LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

March 21/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.march21.16.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006

Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

Bible Quotations For Today

If you Have Faith,Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 21/17-27:"Jesus left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there. In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, "Be lifted up and thrown into the sea", it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.’ When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?’Jesus said to them, ‘I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?’ And they argued with one another, ‘If we say, "From heaven", he will say to us, "Why then did you not believe him?" But if we say, "Of human origin", we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.’ So they answered Jesus, ‘We do not know.’ And he said to them, ‘Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

It is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,and have tasted the goodness
Letter to the Hebrews 06/01-09:"Let us go on towards perfection, leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ, and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith towards God, instruction about baptisms, laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgement. And we will do this, if God permits. For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt. Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly, and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over. Even though we speak in this way, beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation.";

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 21/16
What Georges Tarabichi did not say/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 20/16
AIPAC conference nervously awaits Trump speech/Ynetnews/Associated Press/March 20/16
FPM and LF to form alliance in municipal elections/The Daily Star/March 20/16

'Dagan stood firm in battle for Israel's existence in ways that surpassed the imagination'/Jerusalem Post/March 20/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on March 21/16

FPM and LF to form alliance in municipal elections
Report: Ban to Stress Need to Elect President during Lebanon Trip
UAE Says Keen on Ties with Lebanon after 'Baseless' Reports on Ambassador
Gemayel: President Must Have Economic Vision, Ability to Neutralize Lebanon from Region Conflicts
Report: Internet Cut at Defense Ministry to Dismantle Illegal Network
Environment Minister Says Over 8,000 Tons of Trash Removed from Streets, Random Dumps
Geagea: It is Unfortunate that Hizbullah Does Not Want to Hold Presidential Elections
Geagea expresses regret over Hezbollah's unwillingness to hold presidential elections
Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry condemns Istanbul suicide bombing
Lebanese students show high levels of creativity in robotics competition
Century-Old Beirut Racetrack Faces Run for Money
Report: Berri Sees Election of President as Solution to Crisis
Wahhab supports Berri's initiative
Mogherini in Beirut on Monday
Parliamentarian delegation checks on Lebanese wounded
Police arrest father who brutalized his 4 year old son

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 21/16

Paris Attacks Suspect Abdeslam Spends First Night in Jail, Says was Plotting 'New Acts'

Boycott Israel stickers cropping up on products throughout Canada
Syria: How Much Longer?
Italy rescues almost 1,000 boat migrants
Syria aid groups push UK on anti-terror laws
Obama hails nuclear deal in message to Iran
ISIS suffers blows in Iraq, Syria, still fighting
Istanbul bomber was Turkish ISIS member
Iran’s leaders offer different different New Year visions
ISIS militants claim attack that killed 13 in Egypt’s Sinai

Links From Jihad Watch Site for March 21/16
Pope decries Europe’s “indifference” to Muslim migrants, compares them to Jesus.
Virginia Muslim “wanted to kill for Allah’s sake and be killed for Allah’s sake,” wanted to join the Islamic State to “chop heads”.
Columbus, Ohio’s Nazareth Restaurant, site of jihad terror attack in February, is going strong.
Easy Meat: Inside Britain’s Grooming Gang Scandal — on The Glazov Gang.
Turkey: Islamic State jihad suicide bombing murders 5, including 2 Americans.
SC bill would hold sponsors liable if refugees from terror states commit crimes, Hamas-linked CAIR enraged.
Jewish students frequently harassed and assaulted during Israeli Apartheid Week.
NYC: Leftist and Muslim anti-Trump protesters battle cops, scream “f–k the police!”.
Islamic Republic of Iran to build a statue of captured U.S. sailors.
Hugh Fitzgerald: Apologists for Islam and History.

Report: Ban to Stress Need to Elect President during Lebanon Trip
Naharnet/March 20/16/United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is set to arrive in Lebanon on an official visit on Friday during which he will tackle various Lebanese affairs, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday. The election of a president will be among the key issues he will address with Lebanese officials. He will emphasize the need for parliament to convene and officials to assume their responsibilities to that end. Diplomatic sources in New York told al-Mustaqbal that the situation in Lebanon will be present at the Security Council agenda as it reviews the implementation of resolution 1701and the presence of the peacekeeping force in the South. The implementation of the resolution will also be tackled by Ban during his meetings. On the security situation in Lebanon, Ban will focus on developing the capabilities of the Lebanese army and the need to support it “because it is a main factor in maintaining stability in Lebanon. This marks the second visit for the U.N. chief to Lebanon and probably his last before the end of his term in December.

FPM and LF to form alliance in municipal elections
The Daily Star/March 20/16
BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement MP Ibrahim Kanaan said Sunday that his party and the Lebanese Forces will be allied in the upcoming municipal elections, constituting a historical breakthrough for the formerly rival Christian parties.
“We are together, of course, however we will not eliminate anyone (from the political scene). At the same time, we will not allow anyone to take advantage of the differences between us (FPM and LF) to weaken or eliminate us,” Kanaan said, as he spoke at a political event at the Eastern College in the eastern city of Zahle, organized by Al-Shaabia University and the LF.
“We will not accept any electoral law that surmounts Christians, and we reject any law that weakens the Christian presence (in government)” he added.
The FPM has long rallied for electoral reform, calling for a president to be elected directly by the Lebanese people, as well as for a new electoral law to be used in legislative elections based on proportional representation, which would see Lebanon as one constituency.
The FPM has long complained of Christian political marginalization, saying that the community, which makes up between 35 to 40 percent of the country, has not been well represented in the government.
It has complained that the current 1960s winner-takes-all system devalues Christian votes.
Reiterating previous statements made by officials from the two parties in light of the historic reconciliation which took place in January, Kanaan said the alliance was intended to set the stage for a national reconciliation between all factions, and did not intend to “build walls” in the face of anybody.
“January 18 2016 wasn’t merely a reconciliation, for on that day we specified what we wanted, and we reached out to those near and far in accordance with a shared national vision – and not a sectarian one ... The aim for us was to correct a 25-year-old problem, and this is a Lebanese responsibility (to end rifts), not only an FPM and LF responsibility,” Kanaan said, referring to the date of the reconciliation.
That day, LF head Samir Geagea nominated FPM founder Michel Aoun for the presidency, ending over two decades of bitter ties between the war-time foes and sending shock waves through Lebanon’s political spectrum. The two also reached an understanding on 10 national issues, including Lebanon’s foreign policy and the role played by the state’s security and military agencies.
The endorsement further destabilized relations however between Geagea and his March 14 allies, as well as between Aoun and his March 8 allies. Both were considered their political camp’s main candidate, before Future Movement head Saad Hariri of the March 14 camp endorsed Marada Movement leader Sleiman Frangieh, a March 8 official.
The FPM has however, along with its ally Hezbollah and Frangieh’s Marada Movement, boycotted parliamentary sessions to elect a head of state. The FPM and Hezbollah have said they will not attend any sessions without being assured of Aoun’s victory.
“Why has decentralization not been implemented until this day, and why has its draft law been kept in drawers? Why did we have to demand the citizenship law for 13 years? Was it (nationality law) a Christian demand? Of course not,” Kanaan asked.
The Lebanese citizenship bill, passed by Parliament in November last year, now allows people abroad of paternal Lebanese ancestry to obtain the nationality.
The law was a major demand of the FPM and the LF.
“When we raise our voice to say that there is a flaw in the (political) system, that does not mean that we don’t want this system,” he said, reiterating that the FPM and LF "will work on bringing a strong president we chose” to power, referring to Aoun, and an electoral law that assures fair representation.
LF media officer Melhem Riachi, who along with Kanaan worked for months in preparation for the parties’ reconciliation ceremony, hailed the new alliance between Geagea and Aoun at the event.
“Do you know what it means when we are together? Do you know what Lebanon is after today? Do you know what it means when two people the size of Samir Geagea and Michel Aoun converge?” Riachi asked.
“The Lebanon after January 18 2016 is infatuated in its alphabet, the Phoenix and the trinity of righteousness and goodness and beauty. This is the Lebanon that cannot be measured with its demography or geography, but instead with its creativity, quality, its radiant ambitions and its visions,” he continued.
He criticized comments on Geagea “giving up” the presidency for Aoun, saying that Geagea’s move was intended to achieve Christian reconciliation and end the nearly 22 month-long presidency crisis.
“We are here, together in everything that will protect democratic nobility and the (Lebanese) entity’s civilization,” Riachi said.

UAE Says Keen on Ties with Lebanon after 'Baseless' Reports on Ambassador
Naharnet/March 20/16/The United Arab Emirates stressed Sunday its keenness on the ties with Lebanon, denying media reports about delaying the return of its ambassador to Beirut. “Local media outlets have circulated inaccurate reports in the past two days, claiming that the UAE ambassador to Lebanon was not able to leave his country's airport for Lebanon following a family visit except after the intervention of his country's foreign ministry,” the embassy's press office said in a statement. “These reports are false and baseless and everyone knows the nature of the ties that gather the UAE and Lebanon,” the embassy added. The UAE “understands how critical the situation in Lebanon and it had appointed an ambassador amid the presidential vacuum that Lebanon is currently going through,” it said. Seven people have gone on trial in the United Arab Emirates on charges of forming a cell linked to Lebanon's Hizbullah, reports said Tuesday. The UAE was one of the Gulf countries that banned their citizens from traveling to Lebanon in the wake of a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and Hizbullah. On March 2, the Gulf Cooperation Council -- which groups Saudi Arabia, the UAE and four other countries -- -- declared Hizbullah a "terrorist" group over alleged "hostile actions" in the Gulf countries and "terrorist acts and incitement in Syria, Yemen and in Iraq." Saudi Arabia last month halted a $3 billion program for military supplies to Lebanon in protest against Hizbullah. Announcing the funding cut, a Saudi official said the kingdom noticed "hostile Lebanese positions resulting from the stranglehold of Hizbullah on the state."He specifically cited Lebanon's refusal to join the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in condemning attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran in January.Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after demonstrators burned its embassy and a consulate following the Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shiite dissident cleric.

Gemayel: President Must Have Economic Vision, Ability to Neutralize Lebanon from Region Conflicts
Naharnet/March 20/16/Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel has stressed that the country needs a president who has an “economic vision” and the ability to “neutralize Lebanon from the ongoing conflicts in the region instead of dragging it into them.”“For the country to witness a new beginning, it needs the election of a president – a competent, upright president who has an economic vision and who has the ability to oversee files and pull Lebanon out of its crises,” said Gemayel. “The president must have the ability to improve the country, run the cabinet … and shift us from one state to another,” the MP added. He said the country's next president must also “understand the young generation and have an economic plan that can create jobs for them.” “A strong president is not strong in himself but rather in the support he receives from the Christian parties, as was the case prior to the Taef Accord,” Gemayel noted. He added: “The president's strength lies in his ability to protect Lebanon from all forms of terrorism and to neutralize it from the ongoing conflicts in the region instead of dragging it into them, while preserving its ties with the countries of the region.”Warning that the country cannot withstand further “selfishness,” Gemayel emphasized that Lebanon's fate should not hinge on the election of a certain candidate as president. On Wednesday, Gemayel had stressed that his party's parliamentary bloc will not vote for Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh or Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun in the presidential elections. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and the FPM, Hizbullah and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions. Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected by the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The Hizbullah-led March 8 camp, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Report: Internet Cut at Defense Ministry to Dismantle Illegal Network
Naharnet/March 20/16/The internet connection at the Defense Ministry at Yarzeh was severed over the weekend in order to dismantle the illegal network that was recently uncovered in the country, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday. The development was a product of a parliamentary decision to remove illegal internet stations. The Defense Ministry has since been “returned to the fold of the state” and the legal internet network. A decision was also taken to implement future projects aimed at developing the army's communication capabilities through a fiber-optic network that connects various military stations. Media reports said there are four illegal “communication crossings” with a tremendous ability of 40GB per second WiFi network speed, which is equivalent to a third of the international capacities set by the Ministry of Telecommunications in service (150GB per second). Anonymous parties described as a “mafia” are taking advantage of internet services by installing internet stations that are not subject to state control. It has been reported that wireless internet towers and technical equipment were placed illegally in some mountainous terrains, including Tannourine, al-Dinnieh, Sannine and al-Zaarour. Smuggled internet services could cause possible security breaches as they lack the basic control standards, exposing Lebanon to third parties, including Israel. In addition, smuggling online services outside legal frameworks is a waste for the state's treasury amounting to over $2 million losses on a monthly basis.

Environment Minister Says Over 8,000 Tons of Trash Removed from Streets, Random Dumps
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 20/16/Workers have begun removing tons of rubbish that have piled up around Beirut under a government plan to end an eight-month crisis that has sparked repeated protests."More than 8,000 tons of accumulated trash have been removed from streets and random dumps in the past 24 hours, which indicates that the waste plan is being implemented in a serious manner," Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq announced. Civil society activists and environmental experts once again lashed out at the plan, warning that it does nothing to allay the ecological concerns that took them to the streets in the first place. Beirut's suburbs have been awash in trash for months following the closure in July of the country's largest landfill at Naameh, just south of the capital. Rubbish has piled up on beaches and in forests and riverbeds elsewhere in the country. The government last week said it would reopen the Naameh landfill for two months to ease the crisis, but civil society activists have opposed the plan, demanding a more environmentally sound solution. Workers could be seen Sunday at Jdeideh, a suburb north of Beirut, using front loaders to pack piles of trash into dozens of trucks. "The stench is awful but the roads are open, everything is going well on the road, the security forces are facilitating the flow of traffic," said Kamil Haddad, one of the workers, who wore a protective mask over his nose and mouth. "Things are going alright," Haddad said, as his colleagues piled trash into trucks. Naameh was set up in the early 1990s as a temporary measure. Activists and nearby residents have long opposed the use of the site but when it was shut in July no alternative was proposed. Two other landfills are also planned for Bourj Hammoud, a mainly Armenian suburb of northern Beirut, and Costa Brava to the south of the capital, likely for four years.
'Back to square one'
"The idea of taking the rubbish and dumping it in landfills -- this is how the crisis started in the first place. So they (authorities) are basically ignoring the crisis of the past eight months, pretending like nothing happened, and taking us back to square one," environmental and industrial engineer Ziad Abi Chaker told Agence France-Presse. He explained that Lebanon could in fact recycle up to 90 percent of its waste. But "there's a corruption dimension ... There is no huge money to be made out of recycling. The only way to make crazy money is with another corrupt contract," Abi Chaker said. "The cherry on the cake is that after the four years, we will have incineration -- I don't know if you can call this a plan, because it certainly has nothing to do with planning." Activists from the "You Stink" movement and other groups have also demanded long-term solutions, including investment in recycling and the transfer of waste management duties to municipalities. The movement has in recent months led a string of protests that has seen thousands of people taking to the streets, accusing the government of mismanagement and corruption, and even calling for its downfall. "Now the ball is in the court of residents of the areas where the landfills are located," one leading "You Stink" member told AFP on condition of anonymity, for fear of retribution. "We do hear some people have started to mobilize in a couple of areas, but when you see the army, security and intelligence forces deployed in the Naameh area -- how do you think residents will dare take action?"

Geagea: It is Unfortunate that Hizbullah Does Not Want to Hold Presidential Elections
Naharnet/March 20/16/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea renewed his accusation that Hizbullah does not want to hold the presidential elections. “Two months after our endorsement of Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun's run for the presidency, the party has not not move its little finger to elect him,” he noted during an LF dinner banquet in Batroun on Saturday. “It did not move its little finger even though it had frequently raised its bigger finger to say that it advocates the MP,” he remarked. Hizbullah had announced earlier this year that it would boycott electoral sessions until it receives guarantees that Aoun will be elected president. Geagea, Aoun's longstanding rival, withdrew from the race in favor of the MP, in a bid to end the deadlock over the presidency.Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor.Disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a candidate have thwarted the polls.

Geagea expresses regret over Hezbollah's unwillingness to hold presidential elections
LBC/March 20/16/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed regret that March 8 camp, especially Hezbollah, does not want to hold the presidential elections. He said that he does not even know whether or not the party wants Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun to be the president of the republic.“Two months after our endorsement of Aoun's nomination for the presidency, the party has not move its little finger to elect him,” Geagea noted during an LF dinner banquet in Batroun on Saturday. “It did not move its little finger even though it had frequently raised its bigger finger to say that it supports the lawmaker,” he added. LF chief said that "he will exert his best endeavors to be able to reach presidential elections, knowing that the current situation cannot be changed easily."Geagea admitted that the March 14 alliance is “not at its best”, but “it will be fine,” he added. He also called for resolving all the differences within the coalition.

Lebanon’s Foreign Ministry condemns Istanbul suicide bombing
LBC/March 20/16/The Lebanese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned on Sunday Istanbul’s suicide bombing, expressing solidarity with Turkish government and people. The ministry stressed the need to unify local and international efforts in a bid to stamp out terrorism.A suicide bomber killed himself and four others in a central Istanbul shopping and tourism district on Saturday, wounding at least 36 people in the fourth such attack in Turkey this year. The blast sent panicked shoppers scurrying into side alleys off Istiklal Street, a long pedestrian avenue lined with international stores and foreign consulates, a few hundred meters from where police buses are often stationed.

Lebanese students show high levels of creativity in robotics competition
REPORT: Lebanese students show high levels of creativity in robotics competition
LBC/March 20/16/At least 50 teams took part in the finals of the VEX Robotics Competition presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, including students, the youngest among them are seven years old and the older ones are university students.

Century-Old Beirut Racetrack Faces Run for Money
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 20/16/Beirut's Hippodrome has survived wars and relentless upheaval but the iconic racetrack, where rival fighters once gathered to bet on their days off, approaches its centenary facing an uncertain future. The Hippodrome was built in 1916 by the Ottoman Turks. During the civil war it was used as a neutral site where enemy combatants could meet. One of the city's last remaining green spaces, it is now suffering financial difficulties and a dearth of investment. Should the racecourse close for good, the land could fall into the hands of property developers who have already turned Beirut into a concrete jungle."The city council refuses to invest, each time offering a different excuse, and this really worries us," said Nabil de Freij, head of the Society for the Protection and Improvement of the Arabian Horse. De Freij, who is also Lebanon's minister for administrative reform, fears that the country's ancient tradition of horse breeding will suffer a heavy blow if the racetrack shuts. "This place provides a livelihood for trainers, jockeys, grooms, employees, vets, breeders and farmers -- 1,500 families in total, and all that will disappear," he said. Before Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, the track was the only one in the Middle East where horse-racing fans could gather to place their bets. Races were held twice a week, bringing in about half a million dollars (450,000 euros) a week in wagers. But the war reduced the number of horses kept in stables around the racecourse from 1,500 to 350. "Races were no longer held, and the bets dropped to no more than $150,000" a week, said racecourse general manager Nabil Nasrallah. The Hippodrome, a potential gold mine for developers, covers an area of 200,000 square meters in the heart of the Lebanese capital.
'Project for the rich'
"If the Hippodrome closes, what guarantee would there be?" de Freij asked, questioning how the land could be kept from the developers. Nasrallah believes the only way forward is for the city council, which owns the racecourse, to invest in rebuilding the site. "We should be subsidized, like in any other country where there are horse races," he said. Beirut mayor Bilal Hamad, a Sunni Muslim, is reluctant to invest public money in a site where betting -- prohibited in Islam -- takes place. "The Hippodrome is part of Beirut's heritage. Why should bettors alone have access to it?" said Hamad, who would only agree to pour public funds into the racecourse if it were "opened to all" residents. Hamad plans instead to set up what he calls Beirut Central Park -- a golf course complete with an artificial lake, as well as a riding school. But Mohammed Ayoub, who heads an NGO named Nahnoo (We), denounced the idea. "A golf course -- that's a project for the rich. Also, how can we create an artificial lake while we're suffering from a water shortage?" he said. "The city council wants to set up a costly commercial project and then hand it over to a private company."
Militia meeting point
Situated on a former civil war frontline that divided Christian, Sunni and Shiite neighborhoods, the racecourse is a mirror of recent Lebanese history. A wall, riddled with bullet holes, still shows the green and red symbol of the French Foreign Legion, painted in 1982 by soldiers deployed in the small Mediterranean country at the height of the war. "Militia fighters used to shoot at each other all week and meet here on Sunday to place their bets," recalled trainer Ali Ahmed Seif Eddine. Enemy militia leaders would even meet in a secret hall under the stands. The racecourse's various entrances allowed fighters to access the site from parts of the city that were blocked off from each other, and it was public enough to allay any fear of ambush or kidnapping. During the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Israeli forces positioned behind the Hippodrome pounded Palestinian fighters on the other side. With the stables caught in the crossfire, it became impossible to access them. About 350 horses fell ill in the stifling summer heat -- and 17 lost their lives. To evacuate the surviving animals, de Freij secured a truce thanks to then-president Elias Sarkis, a true lover of horses, and U.S. special envoy Philip Habib. Like much of Beirut however, the racecourse did not fully recover. Once the horses had been evacuated, "Israel's air force and tanks destroyed all the stands, for no reason at all," de Freij said, and reconstruction was never completed.

Report: Berri Sees Election of President as Solution to Crisis
Naharnet/March 20/16/Speaker Nabih Berri is keen on the election of a new head of state “in order to end the crisis in Lebanon,” reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah on Sunday. Parliamentary sources told the daily that this “entail the attendance of lawmakers at the elections.” A new president will reactivate state institutions “as the prolongation of the vacuum will lead Lebanon towards the unknown.”Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a candidate have thwarted the polls. Hizbullah announced earlier this year that it will boycott electoral sessions unless it receives guarantees that its candidate, Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun, will be elected.

Wahhab supports Berri's initiative
Sun 20 Mar 2016/NNA - Arab Unification Party Head, We'am Wahhab, declared on Sunday his full support for House Speaker, Nabih Berri's initiative concerning the adoption of the proportional system. He added that "this step would be a beginning for a solution to the prevailing crises, starting with the presidential dossier and the electoral law, far-reaching the stability of the political system." Wahhab's stance came during a meeting at his residence in the town of Jahiliye with popular delegations from different regions and villages.

Mogherini in Beirut on Monday
Sun 20 Mar 2016/NNA - Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Union Higher Representative, European Commission Vice President, Federica Mogherini, is expected in Beirut on Monday. Mogherini will be visiting an unofficial camp and school for Syrian refugees in the area of Bar Elias Monday afternoon.
She will be winding-up her visit by holding a press conference at 5:00 p.m. at the European Union Mission headquarters in Saifi. Accordingly, the EU Mission urged journalists wishing to cover the press conference to arrive at its headquarters between 4:00 p.m. & 4:30 p.m.

Parliamentarian delegation checks on Lebanese wounded
Sun 20 Mar 2016/NNA - The Lebanese Parliamentarian delegation has been to Abidjan to check on Lebanese Expatriates injured in the terrorist attack on Grand Bassam Seaside Resort. Delegation reportedly offered condolences to Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara at the loss of human life expressing full solidarity with bereaved families of the victims.

Police arrest father who brutalized his 4 year old son
Sun 20 Mar 2016/NNA - Police detectives have arrested father to a 4-year-old toddler reportedly brutalized on camera in Taybeh south Lebanon NNA field correspondents said today. Having seen the brutalization scene online, the local gendarmes' commanding officer, ordered detectives to apprehend the father who was duly handed over to the court of law pending appropriate prosecution, the same reporters concluded.

Paris Attacks Suspect Abdeslam Spends First Night in Jail, Says was Plotting 'New Acts'
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/March 20/16/The lawyer to top Paris attacks fugitive Salah Abdeslam launched a furious legal fight Sunday to avoid extradition after Europe's most wanted fugitive spent his first night in a Belgian prison. Abdeslam is held in a high security jail on charges of "terrorist murder" for his role in the November 13 gun and suicide attacks on the French capital, which killed 130 people. The Belgian-born French citizen, who was caught unarmed after being shot in the leg during a Friday police raid in Brussels, told interrogators he had planned to blow himself up at the Stade de France stadium in Paris but had backed out at the last minute. A day after his capture, the 26-year-old was taken to a maximum security prison in the northwestern city of Bruges where police are eager to question the man who is the only survivor of the 10-man commando believed to have carried out the attacks. His lawyer Sven Mary said Abdeslam would fight his extradition to Paris beginning with a legal complaint against a French prosecutor who divulged the details of the first interrogation with the suspect to journalists on Saturday. "I don't understand why a prosecutor in Paris has to communicate at this stage on an investigation in Belgium," Mary told Le Soir newspaper on Sunday. Abdeslam "is worth gold. He is collaborating, he's communicating, he is not using his right to remain silent," Mary said, urging patience. Belgium's foreign minister meanwhile said that Abdeslam has told investigators that he was planning new operations from Brussels and possibly had access to several weapons. Minister Didier Reynders said Abdeslam had claimed that "he was ready to restart something from Brussels, and it's maybe the reality."Reynders gave credence to the suspect's claim because "we found a lot of weapons, heavy weapons in the first investigations, and we have seen a new network of people around him in Brussels."Speaking to security experts at a German Marshall Fund conference in Brussels, Reynders said "we have found more than 30 people involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris, but we are sure that there are others."He urged European intelligence, law enforcement, and border authorities to exchange more information to help track the suspects down.Interpol also has called on European countries to be vigilant at their borders, saying Abdeslam's accomplices may try to flee after his capture. The international police agency recommended closer checks at borders, especially for stolen passports. Many of the Nov. 13 attackers and accomplices traveled on falsified or stolen documents.
'Violation'
Paris prosector Francois Molins on Saturday told reporters Abdeslam had played a "central role" in planning the November attacks, which targeted bars, restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall and were claimed by the Islamic State group (IS). His brother Brahim blew himself up in a restaurant in the east of the French capital, and Molins said Abdeslam had planned to do the same at the Stade de France before changing his mind. Investigators believe Abdeslam rented rooms in the Paris area to be used by the attackers and a car, which he used to drive them to the Stade de France before heading to the 18th arrondissement in the north of the capital. Days after the attacks an explosives-filled suicide vest was found in Paris in an area where mobile phone signals indicated Abdeslam had been. Abdeslam was "directly linked to the preparation, the organization and, unfortunately, the perpetration of these attacks," said Hollande, who was in Brussels for an EU summit when the raid took place. French President Francois Hollande said shortly after his arrest Friday that he wanted to see Abdeslam transferred to France as quickly as possible to face prosecution.
Two suspects at large
Abdeslam's arrest in the gritty Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels was hailed by European and U.S. leaders, while French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said it dealt a "major blow" to IS jihadists operating in Europe. But the minister warned Saturday that the threat level remained "extremely high" and said France was deploying extra police officers to its borders to step up controls following discussions with Interpol. Abdeslam is behind bars in solitary confinement at the Bruges high-security prison alongside Mehdi Nemmouche, who carried out a fatal attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels in 2014. Police have also detained a suspected accomplice, known only under the false IDs of Amine Choukri or Mounir Ahmed Alaaj, but at a prison near Liege in eastern Belgium.
Pizza delivery
Former small-time criminal Abdeslam is believed to be the last surviving member of the 10-man jihadist team that carried out the Paris attacks. Two more suspects are wanted in connection with the killings -- Mohamed Abrini, who became friends with Abdeslam when they were teenagers, and another fugitive known only by a name used on false papers, Soufiane Kayal. Prosecutors said special forces raided a house in Molenbeek on Friday because of evidence found in an operation elsewhere in Brussels on Tuesday, in which another Paris-linked suspect died in a gunbattle. Abdeslam's fingerprints were found at the scene of the first raid. The police on Friday were also convinced they were on the right trail by the unusual number of pizzas ordered by a resident of the Molenbeek house, Belgian media said.'

Boycott Israel stickers cropping up on products throughout Canada
By JTA \03/20/2016
TORONTO — More stickers advising consumers not to purchase products made in Israel are popping up across Canada. Facebook posts now show the stickers on Sabra hummus, Keter and SodaStream products, Glutino biscuits, dates and tangerines at grocers, and at hardware stores in Montreal, Winnipeg, Hamilton and Brampton, Ontario, and other towns in British Columbia.Warning!” the stickers state. “Do not buy this product. Made in Israel: A country violating international law, the 4th Geneva Convention, and fundamental human rights…#BDS.” The labels are being distributed free by the Montreal-based Canadians for Justice & Peace in the Middle East, or CJPME, which launched the sticker campaign after the House of Commons voted last month to condemn the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, or BDS, campaign against Israel. “CJPME was specifically cited in the parliamentary motion targeting organizations supporting economic action against Israel, and CJPME has launched its new campaign in response,” the group said on its website. In recent week, the stickers had been affixed to bottles of Israeli wine in Vancouver, British Columbia, and to grocery products in Calgary, Alberta.
Both affected companies removed the labels and vowed increased vigilance. CJPME is urging activists to post Facebook pictures of the labels stuck on products.The Jewish Defense League of Canada has written to the federal minister of public safety that “conspiring with other groups and persons to willfully damage business premises and impeding people from carrying on normal business … must be stopped.”Also, the JDL said it has brought the matter to the attention of the Canada Revenue Agency, as CJPME’s charitable arm, the CJPME Foundation, is registered as a federal charity that issues tax receipts for donations and lists the same address as the CJPME.

Syria: How Much Longer?
Naharnet/March 20/16/The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement have issued the below statement to mark the fifth year of the Syrian conflict: This week marks five years since the start of the war in Syria. More than 250,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in a conflict which has created the largest humanitarian crisis of our time. We, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, take this opportunity to call on all parties to the conflict to do everything in their power to find a long term and sustainable political solution to the conflict. We mark this commemoration with both deep sadness and great admiration for all those who have endured terrible hardships over the past five years. We reaffirm our commitment to the people of Syria, who have shown incredible fortitude and resilience in the face of adversity. We remain determined to support them as they keep striving for a better tomorrow, for a future for their children. The recent cessation of hostilities has brought a period of long-sought calm for the Syrian people and we welcome all efforts to find a political solution to this crisis. The fact remains that over 13.5 million people in Syria are still in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, five million of them children, many of whom have only known war. Daily life is characterized by fear and uncertainty. Bombs and mortars strike indiscriminately. Homes, hospitals and schools have been damaged or destroyed completely.
Some 6.6 million people have been displaced internally, often many times over. Staff and volunteers of the Syrian Red Crescent (SARC), supported by Movement partners, work tirelessly to do what they can to help, frequently in difficult and dangerous circumstances. Each month, SARC distributes relief to 4.5 million people, and it is the primary local partner for the UN and all international NGOs registered and operating throughout Syria.
In the past five years, 53 SARC volunteers and staff have been killed in the course of their humanitarian work in the country, as well as eight volunteers and staff of the Palestine Red Crescent Society. We take this opportunity to pay tribute to the tremendous courage and dedication of the volunteers and staff of the Red Crescent. We urge all parties to this conflict to ensure aid workers are protected and allowed to do their jobs in safety. We also mark this anniversary by reiterating our call for regular, unimpeded access to the besieged and hard-to-reach areas of Syria. Humanitarian aid should not be dependent on political negotiations and we remind all parties to this conflict of their obligations under international humanitarian law (IHL) to respect civilian life and human dignity. As a Movement, we stand resolute in our determination to bring help to all those who need it. Beyond Syria’s borders, many more tragedies are unfolding. Over 9 million people have now fled the fighting in Syria, the majority to the neighboring countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. Millions more have risked their lives to cross into Europe. Throughout their perilous journeys, National Red Cross Red Crescent Societies have been a constant presence and a constant support. United by the Fundamental Principles of humanity, neutrality and impartiality, Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers and staff are working around the clock to provide people on the move with food, water, healthcare and reassurance. Our work in psychosocial support and restoring family links has meant that millions of families have been comforted and reunited, a glimmer of hope amongst terrible sadness. But there is much work to be done in the weeks and months to come. We stand united as a Movement to ensure the protection of migrants, refugees and people seeking asylum. As the Syria conflict enters its sixth year and as another phase of critical peace talks get underway in Geneva, we urge all those with a role in the conflict to remember that they have the fate of millions in their hands.”

Italy rescues almost 1,000 boat migrants
Reuters, Milan/Tripoli Sunday, 20 March 2016/Italy’s coast guard said more than 900 migrants were rescued in four separate operations in the Strait of Sicily on Saturday, while Libyan authorities said they had rescued nearly 600 migrants from four boats, one of which sank. A spokesman for Libyan naval forces, Ayoub Qassem, said the bodies of four dead women had been recovered, and some migrants were still missing.Italian emergency services recovered one corpse during their rescue operations. Now into the second year of its worst migration crisis since World War Two, Europe has seen more than 1.2 million people arrive since the beginning of 2015, most of them from Africa and the Middle East.Italy’s coast guard has continued to pick up migrants in trouble in the stretch of water between its southern coast and North Africa, although most people seeking a better life in Europe have taken less dangerous routes to Greece. Libya has been in turmoil, and smuggling networks that send migrants across the Mediterranean towards Europe are deeply embedded there. The EU has warned that Libya could be the source of a new escalation of Europe’s migration crisis. Those rescued off the coast of western Libya on Saturday included migrants from sub-Saharan African countries and from Bangladesh, Qassem said. More than 550 other migrants had been rescued in other operations between Wednesday and Friday, and 17 saved on Thursday had been seriously injured when their boat caught fire, he said.
The Italian coast guard said it had rescued 378 migrants in two separate operations on Saturday. Another 112 migrants were picked up by a vessel operated for the European Union border agency Frontex and another 420 people by a ship under the EU’s EUNAVFOR mission in the Mediterranean.
The coast guard gave no details on the nationalities of the victim or those rescued.

Syria aid groups push UK on anti-terror laws
By Tom Esslemont London, Thomson Reuters Foundation Sunday, 20 March 2016/The British government must do more to reduce the negative impact of anti-terror laws on Syrians’ access to crucial humanitarian supplies, charities said on Sunday. In a letter to the Prime Minister, David Cameron, 12 UK-based aid organizations said “ambiguous” legislation was slowing down or blocking the flow of funds to Syria as it was encouraging some banks to become more risk averse. “Regulators should proactively clarify the (anti money-laundering) regulations and ensure that banks act in a proportionate manner,” the letter said. Last month a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation revealed the extent to which Western anti-terror laws were forcing aid agencies in Syria to avoid communities controlled by extremist groups. In a survey, 21 aid organizations operating in Syria said banking regulations were making it harder for their staff to deliver vital supplies, leaving people vulnerable to radicalization. Despite a widespread truce that has lasted three weeks, Syria’s government has refused to give permission for aid convoys to enter six areas under siege by its forces, a UN humanitarian adviser said on Thursday. On Friday the UN World Food Program said some Syrians in the besieged areas of Daraya and Deir al-Zor, under siege by government forces and Islamic State respectively, had been reduced to eating grass because food supplies were cut off. Charities acknowledge that, in the wake of successive militant attacks in the United States and Europe, controls are needed to track the financing of groups such as ISIS, including through SWIFT, the most widely used platform for bank transactions. But in their letter, shown exclusively to the Thomson Reuters Foundation and the Sunday Times ahead of publication, the charities said a balance needed to be struck that encourages due diligence by banks without denying support to legitimate charities doing vital work. The letter was signed by the bosses of Islamic Relief, Christian Aid, Syria Relief, Responding to Conflict, Mercy Corps UK, Care International UK, CAFOD, Sawa Foundation UK, Muslim Charities Forum, Muslim Aid, Hand in Hand for Syria and BOND, a consortium of more than 400 charities. It recommended the British government build on its “laudable humanitarian leadership” by bringing banks, aid agencies and the umbrella group, the British Bankers' Association together to find a way forward. “Our politicians must act to ensure that life-saving funds can continue to reach those most in need,” the letter concluded.

Obama hails nuclear deal in message to Iran
The Associated Press Sunday, 20 March 2016/President Barack Obama said the benefits of the Iranian nuclear deal are "undeniable" although it may still take time for people to begin enjoying them. Obama said the deal makes it possible for Iran to rejoin the global economy through increased trade and investment, creating jobs and opportunities for Iranians to sell their goods around the world. The president added that the U.S. still has "profound differences" with Iran, but said the fact that the countries are talking regularly for the first time in decades could help solve them.Obama addressed the Iranian people in his annual video message marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year. Citing his trip Sunday to Cuba, he said it's possible for old adversaries to start down a new path after decades of mistrust. Gulf Arab states have previously said they required further assurances that the U.S. would help them counter increasing Iranian regional influence.

ISIS suffers blows in Iraq, Syria, still fighting
By AP Baghdad Sunday, 20 March 2016/After months of losing ground in Iraq and Syria, ISIS is showing signs of wear and tear, and its opponents say they have seen an increase in desertions among the extremists. But the militants appear to be lashing back with more terrorist and chemical attacks. Under a stepped-up campaign of US-led and Russian airstrikes, as well as ground assaults by multiple forces in each country, the militants are estimated to have lost about 40 percent of their territory in Iraq and more than 20 percent in Syria. At their highest point in the summer of 2014, the group had overrun nearly a third of each country, declaring a “caliphate” spanning from northwestern Syria to the outskirts of Baghdad. At that time, the extremists were riding high, known for their courage, experience, readiness to die and brutality. Now, those battling them on the ground say they appear to be flagging.“What we are witnessing is that Daesh are not as determined as they used to be,” Lt. Col. Fares al-Bayoush, commander of a Syrian rebel faction, said, using an Arabic acronym to refer to ISIS. His 1,300-strong Fursan al-Haq Brigade has been fighting against ISIS and Syrian government forces for more than a year. “Now there are members who surrender, there are some who defect. In the past they used to come blow themselves up,” he said. A Palestinian-American member of ISIS recently gave himself up to Kurdish forces in northern Iraq, but so far, the reports of desertions are mostly anecdotal. Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama’s envoy to the US-led coalition fighting ISIS, said this week at a conference in northern Iraq that IS desertions have increased recently and more are expected, but he did not provide figures.Clint Watts, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said ISIS is experiencing a phenomenon he’s witnessed in other extremist groups that begin to lose territory. “You’ve seen more and more reports of defectors just broadly, and you’ve also seen more reports of internal killings of so-called spies,” Watts said. “As they lose ground and retract you start to see these fractures emerge in the organization.”
The ISIS setbacks began over a year ago, when the fighters were forced out of the northern Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani by local Kurdish forces backed by US-led airstrikes. In December, the predominantly Kurdish U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, under cover of intense coalition airstrikes seized the Tishrin Dam, which supplies much of northern Syria with electricity. In the weeks that followed the forces gained control of more areas. In all of 2015, the militants lost 14 percent of their territory in Syria, according to IHS, an analysis group that monitors the conflict. In the past three months, they lost another eight percent, a sign that the erosion is accelerating. The IHS figure roughly matches an estimate of a 20 percent loss given this week by US Secretary of State John Kerry. In February alone, the SDF said it captured 2,400 square kilometers (927 square miles) consisting of 315 villages including the IS stronghold of Shaddadeh, on the main road linking the Iraqi city of Mosul and the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the "caliphate." SDF spokesman Col. Talal Sillo said the command will meet soon to plan for another offensive in northern Syria. In Iraq, ISIS territorial losses have been more gradual. Coalition airstrikes have cleared the way for ground forces to reclaim towns and cities from Sinjar in the country’s north to Ramadi in the west. The coalition estimates that between the launch of the air campaign in August 2014 and January 2016, IS has lost between 21,000-24,000 square kilometers (8,100-9,200 square miles), about 40% of the Iraqi territory it once held.
Calls for a stepped-up campaign intensified after ISIS claimed responsibility for the Nov. 13 Paris attacks that left 130 dead and the Oct. 31 downing of a Russian jetliner from the Egyptian beach resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, which killed all 224 on board. Deadly attacks in Turkey by ISIS that killed scores of people also spurred Ankara to tighten its closure of the border, making it difficult for the extremists to cross into Syria. In an effort to squeeze the group’s finances, coalition and Russian warplanes in Syria began increasingly targeting ISIS oil assets in November. ISIS has since had to cut salaries and benefits for fighters. Last week, Iraqi, Syrian and US officials confirmed that prominent ISIS military leader Omar al-Shishani died of his wounds from a US airstrike in northeastern Syria earlier this month. US special forces also recently captured the head of the ISIS unit researching chemical weapons in Iraq, and airstrikes have targeted the group's chemical weapons infrastructure. “As bad things start to happen, the less motivated, less disciplined, less radical elements of the force break and run,” US Army Col. Steve Warren said. “We’re going to keep seeing this.” The United States estimates that as of last month, ISIS fields 19,000 to 25,000 fighters in Iraq and Syria - down from an estimated 20,000 to 31,500 - a number that was based on intelligence reports from May to August 2014. A US official said the decrease reflects the combined effects of battlefield deaths, desertions, internal disciplinary actions, recruiting shortfalls and difficulties that foreign fighters face traveling to Syria. Still, these developments do not necessarily make ISIS less of a threat.In both Syria and Iraq, ISIS has launched some of its deadliest suicide attacks in recent weeks as well as a number of chemical weapons attacks. On Feb. 22, a triple suicide bombing in a Shiite suburb of the Syrian capital killed at least 83 people and wounded more than a hundred. In neighboring Iraq, a suicide truck bombing south of Baghdad killed 61 and wounded 95. In the northern Iraqi town of Taza, an ISIS chemical weapons attack last week killed one person and wounded more than 600. ISIS also launched a coordinated assault on the northern Syrian border town of Tal Abyad and nearby villages. In days of fighting, 47 SDF fighters and 140 militants were killed, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group that tracks all sides of the conflict. Watts said that if ISIS can’t use battlefield victories to rally its supporters, it will turn to terrorist attacks. “In terms of being a conventional army that can take territory, they are less dangerous,” Watts said. “But if your worry is regional and international terrorism they're going to be more dangerous.”

Istanbul bomber was Turkish ISIS member
By Reuters Istanbul Sunday, 20 March 2016/A Turkish member of ISIS militant group was responsible for Saturday’s suicide bombing in Istanbul that killed three Israelis and an Iranian and wounded dozens of others, Turkey’s interior minister said. Efkan Ala identified the bomber as a man born in the southern province of Gaziantep, adding that five people had been detained so far in connection with the bombing. “We have determined that Mehmet Ozturk, born in 1992 in Gaziantep, has carried out the heinous attack on Saturday in Istanbul. It has been established that he is a member of Daesh,” Ala told a news conference broadcast live on television, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. Israel has confirmed that three of its citizens died in the blast. Two of them held dual citizenship with the United States. An Iranian was also killed, Turkish officials have said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel is trying to determine whether its citizens were deliberately targeted. Eleven of the 36 wounded were Israelis. Saturday’s attack on Istiklal Street, Istanbul’s most popular shopping district, appeared similar to a January suicide bombing blamed on ISIS that killed at least 12 German tourists in the city's historic center. More than 80 people have now been killed in four suicide attacks so far this year in Turkey, a NATO member that faces multiple security threats. As part of a US-led coalition, it is fighting ISIS in neighboring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling Kurdish militants in its southeast, where a 2-1/2-year ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence since the 1990s. The spate of bombings has raised questions about Turkey’s ability to protect itself from a spillover of both the Syria and Kurdish conflicts. An offshoot of the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility for two recent car bomb attacks in the capital Ankara that killed a total of 66 people. Turkey sees the Kurdish insurgency as fueled by the territorial gains of Kurdish militia fighters in northern Syria.
High alert
Police were questioning the father and brother of the alleged bomber Ozturk and had determined his identity by checking a DNA sample from the blast scene against one taken from his father, security sources said. Ozturk’s family reported him missing after he went to Istanbul in 2013, the security sources said. Police were on high alert on Sunday after the previous day’s attack and due to concerns about potential clashes between security forces and Kurdish militants during a spring festival this weekend that is widely celebrated by Kurds. The United States and some European embassies had warned their citizens to be vigilant before the Newroz celebrations.A small group of lawmakers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party, the Kurdish-rooted opposition party, were scheduled to walk to Istanbul’s Bakirkoy district for the festivities. Roads in that area were being closed by police for security reasons, Anadolu Agency reported. Streets across the city, usually bustling with traffic and pedestrians on Sundays, were eerily quiet apart from the sound of police helicopters buzzing overhead. Television footage showed Istiklal Street virtually empty. Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook were not readily accessible, local users reported. Authorities have blocked access to such sites after bombings in the past, usually because graphic images have been shared online.

Iran’s leaders offer different different New Year visions
By Reuters Dubai Sunday, 20 March 2016/Iran’s two most powerful figures offered contrasting visions for the economy in speeches marking Iranian New Year on Sunday, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for self-reliance and President Hassan Rowhani urging cooperation with the world.
In Nowruz speeches, Khamenei and Rowhani looked back on the past year, which saw sanctions on Iran lifted under a nuclear deal with world powers, and agreed the economy should be a top priority in the new Iranian year. But while Rowhani said further engagement with other countries was the key to economic growth, Khamenei reaffirmed his commitment to the concept of a “resistance economy” centered on self-sufficiency. The competing messages underscore differences between the two leaders, who both subscribe to the principles of the Islamic Republic but have divergent ideas about how it should engage with the global economy and in particular Western powers. “I am sure that with cooperation and effort inside the country, and constructive engagement with the world, our economy can bloom and develop,” Rowhani said on the first day of the Iranian year 1395. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for self-reliance (Photo: Reuters) Khamenei declared 1395 the year of “the Resistance Economy: Action and Implementation”, and said the Islamic Republic should take steps to reduce its vulnerability to the designs of its “enemies”, meaning the United States and its allies. The 76-year-old cleric, Iran’s highest authority, has consistently warned against allowing any form of Western influence to enter the Islamic Republic, and recently said the economy had not benefited from an influx of Western business delegations to Tehran. Rowhani, who championed the nuclear deal that saw sanctions lifted in January, has said businesses from all countries are welcome to enter the market so long as they hire Iranian workers and bring economic development into the country. The president’s allies made significant gains in parliamentary elections last month, which could help him push through economic reforms designed to welcome foreign investors. But Khamenei and the Guardian Council, a conservative clerical body, have veto power over all legislation.

ISIS militants claim attack that killed 13 in Egypt’s Sinai
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Saturday, 19 March 2016/ISIS-affiliated militants claimed an attack on Egypt’s security forces in the Sinai Peninsula, which killed 13 on Saturday, Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent reported. The correspondent said the ISIS-affliated Wilayat Sinai claimed the attack which targeted the security forces near Arish, the largest city in Sinai. The English language and state-own Ahram Online daily said on its website “unidentified gunmen have attacked a security checkpoint in the North Sinai city of Arish.” Citing sources, Ahram Online said “ambulances were not able to reach the site of the attack in the El-Safa neighborhood.”Meanwhile, a security source told the local Youm7 website that a blast has took place in Sheikh Zuweird, a town in North Sinai, after “terrorists elements” fired mortal shells at police. The source said army and police forces are now patrolling the area. Militants have regularly attacked security forces in the peninsula since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in July 2013. Militants say their attacks are in retaliation for a government crackdown targeting Mursi supporters that has left hundreds dead and thousands imprisoned. The authorities say hundreds of policemen and soldiers have been killed in attacks, mainly in North Sinai, since 2013, although there have also been attacks in the Nile Delta and in Cairo. Egypt’s branch of ISIS also said it planted a bomb that caused the crash of a Russian airliner in the Sinai in October, killing 224 people. (With AFP)

What Georges Tarabichi did not say!
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/March 20/16
Late Thursday night, Georges Tarabichi, an exceptional man and thinker, left our world. He provided the Arab libraries with an enormous body of work – translations, literature, philosophy and other intellectual output that also dealt with arts and sciences. He has passed away but has left behind a legacy that is worth a lifetime of academic pursuit. Tarabichi’s life was culturally rich. Everybody was aware of the headlines he made and the subjects over which he debated with his fellow thinkers, philosophers and researchers. He was forthright and honest in expressing his opinion and in taking sides. When he took up heritage research, he wanted to verify everything and not rush things. He observed all the relevant facts carefully and meticulously. I had the opportunity to meet him and was also the last publisher to deal with him. I got to know him as a man before getting to know him as a thinker. He was traumatized by the Syrian crisis and was on the side of the people and their right to freedom. However, he kept asking questions about the future of his country. He asked honest questions about democracy, the position of women and fundamentalism in the wake of all this chaos in Syria. With Tarabichi’s demise, a major Arab institution has collapsed and we can now only find comfort in the legacy and his enormous contributions. Tarabichi wrote testimonies and not just political documents that could be forgotten. He did so to ensure that the next generation doesn’t accuse him of failure or of misleading them through an exaggerated dream after this painful crisis.
“Interpretation of the Qoran”
When he wrote his last article about his life and times, it was as if he was mourning. I called him and asked him to write his memoirs but I found that the project still looming in his 80-year-old mind was the “interpretation of the Qoran”. This was a project that could not be completed. Its completion would have brought him together with his greatest rival, Mohammed Abed al-Jabri, who ended his career with a project about the Qoran and its interpretations. With Tarabichi’s demise, a major Arab institution has collapsed and we can now only find comfort in the legacy and his enormous contributions. Goodbye Professor Georges and our sincere condolences to your friend, Professor Henriette Aboudy, your wife, loved ones, students and books.

AIPAC conference nervously awaits Trump speech
Ynetnews/Associated Press/March 20/16

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/03/20/ynetnews-aipac-conference-nervously-awaits-trump-speech/
Republican front-runner to address leading US pro-Israel group, but some worry that he is a wild card who has yet to fully explain his views on Israel — and that his support from known racists is a red flag.
As America's leading pro-Israel group prepares to hear from nearly all the presidential candidates, most eyes in the crowd of thousands of participants will be on GOP front-runner Donald Trump.
He's the wild card whose previous comments about Israel have created some anxiety among many who will attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee policy conference this week in Washington.Expect Republicans Ted Cruz and John Kasich to espouse standard conservative fare. Democrat Hillary Clinton probably will stick to well-known positions. Rival Bernie Sanders — trying to become first Jewish candidate to win a major party's presidential nomination — is skipping the event. Much like the American electorate at large, the pro-Israel community in the United States is anything but monolithic, and this year's conference appears set to highlight those different constituencies, including socially liberal Democratic Jews, establishment Republican Jews, and conservative evangelical Christians. In a broad sense, all the candidates confirmed to speak on Monday fall into one of those categories. Except Trump — and therein lies the angst. "Trump has said a lot of things about Israel over the years, most of it favorable but some of it more ambiguous," said Josh Block, a former AIPAC official who now heads The Israel Project. "This will be an opportunity to address the ambiguity before a serious foreign policy audience."
AIPAC bills itself as nonpartisan and has never endorsed a candidate. Yet the organization has delved into highly partisan political debates over issues of interest to Israel, most recently and notably the Iran nuclear deal, which it vehemently opposed. In that, it is at odds with ardent deal supporters Clinton and Democrat Bernie Sanders, and to a certain degree, with Kasich, the lone Republican who has not said he would automatically rescind the pact.
Trump and Cruz have promised, if elected, to rip up the agreement. Beyond that, Cruz has pledged absolute support for Israel, but Trump has been far from clear on how he would approach matters of deep concern to pro-Israel voters.
Unlike Cruz, Trump has not said he would move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a perennial Republican campaign promise, and, unlike Cruz, he has said he will be neutral as a negotiator in trying to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Cruz's campaign website features an entire section on Israel; Trump's does not address it all. On Mideast peace talks, Trump says: "You understand a lot of people have gone down in flames trying to make that deal. So I don't want to say whose fault it is — I don't think that helps." He also put off calls to clarify his position on the status of Jerusalem. By contrast, Cruz is unabashedly pro-Israel and he called for Secretary of State John Kerry's resignation over what he considered anti-Israel bias. "A Cruz administration will on day one recognize Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel and the US Embassy will be moved to Israel's capital city," Cruz says on his website. Clinton, meanwhile, has a long history in the Middle East, including overseeing as secretary of state the Obama administration's first attempt to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace with former Sen. George Mitchell as envoy. Her stance against Jewish settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians has been criticized by some in the pro-Israel community, but she has been received warmly by pro-Israel groups in the past, not least because she has a track record. Trump, on the other hand, has something of a checkered record with pro-Israel Republicans. He drew boos last year from the Republican Jewish Coalition when he refused to take a stance on the embassy location and further raised eyebrows by using what many consider to be offensive stereotypes in moments of attempted levity. Similar remarks will not be welcomed at the AIPAC conference.
In addition, as they have done nationally, Trump's positions on immigration and Muslims and his apparent vacillation on support he is getting from figures known for anti-Semitic and racist rhetoric have caused concern among AIPAC members. And, as with other communities, comparisons of Trump to Hitler and Mussolini have clouded their impressions. Some have announced they will protest Trump, if not by disrupting his speech by walking out. Others have said the speech will be an important opportunity to hear Trump explain his views. The debate has played out in dramatic fashion since AIPAC issued its invitations and candidates began responding to them.
South Florida Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin is among a group of about 40 rabbis that plans to boycott Trump's address Monday evening, saying his appearance "poses political, moral, and even spiritual quandaries.""We have been urging rabbis to simply not attend the Trump speech — to let our absence be felt and noted," Salkin wrote in a column for the Religious News Service last week. "Sometimes, you just have to scream — even silently."Then there are those who believe the speech will be an important opportunity to hear Trump explain his views, no matter how much they may disagree, and stay on good terms with a viable candidate for the highest office in the land. "It's important that the lobby keep itself on decent terms with whatever powers govern in Washington," commentator J.J. Goldberg wrote in the Jewish newspaper The Forward.
"Who holds those powers is an important question, never more so than this year, but it's not a question AIPAC exists to answer."That may be true and the campaign battles will certainly continue no matter what the candidates say at the conference. But Trump's speech, in particular, will be dissected for months to come for clues on his views.

'Dagan stood firm in battle for Israel's existence in ways that surpassed the imagination'
Jerusalem Post/March 20/16
Former Mossad director Meir Dagan was buried at the Rosh Pina Cemetery on Sunday. He died on Thursday, aged 71.
Current and past leaders attended the funeral and paid tribute to the former intelligence chief’s many achievements on behalf of the country’s security.
In his eulogy, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Dagan symbolized an important Zionist achievement, which he defined as “the ability to hold the defending sword [and] to stand firm against our enemies in the battle for the existence of the nation.”
Netanyahu hailed Dagan’s daring in the fight against terrorism, and the sheer chutzpah of his espionage plans.
“I was always impressed by his love of the state and his Zionist patriotism,” the prime minister said. “He said that terrorism would not end at least for another 100 years. I don’t know if it will take another 100 years, but I know that terrorism will continue to hit us.”
The premier recalled sitting in Dagan’s office and bursting out laughing after the spy chief presented his audacious plans.
The murder of Dagan’s grandfather by the Nazis in the Holocaust was always in Dagan’s mind, Netanyahu said.
“At the ultimate moment, no one came to save the Jews.
Meir Dagan remembered that, and we must always remember that. When the test comes, we must be able to defend ourselves, by ourselves, and not to rely on the mercy of others.”
Dagan worked tirelessly to ensure that Israel does not face existential danger, Netanyahu said, adding that he “fought with bravery on the battlefield, and proved his daring in the fight against terrorism.”
Dagan saw Islamic zealotry as a tangible threat that required Israel to strengthen its deterrence, intelligence and ability to thwart threats, the premier said, including in “hidden ways, in breakthrough techniques, and in ways that surpass the imagination.”
President Reuven Rivlin recalled how Dagan always looked at the photograph of his grandfather, Rabbi Be’er Sloshni, with his hands raised while on his knees, at the Lukow ghetto in Poland, wrapped in a prayer shawl, seconds before he was executed by Nazi soldiers.
“‘This is what guides me,’ you told me. ‘This is what guides me to act on behalf of the State of Israel and on behalf of the Jewish people...
I look at that photo and promise that such a thing will never reoccur, and I hope and believe I did all that I could to keep that promise.’ Meir, you did it. And how. You went above and beyond, with love, dedication, and endless commitment.
All of your acts were tied to the Israeli people and its fate.”
Former president Shimon Peres said at the funeral that Dagan never asked what he should get in return for his service to the state. “You were, after all, born to give, Meir,” Peres said.
“Meir never surrendered.
Not to a drawn sword, not to a painful truth, and not during his campaign for peace. He was a born leader. There’s a good reason fighters went after him into the battlefield, in overt and covert places.
The people trusted him and placed in his hands the fate of the battle, and the power of a vision. Under his command, which was composed of a mix of wisdom, bravery, creativity and a grain of winning audaciousness, the Mossad became the best organization in the world.”
Newly appointed Mossad director Yossi Cohen said that “with Meir Dagan’s passing, the Israeli people has lost one of its greatest warriors. Those are big words, and they should be used carefully and with restraint. But in Meir’s case – yes, that’s how we called the head of the Mossad, we simply called him Meir, or Dagan – in Meir’s case, this description is accurate and true.
“Meir taught us, the people of the Mossad, to combine daring with cunning, bravery with ruses, to take big chances, and to act at the same time with responsibility and sound judgment. He taught us one important thing in particular: to act with optimism and self-confidence, while stubbornly sticking to the target, with a focus and a level of energy that will allow us to succeed, and especially, to work as one man, as one organization, in what he called and endowed to us all, integration,” Cohen said.
Dagan used the same dedication to care for personal problems among Mossad personnel, Cohen said. He distanced himself from control rooms at times to give senior and low-ranking members the space to act on their own, after he made himself very clear on what he wanted to achieve.
“But at the same time, he knew when to get involved, when to be present, when to put a hand on someone’s shoulder, to always listen well to the opinions and ideas of others – even the youngest, and sometimes, particularly to them,” Cohen said.