LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 13/19

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
We have numerous Talents and all of us are one body in Christ
Letter to the Romans 12/01-08: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on February 12-13/19
Israel Warns Iran and Hizbullah that Its Missiles Can Travel 'Very Far'
Al-Aloula in Beirut: Over 20 Agreements with Lebanon Will be Activated
Aoun Meets with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon
Hariri Recites Policy Statement: Lebanon Has Non-Recurring Opportunity for Salvation, Reform
Salam Defends PM Powers, Slams 'Constitutional Heresies'
Karami during ministerial discussion session: For accomplishing election law
Al-Sayyed Clashes with Khalil, Withholds Confidence as Hariri Walks Out
Hariri leaves evening session as Sayyed delivers speech
Al-Hassan Orders Removal of Violating Street Vending Kiosks
Two Men Face Death over Gavin Ford's Murder
Saudi Envoy Visits Beirut to Congratulate Lebanon On Its New Government
Lebanon seeks Iran’s help to repatriate Syrian refugees
Zarif Proposes Cooperation With Lebanon via European Channels
Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel Says Parliament's Policy Statement Discussions Won't Make any Change
Jumblatt meets Australian, Knights of Malta ambassadors
Del Col inspects disputed area off Kferkela
German Ambassador, SSNP official discuss displaced Syrians humane issues
Bank of Beirut becomes signatory of investors for governance and Integrity Declaration
IMF Official: Lebanon Has Not Asked for IMF Programme
Amnesty International Calls on New Government to Prioritize Human Rights
Hankache: Kataeb Will Give a Vote of No Confidence to New Government
Sources Warn of Looming Power Blackout if Funds Not Secured
Hezbollah’s control of Lebanon’s health ministry poses a grave danger
Analysis/No Revolution in Lebanon's Future
'From the north to the south we are ready' for war: IDF officer
Lebanon's Government Policy Statement
Renault: Ghosn remains director of Renault, Bollore chairman of Renault-Nissan

Litles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 12-13/19
Netanyahu on Reported Attack: Israel 'Constantly Operating' Against Iran in Syria
Saudi King: We stand by the Palestinians’ right to establish their own state
Trump objects to measure ending US support for Saudis in Yemen
U.S. Denies Telling Banks to Stop Working with Palestinians
Acting Pentagon Chief Makes Surprise Baghdad Visit
Venezuela Opposition Prepares Protest, Presses for Aid to Be Let In
Venezuela's Food Crisis Hits Kids Hard
Israel's Rivlin Marks 70th Anniversary of Last Jewish Camps in Cyprus
Turkey Detains More than 700 over Alleged Links to Coup Bid
As Time Runs Out, U.S. Ready to Help with Jihadist Repatriation
Tajikistan Seeks Repatriation of 75 Children from Iraq
HRW Says Tunisia IS-Linked Children Must be Brought Home
Hundreds Flee U.S.-Backed Syria Battle for Last IS Holdout
Little to No Change' in N. Korean Capabilities, Says U.S. General
Mnuchin in Beijing for Crunch U.S.-China Trade Talks

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 12-13/19
Hezbollah’s control of Lebanon’s health ministry poses a grave danger/Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/February 12/19
Analysis/No Revolution in Lebanon's Future/Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz/February 12/19
'From the north to the south we are ready' for war: IDF officer/Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/February 12/19
Lebanon's Government Policy Statement/Kataeb.org/Tuesday 12th February 2019
The Best Diet for the Planet Isn’t the Best for Humans/Faye Flam/Bloomberg/February 12/19
Relations between the Holy See and Arab Peninsula: Beyond religious dialogue/Dr. Antonios Abou Kasm/Al Arabiya/February 12/19
UAE paves way for long-term visa residencies in the Gulf/Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/February 12/19
UK crying out for a new party to rescue it from Brexit malaise/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/February 12/19
How will the triumphant women of Congress affect US politics/Kerry Boyd Anderson/Arab News/February 12/19

