Maronite Bishops: Lawmakers' Remarks on Presidential Vacuum Sign of Political Ineptitude
Naharnet /The Maronite Bishops Council lamented on Wednesday lawmakers' ongoing failure to elect a president, voicing their concern over the possibility of vacuum in Lebanon's top post.
It said after its monthly meeting chaired by Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi: “The MPs' remarks on vacuum is a cause for concern and a sign of their political ineptitude.”“We would like to remind lawmakers of their duties, which includes the election of a president,” stressed the council. “We remind them of the need to elect a responsible and competent president, as they have repeatedly demanded,” it said. The new president should be up to the local and regional challenges, it added. Moreover, it hoped that parliament will continue to function on a regular basis and not just only convene for the sake of electing a president. Parliament failed on Wednesday for the third week in a row to elect a new president over differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances, more than two weeks before the expiry of President Michel Suleiman's tenure. Speaker Nabih Berri set May 15 as a new round of voting after the March 8 lawmakers again boycotted the elections.
March 8 MPs and mainly members of MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc stressed that the elections would be held only if they became “serious.”Aoun has repeatedly said that he would not announce his candidacy if there was no consensus on him. “There wouldn't have been any boycott if the presidential elections were serious,” MP Nabil Nicolas said. March 14 MPs slammed this stance, warning that it may lead Lebanon to vacuum.

Geagea: March 8 Elections Boycott Aimed at Imposing its Candidate over Others
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea accused on Wednesday the March 8 alliance of seeking to impose its candidate over others, slamming its demand for the election of a consensual president. He said during a press conference after the failure of the third round of the presidential elections: “The boycott of the session is not aimed at the election of a consensual president, but it has the objective to impose a candidate over others.”Moreover, he noted that the alliance is seeking the election of a candidate that would serve its interests, not those of Lebanon.He criticized the alliance's boycott of the session, deeming it as unconstitutional. Very few extraordinary conditions permit a boycott, none of which exist at the moment, Geagea said. “Quorum at parliament is needed to organize the presidential elections, not obstruct it,” noted the presidential hopeful. “Christians sense that there is a conspiracy being devised over their role in Lebanon, under the pretext of quorum and at other times under the pretext of electing a consensual president,” said that LF chief. “The March 8 camp has never really adopted the concept of consensuality,” he remarked.
Failure to elect a president will further alienate Christians from the state, Geagea added.
He therefore urged religious authorities, especially the Maronite Patriarchate, to obligate all lawmakers, most notably Christian ones, to exercise their duties and elect a president. Blackmailing the constitution will only leave Lebanon vulnerable and weak, he declared. Furthermore, Geagea renewed his call on the March 8 camp to announce its presidential candidate, in order for the elections to be staged in a democratic manner. Parliament failed on Wednesday for the third week in a row to elect a new president over differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances, more than two weeks before the expiry of President Michel Suleiman's tenure. Speaker Nabih Berri set May 15 as a new round of voting after the March 8 lawmakers again boycotted the elections.
March 8 MPs and mainly members of MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc stressed that the elections would be held only if they became “serious.”Aoun has repeatedly said that he would not announce his candidacy if there was no consensus on him. “There wouldn't have been any boycott if the presidential elections were serious,” MP Nabil Nicolas said. March 14 MPs slammed this stance, warning that it may lead Lebanon to vacuum.

STL Going ahead with Contempt Cases against Al-Akhbar, Al-Jadeed
Naharnet /The Contempt Judge at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has ordered initial appearances on Tuesday, May 13 of the accused in the case against New TV S.A.L. and Karma Khayat, and of the Accused in the case against Akhbar Beirut S.A.L. and Ibrahim al-Amin, announced the STL in a statement on Wednesday. “The two journalists and two media organizations were charged with contempt before the tribunal for knowingly and willfully interfering with the administration of justice,” it added. As stated by the Contempt Judge in the summons, the accused may decide either to come to the seat of the tribunal or to make their initial appearance by video-conference, provided that counsel attends in person. The hearings will be public, but the judge may decide to go into closed session if confidential matters need to be discussed, said the STL statement. The hearings can be followed live on the STL website in Arabic. English and French. New TV S.A.L. and Khayat, the network's deputy news and political program manager, are charged with “knowingly and willfully interfering with the administration of justice by broadcasting and/or publishing information on purported confidential witnesses” and “knowingly and willfully interfering with the administration of justice by failing to remove from al-Jadeed TV’s website and al-Jadeed TV’s YouTube channel information on purported confidential witnesses.”
Akhbar Beirut S.A.L. and al-Amin, the newspaper's editor-in-chief, are charged with “knowingly and willfully interfering with the administration of justice by publishing information on purported confidential witnesses in the Ayyash et al. Case.” In April last year, a list of 167 names of so-called witnesses for the former premier Rafik Hariri trial was published by a previously unknown group identified as "Journalists for the Truth". The group said it wanted to "unveil the corruption" of the STL. Both al-Akhbar and al-Jadeed published the list. The STL's spokesperson Marten Youssef explained recently that the journalists' trial will take place before an independent judge. Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said of the summons: “Investigations with al-Jadeed and al-Akhbar will prove their innocence.”
He warned the two journalists of failing to appear before the STL's hearing, saying: “This move will lead to repercussions including the issuance of arrest warrants.”Several lawmakers voiced their solidarity with the journalists and slammed the STL for its actions. Hizbullah's MP Hassan Fadlallah said that the move is an assault on the freedom of the Lebanese, warning: “Any journalist uncovering the corruption of the tribunal will have the same fate as al-Khayat and al-Amin.” The STL, established at Lebanon's request, seeks to try five members of Hizbullah for the attack that killed former PM Hariri and 22 others on February 14, 2005, in Beirut.

