The Daily Star
Solar car makes stop in Beirut on world tour
Driver aims to promote alternative energy
By John Ehab
Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
BEIRUT: Amid a journey around the world with a solar energy vehicle, Switzerland's Louis Palmer arrived in Beirut to promote clean sources of energy. "For the first time in history, we are driving a car, powered by solar energy, around the whole world, Palmer told The Daily Star, near his car parked on Fouad Chehab street.
"We will report daily, how people are trying to stop global warming in the different countries of this world, and we want to show that solutions are available and everybody can be part of the solution" he said.
Amid the European Sustainable Energy Forum 2007, held in Luzern, Switzerland from July 2 to 6, the solar taxi set off on its pioneering journey.
Palmer is expected to end his tour later this year at the original Swiss departure city.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=84517
Environmentalist calls for unity after cedar-reserve fires
By Hesham Shawish
Special to The Daily Star
Monday, August 13, 2007
BEIRUT: A leading environmentalist urged Lebanese to unite to combat major challenges threatening their environment and their health, in a conference on Saturday. The head of the Association for Forests, Development and Conservation (AFDC), Mounir Bou Ghanem, was speaking during a news conference days after forest fires wiped out at least 1,200 hectares of Chouf cedar reserves on the Bekaa side of the mountains. The conference discussed ways to work with the government and other foundations and ministries to provide fire engines at various points around reserves and forests, so the engines would be able to mobilize quickly during future forest fires.
The conference also comes at a time when Lebanon's coastline has yet to recover from its worst environmental crisis, the oil spill caused by an Israeli air raid on the Jiyyeh power plant during last summer's war. The bombing of the Jiyyeh power plant dumped some 15,000 tons of oil into the sea, fouling about 120 kilometers of Lebanon's coast.
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Nassib Lahoud joins race for Lebanon's top post
Geagea describes prospects for consensus president as 'absurd'
By Mirella Hodeib
Daily Star staff
Friday, August 17, 2007
BEIRUT: Former MP Nassib Lahoud officially announced his candidacy Thursday for the presidential post, amid accelerated efforts on the Lebanese political scene to forge a consensus concerning the presidency and avoid unsolicited escalations. "I am currently in the final stages of writing my presidential platform, where I will include my personal outlook on the peculiar characteristics any Lebanese president must have," Lahoud said in two separate interviews published in the Ousbou al-Arabi and Magazine weeklies.
Lahoud is the third figure from the March 14 Forces to have announced his candidacy for imminent elections in less than a week. MPs Butros Harb and Robert Ghanem announced their candidacy earlier this week, pending their respective platforms. Harb said he would finalize his platform by the end of August, when he is expected to formally announce he is a candidate for the presidency.
"There are a number of highly competent figures among the March 14 Forces capable of being excellent presidents and our group will announce its official candidate in due time ... that is the reason why I submitted my candidacy," Lahoud said.
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Future Movement MP rejects Suleiman's 'political advice'
Friday, August 17, 2007
BEIRUT: Army Commander Michel Suleiman's comments that Fatah al-Islam is not backed by the Syrian mukhabarat but is in fact a branch of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network drew angry comments from Future Movement MP Mustafa Alloush Tuesday. Alloush's comments in turn prompted Defense Minister Elias Murr to come out in Suleiman's defense.
Suleiman's comments before a group of officers on Monday contradicted what the ruling majority had long been insisting.
Alloush, in comments made to the Now Lebanon Web site, decried Suleiman's foray into the local political arena while he is still army commander. "Suleiman should stop giving advice to politicians as his post is not political," Alloush was quoted as saying.
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Berri to meet with Sfeir to discuss presidency 'when time is right'
By Hani M. Bathish
Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri will meet with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir "when the time is right" and once both men have complete their consultations with the heads of the various political parties and blocs over the presidency, a source close to the speaker said. The meeting, when it happens, aims to be productive and reassuring.
Arafat Hijazi, Berri's media adviser, told The Daily Star on Friday that the speaker expects his meeting with Sfeir to produce something substantial and to be reassuring for people. He said Berri will wait until Sfeir has completed his own consultations before setting a meeting.
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Dutch set conditions for hosting Hariri tribunal
By Arthur Blok
Special to The Daily Star
Friday, August 17, 2007
THE HAGUE: The Dutch government is setting conditions before agreeing to host the trial of suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. A key condition is that another country volunteer in advance to imprison anyone convicted in the suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri in February 2005, said spokesman Bart Rijs.