Latest LCCC English Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on February 12-13/19
Israel Warns Iran and Hizbullah that Its Missiles Can Travel 'Very Far'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran Tuesday that Israeli missiles can travel "very far," on the eve of a conference in Poland about peace and security in the Middle East. Speaking during a visit to a naval base in the northern port of Haifa, Netanyahu said: "The missiles you see behind me can go very far, against any enemy, including Iran's proxies in our region" -- an apparent reference to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbullah. "We are constantly working according to our understanding and the need to prevent Iran and its proxies from entrenching on our northern border and in our region in general," Netanyahu added. "We are doing everything necessary," said Netanyahu, as he inspected Israel's Iron Dome aerial defense system. Netanyahu has repeatedly said Israel would not allow Iran and its ally Hizbullah to entrench themselves in neighboring Syria where they are backing the Damascus regime against rebels and jihadists. Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes in Syria in the past few years against Iranian and Hizbullah targets. On Wednesday the Israeli prime minister is set to take part in an international conference in Warsaw co-organized by the United States and Poland. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month announced the two-day conference saying it would focus on the "destabilizing influence" of Iran in the Middle East.But with few RSVPs coming, Poland and the U.S. have toned down the agenda to focus on ways of promoting peace and security in the Middle East. During the conference U.S. President Donald Trump son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, who has been putting final touches on a "deal of the century" for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, will make a rare speaking appearance. Kushner may offer hints of the U.S. peace proposal but is not expected to unveil the full deal until after the April 9 election in Israel.

Al-Aloula in Beirut: Over 20 Agreements with Lebanon Will be Activated
Naharnet/February 12/19/Saudi royal envoy Nizar al-Aloula arrived Tuesday in Lebanon for talks with senior Lebanese officials. “We came to congratulate over the formation of the government, which we hope will bring welfare to you, because if Lebanon rises the Arab world will rise,” al-Aloula told reporters at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport. “I'm not carrying surprises and my visit has nothing to do with (Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad) Zarif's visit to Lebanon,” the Saudi official said. “This country only lacks further agreements,” al-Aloula added. “Now we can coordinate with Lebanon since the government has been formed and there are more than 20 agreements that will be activated,” he went on to say. Al-Aloula is expected to meet with Prime Minister Saad Hariri later on Tuesday. Unnamed diplomatic sources told Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat that al-Aloula will “meet with senior officials and partake in the commemoration ceremony of late PM Rafik Hariri.”“He will also reiterate the Kingdom’s support for Lebanon’s stability and solidarity,” the sources added. A new national unity government was formed in Lebanon on January 31.

Aoun Meets with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon
Naharnet/February 12/19/President Michel Aoun has met with UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Ján Kubiš at the Presidential Palace in Baabda, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. After the meeting, Kubiš said: “I used the opportunity to congratulate His Excellency on the fact that now the government is in place. I expressed also my hope that today and tomorrow’s session of the Parliament will take the next necessary steps.” “But the most important message was to confirm that we, as the United Nations system and UNSCOL, will continue our cooperation with and support to the programs of the government. We will try to facilitate also discussion on how to resolve certain issues that are very much under the mandate given to us by the UN Security Council Resolution 1701. I informed His Excellency that in the second half of March there will be another discussion of the Security Council on the report of the Secretary General on the implementation of this resolution,” he added. “I once again recommit the UN system to work in very close partnership with both the authorities of the State and with the people of the country to be a partner and facilitator in all the areas important for the country,” said Kubiš. He concluded: “We discussed also the regional context, not only in relation to Israel but also the developments in the broader region starting with Syria and not least the situation of the Syrian refugees and the need of the international community to facilitate both the humanitarian situation but also to help development, social development, economic development, investment problems of the government.”Ján Kubiš arrived Monday in Beirut to take up his new position as United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon.

