LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 05/09
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to
Saint Mark 10:2-16. The Pharisees approached and asked, "Is it lawful for a
husband to divorce his wife?" They were testing him. He said to them in reply,
"What did Moses command you?" They replied, "Moses permitted him to write a bill
of divorce and dismiss her." But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of
your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of
creation, 'God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother (and be joined to his wife), and the two shall become one
flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined
together, no human being must separate." In the house the disciples again
questioned him about this. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and
marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband
and marries another, she commits adultery." And people were bringing children to
him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw
this he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not
prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to
you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter
it."Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Report says Iran has data to make
atom bomb/Reuters/04.10.09
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
revealed to have Jewish past/Daily Telegraph/October
04/09
Nuclear Iran/Future
News/04.10.09
Lebanon: A Crisis of a Government and a Regime
Too/By: Abdallah Iskandar/Al Hayat/04.10.09
Latest
News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 04/09
No Cabinet before Syrian-Saudi
Summit-Naharnet
IAEA will inspect Iran plant on
October 25/Now Lebanon
Ahmadinejad: No 'ambiguous' issue
left between Iran and IAEA/Now Lebanon
Dispute between two Tripoli
families injures one person/Now Lebanon
Aridi: I Believe We Are
Approaching an Agreement-Naharnet
Hariri-Aoun Lunch Not
Before Next Week-Naharnet
Geagea: No Favorable
Regional Circumstances for Cabinet Formation-Naharnet
Higher Islamic Council
Calls for Responding to Hariri's 'Stretched Hand' Policy-Naharnet
Solana Reassures Saniora
About Developments in Iran's Nuke Talks-Naharnet
Lebanon President of Arab
Ministerial Tourism Council for 2 More Years-Naharnet
Sarkozy Sends Envoys to
Beirut, Damascus Amid Demands for Cabinet Formation Without Delay-Naharnet
ISF Patrol Attacked with Stones in Qusaybeh-Naharnet
Amr Moussa: Goldstone Commission report postponement dangerous, negligent/Now
Lebanon
FPM, MP, Ibrahim Kanaan:
Hariri opened political cases not discussed since 1990/Now Lebanon
Hobeich does not expect
Hariri to visit Syria before cabinet is formed/Now Lebanon
Mashnouk: Wise people needed to correct officials’ performance-Future
News
Hajj
Hassan condemns US intrusion in cabinet formation-Future
News
Rahal:
Arms possessed by certain faction, block cabinet formation-Future
News
Elie
Aoun: Hariri seeks a made-in-Lebanon cabinet-Future
News
Khoury: Change and Reform is part of opposition but not March 8-Future
News
Fneish: Cabinet of partnership, a necessity-Future
News
Harb: We refuse submitting to
blackmail/Future News
Cabinet formation at preliminary
stage-Allouch/Future News
Zahra asks Yacoub to assume
responsibility for his words/Future News
Nuclear Iran
Date: October 4th, 2009/Future News
The issue of nuclear power on the peaceful and military aspects is no longer an
effective tool that Iran could use to twist the international community’s arms
or a negotiation card to bargain with; instead it is a concrete fact to be
verified like what happened with India and Pakistan. Iran is seeking to make
from the nuclear file a ludicrous investment that serves its interests and
ambitious on the regional and international landscapes. This assumption is not a
haphazard discovery since Iran was clear when it appealed the United States to
organize or split the hegemony over the Arab region. The Nuclear project,
whether military or peaceful, it has become an urgent need to reach concrete and
realistic goals with respect to the key role of the Persian Republic in
structuring the system of regional security in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon.
Facts confirm that the Iranian contradictory initiatives aimed at buying as much
time to strike a bargain in light of international insistence to close the
nuclear file regardless of the results, and of internal estimations suggesting
that dialogue and diplomacy benefit the Persian Republic and that the military
option is unable to deter and prevent the project. It is obvious that Iran’s
nuclear file has reached a dead-end exposing the region to several probabilities
including an open war with the Zionist enemy, which possesses nuclear weapons
for decades, while the whole world does not lift a finger about it.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed to have Jewish past
Date: October 3rd, 2009/Source: Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/6256173/Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad-revealed-to-have-Jewish-past.html#
holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his
family has Jewish roots.A close-up of the document reveals he was previously
known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver. The short note
scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when
they converted to embrace Islam after his birth.
The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and
the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit
shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews
compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior. Experts last night suggested Mr
Ahmadinejad's track record for hate-filled attacks on Jews could be an
overcompensation to hide his past. Ali Nourizadeh, of the Centre for Arab and
Iranian Studies, said: "This aspect of Mr Ahmadinejad's background explains a
lot about him.
"Every family that converts into a different religion takes a new identity by
condemning their old faith. "By making anti-Israeli statements he is trying to
shed any suspicions about his Jewish connections. He feels vulnerable in a
radical Shia society." A London-based expert on Iranian Jewry said that "jian"
ending to the name specifically showed the family had been practising Jews. "He
has changed his name for religious reasons, or at least his parents had," said
the Iranian-born Jew living in London. "Sabourjian is well known Jewish name in
Iran."
A spokesman for the Israeli embassy in London said it would not be drawn on Mr
Ahmadinejad's background. "It's not something we'd talk about," said Ron Gidor,
a spokesman.
The Iranian leader has not denied his name was changed when his family moved to
Tehran in the 1950s. But he has never revealed what it was change from or
directly addressed the reason for the switch. Relatives have previously said a
mixture of religious reasons and economic pressures forced his blacksmith father
Ahmad to change when Mr Ahmadinejad was aged four.
The Iranian president grew up to be a qualified engineer with a doctorate in
traffic management. He served in the Revolutionary Guards militia before going
on to make his name in hardline politics in the capital. During this year's
presidential debate on television he was goaded to admit that his name had
changed but he ignored the jibe.
However Mehdi Khazali, an internet blogger, who called for an investigation of
Mr Ahmadinejad's roots was arrested this summer. Mr Ahmadinejad has regularly
levelled bitter criticism at Israel, questioned its right to exist and denied
the Holocaust. British diplomats walked out of a UN meeting last month after the
Iranian president denounced Israel's 'genocide, barbarism and racism.' Benjamin
Netanyahu made an impassioned denunciation of the Iranian leader at the same UN
summit. "Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this
podium," he said. "A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy
to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out
the State of Israel, the State of the Jews. What a disgrace. What a mockery of
the charter of the United Nations." Mr Ahmadinejad has been consistently
outspoken about the Nazi attempt to wipe out the Jewish race. "They have created
a myth today that they call the massacre of Jews and they consider it a
principle above God, religions and the prophets," he declared at a conference on
the holocaust staged in Tehran in 2006.
Report says Iran has data to make atom bomb
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59228E20091003
Sat Oct 3, 2009
03 Oct 2009WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A confidential analysis by staff of the U.N.
nuclear watchdog has concluded that Iran has acquired "sufficient information to
be able to design and produce" an atom bomb, The New York Times reported on
Saturday. The Times report was posted on its website hours after Mohamed
ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Tehran for
talks on a timetable for inspectors to visit a newly disclosed unfinished
nuclear enrichment plant. Iran, which rejects Western charges that it is seeking
to build nuclear weapons, held talks with six world powers in Geneva on
Thursday. Western officials said that in the talks, Iran had agreed "in
principle" to ship out most of its enriched uranium for reprocessing in Russia
and France. The analysis, according to the Times, says the IAEA "assesses that
Iran has sufficient information to be able to design and produce a workable
implosion nuclear device" based on highly enriched uranium. The Times said
unnamed senior European officials had described the document's conclusions to
the paper. It said the report was written earlier this year and had since been
revised, and quoted one official as saying the text was "not ready for
publication as an official document."
It said the report, titled "Possible Military Dimensions of Iran's Nuclear
Program," described a complex program run by Iran's Defense Ministry "aimed at
the development of a nuclear payload to be delivered using the Shahab 3 missile
system." The report said the program apparently started in 2002. It suggested
"the Iranians have done a wide array of research and testing to perfect nuclear
arms, like making high-voltage detonators, firing test explosives and designing
warheads," the Times said, but it did not say how much progress they made.
"The agency's tentative analysis also says that Iran 'most likely' obtained the
needed information for designing and building an implosion bomb 'from external
sources' and then adapted the information to its own needs," the Times said. The
paper said a dispute had erupted in recent months over the report between the
IAEA's senior staff and ElBaradei, the agency's outgoing director who opposes
adopting a "confrontational strategy" with Iran. "In recent weeks, there have
been leaks about the internal report, perhaps intended to press Dr. ElBaradei
into releasing it," the Times said. (Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by
Peter Cooney)
No Cabinet before Syrian-Saudi
Summit
Naharnet/As France seemed to be pushing forward toward the issue on government
formation, Saudi and Syrian influence over Lebanon also was back on track with
reports that no Cabinet deal would be reached before a Syrian-Saudi summit.
While An-Nahar newspaper quoted an Opposition source as ruling out any progress
toward a Cabinet lineup before Saudi King Abdullaha's visit to Damascus on
Tuesday, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, citing well-informed sources, said no new
government is likely to be announced before mid next week.
Senior Opposition figures, however, told al-Hayat that the government formation
process would take "a week or so" since talks between PM-designate Saad Hariri
and heads of the parliamentary bloc require extra efforts to ensure an
agreement. They said information available to them pointed out that Hariri's
visit to Damascus during the Syrian-Saudi summit is unlikely, a sign that the
premier-designate's trip to Syria would take place after government formation
based on a formula that would enjoy the blessing of Syria.Opposition sources
told an-Nahar that no new date, at least not over the weekend, has yet been set
for talks between Hariri and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.
Meanwhile, Elysee Secretary-General Claude Gueant is expected to visit Damascus
on Sunday on a mission linked to Cabinet formation as well as to Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid Muallem's stay in Paris. Diplomatic sources have said that
Gueant's mission to Syria would tackle among other topics, the outcome of
contacts between Syrian officials and Lebanese leaders. They said Gueant would
also urge Damascus to facilitate a Cabinet lineup no longer than 10 days. On
Saturday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's top advisor Henry Guaino brought to
Lebanon a message of friendship and support for the country. Guaino told MTV
that the "problem is not just Lebanon's current situation but that of the Middle
East as a whole." Beirut, 04 Oct 09, 08:12
Hariri-Aoun Lunch Not Before Next Week
Naharnet/A meeting over lunch between Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and
Free Patirotic Movement leader Michel Aoun will not take place before next week.
"Lunch with the premier-designate will not take place before the beginning of
next week," said Aoun's Orange TV. It said a meeting between Hariri and
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's political aide "did not carry new
developments."
Geagea: No Favorable Regional Circumstances for Cabinet Formation
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Hizbullah's arms will drag the
weapons of extremist movements to Lebanon and warned that there are no favorable
circumstances in the region for government formation. "The presence of Hizbullah
particularly after May 2008 unfortunately nurtures in an indirect way Sunni
extremism in Lebanon," Geagea told pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in an
interview to be published Sunday. "As long as there are arms outside the control
of the state … other groups would carry weapons," he said.
However, he expressed no fear on the security situation "unless the other party
wants to go back to (the stage of) series of bombings and assassinations."
Geagea also warned that cabinet formation will reach a dead end if obstacles
persist. "I call for a majority cabinet if the coalition government was
impossible to form," he told his interviewer.
Turning to MP Michel Aoun, Geagea said: "Those who claim defending the rights of
Christians are obstructing (cabinet formation) not for their rights but for the
rights of their allies Hizbullah and Iran."He accused Aoun of rejecting
PM-designate Saad Hariri's first cabinet lineup "because the telecommunications
ministry was no longer under their (his allies') control."
"Those who get this ministry control wiretapping," he said. Geagea believed
there are no favorable regional circumstances for cabinet formation. Beirut, 03
Oct 09, 15:57
Dispute
between two Tripoli families injures one person
Now Lebanon/October 4, 2009 /LBC television reported on Sunday that a dispute
occurred between members of the al-Kurdi and ad-Darawish families in Bab al-Tabbaneh
in Tripoli, which injured Ahmad ad-Darawish
IAEA will inspect Iran plant on October 25
October 4, 2009 /Now Lebanon/UN nuclear watchdog head Mohamed ElBaradei said on
Sunday that his inspectors will check Iran's new uranium facility being built
near the holy city of Qom on October 25. "It is important for us to send our
inspectors to do comprehensive verification of that facility and to assure
ourselves that the facility is built for peaceful purposes," ElBaradei said at a
joint press conference with Iran's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran. "We
agreed that our inspectors will come here on October 25 to do the inspection and
go to Qom," he said.
He noted that "concerns" remain over how Iran will use its nuclear technology in
future. "There are concerns about Iran's future intentions and this is not a
verification thing. It's an issue of building trust and that is why we have now
six-party talks," he added. "Iran has mastered enrichment technology. Iran has
fuel cycle, has research facility and will have a nuclear plant. But there are
still some questions about Iran's intentions and thus the inspections are
ongoing," ElBaradei said. The nuclear watchdog head also announced US, French,
Russian and Iranian officials will meet on October 19 for talks on the possible
transfer of Iranian uranium for enrichment abroad. "We will have a meeting to
discuss the technical details and hopefully we will hammer out an agreement as
early as possible," he said. ElBaradei said the meeting would be held in Vienna
where the International Atomic Energy Agency is based.
Amr Moussa: Goldstone Commission report postponement
dangerous, negligent
October 4, 2009 /Now Lebanon/Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said in an
interview published in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper on Sunday that the decision
to postpone the UN Human Rights Commission vote on the Goldstone Commission
report into the Gaza War “is very dangerous, negative and unprecedentedly
negligent.”He warned there would be an end to what he called “the united Arab
position.” He said there are US-Palestinian and US-Israeli agreements to resume
contacts under US patronage however the Arab League was not notified of the
results of these contacts. “Apparently there is a US proposal that will be
suggested in the next three weeks,” Moussa added. The Secretary General also
said that the Arab position on this issue is well-known and documented in
several resolutions passed by Arab summits and foreign ministers meetings.
Kanaan: Hariri opened political cases not discussed since 1990
October 4, 2009 /Now Lebanon/Ibrahim Kanaan told MTV on Sunday that Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri opened political cases during the cabinet
deliberations that have not been discussed since 1990. Kanaan said this was a
positive development that led to greater trust between the bloc and the
PM-designate. “This is what is needed at the moment,” he said.
Kanaan also said that there has not yet been any discussion regarding names and
specific portfolios, but he stressed that if the “swapping principle” is to be
adopted then it has to include all parties.
Hobeich does not expect Hariri to visit Syria before cabinet is formed
October 4, 2009 /Now Lebanon/Lebanon First bloc MP Hadi Hobeich told visitors at
his residence in Akkar on Sunday that he does not expect Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri to visit Syria before the cabinet formation is
finalized, adding that once the government is formed and Hariri is the prime
minister of all Lebanese, it will be normal for him to visit Syria or any other
Arab state. He also said that the upcoming summit between Saudi King Abdullah
bin Abdel Aziz and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will reflect positively on
the Lebanese situation and facilitate the cabinet formation. Hobeich noted
however that a positive atmosphere is not enough, and that all political parties
will be required to make an extra effort and put the state’s interest above
personal and political interests in order to finalize the cabinet formation.
Aridi: I Believe We Are Approaching an Agreement
Naharnet/Caretaker Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi said he believed the
majority and the Opposition are approaching an agreement on a Cabinet lineup.
"The general atmosphere is much better," Aridi said in remarks published Sunday
by the daily An-Nahar. He said consultations carried out by Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri "contribute to more serious discussions on
confidence-building." "I believe we are approaching an agreement if things
continue this way," Aridi said. "There is a feeling that issues have matured at
regional and international levels," he added. Beirut, 04 Oct 09, 09:28
Higher Islamic Council Calls for Responding
to Hariri's 'Stretched Hand' Policy
Naharnet/The Higher Islamic Council called all political parties to respond to
Hariri's "stretched hand" policy. The council asked the various political
parties to fortify mutual trust and to put national interest ahead of all other
interests. A statement issued after its weekly meeting Saturday, headed by Mufti
of Lebanon Sheikh Mohamed Rashid Qabbani, said the council discussed some
"condemned" stances and sayings aiming at jeopardizing national unity and
undermining the Taef accord. The statement added that such acts may lead to
threatening the Lebanese Constitution that affirmed the balance between Muslims
and Christians and established the roots of stability. The council called the
leaders of Lebanon to fully abide by the Taef accord and to work on implementing
it to the fullest which leads to the welfare of Lebanon and its citizens. On the
other hand, the council urged the speeding up of investigations with the Islamic
detainees which should lead to releasing the innocents and punishing those who
undermine security and stability. Beirut, 03 Oct 09, 18:22
Solana Reassures Saniora About Developments in Iran's Nuke Talks
Naharnet/Caretaker PM Fouad Saniora has reportedly discussed with EU foreign
policy chief Javier Solana during a telephone conversation the results of talks
between major powers and Iran over its nuclear program. An Nahar daily said
Saturday that Solana informed Saniora the day before about the meeting between
top envoys from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany,
known as the P5-plus-1 partners and Iran's senior nuclear negotiator Saeed
Jalili. Solana informed Saniora that "the atmosphere is encouraging" but "should
be improved." The EU official's stance comes after Tehran's approval in
principle Thursday on uranium being sent to a third country to be enriched and
used for a research reactor in Tehran.
Such an atmosphere has positive repercussions on Lebanon and helps facilitate
cabinet formation, An Nahar said. Beirut, 03 Oct 09, 09:40
Lebanon: A Crisis of a Government and a Regime Too
Thu, 01 October 2009 /Abdallah Iskandar/Al Hayat
The crisis of the Lebanese cabinet formation revealed that the right to obstruct
has become consolidated in the internal equation, when the parliamentary balance
of powers is in favor of the current majority, regardless of the demands and
details related to the formation. I hereby mean that when the crisis of the
political regime is raised, the current majority cannot rule, and the country
faces an open crisis…one that cannot be solved unless this majority abandons its
right to rule and gives it to the majority. It can definitely be said that this
crisis would not exist if the current minority had won the recent elections.
There are two aspects to the crisis: A political and a constitutional one.
As for the political part, the prime minister who was designated for the second
time and who is still grappling with the parliamentary blocs, both the opponents
and the allies, announced that he seeks to form a lineup that reflects the
national unity, i.e. a commitment to the so-called constants regarding the
issues of resistance, naturalization, and the inter-Arab relations. But all this
was not enough to grant him the government’s trust. The implicit factor behind
all the contradictions and complications is still the Special Tribunal that will
try the assassins of former Prime Minister Rafic al-Hariri, the father of the
prime minister-designate, and of other assassinations affiliated to this crime.
Sa'd al-Hariri cannot accept the reservations put on the tribunal, and the way
of dealing with its progress, knowing that this issue triggered the previous
crisis and made the current minority boycott the government of Fuad Siniora.
As far as the constitutional part is concerned, the prime minister-designate –
regardless of his name – is unable to form a constitutional cabinet without a
considerable Shiite representation, one that is monopolized by "Hezbollah" and
the "Amal" Movement. As such, the right of obstruction has become a reality
which no one can overlook, putting everyone before a constitutional dilemma and
the Shiite representation.
Indeed, the impasse is growing deeper, and the country might slip into security
confrontations if a monochromatic government was formed from the majority alone.
The President of the Republic will not sign the decree of such a government,
although he did not sign the previous decree of a lineup put forth by Al-Hariri
before his step-down, only because the minority rejected the distribution of the
portfolios in this lineup, and in order to avoid an open regime crisis.
Wagering on forming a cabinet headed by Al-Hariri is contingent on the ability
to find a solution to this double predicament, and this is still unlikely. The
15-10-5 formula which was proposed to cover the blocking third and save the
first designation was useless. The only thing left is a lineup to save the
appearances, which the Lebanese political mantle believes or hopes to see, as a
result of the regional developments and the progress of the Saudi-Syrian
relations.
Even if we overlooked the naivety of the belief that the Saudi-Syrian dialogue
automatically influences the Lebanese cabinet formation, any new lineup will
only be aimed at making lost time go by, before the results of the
Syrian-American dialogue, the Iranian-Western dialogue, the Egyptian sponsorship
of the Palestinian reconciliation, and the US efforts to launch the peace
process appear.
Thus, the solutions to the crisis in Lebanon fluctuate between a temporary
lineup to make lost time go by, and between tensions and explosions. Each
domestic party believes that the need to protect the international situation
requires that the others abandon their policies and join and support its
positions, i.e. they have to cancel themselves and the political diversity.
Since this situation is impossible, it becomes difficult to protect the internal
situation by an agreement among the domestic parties, and their hope remains
hinged on foreign interference to soft-pedal the positions of their opponents.
It is a dilemma that prolongs the crisis, as long as it rules out the
comprehensive deal that touches on all the thorny regional issues, and as long
as Lebanon is still the viable arena for exchanging messages among regional
negotiators.