New Election Round on May 15 as March 8 Continues to Boycott Presidential Vote
Naharnet /Parliament failed on Wednesday for the third week in a row to elect a new president over differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances and amid warnings of a possible vacuum at Baabda Palace, more than two weeks before the expiry of President Michel Suleiman's tenure. Speaker Nabih Berri set May 15 as a new round of voting after the March 8 lawmakers again boycotted the elections. March 8 MPs and mainly members of MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc stressed to reporters outside the parliament that the elections would be held only if they became “serious.”Aoun has repeatedly said that he would not announce his candidacy if there was no consensus on him. “There wouldn't have been any boycott if the presidential elections were serious,” MP Nabil Nicolas said.
Lawmaker Alain Aoun denied that March 8 was obstructing the elections. Instead, he said: “We are not participating in unproductive sessions.”
Aoun accused March 14 of hindering the election process by holding onto the candidacy of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea “who has no chance to succeed.”“How should we elect a president who is rejected by the majority of Christians?” he asked in reference to Geagea. In the first round of the polls, the LF leader was only able to garner the votes of 48 MPs. Fifty-two lawmakers from the March 8 alliance gave blank votes and then pulled out of the session. Last week, the March 8 MPs boycotted the session, again resulting in a lack of the needed two-thirds quorum of the 128-member parliament.
Al-Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat reiterated the call for March 8 to announce a candidate. He snapped back at lawmaker Aoun, saying his camp would be held responsible for a vacuum at the presidential palace when Suleiman's term expires on May 25. Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel also slammed the FPM chief for not being a consensual candidate. He accused him of weakening the Republic and the role of Christians. Aoun “will take the country to the abyss” if he continues to hold onto his stances, Gemayel said.

Amin Gemayel, Aoun Agree on Importance of Holding Presidential Vote by May 25
Naharnet/Kataeb party leader Amin Gemayel and Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun agreed Wednesday on the importance of holding the presidential elections by May 25.
Following talks with Aoun at his residence in Rabieh, Gemayel said: “We agreed on the importance of exerting all efforts to hold the polls as soon as possible.”Gemayel called for preserving the institutions by holding the elections. “We want a president capable” of doing so, he told reporters. The president “should comfort all the Lebanese.” The former head of state and a member of the March 14 camp described the presidency as “the symbol of the nation.” He also said that all politicians had good intentions to facilitate the voting process. Aoun spoke after Gemayel, saying: “We insist that the elections be held in the coming weeks and before May 24.”Gemayel met with Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, the March 14 alliance's only candidate for the country's top Christian post. His visit with top officials comes as part of an initiative he launched to avoid vacuum at Baabda Palace after parliament failed to elect a new head of state over differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances. Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi said Gemayel has suspended his candidacy for the presidency pending the result of parliamentary sessions to elect a new head of state. Qazzi, who is a Kataeb official, said that Gemayel's meetings with top officials fall in line with his decision to urge rival parties to overcome their differences and elect a new president before the expiry of Michel Suleiman's six-year term.

Owners of Old Rent Law Buildings Urge Suleiman against 'Washing his Hands Clean' of Affair
Naharnet/The owners of the old rent law buildings urged on Wednesday President Michel Suleiman to sign the new rent draft-law after he refused to sign it earlier during the day. They urged during a sit-in in Beirut's al-Mathaf area the president against “washing his hands clean” of this affair, refuting his claims that the draft-law does not grant social justice. “He knows that the new law protects the poor tenants,” they stressed. “The owners should be saved from this oppression immediately,” they demanded. “Allow parliament the option to appeal the draft-law, which is purely constitutional,” declared the owners of the old rent law buildings. “Was social justice achieved during the past 40 years? The new law does not make up for the losses we incurred over this time,” they stated. “Should the owners be forced to sell their property to Arab investors?” they wondered. Suleiman had signed earlier on Wednesday a number of laws, expect one on the new rents. He explained: “Any law that does not grant social justice will be unfair against a certain segment of the people.” Tenants of old rent law buildings have slammed the draft-law, saying that it will force many of them to leave their houses because they would not be able to afford the new rent. The owners of the buildings on the other hand say that the law paves the way for better ties with tenants.

Rocket Hits Bekaa Town of Ain al-Jawzeh, 'Free Sunnis' Claim Attack
Naharnet/A rocket landed Wednesday in a town in northern Bekaa, causing material damage, as the shadowy Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade claimed responsibility for the shelling. “A rocket fell on the town of Ain al-Jawzeh between Hourtaala and Brital, near the house of Samir Darwish,” state-run National News Agency reported. MTV said the projectile was fired from the Syrian side of the border, but NNA noted that it was launched from “the Eastern Mountain Range.” Meanwhile, al-Manar TV said “several rockets” landed between the two towns. The so-called Free Sunnis of Baalbek Brigade swiftly claimed the attack, saying it was “in retaliation to the Assad regime's shelling of the outskirts of the town of Tufail.”The Brigade said the rocket fire was targeted against the town of Hourtaala. The elusive group had claimed many assaults against Shiite towns in the Bekaa and the Lebanese Army. Ever since Hizbullah joined the fighting in neighboring Syria, rocket attacks have targeted several towns in the Bekaa that are considered sympathetic to the party.