Hariri Recites Policy Statement: Lebanon Has Non-Recurring Opportunity for Salvation, Reform
Naharnet/February 12/19/Prime Minister Saad Hariri recited the Cabinet’s policy statement on Tuesday during a parliament session dedicated for a government vote of confidence. Hariri recited the policy statement, saying: “We want it (the new government) to be a government of deeds, a government that addresses the suffering of the Lebanese and the aspirations of young people and prioritizes the political and security stability and social security of all Lebanese.”“We have a non-recurring opportunity for salvation and reform, and this opportunity rests with all partners in power and with positive integration with the role of the opposition,” he added. “The Taef Accord is the basis for maintaining stability and civil peace and the only regulator for relations between constitutional institutions. We affirm support for the military and security institutions to combat terrorism,” Hariri said reciting the statement. He added that the government “adheres to the policy of dissociation that does not harm Lebanon’s relations with the Arab countries.”The government will “work on approving the 2019 budget and commitment to reducing the budget deficit by at least 1% per annum over 5 years by increasing revenues and reducing spending.”The statement also stressed: “The need for Lebanon to distance itself from external conflicts and to respect the Charter of the Arab League, and the adoption of an independent foreign policy based on Lebanon's supreme interest and respect for international law to preserve the country as a peace forum.”

Salam Defends PM Powers, Slams 'Constitutional Heresies'
Ex-PM and Beirut MP Tammam Salam on Tuesday defended the premiership's jurisdiction, describing recent calls for “withdrawing the designation from the PM-designate” as a “constitutional heresy.”“Ever since independence, Lebanon's history has never witnessed what we experienced during the long months of the cabinet formation process,” Salam said in an address before Parliament during a session to debate the new government's Policy Statement. He lamented that some parties had “dared to encroach on jurisdiction” and that the country witnessed “an unprecedented decline in political rhetoric.”“The original sin was the flaw that entered our political life with the Doha Accord,” Salam added, noting that “the principle of coalition governments is a heresy that undermines democracy and the parliamentary system.”“The theory of withdrawing designation and imposing standards on the PM-designate is a constitutional heresy,” the ex-PM went on to say. He explained that “the theory that every four or five MPs are entitled to a minister makes the parties speculative partners of the prime minister, and this has become an established approach that characterizes the political life in Lebanon.”Salam also called on all parties to “respect the Taef Accord despite its partial implementation,” and called for “reviving the national dialogue meetings” to discuss the issue of Hizbullah's arms and the national defense strategy. And wishing Prime Minister Saad Hariri success in “this major national challenge,” Salam said he is “optimistic over the capabilities of the new government in light of the competence of its members.”

Karami during ministerial discussion session: For accomplishing election law
Tue 12 Feb 2019/NNA - "Consultative Gathering" bloc MP Faisal Karami on Tuesday called on the new government to accomplish an electoral law that emanates from the constitution and the Taef accord, in spirit and content. MP Karami's fresh words came in his address at the parliamentary session to discuss the ministerial statement. The Lawmaker deemed the current election law as "destructive to Lebanon. Karami also pointed out that consensus democracy formed the largest protection of corruption, public squandering, indiscriminate employment and sharing quotas.

