume creator whose nose helped create the scents for Opium, Anaïs Anaïs and Parfum d'Hermes.

"This new directive will foreshadow the death of the plantations of lavender, of hybrid lavender, and the sage from the southeast of France, this agriculture of the dry mountains," Chaillan wrote in a statement to support lavender producers. "It will further reduce the perfumers' palette, limiting their creativity."

Juergen Baetz in Brussels and Claude Paris in Sederon, France contributed to the story.