LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
November 29/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 21,29-33. He taught them a lesson. "Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and Doctor of the Church
Sermons on the Song of Songs, no.74 (©Classics of Western Spirituality)/
"When you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near"
"In him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). But blessed is he in whom he has his being, who lives for him and is moved by him. You ask then how I knew he was present, he whose ways cannot be traced (Rom 11: 3 3). He is life and power (Heb 4: 12), and as soon as he enters in he stirs my sleeping soul. He moves and soothes and pierces my heart, which was as hard as stone and riddled with disease (Ez 36:26). And he begins to root up and destroy, to build and to plant, to water the dry places and light the dark corners (cf. Jer 1:10), to open what was closed, set what was cold on fire, «to make the crooked straight and the rough places smooth» (Is 40:4), so that my soul may bless the Lord and all that is within me praise his holy name (Ps 102.1).And so when the Bridegroom, the Word, came to me he never made any sign that he was coming... Only by the warmth of my heart, as I said before, did I know that he was there, and I knew the power of his might because my faults were purged and my body's yearnings brought under control. And when my secret faults were revealed and made visible, I have been amazed at the depth of his wisdom, At the slightest amendment of my life, I have experienced the goodness of his mercy. In the making and renewing of the spirit of my mind (2Cor 4,16; Eph 4,23), that is the inner man, I perceived the excellence of his glorious beauty; and when I contemplate all these things I am filled with awe of his manifold greatness.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Lebanon and Iran—the Insanity Continues.By: Maj. W. Thomas Smith Jr. 28/11/08
Iraqi Parliament approves 'historic' security pact with US-(AFP) 28/11/08
Iraq's handling of the deal with America evinces a newfound national spirit- The Daily Star 28/11/08
Lebanon's strategy talks can wait, but the thinking can't-By Marc J. Sirois 28/11/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 28/08
U.N. Pushes Israel to Withdraw from Ghajar-Naharnet
Obama Won't Compromise with Damascus At Lebanon's Expense-Naharnet
SSNP Attack on Harqous Sparks Uproar-Naharnet
Attack on Future TV Reporter Reminder of May 7 Events-Naharnet
Future TV reporter assaulted by SSNP supporters in Hamra-Daily Star
SSNP Assailants Wound Mustaqbal Reporter, Sit-In Protest Called-Naharnet
Police Combats Drug Traffickers in Hizbullah's South Beirut-Naharnet
End In Sight To Nightmare In India-CBS News
Murr to Replace Abu Jamra after He Refused to Head Committee-Naharnet
Armed Struggle Command Carrying Out Raids in Search for Awad-Naharnet
Israel Claims Hizbullah Provided Hamas with Iranian-Made Missiles-Naharnet
Over 125 dead as Indian commandos battle gunmen in Mumbai hotels-(AFP)
Livni leads new Kadima Party calls for Olmert to step down-(AFP)
Safadi to Combat Soaring Prices-Naharnet
Lebanon to establish ties with 'Palestine'-AFP
Cabinet Approves Cutting Down on Cellular Fees, Establishment of Ties with Palestinian State-Naharnet
MP Faraon Warns Against Spread of Violence to Thwart Tribunal-Naharnet
Cellulars dominate Lebanese Cabinet session again-Daily Star
Israel wants to 'corner' Hizbullah in EU - Moussawi-Daily Star
Hariri condemns deadly attacks in Mumbai-Daily Star
Najjar presides over meeting of Arab justice ministers-Daily Star
UNIFIL touts deal to prevent annual flooding in Kfarkila-Daily Star
Long-awaited Hariri court could be up and running by March - UN chief-Daily Star
The IMF answers Lebanon's request-Daily Star
'Lebanese state must help ease financial burden on businesses- -Daily Star
Solidere posts net profit of $83 million so far in 2008-Daily Star
Lebanese community in Paris marks Gibran's 125th anniversary with music and dance show-Daily Star
Disabled runner inspires cluster-bomb victims-Daily Star

Reporters Without Borders
Press release
27 November 2008
LEBANON
Journalist seriously injured during a pro-Syrian rally
Reporters Without Borders said it was sickened by an attack today on television journalist, Omar Harqous, of the channel Future News, owned by the Courant du Futur party headed by Saad Hariri.
The journalist was covering a demonstration by militants of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party in the Hamra district of western Beirut who were trying to prevent council staff from tearing down political posters, his family and colleagues said.
He was set upon by around 15 youths who punched and kicked him, after identifying him as a journalist. He was left with a broken nose and his body and face covered with bruises. He was taken to Beirut’s American university hospital where he was undergoing tests.
“This cowardly assault comes just a few months after an attack on the offices of several media affiliated to the Courant du Futur, including Future News”, the worldwide press freedom organisation said.
“Press freedom in Lebanon is threatened by these increasingly frequent attacks against journalists. It is vital that the authorities quickly open an investigation to identify and try Omar Harqous’s assailants”, the organisation said.
Threats from Hezbollah militia stopped broadcasts and publication for five days in May 2008 of terrestrial and satellite Future TV, satellite news channel Future News, the daily al-Moustakbal and Radio Orient.

Lebanon and Iran—the Insanity Continues
Maj. W. Thomas Smith Jr.
http://www.worlddefensereview.com/dropzone/archives/108
28 Nov 2008
With the exception of the Jihadi terrorist attacks in India, the most recent heartbreakingly predictable development in our ongoing war against Islamist terror is the West’s loss of the Lebanese front: A loss we’ve seen coming for months, despite the fact that a majority of the Lebanese people want freedom in that country.
The West’s loss was capped this week by the signing of a five-year defense pact between Lebanon and Iran, which will – among other yet to be disclosed particulars – supply Lebanon with weapons.
Iran already funds the Lebanese-based Shia terrorist group, Hizballah, with an estimated one-billion dollars annually. And Hizballah – which our own Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff says “makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team” – turned its illegal (according to UN mandate) weapons on the Lebanese state in May 2008.
Hizballah, which rules a radical Shia kingdom inside the sovereign state of Lebanon (similar to how the Taliban is set-up in Afghanistan), has gained tremendous power and political leverage since May.
Lebanese Pres. Michel Sleiman – who I warned for over a year was pro-Syrian, pro-Hizballah, now we see pro-Iranian (I know this man, spent time with him, his intelligence chief, and many of his top generals in Lebanon) – has sold his country, and completely duped America and the West.
For Heaven’s sake, we still continue to send $ millions in military aid to Lebanon’s armed forces and national police.
Our own government praised the insane May 2008 Qatar deal that rewarded Hizballah for its attacks against the Lebanese government and citizenry.
Sleiman – then commander-in-chief of an army which he refused to commit against Hizballah – was dubbed president thanks to the Qatar deal (and the U.S. government oddly praised that dubbing).
Iran and Hizballah continue to undermine our efforts and their coordinated efforts have killed untold numbers of American and British soldiers in Iraq.
Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to salivate over the prospect of “a world minus America.”
Now Sleiman and Ahmadinejad have signed a defense pact.
Yet we are praising and supporting Sleiman? We are sending his army cash?
Folks, this is not rocket science (pardon the cliché). Something is seriously broken in terms of our foreign policy and our ability to prosecute the war on terror. We are in denial about our enemy and his motivations, and he is coming after us … and making gains everyday.
— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.

Israel Claims Hizbullah Provided Hamas with Iranian-Made Missiles
Naharnet/Israel claims Hizbullah has provided Hamas in Gaza with missiles capable of striking at the depth of the Jewish state. The Yediot Ahronot Daily said the Iranian-made missiles would threaten "tens of thousands of Israeli citizens."  It said the Iranian-made 122-mm Grad missiles have a range of 20 kilometers, noting that the originally Soviet-designed missiles are not made by Iran and 10 other European states. The report said Gaza militants have 10.000 projectiles in Gaza, mostly Qassam rockets, which means "they can fire at Israel for a long time." Beirut, 27 Nov 08, 22:27

Bellemare's Team Leaves for the Hague
Naharnet/Members of the U.N. commission probing the 2005 killing of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes have started leaving Lebanon to join the international tribunal in the Hague. The Markaziya newsletter also said the move to the Hague would be concluded by end of the year. The commission, it added, has concluded its mission in Lebanon, and the extension of its term by two months that would be requested by its Canadian head Daniel Bellemare is related "to the transition and not to further investigations." Bellemare would release his final report on Dec. 4 to be reviewed by the U.N. Security Council 12 days later. The report would not disclose names of the culprits. Bellemare would make the disclosure in a charge sheet that he would release late in February after he assumes his new post as the prosecutor general of the International tribunal that would be functioning by March 1. Beirut, 27 Nov 08, 19:42

Safadi to Combat Soaring Prices
Naharnet/Minister of Economy and Trade Mohammed Safadi on Wednesday vowed to combat high prices of basic commodities. Safadi, in a statement to reporters, said the ministry would activate measures aimed at combating "monopoly." The Ministry warns that it would take "legal measures against importers and traders who seek to achieve illegal gains," Safadi said. Beirut, 27 Nov 08, 21:22

Statement from Canada's Minister Cannon on Death of Canadian in Mumbai Attack
November 28, 2008
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, released the following statement this morning to provide further information on the situation following the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India:
“We are now able to confirm the tragic death of one Canadian in these attacks. The family of the victim has been notified and consular officials are providing full assistance. Our sincere condolences and thoughts are with the family.
“For privacy reasons and out of respect for the family, we are not able to release the victim’s name or further details.
“One of the two Canadians who only suffered minor injuries in the attack has been released from hospital. The other Canadian has suffered more serious injuries and is in intensive care, but in stable condition. Consular officials visited him last night and we are in contact with his family.
“I want to reassure Canadians and families affected that the Government of Canada is deploying every effort to assist Canadians in Mumbai. We continue to monitor the situation very closely.”
Canadians in need of consular assistance are asked to contact Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada in Ottawa at 613-996-8885. Collect calls are accepted.

India Terror Siege Drags On At Hotel
MUMBAI, India, Nov. 28, 2008
Another Night Of Terror
Elite Indian commandos are going room to room in two luxury hotels searching for dozens of hostages reportedly held by terrorists in the wake of attacks in the city of Mumbai. Sheila MacVicar reports. | Share/Embed
(CBS/AP) A fresh battle raged at the luxury Taj Mahal hotel Friday as commandos fired grenades at that Mumbai landmark while other forces ended a siege at another five-star hotel.
Meanwhile, Indian commandos emerged from a besieged Jewish center with rifles raised in an apparent sign of victory after a daylong siege that saw a team rappel from helicopters and a series of explosions and fire rock the building and blow gaping holes in the wall. Indian media reports say five hostages had been killed at the Mumbai Jewish center.
The fighting comes two days after a chain of militant attacks across India's financial center that began Wednesday night left at least 143 people dead.
After hours of intermittent gunfire and explosions at the elegant Taj Mahal hotel Friday, the battle heated up at dusk when Indian forces began launching grenades at the hotel, where at least one militant was believed to be holed up inside a ballroom, officials said.
CBS News correspondent Celia Hatton reported that the chief of the of commando unit which raided the Taj Mahal Friday said he had seen about 50 bodies strewn about inside the luxury hotel.
Commandos had killed the two last gunmen inside the nearby Oberoi earlier in the day.
"The hotel is under our control," J.K. Dutt, director general of India's elite National Security Guard commando unit, told reporters, adding that 24 bodies had been found. Dozens of people - including a man clutching a baby - had been evacuated from Oberoi earlier Friday.
The airborne assault on the center run by the ultra-orthodox Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch was punctuated by gunshots and explosions and exchanges of fire as forces cleared it floor by floor, according to an Associated Press reporter at the scene.
Nearly 12 hours after the battle began, Indian troops left the building to cheers from the crowd, but the fate of the two to three hostages believed to be inside was unclear, said Mumbai Police Chief Hassan Ghaffoor. Ghaffoor said "the operation was ongoing" but in its "final stage."
Israel's ambassador to India, Mark Sofer, said they believed there were up to nine hostages inside. Sofer denied reports that Israeli commandos were taking part in the operation.
Moshe Holtzberg, a 2-year-old who was smuggled out of the center by an employee, is now with his grandparents. His grandfather told Israel Radio on Friday that he had no news of Moshe's parents.
More than 143 people were killed and 288 injured when suspected Islamic militants attacked 10 sites in Mumbai starting Wednesday evening. Two Americans - a Virginia man and his teenage daughter - are confirmed dead. Read more.
At least eight foreigners are known to have been killed so far and 22 more have been injured, said top security official M.L. Kumawat. The dead include three Germans, and one person each from Japan, Canada, Britain and Australia. The nationality of one more victim is unknown.
The injured include five from Britain, three Germans, two Americans, two from Oman and one each from Norway, Spain, Canada, Finland, Philippines, Australia, Italy and China. Two more were unknown.
Security officials said their operations were almost over.
"It's just a matter of a few hours that we'll be able to wrap up things," Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj told reporters Friday morning.
Dozens of people were evacuated from the luxury Oberoi earlier Friday, including 20 Western airline crew members and an earlier group of seven, some of whom were carrying luggage bearing Canadian flags.
About nine masked Indian commandos dropped from helicopters onto the roof of the Jewish center, where Muslim militants were rumored to have taken hostages - possibly including a rabbi and his wife. Sharpshooters kept up a steady stream of fire at the five-story building.
Shortly after the commandos landed on the roof of the building, top Indian Army commander Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj said anti-terrorist operations in Mumbai should be over within a few hours.
On Thursday morning, two workers and a child escaped from the building, the only people to emerge so far. The child was identified as Moshe Holtzberg, 2, the son of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, the main representative at Chabad house. The child was unharmed, but his clothes were soaked in blood.
Hundreds of people had been captive in the two hotels, many locking themselves in their rooms or trying to hide as the gunmen roamed the buildings.
Commandos spent much of Thursday bringing out hostages, trapped guests and corpses from the hotels in small groups while firefighters battled flames that erupted. The fires were out by Friday.
(AP Photo)Dalbir Bains, who runs a lingerie shop in Mumbai, had just sat down for dinner by the pool at the Taj Mahal (seen at left) when she heard the first shots. She ran upstairs and huddled under a table in the Sea Lounge restaurant. She and about 50 others who were with her tried to remain as quiet as possible.
"The gun shots were following us," said Bains, as she recounted her ordeal. (Click here for more harrowing eyewitness accounts.)
The well-coordinated strikes by small bands of gunmen starting Wednesday night left the city shell-shocked. An Indian police official said Friday that 24 bodies had been found when security personnel entered the Oberoi, raising the death toll from the attacks to 143 people. Almost 300 more were injured.
As the extent of the carnage was revealed Friday, the origin of the attack remained a mystery, with different reports pinning the likely blame on India's well-established Islamic militant groups, but increasing rhetoric that pointed a finger of guilt in the direction of Pakistan.
"According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks," Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters Friday in the western city of Jodhpur. "Proof cannot be disclosed at this time."
On Thursday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh blamed "external forces" for the violence - a phrase, reported CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips, which means Pakistan or groups operating from within Pakistan.
According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks.
Pranab Mukherjee
Indian External Affairs MinisterPhillips reported that the two neighboring, nuclear-armed countries have been trying to build confidence after years of fighting over the Indian-held territory of Kashmir.
But militant groups hostile to India and the West still operate in Pakistan, and certain elements within Pakistan's powerful military intelligence services are thought to be sympathetic.
Pakistan said Friday it would send its top intelligence official to India to help with the investigation. The office of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said he had agreed to send the head of the Inter Services Intelligence agency based on a request from his Indian counterpart.
A government statement said Indian premier Manmohan Singh told Gilani during a phone call on Friday that preliminary reports about the attack "point towards Karachi," Pakistan's largest city. The statement didn't elaborate.
India's NDTV reported Friday that one or two of the gunmen may have been British nationals of Pakistani descent. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said no "early conclusions" could be made "about British involvement" in the attacks, and NDTV did not offer evidence to support the claim.
Indian media reports said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility in e-mails to several media outlets. The Deccan is a region in southern India that was traditionally ruled by Muslim kings.
Walid Phares, a Senior Fellow and the director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, told CBS News that the attacks may have been intended to take pressure off Islamic militants operating inside Pakistan.
Phares explained that, as India-Pakistan relations have improved under pressure from the U.S., troops have been slowly moving away from the two country's shared border and advanced instead toward the Taliban deeper inside Pakistan.
He said it was possible the Mumbai attacks were aimed at relaxing pressure on Taliban and other extremists along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border by re-establishing the tensions on the Indian side.
Analysts around the world were debating whether the gunmen could have been tied to - or inspired by - al Qaeda.
"It's clear that it is al Qaeda style," but probably not carried out by the group's militants, said Rohan Gunaratna, of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore and author of "Inside Al Qaeda."
(Mumbai Mirror, Sebastian D'souza)The gunmen were well-prepared, even carrying large bags of almonds to keep up their energy during the fight. Their main targets appeared to be Americans, Britons and Jews, though most of the dead seemed to be Indians and foreign tourists caught in the random gunfire.
The gunmen - some of whom strode casually through their targets in khakis and T-shirts - clearly came ready for a siege.
"They have AK-47s and grenades. They have bags full of grenades and have come fully prepared," said Maj. Gen. R.K. Hooda.
A U.S. investigative team was heading to Mumbai, a State Department official said Thursday evening, speaking on condition of anonymity because the U.S. and Indian governments were still working out final details. The official declined to identify which agency or agencies the team members came from.
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