Al-Sayyed Clashes with Khalil, Withholds Confidence as Hariri Walks Out
Naharnet/February 12/19/Firebrand lawmaker Jamil al-Sayyed on Tuesday engaged in a verbal dispute with Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil as he addressed Parliament during a session to debate the new government's Policy Statement. The minister said that “the state's treasury was empty and then it turned out that there were 600 billion liras and that the state did not pay the wheat farmers in the Bekaa,” al-Sayyed said, drawing a swift and angry response from Khalil, who interrupted his speech. “This is not true,” Khalil shouted. He later repeated his interruption of al-Sayyed several times, especially when the latter mentioned the issue of borrowing money from the social security fund. Speaker Nabih Berri then intervened and asked Khalil to write his remarks and announce them later.Prime Minister Saad Hariri had walked out of the session as al-Sayyed began his address before eventually returning. Al-Sayyed criticized Hariri for walking out, describing him as the “disappeared premier” and noting that “the PM should be present because he is requesting confidence in his government.”“I want to say that the disappeared premier has appeared,” Hariri told Berri upon his return to the session. Al-Sayyed had earlier announced that he was withholding confidence from Hariri's government. “Confidently and with a clear conscience, I say that I will not grant this government my confidence,” the MP said. “If I find out after several months that this government has served the people, I will grant it my confidence before the media outlets but today I will not grant confidence in advance,” he clarified. Noting that the new ministers “should submit criminal records,” al-Sayyed accused Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh of “wasting $5.5 billion,” lamenting that “the state today has borrowed billions to ensure continuity.”Al-Sayyed also called for the rotation of security and judicial posts among sects and said Hariri should “apologize over the four years that the four officers spent in jail,” referring to himself and three other former chiefs of security agencies who were jailed in connection with the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri before being cleared of any charges.

Hariri leaves evening session as Sayyed delivers speech
Tue 12 Feb 2019/NNA - Prime Minister Saad Hariri left the evening session devoted to discuss the ministerial statement, coinciding with MP Jamil al-Sayyed's speech. "I wanted the prime minister to be present, listening to my statement as he asked for confidence in his government. People simply don't change. I do not grant confidence to this government," Sayyed said.

Al-Hassan Orders Removal of Violating Street Vending Kiosks
Naharnet/February 12/19/Interior Minister Raya al-Hassan on Tuesday issued a memo ordering a crackdown on illegal and violating street vending kiosks and tents that sell soft drinks, coffee, tea, food, alcoholic beverages, vegetables and fruits. In the memo, al-Hassan said illegal and violating kiosks and street vendors are “obstructing traffic and causing traffic accidents on highways and public roads, while some of them do not meet the hygiene and public health requirements.”“Some of them are also being used in illegal acts such as facilitating immoral acts and selling narcotics,” the minister added. “Most of them are set up without permissions or written approvals from the municipalities while some of them have municipal permissions but lack licenses to sell alcoholic drinks,” al-Hassan said. She accordingly gave a five-day deadline for lawbreakers to remove the violations. Al-Hassan's first move as interior minister was the removal of concrete blocks protecting the ministry's building in Beirut's Sanayeh area. The blocks had obstructed the flow of traffic in the area for around five years. Al-Hassan is the country's and the Arab world's first female interior minister. She has welcomed the challenge, saying Prime Minister Saad Hariri put his trust in her and gave her "this big responsibility.""As the first female minister of interior, I have to prove the woman's ability to assume an exceptional portfolio," she said at the handover ceremony from her predecessor, Nouhad al-Mashnouq, who had been in the post for five years.

Two Men Face Death over Gavin Ford's Murder
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/A Lebanese prosecutor requested a death sentence Tuesday against two Syrian men accused of the November murder of a British radio host, the National News Agency reported. The pair, both in their twenties, were charged with the premeditated murder of Gavin Ford, a British national who had been a popular radio host in Lebanon for years. According to the Lebanese security forces, the two men have confessed to killing him. Ford, who was 53, was buried in Lebanon. The indictment says one of the young men used to frequent Ford's house with a number of young men, mostly Syrians, with the aim of “carrying out sexual acts in return for money.” “He asked the second defendant, who did not know the victim, to accompany him for that purpose, but the latter managed to convince the former to carry out a robbery of Ford's house,” the indictment added. “According to investigations, the second defendant entered the victim's house alone and as they were present in the bedroom, he hit him on the face before strangling him with a cloth band and placing a cover on his face which resulted in his death,” the indictment says. “He then stole two cellphones belonging to the victim as well as a checkbook, personal papers and the key of the car, in which he traveled with the first defendant from Brummana to the Sin el-Fil-al-Nahr road area, where they tried to sell it to a man for $1,000,” the indictment adds. “The man refused the offer, which prompted them to park it in the aforementioned area and go into hiding,” the indictment says.