Health Ministry: No MERS Cases in Lebanon, Measures are Sufficient
Naharnet/The Ministry of Health on Wednesday confirmed that no cases of infection with the deadly MERS coronavirus have been recorded in Lebanon until the moment, reassuring that its preventative measures are sufficient. “I call on the Lebanese not to panic over the MERS coronavirus,” Health Minister Wael Abou Faour said at a press conference, following media reports that a case was registered at Beirut's Hotel Dieu hospital. “As a result of scientific discussions, it turned out that the ministry's measures are sufficient. They are based on boosting preventative monitoring and collecting samples,” Abou Faour added. “Until the moment, all samples have tested negative and there is an awareness campaign at the airport,” he said. The minister noted that there is a need to raise the awareness of travelers and train hospitals on “combating epidemics and devising plans to confront them.” “The state has a specialized laboratory to examine all suspected samples and it is performing its duties in this regard,” Abou Faour declared. He stressed that “until the moment, not a single case of infection with the MERS coronavirus has been recorded in Lebanon,” noting that “the alleged case that was reported today had nothing to do with the MERS coronavirus.” “Several suspected cases are being probed every week and we're dealing with them away from the media spotlight in order not to spark panic,” the minister revealed. “The World Health Organization has not recommended any additional measures in Lebanon and we will be brave enough to inform the Lebanese about any confirmed infection,” he underlined.
Earlier on Wednesday, head of the emergency unit at Hotel Dieu hospital Antoine al-Zoghbi denied media reports that a case of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus was recorded at the hospital.
“No cases of the coronavirus were recorded at the hospital,” al-Zoghbi told the Voice of Lebanon Radio (100.5). The Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) had earlier reported that a Saudi was taken to Hotel Dieu in Ashrafieh for suffering from the MERS coronavirus. The quarantine center at the Beirut Rafik Hariri International Airport also denied recording any cases of the deadly virus at the airport, VDL (100.5) said. Al-Jadeed TV later quoted the Hotel Dieu hospital as saying that lab tests conducted on the patient for suspicions of infection with the coronavirus had turned out to be negative.
In earlier remarks, Abou Faour had said that “there are no confirmed cases of the coronavirus at the said hospital” and that “tests were being run for confirmation.”The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.
A man has died in Jordan after being infected with the MERS virus, media reports said Wednesday, in the kingdom's second fatality from the disease this year and fourth since 2012.
MERS emerged in 2012 and is mostly focused on Saudi Arabia, where it has killed 115 people, according to health officials there. Saudi Arabia's number of MERS infections has also reached 414, the world's highest tally, the ministry reported. One case has been reported last week in the U.S. state of Indiana, and the announcement marks the first time a patient with the infection has been identified in the United States, reports said. There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments for MERS, a disease with a mortality rate of more than 40 percent that experts are still struggling to understand. Some research has suggested that camels are a likely source of the virus. In April, U.S. scientists said they have made progress toward developing treatments for the virus, and scientists at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have identified natural human antibodies -- proteins made by the immune system that recognize foreign viruses and bacteria -- against the virus that causes MERS, Agence France Presse said.

Lebanon expects Gulf Arabs to end travel warning this month
By Reuters | Dubai /Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Gulf Arab states will scrap by the end of the month a travel warning for citizens thinking of visiting Lebanon, in a sign of improving relations with the new Lebanese government, its tourism minister said on Wednesday. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates - once provided the bulk of Lebanon’s tourism revenue but last June warned citizens against visiting as Syria’s civil war fuelled sectarian violence in its smaller neighbor.  “Unofficially it has been lifted. When people talk to the authorities they tell them: ‘You can go to Lebanon’,” Lebanese Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon told Reuters in a telephone interview. “Now we’re waiting for the (official) green light. We see this will be before the end of the month.”
Lifting the travel advisory comes as Lebanon’s new government, formed in February after 10 months of political deadlock, beds in.
The Sunni Muslim-ruled GCC countries viewed the previous government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, which was formed in 2011 and remained in office in a caretaker capacity after his resignation in March 2013, as a creation of their foe, the Shi’ite group Hezbollah. “Because of some misunderstanding with the (former) government and some deterioration (in relations) they avoided coming to Lebanon last year,” said Pharaon. “The government is really tight on security, with strong international support for stability in Lebanon. This is new, so they’re observing and making sure this is something which is holding.” Tourism and related industries account for a fifth of Lebanon’s economy and employ about 250,000 people, Pharaon said, but the number of foreign visitors fell to 1.3 million last year from 2.3 million in 2010, the last summer before the start of an insurrection against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. “The crisis we went through was very costly and damaging but we still have all the touristic assets and we think we can revive them,” Pharaon told a news conference, adding that Lebanon aimed to host 1.8 million tourists this year. Political tensions in Lebanon remain, and its parliament is in stalemate over who should be the next president after President Michel Suleiman’s term expires in less than three weeks.

SCC to Strike for Full Week in Public Sector before Wednesday's 'Great Explosion'
Naharnet/The Syndicate Coordination Committee on Wednesday called for a first of a kind general strike for an entire week starting Thursday, ahead of a mass demonstration to protest the new wage scale draft law presented by MPs. “We announce a one-week general strike as of tomorrow and until next Wednesday in the public sector, public administrations, ministries and at the Grand Serail,” SCC chief Hanna Gharib declared at a press conference. Gharib also said that sit-ins will take place with the participation of teachers and contract workers in both the private and the public sector on Monday and Tuesday in front of the Grand Serail, ministries, and public administrations. And on May 14, protesters will hold a march towards the parliament, which Gharib described as the "great explosion."
"The public sector is being targeted,” he stated. The SCC also urged boycotting the correction “of all official exams.”
Gharib explained the SCC's decision: “The conclusion of the parliamentary committee is an insult to the Lebanese, particularly to the poor, and also to teachers, retirees and contract workers.”
“Our rights stipulate that salaries should increase by 121 percent in all sectors and for the retirees without any installments, decrease or partition and with a retroactive effect. There is no increase of salaries like they (MPs) claimed before the public. They attacked rights through salary increases that do not assure the basic rights of public employees, just to get back at anyone demanding their rights.”
He reiterated that the SCC does not accept to be given rights “at the expense of the poor.”
“We want to receive our rights through fighting corruption and monopoly in trading,” Gharib insisted. He continued: “The SCC united people against sectarian divisions and projects that cause sedition in the country, but with the new wage scale draft they (the committee) slammed this unity.”And therefore, Gharib declared that the SCC rejects the new wage scale draft law, calling on the parliament to adopt a law that assures rights. “No settlements should be made over rights, regardless of the circumstances and the considerations,” he expressed.
Meanwhile, Head of the private schools teachers association Nehme Mahfoud noted that tomorrow Thursday is a normal working day at private schools, although teachers are called on to participate in a sit-in in front of the Ministry of Education. “But on Monday and Tuesday there will be protests. And on Wednesday, all the public sector will take part in a mass march,” he remarked. Speaker Nabih Berri called for a parliamentary session next Wednesday to discuss the wage scale draft-law after its amendment by a ministerial-legislative committee. The committee, which was formed a few weeks ago after lawmakers failed to agree on the raise, handed Berri the amended version of the wage scale on Monday. While the SCC stresses that it will only accept a 121 percent wage hike as initially approved by ex-Prime Minister Najib Miqati's government in 2012, the committee reduced the total funding from LL2.8 trillion ($1.9 billion) to LL1.8 trillion ($1.2 billion). The committee also proposed raising the Value Added Tax from 10 to 11 percent on certain services, and customs by five percent on some items. The SCC has repeatedly warned that it would continue to hold street protests if parliament failed to approve the pay hike in its initial form.

Berri Sets Pay Hike Session Next Wednesday
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri called for a parliamentary session next Wednesday to discuss the wage scale draft-law after its amendment by a ministerial-legislative committee. The committee, which was formed a few weeks ago after lawmakers failed to agree on the raise, handed Berri the amended version of the wage scale on Monday. The Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, says it will only accept a 121 percent wage hike as initially approved by ex-PM Najib Miqati's government in 2012. But the committee reduced the total funding from LL2.8 trillion ($1.9 billion) to LL1.8 trillion ($1.2 billion). The committee also proposed raising the Value Added Tax from 10 to 11 percent on certain services, and customs by five percent on some items. The SCC has warned that it would continue to hold street protests if parliament failed to approve the pay hike in its initial form.

2 Suspects Arrested, Arms Seized in the Bekaa as Gunmen Clash over 'Kidnapping' Operations
Naharnet /The army intelligence has arrested two suspects after finding weapons in their vehicle in the eastern Bekaa valley, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday. NNA said Hussein al-Hujairi and Hilal Amoun were detained at a checkpoint in the north Bekaa town of Hrabta. The members of the checkpoint that lies in Baalbek district found arms, ammunition and rockets in the Volvo they were riding, it added. Both suspects hail from the northeastern border town of Arsal, whose residents back the rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad. The town, which is a major rebel supply route, has suffered repeated strikes by the Syrian air force, some of them deadly. Also in the Bekaa, the NNA reported in the afternoon that two people were wounded in armed clashes between gunmen in the al-Masyada region in the Arsal plains. The agency said the clashes were caused by feuds over kidnapping and blackmailing operations. The injured men were identified as Nayef Abdullah Audeh, and another from the Ammoun family. The first was transferred to Dar al-Amal University Hospital in Douris for treatment, and the second to Arsal's field hospital, added the NNA.

Report: Rahi Has Not Proposed Extension of Suleiman's Term
Naharnet/Politicians have denied that Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has proposed a one-year extension of President Michel Suleiman's tenure, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Wednesday.
The politicians, who were not named, told the newspaper that al-Rahi has not made such a suggestion during talks with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Paris last week.
The denial came in response to a report in al-Akhbar daily on Tuesday that the cardinal proposed the extension after his suggestion on three possible candidates did not receive the required support.
Al-Akhbar said that al-Rahi had proposed the names of former Ministers Ziad Baroud, Deminaos Qattar and Roger Deeb as possible consensus candidates for the presidency. The officials told al-Anbaa that the March 8 alliance's boycott of parliamentary sessions is a reflection of lack of consensus locally, regionally and at the international level on the election of a new president.
President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ends on May 25.

Sejaan Qazzi Says Gemayel Suspended Candidacy Pending Results of Presidential Vote
Naharnet/Labor Minister Sejaan Qazzi said that Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel has suspended his candidacy for the presidency pending the result of parliamentary sessions to elect a new head of state.
In remarks to the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah daily on Wednesday, Qazzi said: “Gemayel suspended his candidacy until he finds out the course that the election sessions would take.”Parliament is scheduled to hold a third round of elections on Wednesday. But the session will face the same of its predecessors. The March 8 alliance is boycotting the sessions over lack of consensus on a single candidate. Qazzi, who is a Kataeb official, said that Gemayel's meetings with top officials come as part of his initiative to urge rival parties to overcome their differences and elect a new president by May 25. Gemayel visited on Tuesday Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, the March 14 alliance's only candidate for the presidency, in Maarab. After the talks, the former president stressed the need to elect a president who would “fully reassure Christians and the Lebanese.” He also urged the respect for the constitutional deadline for the election of a head of state. Gemayel will not only meet with Maronite leaders, Qazzi said. His visits will include the different political leaderships that hold a sway in the elections. The minister told al-Seyassah that March 14 officials met on Monday night to discuss the presidential crisis. They agreed to find new ways to resolve it by coming up with a new mechanism to announce candidacies, he said.

Cluster Bomb Kills Lebanese Deminer
Naharnet/A Lebanese deminer was killed on Wednesday in an explosion from a cluster bomb in the South left over from the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said Hussein Omar al-Kweis, who hails from Nabatiyeh, died on the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Jabal. Al-Kweis worked as part of the Norwegian demining contingent of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the agency added. The United Nations and human rights groups have accused Israel of dropping about 4 million cluster bombs during its 2006 aggression on Lebanon.
At the time, experts said that up to 1 million failed to explode.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Qabbani: Lawmakers Condemning All Lebanese by Failing to Elect President
Naharnet/Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani criticized on Wednesday the failure of the third round of the presidential elections, warning that Lebanon will witness hard times should vacuum arise in the presidency. He said: “Lawmakers are condemning all the Lebanese people by failing to elect a president.” The mufti made his remarks upon his return to Lebanon from a trip to Bahrain where he took part in a media conference. “Lawmakers would have fallen for the political trap they set up themselves if they fail to elect a president within the constitutional deadline,” stated Qabbani.
President Michel Suleiman's six-year term ends on May 25. “There are no signs however that the elections will be held on time,” added the mufti. “We hope that we will not fall into vacuum because that will reflect negatively on the political scene and the people's daily lives,” warned the cleric. “No matter how great its authority, the government does not have the sufficient power to ensure the rise of the state,” he noted. Qabbani therefore called on officials to “halt playing political games with Lebanon and with the fate of its people.”Parliament failed on Wednesday for the third week in a row to elect a new president over differences between the March 8 and 14 alliances, more than two weeks before the expiry of Suleiman's tenure. Speaker Nabih Berri set May 15 as a new round of voting after the March 8 lawmakers again boycotted the elections. March 8 MPs and mainly members of MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc stressed that the elections would be held only if they became “serious.”Aoun has repeatedly said that he would not announce his candidacy if there was no consensus on him. “There wouldn't have been any boycott if the presidential elections were serious,” MP Nabil Nicolas said. March 14 MPs slammed this stance, warning that it may lead Lebanon to vacuum.

U.S. Says 'No Evidence' of Russian Pullback from Ukraine Border as Putin Asks Separatists to Delay Referendum
Naharnet/Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told pro-Russian rebels fighting in east Ukraine to halt plans for independence referendums and said his troops had pulled back from the border, in a potential breakthrough in the worst showdown between Moscow and the West since the Cold War. The Russian leader also hailed a planned May 25 presidential election in Ukraine -- previously criticized by the Kremlin -- as a "move in the right direction". The surprise comments, delivered during a meeting in Moscow with the visiting head of the OSCE, suggested a potential resolution of the conflict in Ukraine that had been building towards war. Russia's stockmarket immediately soared over four percent, and the battered ruble jumped to a five-week high against the dollar.
Putin's words came as fighting raged in east and southeast Ukraine, where troops were steadily pushing back pro-Russian rebels who have seized more than a dozen towns.
The United States and Europe were also preparing sanctions to hammer whole swathes of the Russian economy, which is teetering on recession, if the Ukraine presidential poll was scuppered.
Putin said of the estimated 40,000 troops he had ordered to Ukraine's border two months ago: "We have pulled them back. Today they are not at the Ukrainian border but in places of regular exercises, at training grounds."He told the pro-Russian separatists "to postpone the referendums planned for May 11 in order to create the conditions necessary for dialogue."
But NATO and the White House swiftly said they have seen no sign of a Russian military withdrawal.
While Washington would "certainly welcome" a pull-back, there was "no evidence that such a withdrawal has taken place," White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest said on Air Force One.
Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk also accused Putin of "talking through his hat" about the referendums, because they were illegitimate to begin with. Putin made his declarations after speaking with Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, current chief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The Russian president's spokesman said afterward that, if Ukraine now halted its military offensive and started dialogue, "then this can lead Ukraine out of a situation that at this stage is growing only worse."
Western governments have been increasingly warning of "war" over the worsening violence, and thrown their full weight behind the presidential election called by Kiev's interim leaders as a crucial step to political stability. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in Kiev after meeting Ukraine's leaders that Russia had deployed covert fighters and "enormous propaganda" as part of "unacceptable pressure" to block the poll. U.S. President Barack Obama said last week that if Moscow prevented the election, he would order stepped-up "sectoral" sanctions.
Putin, who has admitted his forces were active in Crimea ahead of its annexation in March but denied their use in east Ukraine, appeared to now back the Ukraine election while voicing skepticism.
"I would like to stress that the presidential election planned in Kiev, while it is a move in the right direction, will not decide anything if all the citizens of Ukraine fail to understand how their rights are protected after the elections are held," Putin said. Ethnic Russians who make up a large part of the population in the southeastern half of the ex-Soviet nation of 46 million had expressed fears about losing their language and other rights under a new pro-Western government that is likely to emerge after the vote. Those concerns have fanned the insurgency, which on Wednesday was battling to win back strategic positions lost in recent days to the Ukrainian military offensive. Officials said 14 troops have been killed, 66 wounded and three helicopter gunships lost in the operation against the rebels, who are estimated to have lost more than 30 fighters.
Clashes and a resulting inferno in the southern port city of Odessa last Friday claimed another 42 lives, most of them pro-Russian activists, pushing the death toll over the past week to nearly 90.
Ukraine's interior ministry said an hour-long battle occurred on a road in the southeastern region, between the cities of Mariupol and Berdyansk, after rebels fired on a bus carrying special forces troops.
The bus driver was wounded, one of the attackers was killed, another two were captured. Ukrainian security forces also briefly recaptured the separatist-held town hall in Mariupol, near the Russian border, but quickly left when several hundred pro-Russian protesters massed to retake it. More skirmishes took place around Slavyansk, a rebel-held flashpoint town in the east where most fighting has been concentrated. Russia's Interfax news agency said pro-Moscow gunmen were trying to recapture the town's TV tower from soldiers who had overrun it two days ago. In Slavyansk itself, a rebel spokeswoman told Agence France Presse that the insurgents were ready to clear out of the town hall they have barricaded themselves inside for nearly a month, depending on the situation. A Russian flag that had been flying over the building was missing on Wednesday. Ukrainian officials say they are moving cautiously towards the center of Slavyansk, which has a population of more than 110,000, to avoid civilian casualties. The interior ministry said it had information that the rebels had booby-trapped the buildings they occupied in the town with explosives, "to accuse Ukrainian authorities of bombing civilians." The apparent easing of tensions in the Ukraine crisis came ahead of preparations for commemorations Friday of the Soviet victory over German forces in World War II.
Russian officials and state television have been increasingly portrayed the Kiev government's actions as akin to Nazi-style fascism. Putin will on Friday oversee a display of Russia military might in Moscow's Red Square. But celebrations will be more muted in Kiev amid fears of pro-Russian "provocation."Source/Agence France Presse

Syria Rebels Evacuate 'Capital of Revolution' Homs
Naharnet/The evacuation of rebel-held parts of Syria's Homs began Wednesday under an unprecedented deal which hands back control to the government weeks before the presidential election.
After nearly two years of government siege, weary civilians and rebel forces made their way out of the shelled-out ruins of Old City and surrounding areas on buses taking them to opposition territory in northern Homs province. The deal effectively turns over the city once dubbed the "capital of the revolution" to government control ahead of a June 3 election expected to return President Bashar Assad to office and marks a symbolic defeat for rebels seeking his ouster. The evacuation began at around 10 am (0700GMT), with three buses carrying civilians and fighters, some of them wounded, departing from the devastated Old City. Videos posted online by opposition activists showed a group of fighters, some with their faces covered with black or white scarves, walking in a line towards green buses.
They carried backpacks and light weapons as they boarded the buses, under the gaze of regime police and accompanied by a white U.N. car.
By late afternoon, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said around 400 of the approximately 1,200 people believed to be in the Old City had left.
Governor Talal al-Barazi told Agence France Presse a third and possibly a fourth convoy were set to leave the city before nightfall, with the operation continuing Thursday morning.
The evacuees are being transferred to the rebel-held town of Dar al-Kebira, 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Homs. Wael, an activist in the northern Homs province village of Termaaleh, told AFP he had received some of the evacuees. "I asked one of my friends, who is now resting in my house, and he said to me that he felt hungry, and in pain and tearful over leaving Homs," he said.
"He said he felt his soul being pulled out of his body as he left Homs."The deal between the regime and rebels, mediated by Iran's ambassador to Syria, was reached as part of an exchange for a number of hostages being held by opposition fighters in the northern city of Aleppo.
Under the agreement, fighters will also allow aid into two Shiite majority towns in Aleppo province, Nubol and Zahraa, where some 45,000 people are under rebel siege. A rebel spokesman in Aleppo said 36 hostages, including "11 Iranians, some Lebanese, and the rest Syrians, all of them fighters", would be handed over. By late Wednesday afternoon, 15 had already been transferred, said the source, speaking to AFP via the Internet on condition of anonymity. He also said vehicles carrying aid had started to enter Nubol and Zahraa.
Once the Homs operation is complete, the evacuated areas are to be turned over to the government, which is expected to send in forces to sweep for mines and explosives.
The regime will then have control of all but one major area of Homs city. While the area being reclaimed by the government is relatively small, it retains huge symbolic importance for the opposition.
At the start of Syria's uprising in March 2011, Homs came to be known as the "capital of the revolution" because of its massive anti-regime protests.
And after the opposition took up arms in response to a brutal government crackdown, the city gained iconic status among the opposition for resisting multiple offensives.
During a nearly two-year government blockade, which left around 3,000 people trapped, food and medical supplies dwindled, leaving residents to survive on little more than herbs in the final months of the blockade. In February, a U.N.-Red Crescent operation successfully evacuated around 1,400 people and delivered limited aid to the besieged areas. But hundreds of fighters and wounded people unable to make it to evacuation points were left behind, and government forces launched a fresh assault last month. Many of those evacuated in February moved to the rebel-held Waer district, which will be the only remaining opposition area left in Homs city after the Old City operation. Negotiations are under way for a similar deal to be implemented in Waer, according to government and opposition officials.
Source/Agence France Presse

Jarba pleads for arms to defeat Assad’s army
Staff Writer, Al Arabiya News/Wednesday, 7 May 2014
Syrian opposition chief Ahmad al- Jarba called on the United States Wednesday to supply his forces with the weapons necessary to defeat President Bashar al-Assad’s well-armed forces.
Opposition forces need “efficient weapons to face these attacks including air raids, so we can change the balance of power on the ground,” Jarba told a U.S. think-tank at the start of his first official visit to Washington. “This would allow for a political solution,” he insisted. Jarba also said the international community must unite to stop Assad as he runs for office “on the dead bodies of Syrians.”
Speaking at the start of his first official visit to Washington, Jarba condemned next month's elections as a “farce,” warning it would give Assad “license to kill for many years to come.”
President Barack Obama is expected to meet with Jarab in the coming days, as the U.S. weighs the possibility of more economic sanctions aimed at changing Assad's calculus ahead of June elections.
The exact day of Obama's meeting was unclear, though it's likely to occur after the president returns from a three-day trip to the West Coast that kicks off Wednesday.
OPINION: Ahmed Jarba attempts to persuade the White House
Jarba's trip to Washington comes as the Obama administration is boosting its support for the Syrian Opposition Council. The State Department announced Monday that it would give the opposition's offices in Washington and New York formal diplomatic status and increase non-lethal assistance to the opposition by $27 million. The administration recognized the opposition council as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people in December 2012, but its U.S. offices had been recognized only as informal liaison bureaus until this week. The administration is considering taking additional steps in the coming days, including the possibility of levying new sanctions on the Assad regime. Earlier U.S. sanctions on Assad and his associates have had little impact in stemming the bloody civil war that has stretched into a fourth year. More than 150,000 people have been killed in the clashes between rebels and forces loyal to Assad, with millions of others displaced by the war. The White House has denounced the June presidential elections in Syria as a farce aimed at giving Assad the veneer of electoral legitimacy. Assad has ruled Syria since 2000, when he took over from his late father.

Muslim leaders decry Boko Haram seizure of girls
The Associated Press/Wednesday, 7 May 2014
The abduction three weeks ago of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram is now generating worldwide attention and condemnation. Muslim leaders in various countries have criticized Boko Haram’s leader for using Islamic teachings as his justification for threatening to sell the girls into slavery. Others have focused on what they view as a slow response by Nigeria’s government to the crisis. The British and French governments announced Wednesday that they would send teams of experts to complement the U.S. team heading to Nigeria to help with the search for the girls, and Nigeria’s president said China has also offered assistance.
‘Pure terrorism’
In Egypt, Religious Endowments Minister Mohammed Mohktar Gomaa said: “The actions by Boko Haram are pure terrorism, with no relation to Islam, especially the kidnapping of the girls.”
Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb of the Cairo-based al-Azhar, one of Sunni Islam’s most prestigious institutions, said the abductions “completely contradict Islam and its principles of tolerance.”
In Pakistan, Dawn, an English language newspaper, published an opinion piece that takes Nigeria to task for not moving against Boko Haram. “The popular upsurge in Nigeria in the wake of the latest unspeakable atrocity provides some scope for hoping that the state will finally act decisively to obliterate the growing menace,” wrote columnist Mahir Ali. In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, the Jakarta Post published an editorial Wednesday condemning the Boko Haram leader for “wrongly” citing Islamic teaching as his excuse for selling the abducted girls into slavery.
Recalling the Taliban’s shooting of 15-year-old Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai in 2012 because of her outspokenness in defense of girls’ right to an education, the editorial said: “Malala’s message needs to be conveyed to all people who use their power to block children’s access to education. It is saddening that religion is misused to terrorize people and to kill the future leaders of the world.”
The newspaper also criticized Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, noting that “only after international condemnation and street demonstrations poured in did President Jonathan tell his nation that he would take all necessary actions to return the young women to their parents and schools, while also acknowledging that the whereabouts of the abductees remained unknown.”In Sweden, an editorial posted on the left-wing news website politism.se, blogger Nikita Feiz criticized the international community for its slow response and asked why the situation hadn’t triggered as loud a reaction as when Malala was shot in Pakistan.
“Looking at the situation in Nigeria, Malala appears like a false promise from the West that it would stand up for girls’ rights to attend school without fear of being subjected to sexual exploitation and abuse,” she said. “It is difficult not to draw the conclusion that the West’s assurance to act for girls’ rights suddenly isn’t as natural when it comes to girls’ rights in a country in Africa.” In the United States, the Obama administration is sending to Nigeria a team of technical experts, including American military and law enforcement personnel skilled in intelligence, investigations, hostage negotiating, information sharing and victim assistance, as well as officials with expertise in other areas. Fewer than 10 military troops are also going.
In an editorial, The New York Times faulted the Nigeria’s president: “It wasn’t until Sunday, more than two weeks after the kidnappings, that he called a meeting of government officials, including the leader of the girls’ school, to discuss the incident.”In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said Britain will send a small team of experts to Nigeria, following protests over the weekend outside the Nigerian Embassy in London and editorials calling for action. Jonathan’s office later issued a statement saying Britain would use satellite images and other tracking technologies to help in the search.
In France, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France is ready to send a “specialized team ... to help with the search and rescue.”In China, Premier Li Keqiang visited Nigeria on Wednesday and met with Jonathan, whose office said the Chinese leader promised that his government “will make any useful information acquired by its satellites and intelligence services available to Nigeria’s security agencies.”The statement also said China will support “Nigeria’s fight against terrorism in every possible way, including the training of military personnel for anti-insurgency operations.”

Homs falls to Assad: UN, Iranian officers secure Syrian rebels’ exit after Iranian hostages freed in Aleppo
DEBKAfile Special Report May 7, 2014/Syrian rebels evacuate Homs stronghold
A joint team of UN observers and Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers in civilian dress began evacuating some 2,000 Syrian rebels and their families from the Old City of Homs on Wednesday, May 7, so ending a cruel two-year siege. The rebels’ exodus from their last remaining stronghold represented another major victory for Syrian President Bashar Assad. As a rebel on his way out put it to Western reporters, “The rest of the world failed us.”For two years, the armed Syrian opposition to Assad held onto Homs as the capital of their revolution, against the Syrian army’s ultimatum “to starve of surrender" and the most brutal assaults. Assad’s army bombarded the Old City of Homs with chemical weapons and barrel bombs for two years. Syrian tanks and heavy artillery methodically destroyed homes, street-by-street, house-by-house, driving the rebels and their families into underground cellars and tunnels, without food, water or medicine.
In despair, the rebels finally gave up. Their exit from from Homs Old City under UN and Iranian protection was the final admission of their inability to vanquish Assad and his main backers, the Iranians.
To secure Assad’s consent to their exit from this hell, the rebels agreed to the release of Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers held hostage by comrades in Aleppo, and to a withdrawal from a number of Shiite towns and villages in central and northern Syria. debkafile’s sources note the grim symbolism in the timing of the final surrender of Homs Wednesday, just one day after the Obama administration declared it was granting the main Syrian opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition-SNC, permission to open a foreign mission in Washington under the Foreign Missions Act.
Obama administration officials, senior senators and congressmen vied against each other over a few minutes with opposition leader Ahmad Jarba, who was in Washington. The administration also announced that it was allocating an additional $27 million in “non-lethal assistance” for the rebels to combat Assad.
The dissonance is clear and deadly: the Obama administration is continuing its war on Assad in the halls of Capitol building, with no regard for what is happening on the ground in Syria.
After the resounding collapse of the Geneva II peace talks in early February, and US Secretary of State John Kerry’s failure to convene a Geneva III, it became clear that Moscow and Tehran had intensified their cooperative effort to keep the US from intervening in Syria.
The Obama administration tried to dispel this impression with deliberate leaks in April, suggesting that Washington was finally supplying the rebels with US BGM-71 TOW missiles and SA-16-9K310 Igla-1 anti-aircraft missiles. But debkafile’s military sources report that the quantities supplied were so small that they had little impact on the battlefield and Assad’s forces retained the upper hand.
The timing of the Wednesday surrender and the involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards also corresponds nicely with US National Security Advisor Susan Rice’s arrival in Israel for talks on the nuclear issue. That the UN stood in need of Iranian assistance to accomplish this rescue operation attested to the importance the world body attaches to Iran’s indispensible role in Damascus and its recognition that the Revolutionary Guards – even more than the Russians – are the only military force in the area able to control the Syrian and Hizballah military forces on the ground.
With all this underway, can Rice offer anything new to the Israeli political and security leadership, which is up against the reality of a US policy which only bolsters the Islamic Republic and its Middle East allies and the Iran-Syria-Hizballah axis?
Moscow, furthermore, continues to lavish high-quality arms on Assad’s armed forces.
The state-owned arms Rosoboronexport will deliver the first batch of nine Russian Yakovlev Yak-130 jet trainers to the Syrian government by the end of this year. The contract for 36 aircraft is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016, a source close to the deal told the local business daily Kommersant. The next 12 aircraft will be delivered in 2015, and a further 15 jet trainers in 2016.
“Thus, we will fulfill the obligations under a previously signed contract,” the source was quoted as saying.