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told Dutch radio he expects the government to agree to a request by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month that the Netherlands host the court.
But Verhagen "expects some practical matters to be arranged first," Rijs said.
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A rare opportunity to treat Lebanese citizens like adults
By The Daily Star
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Editorial
The middle of August is traditionally the time when the high humidity levels in Beirut reach their annual peak, and then slowly start receding. This year, the middle of August also marked the firing of the starting pistol for the presidential candidates in Lebanon to come out of their starting gates. At least two more have declared this week, and others are on the way. The trickle is likely to turn into a mini-stampede as the election date of late September nears. This is an opportunity for Lebanon, which can transform what is now a contentious issue that has paralyzed the governance system into a constructive exercise that benefits all citizens. The many talk shows on Lebanese television should combine with the top independent research centers, universities and think tanks to initiate a flexible presidential forum that would allow serious candidates to engage with the public and explain their proposed policies. The critical requirement in the Lebanese presidency now is to transcend the issue of contentious personalities and reassert the tradition of policy-based activism anchored in a combination of political constitutionalism and human decency.
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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&article_id=84587&categ_id=17
Fadlallah accuses US of blocking attempts to end political crisis
Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
BEIRUT: Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah accused the US Friday of "blocking any actual attempts" to forge a resolution to the 10-month-old political impasse in Lebanon. "A number of European nations who showed enthusiasm to solve the crisis and restore stability to our country have gone back on the suggestions they have made after direct and indirect pressures exercised by the US," he said during the weekly Friday sermon at the Imam Hassanayn Mosque in Haret Hreik.
He added that a number of Arab countries which had earlier undertaken mediation efforts to solve the Lebanese deadlock "have also followed in the footsteps of Europeans.
Fadlallah described the "rhetoric of defiance" prevailing on the Lebanese political scene as an "unhealthy sign."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=84610
US risks foreign-policy blunder with plans to slap terrorist label on Iran's military
By The Daily Star
Friday, August 17, 2007
Editorial
After weeks of what seemed like a slow thaw in Iranian-American relations, the news that the United States may soon classify the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization comes as both a surprise and a disappointment. If the measure is approved, it would mark the first time in history that the US government has designated a military wing of a foreign country in such a way. It would also mark another disastrous foreign-policy blunder in a what is already a long list of mistakes made by the Bush administration.
The possible move, which is at best a form of political posturing, is an obvious indication that the US is growing frustrated with the slow pace of a new sanctions package at the United Nations. By threatening to take unilateral steps of their own, the Americans are probably trying to pressure members of the Security Council into taking swifter action. But by breaking away from the international fold - again - the US will undermine united international efforts to encourage Iran to behave more responsibly.
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Helicopters bomb underground bunkers at Nahr al-Bared
Suleiman criticizes allies for lack of material support
By Michael Bluhm
Daily Star staff
Friday, August 17, 2007
BEIRUT: Heavy fighting resumed between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam on Thursday at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon, while the US Embassy rejected army commander General Michel Suleiman's statement that the US had given the military only "promises and best wishes."
Soldiers and militants fought intense battles from the early morning, although by the afternoon the clashes had become intermittent, an army source told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity. The army did not suffer any casualties on Thursday, leaving the official army count at 136 troop deaths in the 12-week-old conflict.
In previous days the army had attacked exclusively from the air, bombing suspected underground bunkers from helicopters. Two helicopters dropped four bombs targeting bunkers Thursday morning, while troops also continued clearing land mines.
Israeli warplanes hovered above Nahr al-Bared at about 11 a.m. at medium altitude and then flew out to sea, said a NNA report, but the army source said the military did not have any knowledge of the incident.
Suleiman, without naming the US, said on Monday that the army had received "no equipment" from its allies, but an embassy spokesman said the US was meeting all the army's demands with exceptional speed.
"We need weapons, conventional and advanced ammunition," Suleiman said. "We didn't get anything but promises and best wishes and some ammunition, but no equipment. It's as though they are telling us, 'Die first, and assistance will follow.'"
However, the US spokesman said on condition of anonymity that the US has been rapidly delivering materiel appropriate for the battle.
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Qassem: Hizbullah rejects any mandate regardless of its source
March 14 mp lashes out at lahoud, calling him 'syrian robot'
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Hizbullah's number two Sheikh Naeem Qassem said the political standoff can be summed up with one of two themes: either rejecting a US mandate over Lebanon, or accepting it. "If we, as Lebanese political forces, can reach an understanding over issues of contention, we can then stop the US mandate over Lebanon," he said in an interview with Cairo-based Al-Ahram weekly.