Saudi Envoy Visits Beirut to Congratulate Lebanon On Its New Government
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 12 February, 2019/A high-ranking delegation from Saudi Arabia is set to visit Beirut on Tuesday, headed by Nizar Al-Aloula, advisor to the Royal Court. Arab diplomatic sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Al-Aloula’s visit was aimed at congratulating Lebanese officials on the formation of the new government and participating in the commemoration of the assassination of late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The sources added that the Saudi official would extend to the Lebanese “the Kingdom’s commitment to support Lebanon’s stability and sovereignty.”The Embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Beirut, in cooperation with the Hariri Foundation for Sustainable Human Development, will pay tribute to Hariri through the “Taif Forum ... Achievements and Figures” on Wednesday evening, under the patronage of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. In a statement, the Hariri Foundation said: “The 14th anniversary of the martyrdom of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri comes as many countries in the Arab region are witnessing a transition from conflict to order and reconstruction. This makes the Lebanese national experience a necessary Arab model for public order, with the promotion and achievement of security and peace based on the Taif Conference in Saudi Arabia, the adoption of the National Reconciliation Document in 1989 and the holding of the first parliamentary elections in 1992.”The statement also praised the late premier’s governmental achievements that contributed to the country’s stability and prosperity.

Lebanon seeks Iran’s help to repatriate Syrian refugees
Middle East Monitor/February 12/19/Lebanese President Michel Aoun yesterday called for Iran’s help in returning Syrian refugees to their war-torn country. “The new Lebanese government must take into account their safe return to stable Syrian areas,” Aoun said during his meeting with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif in Lebanese capital Beirut, National News Agency (NNA) reported. “Iran has a role to help achieve this return,” Aoun stressed, pointing out that the repercussions of hosting large numbers of Syrian refugees in Lebanon were “critical to the country’s economic, social and security stability”. The new government – which was formed in January after months of political wrangling – will treat the Syrian refugee issue with “particular importance,” the Lebanese president noted, adding that the administration would appoint a special minister to work on resolving the issue. More than half of Syria’s 22 million population was displaced by the war, over five million of whom left the country as refugees and mostly fled to neighbouring Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) recently said that the number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon was estimated at 997,000.

Zarif Proposes Cooperation With Lebanon via European Channels
Beirut- Caroline Akoum/Asharq Al Awsat/February 12/19/Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif offered Lebanon on Monday an open-ended proposal for receiving economic, health and security support from Tehran, asserting that no international law prevents the two sides from cooperating.“We will always support the people and extend a helping hand in all frameworks possible, and we are ready to respond to the Lebanese government's request to cooperate with it in any vital area it deems appropriate,” the Iranian minister said in a joint press conference held Monday with his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil. “There is no international law that prevents Iran and Lebanon from cooperating; even resolution 2231 requires all countries to normalize their economic relations with Iran,” Zarif added. The Iranian official met on Monday several Lebanese leaders, including President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah. Zarif was informed about Lebanon’s decision to boycott the Warsaw ministerial summit on peace and security in the Middle East, which is co-hosted by the US and attended by some 80 countries, including Israel. The conference, scheduled for Wednesday, is widely seen as aimed at isolating Iran, which was not invited. The Iranian minister delivered statements following his meetings with Aoun, Berri, and Bassil, however, he left the Grand Serail with no comments. Presidential sources told Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that Zarif spoke with officials about cooperation between Tehran and Beirut, asserting his country’s readiness to place its full potentials at the disposal of Lebanon. He also offered support at all levels, including economic, social, health, energy, military, security and reconstruction. According to the same sources, Zarif said Tehran was keen on not embarrassing Beirut in this regard, suggesting to use the same mechanism applied between his country and the European Union in this regard. The sources said President Aoun thanked the Iranian minister and welcomed his proposal. Economic expert Louis Hobeika told Asharq Al-Awsat that cooperation between Europe and Iran takes place on a reciprocal basis, a mechanism that can be used in Lebanon. However, the expert said that any offer to provide the Lebanese Army with Iranian weapons is impossible. The sources also said Zarif expressed his country’s readiness to help with the file of Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel Says Parliament's Policy Statement Discussions Won't Make any Change
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 12th February 2019/Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel said that the government’s policy statement debate sessions, that will start today, will not have any effect amid the current political alignments. “There are several challenges which lawmakers are supposed to face and bring up for discussion, most importantly Iran's dominance over Lebanon and confiscation of its sovereignty,” Gemayel told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. “Would anyone in the Parliament lend an ear to us?” Gemayel asked.

Jumblatt meets Australian, Knights of Malta ambassadors
Tue 12 Feb 2019/NNA - Progressive Socialist Party leader, Walid Jumblatt, received this evening at his Clemenceau residence the Australian Ambassador to Lebanon, Rebekah Grindlay, with whom he discussed current developments.Jumblatt also met with the Ambassador of the Knights of Malta to Lebanon, Charles-Henri d'Aragon, with talks reportedly touching on the latest developments.

Del Col inspects disputed area off Kferkela
Tue 12 Feb 2019/NNA - UNIFIL Commander General Stefano Del Col, on Tuesday inspected Lebanon's disputed area off Kfarkela, where he inquired about the Israeli enemy works regarding the construction of the cement wall. General Del Col then moved to "Al-Mahafer" neighborhood in the outskirts of the town of Adaysseh for the same purpose.

German Ambassador, SSNP official discuss displaced Syrians humane issues
Tue 12 Feb 2019/NNA - Foreign Affairs representative of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Cesar Obaid, met this Tuesday with the German Ambassador to Lebanon, Jorg Berglin, in the presence of the First Secretary for Political Affairs Lucas Streis. Discussions touched on an array of topics, with focus on the file of displaced Syrians in its humane dimension, and "the need to put an end to the suffering of displaced people." The German ambassador expressed his country's "understanding of the extent of the suffering of Syrian refugees and the repercussions of this displacement on the economic situation in Lebanon."
Berglin stressed that "the German position is expressed within the joint European approach," and that he will relay the views and standpoints he heard to his country.

Bank of Beirut becomes signatory of investors for governance and Integrity Declaration
Tue 12 Feb 2019 /NNA - Bank of Beirut held a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel for the signing of the Investors for Governance & Integrity (IGI) declaration hence highlighting its commitment to environmentally and socially responsible corporate practices.
In the presence of the esteemed members of the press, academics, clients, board members, investors, representatives of the Central Bank, IFC, EBRD and UN Lebanon, and the bank's senior managers, Dr. Salim Sfeir - Chairman and CEO of Bank of Beirut signed the Shareholder-Rights IGI declaration along with Mr. Yasser Akkaoui - Founder of the Shareholder-Rights initiative, hence reconfirming the bank's commitment to best in class corporate governance and becoming a role model in responsible corporate practices.
Developed in collaboration with UN Lebanon, IFC and EBRD, Shareholder-Rights' initiative puts at the disposal of Lebanese corporates its proprietary Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) methodologies that are fully aligned with UN's guiding principles and SDGs, as well as international development funds' investment expectations. In his address, Dr. Sfeir noted that "Bank of Beirut's success relies on its corporate confidence. It is our role to encourage Lebanese corporates to adopt and adhere to the principles we uphold to build their confidence. We believe in leading by example."
"Bank of Beirut's membership comes at a time where corporates, more than ever, need to focus on their core purposes, which requires adhering to best corporate practices. One can only respect Bank of Beirut's enlightening role in showing the path to a more resilient and attractive corporate Lebanon," stated Mr. Akkaoui. Mr. Cristiano Pasini, Regional representative of UNIDO: "Corporates that operate in highly regulated industries like banking demonstrated the highest commitment to best practices. Hence, better risk posture and increased resilience. Companies like Bank of Beirut that are ambitious, alert, responsible, risk averse and attentive seek distinction though quality; they are attractive to investors, clients and employees. They innovate, they grow wealth and value and make Lebanon proud and safe everywhere they operate.
Mr. Saad Sabra, Country Head Lebanon and Syria, IFC highlighted the importance and added value of Corporate Governance, noting that it is a focus for IFC as an investor and development institution. He then emphasized the role that the Lebanese banking sector should have in leading by example in Corporate Governance. Mr. Mohammad Baassiri, Vice-Governor, Central Bank of Lebanon reaffirmed his firm belief and optimism in the future of the Lebanese economy, especially after the difficult period that Lebanon went through. Mr. Baasiri also believes that Governance begins at the very top, starting with states, and extending to corporations and then individuals. HE commanded the role of Lebanese banks in applying best in-class practices. Now that Bank of Beirut is a signatory of the IGI Declaration, it will be launching initiatives to help encourage corporations to adhere to best ESG practices.

IMF Official: Lebanon Has Not Asked for IMF Programme
Reuters/Tuesday 12th February 2019/Authorities in Lebanon, which has one of the world’s highest debt to GDP ratios, have not asked the International Monetary Fund to provide funding, the IMF’s regional head told Reuters on Monday. Lebanon has some of the world’s worst debt and balance-of-payments ratios and recently spent more than nine months without a government it needed to enact long-overdue reforms. Concern grew over the state of the economy and government finances as the impasse dragged on. But despite its problems, the government has avoided asking for IMF aid. The IMF does provides technical assistance to Lebanon and has regular policy consultations with the government. “We have helped them, for example, to set up a framework for investment management to make sure public investments are done properly,” said Jihad Azour, the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia director. “But the Lebanese authorities did not request program funding.”Lebanon’s ability to dodge financial disaster has for years confounded critics. Warnings of debt defaults, balance of payments crises and a collapse of the pound currency have all failed to materialise. After nine months of wrangling over cabinet portfolios, Lebanon’s politicians formed a government at the end of January. Beirut has said it will enact reforms to avoid a worsening of economic, financial and social conditions. Its financial system has depended for funding on deposits from its large diaspora into local banks, though questions over the sustainability of the model have grown remittances and deposit inflows slowed. Azour said the formation of the government and the government’s commitment to address not only the infrastructure but also the vulnerabilities in the economy were positive signs. “The next step is how to strengthen the credibility by moving fast” on the fiscal side and on structural reforms, he said. The country also needs to address social protection issues, which have led to a “deterioration” of citizen confidence in the system, he said. Lebanon needs “well-articulated and decisive moves” on reducing the budget deficit, Azour said. International donor institutions and foreign governments want to see the new government get to work on reforms before releasing some $11 billion in financial assistance pledged at a Paris conference last April. Azour said Lebanon needs to rebuild confidence by implementing commitments and needs to reactivate discussions with the international community to mobilize the donor pledges.

Amnesty International Calls on New Government to Prioritize Human Rights
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 12th February 2019/The newly-formed Lebanese government must prioritize human rights and address the issues that are essential to ensuring a more just and equitable future for the people in the country, said Amnesty International on Monday. “For too long, people have suffered the consequences of political deadlock and a lack of accountability, which in turn have contributed to ongoing violations of human rights, including the economic and social rights of the vast majority of the population,” said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Research. Amnesty International has identified nine core issues which are essential to tackling human rights violations in Lebanon. These include upholding the rights of women, LGBTQI people, refugees and migrant domestic workers, protecting freedom of expression and abolishing the death penalty. “For the first time in years, