LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 11/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6,20-26. And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: "Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

Leo XIII, Pope from 1878-1903/Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum, §23-24
"Blessed are you who are poor"As for those who possess not the gifts of fortune, they are taught by the Church that in God's sight poverty is no disgrace, and that there is nothing to be ashamed of in earning their bread by labor. This is enforced by what we see in Christ Himself, who, "whereas He was rich, for our sakes became poor";(2Cor 8,9) and who, being the Son of God, and God Himself, chose to seem and to be considered the son of a carpenter - nay, did not disdain to spend a great part of His life as a carpenter Himself. "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary?"(Mk 6,3). From contemplation of this divine Model, it is more easy to understand that the true worth and nobility of man lie in his moral qualities, that is, in virtue; that virtue is, moreover, the common inheritance of men, equally within the reach of high and low, rich and poor; and that virtue, and virtue alone, wherever found, will be followed by the rewards of everlasting happiness. Nay, God Himself seems to incline rather to those who suffer misfortune; for Jesus Christ calls the poor "blessed"; He lovingly invites those in labor and grief to come to Him for solace;(Mt 11,28) and He displays the tenderest charity toward the lowly and the oppressed. These reflections cannot fail to keep down the pride of the well-to-do, and to give heart to the unfortunate; to move the former to be generous and the latter to be moderate in their desires. Thus, the separation which pride would set up tends to disappear, nor will it be difficult to make rich and poor join hands in friendly concord.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
It will take more than words to repair Lebanon's self-inflicted damage.The Daily Star 10/09/08
Summer Camp for Kids, Hezbollah Style. Right Side News 10/09/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 10/08
Canada to end Afghanistan mission in 2011, says Harper
CHRONOLOGY-Political turbulence in Lebanon-Reuters
Press Syndicates Denounce Aoun's Prostitution Charge-Naharnet
Harb Sounds the Alarm-Naharnet
PSP for One Topic at Dialogue Conference-Naharnet
Political Leaders Welcome Suleiman's Dialogue Call-Naharnet
Bab Tabbaneh Protests: No Reconciliation before Compensations are Paid-Naharnet
Wahab Criticizes Dialogue Prior to Election Law-Naharnet
Abu Jamra: The May 7 Attack Was Necessary-Naharnet
Hizbullah Operative Says He Had No Orders to Open Fire at Army Helicopter-Naharnet
Karami Thanks Assad for Backing Lebanon's Security and Stability -Naharnet
Political Leaders Welcome Suleiman's Dialogue Call -Naharnet
Hariri From Tripoli to Bekaa -Naharnet
Bab Tabbaneh Protests: No Reconciliation before Compensations are Paid -Naharnet
France Welcomes Tripoli Reconciliation, Urges State Sovereignty on all Territories -Naharnet
U.N. Team: Lebanese-Syrian Border in the East Remains Penetrable-Naharnet
Ghosn Rejected Salary Raise-Naharnet
Cabinet Approves LL 200,000 Pay Raise-Naharnet
Hariri about Possible Meeting with Nasrallah: Doors to Qoreitem Open for Everybody-Naharnet
Jumblat Ridicules Jalloul: Do DNA Tests to Prove Whether We Are Beirutis-Naharnet
Brig. Edmond Fadel Named Director of Military Intelligence-Naharnet
Syria Blocks 160 Websites, Particularly from Lebanon-Naharnet
Beirut earns no thanks for raising minimum wage to LL500,000-Daily Star
Sleiman schedules start of dialogue for September 16-Daily Star
Lebanese national dialogue set for Sept 16: president-AFP
Syria: US opposed to indirect Jerusalem-Damascus talks-Ynetnews
Lebanese cabinet calls for Israel to implement UN resolutions-AFP
Lebanon chef finds 26 pearls in single oyster-AFP
No Egyptian gas for Lebanon until at least January - minister-Daily Star
Zawahri questions Hizbullah's 'victory' in 2006 summer war-Daily Star
Regional issues will determine Israeli attack - Nasrallah-AFP
Warrant issued for shooter in attack on LAF helicopter-Daily Star
Lebanese-American named to prestigious post-Daily Star
House panel approves media ethics charter-Daily Star
Berlin agrees to extend mandate of UNIFIL contingent- (AFP)
Arab ex-Knesset member highlights diminishing US role in world affairs-Daily Star
Qabbani describes Tripoli pact as start of new era-Daily Star
Missing South Lebanese turns up in Israeli custody (AFP)
Gaza campaigners detail breaking of Israeli siege-Daily Star
Oyster serves up 26 pearls at Tyre restaurant- (AFP)
Sidon mayor sings praises of bid to revive historic sites-Daily Star
Renewed calm lures foreign students to Lebanon-Daily Star

Summer Camp for Kids, Hezbollah Style
http://www.rightsidenews.com/200809091903/global-terrorism/summer-camp-for-kids-hezbollah-style.html
September 9, 2008
IICC
Editors Note:
"tens of thousands of kids are involved for future warfare against us"
Hezbollah uses its summer camps to indoctrinate youngsters with radical Shi'ite Islamic ideology, which includes: terrorist culture, hatred against Israel, Hassan Nasrallah's personality cult, the glorification of Hezbollah’s martyrs. The aim is to prepare the youngsters mentally for supporting Hezbollah and, in due course, for joining the organization.