According to Qassem, Hizbullah rejects any form of "mandate," regardless of where it comes from. The Syrian mandate over Lebanon, he said, was the result of an agreement made by the Saudis, the Syrians, the French and the Americans.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=84608
France circulates draft to extend UNIFIL mandate
By Hani M. Bathish
Daily Star staff
Friday, August 17, 2007
BEIRUT: France circulated a draft resolution to UN Security Council members Thursday on the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The mandate expires end of August. The Security Council met in a closed session with representatives of countries contributing troops to the UNIFIL force. The meeting was convened to consult with contributing nations over the extension of the force mandate for one year as requested by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.
Farhan Haq, UN spokesperson for the UN secretary general in New York, told The Daily Star Thursday that all troop-contributing countries were present during the meeting and showed preliminary support for the extension. Haq said that though France circulated a draft resolution on the extension during the meeting but it was not discussed.
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PLO to reshuffle command chain in Lebanon
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Friday, August 17, 2007
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) plans to introduce reforms to its command in Lebanon and has appointed a new command, the World Tribune said on Thursday.
It quoted officials in Cyprus as saying that "the PLO plans to extend its authority from central to southern Lebanon."
The PLO seeks to strengthen its presence in Lebanon during the battle in the north between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam militants, the newspaper said on behalf of the official.
The PLO was said to have been hurt by the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip, which has strengthened the Islamic movement in Lebanon as well, Middle East Newsline reported.
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The World Tribune said "in the latest development, the PLO has reshuffled its commanders." It added that a senior PLO officer, Colonel Khaled Aref, has been transferred from the South to command forces in Beirut.
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Officials call for relocation of those displaced during Civil War
By Hesham Shawish
Special to The Daily Star
Saturday, August 18, 2007
BEIRUT: Mayors and mukhtars from the Chouf, Aley and Upper Metn villages called Friday for the relocation of those displaced from their villages in 1983 during the Civil War. They highlighted the need for those displaced to be relocated to their villages of origin and be given compensation by the government.
Various reasons impeding the displaced from returning were also discussed, such as the need to repair basic infrastructure in the villages.
The mayors and mukhtars drew special attention to the need to re-evaluate the amount of compensation for those who were affected by the conflict25 years ago.
Retired general and Mayor of Rashmaya Victor Abu Selwan said that "we are sick of the situation and how slow this issue has been handled by authorities. In the seven to 12 months that we have met and discussed this issue nothing has been done."
Selwan was speaking during a meeting held at the Comfort Hotel in Hazmieh which included representatives from the villages of Aley, Ain Drafeel, Kleilah, Kfer Meta, Bereeh, Kfer Selwan and Abey. The committee demanded that "the villages and areas be returned to those displaced and those villagers affected be given compensation."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=84596
Electricity crisis to top series of planned Sidon protests
By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
SIDON: Citizens in Sidon will launch a series of demonstrations next week to protest against the living crisis that is affecting the country, starting with the electricity shortage issue.
A meeting of political factions and leftists parties, representatives from civil society groups, women's delegations, lawyers, doctors, teachers and mayors was held in Sidon Friday evening to tackle the ongoing living crisis hitting Sidon, as well as means to draw politicians' attention to the Southern area.
The meeting, which was held at the Maarouf Saad cultural center in Sidon, aimed to draw the plan for a movement expected to start next week.
Sources told The Daily Star the meeting set the electricity crisis plaguing Sidon and its region as the first issue to be tackled.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=84599
National Social Security Fund: a haven of waste
Government and fund trade blame for problems, all agree on urgent need for solutions
By Dona Challita
Special to The Daily Star
Monday, August 13, 2007
BEIRUT: The National Social Security Fund (NSSF), is a prime concern of Prime Minister's Fouad Siniora's government. The challenge is to find effective solutions to the endemic financial and administrative problems of a fund that is intended to provide medical and social services to more than 1.2 million Lebanese.
Mismanagement, lack of accountability, overstaffing, and waste at the NSSF have resulted serious deficits that are affecting the ability of the fund to provide services.
An NSSF beneficiary told The Daily Star, "We have to wait in queue, sometimes for six and seven hours to get paid. Many times we have to come the next day to fill papers, and if we are lucky, then we get paid." The reason? "We don't have any funds right now. Why don't you come next month and maybe you will be lucky," a typical answer of an NSSF clerk.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=25&article_id=84500
Kouchner pays unexpected visit to Iraq as feuding leaders agree on summit agenda
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, August 20, 2007
Iraq's fractious leaders on Sunday agreed on the agenda for a political summit called by embattled Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in a bid to salvage his crumbling unity government as the French foreign minister paid an unexpected visit to the beleaguered nation.
The breakthrough came on the second day of preparatory talks involving the country's most senior political leaders, Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said in a statement.
"We reached agreement on a number of issues," the statement said. "The most important is the agenda for the summit and who will attend the meeting."
Talks involving Maliki, Kurdish President Jalal Talabani, Hashemi, who is a Sunni, Shiite Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi, and Masud Barzani, president of the northern Kurdish region, began on Saturday and continued into Sunday, an official from Talabani's office said.
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Draft calls on all parties to facilitate 'long-term solution'
By Hani M. Bathish
Daily Star staff
Monday, August 20, 2007
BEIRUT: France distributed a draft UN Resolution to Security Council members on Friday which stressed the need for greater progress in achieving a permanent cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon as envisioned by Resolution 1701, which brought an end to last summer's war with Israel.
The draft resolution, which would extend the mandate of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) by one year, will be discussed this week by the Security Council. The council is widely expected to ratify the extension of the UNIFIL mandate until August 31, 2008, in response to the Lebanese government's request as expressed in a letter from Premier Fouad Siniora to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on June 25.
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Mufti calls on Riyadh to halt aid to South, Dahiyeh
Monday, August 20, 2007
The Mufti of Mount Lebanon, Sheikh Mohammad Ali Juzu, urged on Sunday the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to stop its aid to residents of South Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs or Dahiyeh after strong comments from pro-Syrian politicians against Riyadh and its role in the Lebanese crisis. "We urge the kingdom to stop its assistance to people who don't have one atom of loyalty. These people don't deserve that we stand by them for their feelings of enmity toward us." He added that the kingdom has played an important role in Lebanon's history and honored residents of South Lebanon and Dahieyh, who had betrayed the Saudis to please the Syrian regime. Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest contributors to Lebanon's reconstruction process following last year's war with Israel.
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Helicopters pound militants with 400-kilogram bombs at Nahr al-Bared
By Hesham Shawish
Special to The Daily Star
Monday, August 20, 2007
BEIRUT: Two Lebanese soldiers were fatally wounded by Fatah al-Islam snipers during gun battles on Saturday, as the conflict at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in North Lebanon enters its third month. One of the soldiers was killed Saturday night by sniper fire and the second died on Sunday of his wounds. Their deaths bring to 138 the number of soldiers killed since the outbreak of violence on May 20.
Snipers among the remaining militants have been firing on army troops from inside buildings and wreckage in the camp, an army source told The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.
"You don't expect that there's somebody in these buildings," he said.
Army reports said three Fatah al-Islam militants had been killed, although the exact number had not been confirmed, the source added.
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Bloodied but unbowed, troops vow to fight on
Wounded soldier dreams of return to field
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sylvie Groult
Agence France Presse
BIBNINE: Abdel-Karim Hussein joined the army in Lebanon as soon as he turned 18. One year later, he languishes on a stretcher in his village near the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, recovering from a head wound. But the young soldier still insists he is ready to rejoin the battle and "fight to the last breath" against the Islamist militants of Fatah al-Islam, a fringe group with ideological links to Al-Qaeda.
One hundred and thirty-eight soldiers have been killed in three months of fighting between the army and the Islamists, and many more were wounded. But morale remains high both within the ranks and in their home villages.
Hussein had spent 18 days at Nahr al-Bared and was just three hours away from his first leave when a routine patrol turned bloody.
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Saudi Arabia hits back at Syria in escalating spat
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Saudi Arabia has rejected as "lies and fallacies" high-level Syrian accusations that its role in the Middle East was waning, signaling a new low in diplomatic ties already strained over Lebanon and Iraq. "The government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has followed with great surprise the distasteful statements recently made by [Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk] al-Sharaa, which included numerous lies and fallacies aimed at harming us," said the statement, quoting an unidentified official source and carried by the official Saudi Press Agency SPA late Thursday.
The unusually scathing statement by the conservative Muslim kingdom comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is trying to bolster its regional role.
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Khaddam slams Syria over row with Saudi Arabia
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, August 20, 2007
A Syrian former vice president turned opposition leader said in remarks published on Sunday that his successor's criticism of Saudi Arabia was part of Damascus's policy of cutting links with Arabs and moving closer to Iran while Syria accused Saudi press of misrepresentation.
Vice President Faruq al-Sharaa's "remarks are part of the policy pursued by the ruling clique, which aims at severing Syrian links with the Arab world and tying it further to Iran's regional strategy," Abdel-Halim Khaddam told the Saudi daily Al-Watan from his Paris exile.
Khaddam, who resigned as Syrian vice president in 2005 to join the opposition, said that the Damascus regime's "campaign against Saudi Arabia" should be seen in the context of Iran's regional strategy and Syria's role in it.
This is because Saudi Arabia "constitutes one of the main barriers to Iranian hegemony in the region, be it in the Gulf, Iraq, Palestine or Lebanon," Khaddam said.
Khaddam, a powerful and wealthy figure of the Baathist regime which has ruled Syria with an iron fist for more than four decades, was commenting on the row sparked by Sharaa's criticism of the oil-rich kingdom.
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Russia rejects fears that air-defense systems sold to Syria can end up in Iran
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Saturday, August 18, 2007
MOSCOW: Russia has begun delivery of modern air-defense units to Syria while rejecting speculation that some of the weapons could be forwarded secretly to Iran, a newspaper reported Friday. "The first part of the delivery to Syria has started," the centrist daily Nezavissimaya Gazeta reported, quoting information from a domestic military information agency.
A spokesman for Russia's arms export agency Rosoboronexport, contacted by AFP, declined to comment on the newspaper report.
The report acknowledged that the delivery of the weapons, the Pantsyr-S1E self-propelled short-range missile air-defense system, was particularly sensitive in light of Israeli claims last year that Russian arms sold to Syria had ended up in the hands of Lebanese resistance movement Hizbullah.
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Sacked Iranian oil minister issues stark warning of impending energy crisis
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, August 20, 2007
TEHRAN: Iran's sacked oil minister has issued a parting warning to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, predicting a looming "catastrophe" in the Iranian energy sector because of high consumption, media reported on Sunday. "If we do not find a solution to the energy problem in the next 15 years, the country will face a catastrophe," Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh was quoted as saying at his farewell ceremony late on Saturday by the ISNA news agency.
"I am ready to prove that if the fuel situation continues along current trends, we will face an energy crisis in the future," he said. "The current pattern of consumption is a disaster for the country."
The comments by Hamaneh, who also revealed for the first time that he was sacked in a Cabinet reshuffle last week, are a stark warning about the energy problems of a country rich in natural resources.
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Baalbek launches development project
Monday, August 20, 2007
Baalbek municipality launched on Saturday in cooperation with the Iranian Committee for the Reconstruction of Lebanon the first phase of a new project "the Bahaii Sheikh for the development of Baalbek." The project includes a cleaning campaign for several neiborhoods like Downtown Baalbek, the city's market and others. In addition to that it will execute 33 development plans, public gardens and environmental activities.
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Gaza faces new crisis after EU freezes funds for power plant
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, August 20, 2007
Parts of the Gaza Strip were still suffering power cuts on Sunday after the European Union (EU) suspended the financing of fuel deliveries for the strip's only power plant as Israeli officials denied it would provide amnesty to several Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank.
It was the latest blow to hit one of the world's most overcrowded places that has been effectively sealed off by Israel since the Islamist movement Hamas seized control two months ago, sparking fears of a new humanitarian crisis.
The Islamists and the government in Ramallah accused each other of being responsible for the "criminal" cuts.
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Sfeir scolds politicians for failure to bridge divide
Patriarch laments 'detestable bickering'
By Hani M. Bathish
Daily Star staff
Monday, August 20, 2007
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said that politicians in Lebanon were taking steps backward rather than moving forward to resolve the country's political crisis as the presidential election looms. He said this lack of progress did not leave much hope for resolving the crisis and allowing life to resume as before.
Sfeir, who delivered his Sunday sermon at the Patriarchate's church in Dimane, said each political side maintained unshakable opinions and positions and had failed to take a single step to bridge the gap or foster understanding between them. "This creates frustration in people's hearts and drives them to emigrate in search of an alternate, safer country to live in, away from the daily, detestable bickering," Sfeir said.
The patriarch said that those holding political office usually aimed to serve citizens in an effort to improve living conditions, adding that the benefits of holding office cannot go solely to officials the holders of the political office for the satisfaction of their desires.
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Fadlallah calls for steering clear of inter-Arab conflicts
Daily Star staff
Monday, August 20, 2007
BEIRUT: Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah warned the Lebanese on Sunday against aligning with clashing Arab states, saying that this would be "dangerous to Lebanon because the current Arab political situation is full of contradictions."
"The US is promoting Arab-Arab conflicts so as to push them to hold dialogue with Israel and normalize ties with this state," he said in a statement.
Fadlallah said the Lebanese ought not to take part in conflicts among Arabs, "because this is likely to bring more divisions on the internal political level," and urged Lebanese to adopt a "milder" political rhetoric.
"The political rhetoric in Lebanon has sunk to very low levels and instigated further tensions on the Lebanese political scene," he added.
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Arab indexes slightly affected by plunging world prices
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Monday, August 20, 2007
Capital markets in the Middle East have wobbled only slightly in the past week after US and European markets plunged on fears over US mortgage defaults, while top Arab developer Emaar Properties nosedived because of its involvement in US housing markets.
Shares in Dubai's Emaar Properties tumbled to a 28-month low on Sunday as foreign investors seeking safer assets sold the stock, fearing mortgage defaults would hurt its operations in the US.
Emaar dropped 1.9 percent on Sunday to end at $2.80, its weakest close since April 13, 2005. It touched a 28-month low of $2.72 during the session.
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Lebanese Telecom Ministry preps for privatization
Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
BEIRUT: Telecommunication Minister Marwan Hamadeh said his ministry is preparing for the privatization of the telecom sector in accordance with the law. He also announced the continued development of communications infrastructure, particularly the high-speed Internet service DSL, which will be made available in all Lebanese areas.
Hamadeh made the remarks at the opening of Ericsson Global Service Delivery Center in Beirut. The opening ceremony was attended by Hamadeh; vice president and director general of global service center in Ericsson, Frederick Strand; vice president of the Global Center for Delivering Service to the south region of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Orfer Hartig; president of Ericsson Middle East, Bouarik Dalstrom; president of Ericsson Lebanon Hans Severin; and president of the Investment Development Authority for Lebanon (IDAL) Nabil Itani.
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Lebanese minister promises to review cell-phone charges
Hamadeh: crisis impeded rate cuts
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Friday, August 17, 2007
BEIRUT: Telecommunication Minister Marwan Hamadeh promised Thursday to review the mobile charges before the end of the government's term. "Hamadeh suggested that the Telecommunication Ministry will look into the demand of the private sector, consumer groups and association to cut the rates of the cellular, "president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists Fadi Abboud told The Daily Star.
Abboud headed a committee that visited Hamadeh's office to discuss the problems of the cellular networks.
He said the minister may exempt the cellular subscribers from paying the $5 fee for detailed bills. "This is absurd. Why should anyone pay a fee for a detailed mobile bill? You don't see a supermarket clerk charging a fee [for a receipt on] the food stuff you buy," Abboud said.
The cellular charges are considered one of the highest in the world and many experts said that these insane charges are hindering the growth of the telecom sector in Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=84561
Citigroup warns Lebanon's Paris III optimism fading
Bank says reforms must proceed
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
BEIRUT: International investment bank Citigroup warned this week that the optimism that followed the Paris III donors' conference in January 2007 may fade away, due to the continuous internal political bickering which is paralyzing the Lebanese government's work and business activity in Beirut.
Also, the political instability is hindering reforms, on which donor assistance are contingent, a report by Citigroup said.
An excerpt of the report was published by Audi Saradar weekly news bulletin.
The report stressed that it is crucial to move ahead with the reforms, even if at a shy pace.
The report stated that the gross public debt is at 182 percent of GDP, half of which is in foreign currency, while the other half is in local currency. Local banks hold 51 percent of total debt, the Central Bank holds 23 percent, non-residents hold 22 percent, and public entities hold the remaining 4 percent.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=84544
Lebanon sufficiently liquid to weather further crises
Finance minister predicts increase in money supply
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
BEIRUT: Finance Minster Jihad Azour said Monday the government has sufficient liquidity to finance its needs until the end of this year even if the political situation were to deteriorate.
Speaking to reporters at the Grand Serail, Azour said the money supply held by both the government and the Central Bank is expected to rise by 8 percent by the end of 2007.
But the minister, who announced the budget-deficit results in the first six months of 2007, admitted that the ensuing political and security incidents which engulfed Lebanon since the Israeli war in July 2006 had dire effects on the economy in general, although he insisted that the Lebanese pound remaines strong and stable.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=84515
Lebanese banks show growth amid political turbulence
Balance sheets increase by 3.75 percent
By Osama Habib
Daily Star staff
Friday, August 10, 2007
BEIRUT: Lebanese banks, the pillars of the economy, are surprisingly still able to cushion the turbulence raging in the country as clearly illustrated by the good results in the first six months of 2007. According to the latest report by the Central Bank, total balance sheets of all banks operating in Lebanon up to June of this year reached $79.038 billion, an increase of 3.75 percent compared to the same period of 2006.
In the month of May alone total assets rose by $873.7 million while in June the assets jumped by $1.144 billion.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=84460
Syrian economic recovery remains on track - report
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Syria has undeniably been enjoying an economic revival in recent years, with the economy doing remarkably well in 2006. Although GDP growth rates differ according to the various sources, there is no doubt that the economic recovery that began in 2004 remains on track.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=3&article_id=84408
UNRWA urges better refugee conditions
Cook insists efforts will not hinder palestinians' right of return
By Hesham Shawish
Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
BEIRUT: The United Nations Relief & Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian Refugees' director in Lebanon Richard Cook said that improving the living conditions of Palestinian refugees does not jeopardize their right of return. "The continuation of appalling conditions in refugee camps would radicalize many Palestinians and any backlash could cause problems for the Lebanese state in the longer term," he said.
Cook was speaking to The Daily Star at the UNRWA's Field Office in Bir Hassan about the conditions of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, and the need to help many refugees about their legal status.
He said he had suggested to Prime Minister Fouad Siniora that non-IDs refugees - those lacking any official identification - in Lebanon should be registered within the Interior Ministry and registration offices, emphasizing the need for these people to be recognized.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=84546
UAE to import French expertise for development of Louvre Abu Dhabi
Representatives from major institutions in France to pitch in with curatorship, exhibition design
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, August 13, 2007
ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi on Sunday announced the creation of a body comprising some of France's leading cultural figures to oversee the development of a satellite Louvre museum in the wealthy Gulf emirate. The French Museums agency will help develop the branch of the famed cultural icon on an island off the coast of Abu Dhabi, the emirate's tourism authority said in a statement.
Under the 30-year agreement, the government of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, will pay $525 million just for the use of the Louvre's name.
Representatives from the Pompidou Center, the Orsay Museum and the National Library of France are part of the new agency, the statement said.
"The French Museums agency comprises some of the finest minds in the French cultural arena," Sheikh Sultan bin Tahnoun al-Nahayan, head of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, said in the statement.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&Article_id=84476
Novel posits fictional village as emblem for a lost Lebanon
Jad el-Hage's 'The Myrtle Tree' pits urban against rural, present against past, political against practical and cosmopolitan against provincial
By Kaelen Wilson-Goldie
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Review
BEIRUT: If Jad el-Hage's novel "The Myrtle Tree" were ever adapted to the stage, two props would be required to transform his written narrative into live theater. Framing the performance would be the myrtle tree of the books' title on one side - symbolizing enduring nature, timeless beauty and the resilience of rural life - and a haunted castle on the other - representing meddlesome man, civilization and its discontents and the destructive legacy of an interfering empire.
The structure of Hage's novel rests rather uneasily on such pairings. He pits urban against rural, present against past, political against practical and cosmopolitan against provincial to such as extent that bad against good cannot be far behind. But the most obvious and overbearing of oppositions is Beirut versus Wahdeh, the mythical village with the tree and the castle where much of novel is set.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&Article_id=84501
'Too marvelous to ignore'
Gamal al-Ghitani's 'Pyramid Texts' is as mesmerizing as the ancient spells on which the book is based
By Mirella Hodeib
Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
BEIRUT: The Pyramid Texts, which evolved into the Book of the Dead, are the oldest religious writing from ancient Egypt that are known to us today. A collection of spells and legends, the texts form the basis of much Egyptian religious theology and literature. The oldest of the Pyramid Texts were found, in the form of funerary inscriptions, on the walls inside the Pyramid of Unas in the region of Saqqara. In myriad, diverse ways, they describe the resurrection and ascension of the pharaos to the afterlife. What binds them together is their emphasis on the eternal existence of the king and their tendency to equate the sky with the realm of the afterlife.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&article_id=84604
Marathon association holds lunch in honor of Lebanon's sports media
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/starscene.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=6&article_id=84601
Hundreds attend Bastille Day event
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/starscene.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=6&article_id=83876
Ambassador hosts reception to mark Moroccan king's 8th year on throne
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/starscene.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=6&article_id=84247
Let the race to clean up Bush's presidential calamities begin
By The Daily Star
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Editorial
In the United States, the race to become the next leader of the world's sole superpower is getting under way. The irony is that more than 30 candidates, including Democrats, Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, independents and others, are vying to replace George W. Bush, even though the victor of the contest will win the unenviable responsibility of having to step in to clean up the current president's messes. Of all of Bush's presidential blunders, perhaps none has been as disastrous - for Middle Easterners and Americans - as his foreign policy in this region.
Since coming to power, Bush has launched a series of daring but incogent initiatives that have often been contradictory with each other. He has foolishly relied almost exclusively on obsolete cold war strategies and the politics of strength to ward off a world of new and ever-evolving transnational threats. In the process, he has arguably angered and alienated a generation of Muslims and Arabs, making them malleable recruits for committing terrorist crimes. And he has also inadvertently contributed to the growing legitimacy deficit of the states with which his country is allied.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=17&article_id=84533
Electricity crisis to top series of planned Sidon protests
By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Saturday, August 18, 2007
SIDON: Citizens in Sidon will launch a series of demonstrations next week to protest against the living crisis that is affecting the country, starting with the electricity shortage issue.
A meeting of political factions and leftists parties, representatives from civil society groups, women's delegations, lawyers, doctors, teachers and mayors was held in Sidon Friday evening to tackle the ongoing living crisis hitting Sidon, as well as means to draw politicians' attention to the Southern area.
The meeting, which was held at the Maarouf Saad cultural center in Sidon, aimed to draw the plan for a movement expected to start next week.
Sources told The Daily Star the meeting set the electricity crisis plaguing Sidon and its region as the first issue to be tackled.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=84599
Two decades after his abduction in Beirut, Brian Keenan makes good on his 'holidays' in Lebanon
Author of 'An Evil Cradling' reads from his book in Hamra, visits Byblos, Bekaa
By William Wheeler
Special to The Daily Star
Monday, August 20, 2007
BEIRUT: When Brian Keenan set out for Lebanon in 1985 he felt impervious to the violence of the country's Civil War, already a decade old at the time. After all, Keenan was a traveler not a tourist, and his Belfast upbringing had taught him that life goes on, even in places where newspaper headlines warn of imminent doom.
"I come from Belfast and I'm going to Beirut," he recalled thinking. "It's the same thing."
Keenan had intended to tour the country and the Palestinian refugee camps while teaching at the American University of Beirut. But just two months after he arrived, Keenan was abducted by members of the group Islamic Jihad. For nearly five years - the period he now euphemistically refers to as his "holidays" - he was subjected to torture and the anguish of a life confined to a tiny cell and the walls of his own mind.
Keenan returned to Lebanon for the first time this month to finally enjoy the holiday that was so violently cut short 22 years ago. Speaking at a cafe in Hamra last Sunday, Keenan read excerpts from his 1991 book about the experience, "An Evil Cradling," and reflected on his attempts to bury the past and experience a brighter view of the country.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=4&article_id=84623
Violence in God's name: the Islamists' debate
By John L. Esposito
Commentary by
Monday, August 20, 2007
Why is Islam such a violent religion? Does the Koran condone acts of terrorism? Why haven't Muslims denounced the 9/11 attacks and suicide bombing?
Whether in the media or public discussions, these are common and persistent questions. But, in fact, major Muslim religious leaders and Muslim organizations have and do speak out. The media tends not to find these fatwas (religious legal opinions) and statements newsworthy but they are available on the Internet.
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, for example, Muhammad Abdul-Rashid, the most senior Muslim chaplain in the American armed forces, asked for a fatwa about whether American Muslim military could participate in the war in Afghanistan and in other Muslim countries. A group of prominent religious authorities concluded that "[a]ll Muslims ought to be united against all those who terrorize the innocents, and those who permit the killing of non-combatants without a justifiable reason," and that it was acceptable "to partake in the fighting in the upcoming battles, against whomever their country decides has perpetrated terrorism against them."
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=5&article_id=84639
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