Overview
1. Education is a major component in Hezbollah's spectrum of activities (similarly to Hamas, which also places significance on education). Hezbollah and its Iranian supporters realize that extensive "educational" activities for children and teenagers are crucial for indoctrinating the future generations of Lebanese Shi'ites with the principles of Hezbollah and the Islamic revolution in Iran . That is reflected in documents and literature seized by the IDF in the second Lebanon war. 1
2. As part of its educational activities, Hezbollah annually organizes large-scale summer camps for children and teenagers. The summer camps are attended by tens of thousands of members of the Imam al-Mahdi Scouts, Hezbollah's Scout movement, as well as members of other youth organizations. More than just a place for regular social and cultural activities, the summer camps are used to inculcate their participants with the values of Iranian radical Islam, nurture terrorist culture, and inspire hatred against Israel . Hassan Nasrallah's personality cult and the glorification of Hezbollah's senior terrorist martyrs (mainly the organization's leader Abbas Mussawi and its military commander Imad Mughniyah 2) are also major components of the summer camps' activities.
Indoctrination of children 3 according to an article in the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Akhbar
3. On August 21, 2008 , the Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar published an extensive article on the summer camp of the Al-Shabab organization, whose members are children under the age of 10. According to the article, the organization was founded in 2000 in the villages which lie near the Israeli border (called "confrontation villages" by Hezbollah). According to the article, Hezbollah ("the resistance") maintains massive presence in those villages. The organization's summer camp is held annually for the sixth year in a row.
4. Al-Akhbar reporter Amal Khalil visited a large Hezbollah compound located in Wadi Tair Filsay, in southern Lebanon , south of the Litani River . The compound is located below a mountain on which gigantic photographs of Hassan Nasrallah and Imad Mughniyah are hoisted. According to the article, 4,000 teenagers aged 14-20 come to the compound in the months of July and August. They belong to various youth organizations that are taking part in Hezbollah's activities. The compound includes a camp called Amjad, designated for the Al-Shabab organization. The organization's members enjoy routine camp activities (sports, entertainment, arts, etc.) and undergo Hezbollah's indoctrination, detailed by the reporter:
a. A Hezbollah operative, introduced as a resistance officer, was seen at the camp. He used to walk among the children in uniform and carrying military equipment, including an M-16 rifle on his shoulder. Described in the article as "the star of the camp", the Hezbollah operative preached to the children "to prevent any doubt about the fact that Israel is an absolute evil and enemy."
b. The children faced a barrage of questions from the Hezbollah operative about Israel , its ideology and its so-called "aggression". The children were required to answer the questions as if they were taking part in a military course and having their final examination. When the children moved uncomfortably, the Hezbollah operative did not hesitate to excite them and prepare them for watching a Hezbollah-produced film called "The Victory Generation".
c. Designed to complement Hezbollah's indoctrination of children, the movie shows Israeli children who, according to Hezbollah, train in the use of weapons from the age of five (sic!). 4 The movie says that the training is part of the "culture of hatred and murder they [the Israeli children] absorb, in order to send gift rockets to Lebanon [during] the July 2006 aggression [i.e., the second Lebanon war]". The article says that, having watched the movie, a child should "understand the struggle for survival so that he gets his priorities straight, and be able to carry arms when necessary, and obtain the necessary knowledge."
5. By demonizing Israel and portraying it as the root of all evil, Hezbollah seeks to inculcate children and teenagers with hatred against Israel and to motivate them to take part in the violent struggle for its elimination. A research article of the Egyptian newspaper Ruz al-Yusuf ( August 18, 2006 ) deals with the militias of 10-15 year olds trained by Hezbollah's Imam al-Mahdi Scouts. According to the research, the children's first lesson deals with the destruction of the State of Israel, in order to prepare an elite generation of Muslim children willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Allah in the struggle against Israel.
Uniformed children wearing yellow headbands in one of the Hezbollah-affiliated kindergartens (photograph found in the second Lebanon war in the possession of Hezbollah operatives in south Lebanon)
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hezbollah_e004.htm

Sleiman schedules start of dialogue for September 16
'Also Lebanese homes are open for reconciliation, and so is the presidential palace'
By Hussein Abdallah and Nafez Qawas
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
BEIRUT: Lebanon's political leaders will begin a national dialogue next Tuesday in a bid to resolve their political differences, President Michel Sleiman announced on Tuesday. "I invite those who signed the Doha Accord ... to come meet here in Baabda [Palace] on September 16, 2008 at 11:00 a.m.," the president told an iftar meal he hosted for political and religious leaders to break the day's Ramadan fast. On May 21, feuding political parties ended an 18-month-long political crisis with an agreement in the Qatari capital that led to Sleiman's election and the formation of a national unity Cabinet. The Doha Accord also called for a national dialogue to be held under the president's auspices. The talks are set to focus on forming a "national defense strategy" in which the relationship between the resistance and the military in defending the country is to be defined.
Controversy over Hizbullah's weapons intensified after its fighters captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid in July 2006 that Israel used as a pretext to launch a devastating 34-day war on Lebanon. It boiled over again when Hizbullah fighters and their allies drove Sunni gunmen out of southern and western Beirut during clashes in May that left at least 65 people dead, the worst internal violence since the 1975-1990 Civil War. The dialogue follows on from a 2006 initiative in which all major political leaders held several round-table meetings in hopes of forging political unity. The talks were interrupted by the war between Israel and Lebanon that summer. Sleiman told his guests that Lebanon was facing three main dangers; Israeli threats, international terrorism, and the threat of the resettlement of Palestinian refugees here. "In addition to the Israeli threats that are targeting our institutions and international terrorism which is rejected by all religions, a major danger facing Lebanon is preventing Palestinian refugees from returning to their homeland," he said.
Also on Tuesday, Future Movement leader Saad Hariri addressed the possibility of meeting Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, declaring that the "doors to Qoraytem [his family residence] are open for everybody." "We are not against any meeting, particularly with Sayyed Nasrallah," Hariri told reporters after a meeting Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir at the latter's seat in Bkirki.
But the Future Movement leader refused to clarify whether his remarks meant that he was inviting Nasrallah to visit him at his residence.
In a televised speech on Sunday, Nasrallah said that he had no objection to meeting Hariri. "I have said I am ready to sit down with him - there's no disagreement about the principle ... only about the venue," Nasrallah said. "Our head-to-head has not taken place because of the security concerns facing both him and me."
Asked to comment on a shooting incident in Tripoli on Tuesday despite the signing of a reconciliation agreement by rival groups there a day earlier, Hariri said it was a separate incident that would have no effect on the pact. "The reconciliation in Tripoli is extremely important because it included all parties ... I have no fears and the army can strictly deal with all security incidents," Hariri said.
Shots were fired in Tripoli's Abu Samra area during a fight between Osama Shaaban - brother of the Islamic Tawheed Party leader, Sheikh Bilal Shaaban - and a man identified as Abdel Hadi Hassoun. Shaaban said in a statement afterward that Hassoun has opened fire at his car in an attempt to kill him.
A similar incident took place between two families in the Bekaa town of Taalbaya. There was no word on casualties.
The Tripoli shooting came one day after a Sunni-Alawite reconciliation agreement was signed under the auspices of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
The six-point Tripoli Document calls for armed men to withdraw from the streets, security forces to deploy, people who fled their homes to return under army protection, compensation for material losses, alternate housing for those whose homes were destroyed and an economic development plan for the city.
In his address at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday, Sleiman praised the reconciliation agreement, describing it as a "bold step."
"All Lebanese homes are open for reconciliation and so is the Presidential Palace," he said.
Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea described the Sunni-Alawite reconciliation in Tripoli as a "victory for the Lebanese people."
"The reconciliation is a big victory for both the Lebanese people and Lebanese leaders, particularly Hariri and Siniora," he said.
Geagea said that the use of violence to settle disputes was pointless because "reconciliation is indispensable in the end."
The LF chief also called on Sleiman to call for national dialogue "as soon as possible."
In a separate development on Tuesday, Defense Minister Elias Murr appointed Brigadier General Edmond Fadel as head of the Lebanese Armed Forces' (LAF) military intelligence. Fadel was appointed upon the recommendations of both the LAF's recently appointed commander, General Jean Kahwaji, and the former head of military intelligence, Brigadier General Georges Khoury. - With AFP

Syria: US opposed to indirect Jerusalem-Damascus talks
FM Moallem tells Al-Jazeera 'we gathered from the Israelis themselves that the American administration is against the renewal of indirect talks', adding that Syria agree to allow Turkish, French, Russian reps at negotiations
Roee Nahmias Published: 09.09.08, 20:30 / Israel News
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Tuesday that his country has received messages according to which Washington is against indirect talks between Damascus and Jerusalem.
Moallem said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that his country agreed that French representatives be allowed at the talks, along with representatives from Turkey and Russia. He added that "we gathered from the Israelis themselves that the American administration is against the renewal of indirect talks.
"If this is in fact the case, how will the US sponsor direct talks?" Moallem's comments came in response to a recent report published in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat saying that the indirect talks between Syria and Israel will resume in two weeks' time in Istanbul with the participation of a senior American delegate. According to the report, the American representative will take part in the talks as an observer.
Israeli officials denied the report on an American observer being sent to the talks. A source in Jerusalem said, "We are not aware of such a plan."
A senior source in Damascus refused to address the report directly, telling the newspaper that "Syria is not dealing with the arrival of an American observer to the indirect talks."According to the source, "Syria does not believe that the United States, under the current regime, is interested in a peace process on the Syrian channel. The Syrians are looking to a future in which there will be a possibility to launch direct talks based on the principles we presented, and sponsored by the US, France, Turkey and any other interested elements."

Lebanese cabinet calls for Israel to implement UN resolutions
BEIRUT (AFP) — The Lebanese cabinet called on Israel on Tuesday to implement United Nations resolutions regarding pending issues with Lebanon.
"The pending issues with Israel ... are all non-negotiable issues. They are governed by international resolutions to which Israel is subject," Information Minister Tarek Mitri said after a six-hour cabinet meeting. Specifically, he said Israel must withdraw its forces from Lebanese territory, referring to the disputed Shebaa Farms; end overflights of Lebanese airspace and turn over maps of mines and cluster bombs laid and dropped on Lebanese territory. Israel captured the Shebaa Farms from Syria in 1967, and Beirut now claims the small sliver of land at the junction of the three countries with the backing of Damascus. Israel insists the area is Syrian.
All the actions demanded should be "implemented completely and unconditionally," Mitri said, adding that "Lebanon rejects any negotiation that keeps Palestinian refugees on its land." An estimated 400,000 Palestinian refugees live in 12 camps in Lebanon, according to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), and Mitri said naturalising them was "not up for discussion." Mitri also said President Michel Sleiman briefed the cabinet on his meeting last month with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus. "President al-Assad gives us an idea of what was happening in the indirect talks that Syria is undertaking with Israel and what the consequences of path to peace may be on region," Mitri quoted the president as saying. "We discussed Lebanon's position on the matter," he added, without giving details. A fifth round of indirect Syrian and Israeli talks sponsored by Turkey was postponed last week after an Israeli negotiator resigned, Assad reportedly said. The cabinet also announced a 67 percent raise in the minimum monthly wage to 500,000 Lebanese Lira (333 dollars), retroactive to April.

Renewed calm lures foreign students to Lebanon
AUB, LAU officials report spike in registrations
By Andrew Wander -Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
BEIRUT: The fragile political stability Lebanon has enjoyed in recent months has seen a rise in the number of students traveling from the US and Western Europe to study in Beirut.
Officials from the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Lebanese American University (LAU) say that more foreign students have registered for courses this academic year, and attribute this to the end of the stalemate that crippled Lebanese politics for 18 months following the 2006 summer war with Israel.
Tarek Nawas, the dean of students at LAU, said that applications from foreign students had seen a 25 percent increase on the previous year.
"What made things better was the improving security situation. We had a slight rise before May, but there was a big bunch of applications that came in after the Doha agreement. We have seen rises in European, Australian and Canadian applications to the university."
He said that the political difficulties of the past two years had had a negative impact on the number of foreign applications that LAU had received. "We had quite a decrease in applications from international students after the July 2006 war who were replaced by Lebanese students."
Salim Kanaan, AUB's director of admissions and financial aid, told The Daily Star that his university was delighted with the high numbers of students seeking to take up an offer of a place. "In terms of various countries we have had slightly more applications than last year," he said. "Also, the yield- the number of students who are accepted who then register for courses has improved. It's better than we expected, and this has definitely been affected by the political situation. We think the slight stability in Lebanon has had a major impact."
Students' fears about the political situation in Lebanon may have discouraged them from taking up places that they were offered in the past. This year more are registering for courses, Kanaan says.
"Most of the decisions to offer places on these courses were made before the election the new president. The impact of the political situation is not on the number of applications, but on the yield. So far we are very happy with our figures."
About 20 percent of AUB's student body is made up of international students who travel from abroad to take up places on a range of programs.
Both universities say that the vast majority of their international students are from Arab countries, where they conduct regular recruitment drives in schools and colleges to in order to attract applications.
However, students also travel from the United States, Europe and Africa to take up places on a range of programs offered by the universities.
Caroline Anning decided to move to Lebanon from Britain last month to begin AUB's two-year masters program in Arab and Middle Eastern Studies.
"I wanted to learn Arabic and I came here last year on a six-week program. I liked it, and ended up staying for four months, so when I decided to do a masters, Beirut seemed like the obvious place. AUB has the best reputation in the Middle East. I was a bit apprehensive about the political situation before I came last year, but as a foreigner here you don't feel like a target."
But she does not expect to have an entirely peaceful time studying in Lebanon. "I do think it is likely that trouble will resurface in Beirut at some point," she admitted. "I'm not overly concerned though, because it's easy for foreigners to leave."
Registration for courses at both universities will be completed later this month and programs will start soon after.

Missing South Lebanese turns up in Israeli custody
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
BEIRUT: Israel arrested a Lebanese man during a weekend drug seizure after he entered Israeli territory, the UN force in South Lebanon said on Tuesday. "Israel informed us on Saturday of the arrests of three Israelis and a Lebanese citizen in an attempted smuggling near Birnait" on Israel's northern border, said Yasmina Bouziane, spokeswoman for the United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). She said residents of the Lebanese border town of Rmeish had informed Lebanon's army of the disappearance of one of the village's residents, whose identity has not been disclosed. A UNIFIL investigation determined that the Lebanese man had violated the UN-drawn "Blue Line," which has served as a de facto border since Israel ended its occupation of most of South Lebanon in 2000. "At the time of his arrest, he was within Israeli territory," Bouziane said. On Saturday, the Israeli Army announced the seizure of 55 kilograms of heroin and 10 kilograms of hashish, along with $650,000 "from Lebanon" during an army and police operation on the northern border. An Israeli police spokesman, Eran Shaked, said three bedouins in the Ber Sheva region had been arrested, without mentioning a Lebanese.
According to Israel, the incident was the second foiled drug-trafficking attempt in a month in the region. - AFP

CHRONOLOGY-Political turbulence in Lebanon
10 Sep 2008 -Source: Reuters
Sept 10 (Reuters) - Following is a chronology of Lebanon's political crisis and efforts to end it over the last two years.
Nov. 11, 2006 - Five pro-Syrian Shi'ite Muslim ministers from Hezbollah and its ally, the Amal movement, resign after the collapse of talks on giving their camp more say in government.
Nov. 21 - Anti-Syrian Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel is killed by gunmen.
Dec. 1 - Hezbollah, Amal and supporters of Christian leader Michel Aoun camp outside Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's office in Beirut, beginning a street campaign to topple the government.
June 13, 2007 - Anti-Syrian parliamentarian Walid Eido and five other people killed by a car bomb near a Beirut beach club.
Sept. 2 - Lebanese troops seize complete control of Nahr al-Bared camp after months of fighting with Fatah al-Islam militants which kills over 420 people, including 170 soldiers.
Sept. 19 - Car bomb in Beirut kills anti-Syrian Christian lawmaker Antoine Ghanem and six other people.
Nov. 23 - Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud's term ends. The presidency is left empty as pro- and anti-Syrian factions could not agree on his successor.
Dec. 5 - Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri says rival leaders have agreed on General Michel Suleiman as president, but his election is held up by differences over how to share positions in a new cabinet.
Dec. 12 - Car bomb kills Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, the army's head of operations, and a bodyguard in a Christian town east of Beirut.
Jan. 15, 2008 - Bomb in Christian area of Beirut targets a U.S. embassy car. It kills three people but none of the vehicle's passengers.
Jan. 25 - Wisam Eid, a captain in a Lebanese police intelligence unit, is killed by a bomb blast in mainly Christian east Beirut. At least five other people are killed.
May 6 - Anti-Syrian cabinet takes decision to ban a fixed line communication network operated by Hezbollah and sack the head of airport security -- moves which infuriate the Syria- and Iran-backed group.
May 7 - Hezbollah gunmen fight battles with supporters of the governing coalition in Beirut. Hezbollah blocks main roads in the capital.
May 8 - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says the government has declared "open war" against his group through its May 6 decisions.
May 9 - Hezbollah takes control of Muslim half of Beirut.
May 10 - Hezbollah fighters pull back from areas they had seized in Beirut after the army -- regarded as a neutral player -- overturned government measures against the group. May 11 - Hezbollah-led forces overrun posts held by supporters of Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, in the Aley district east of Beirut before he agrees to hand them over to the army.
May 14 - Government formally overturns measures which sparked the fighting.
May 21 - Rival Lebanese leaders sign a deal to end 18 months of political conflict. The deal, concluded after Arab-mediated talks in Qatar, paves the way for parliament to elect Suleiman as president. He is sworn in on May 25.
May 28 - Suleiman appoints Siniora to head a national unity government agreed under the deal.
June 5 - French President Nicholas Sarkozy visits Beirut for five hours to urge leaders to seal reconciliation.
June 23 - Army deploys in Tripoli, bringing calm after two days of sectarian fighting that killed nine. The fighting pits Alawites against Sunnis.
July 11 - Leaders agree on unity government that gives veto power for Hezbollah-led opposition as agreed under Doha deal.
July 26 - The army deploys to halt two days of heavy sectarian fighting in Tripoli which killed nine and wounded at least 68. Twenty-two people had died in the previous two months.
Aug. 12 - National unity government wins a confidence vote in parliament.
Aug. 13 - A bomb kills 15 people, including 10 soldiers, in Tripoli. There are no claims of responsibility.
Sept. 4 - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad describes the Lebanon situation as fragile, especially in the north. He warns of Sunni Islamist militancy in Tripoli.
Sept. 8 - Alawite and Sunni leaders sign a reconciliation agreement in Tripoli.
Sept. 9 - President Suleiman invites rival leaders to a national dialogue beginning Sept. 16.

Harper says 2011 'end date' for Afghanistan military mission
CALGARY (CBC) - Canada will withdraw the bulk of its military forces in Afghanistan as scheduled in 2011, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper pledged on Wednesday, saying the Afghan government "at some point has to be able to be primarily responsible" for the country's security.
Speaking to reporters at a breakfast briefing in Toronto, Harper said the Canadian public has no appetite to keep soldiers in the war-torn country any longer than the pullout date agreed on by Parliament. "You have to put an end date on these things," Harper said.
He added that while Canada's military leaders have not acknowledged it publicly, a decade of war is enough. "By 2011, we will have been in Kandahar, which is probably the toughest province in the country, for six years," Harper said. "Not only have we done our bit at that point, I think our goal has to be after six years to see the government of Afghanistan able to carry the lion's share of responsibility for its own security. "At that point, the mission, as we've known it, we intend to end." The Tory government, supported by the Liberals, extended the military mission in Kandahar province to 2011 earlier this year, with a shift to emphasize the mission's priorities to reconstruction and development in the region. Harper has made past statements in support of a shift in Canada's priorities in Afghanistan, but the prime minister's latest comments appear to show for the first time his acceptance of a troop pullout by the date.
"It's fair to say he was clearer and perhaps more forceful than before on what is going to happen in 2011," the CBC's Paul Hunter reported from the Harper campaign. While there may be a few Canadian soldiers who stay on after 2011 as advisers, the bulk of the troops will be home by then, Harper said.
"I don't want to say we won't have a single troop there, because obviously we would aid in some technical capacities," he said.
The prime minister's assurances come as the death toll for Canadians in Afghanistan since troops deployed there in 2002 approaches 100. One Canadian diplomat has also died in the mission. Taliban insurgents have stepped up their attacks in Afghanistan in the last month, in what they claim is an attempt to influence Canada's federal election. With files from the Canadian Press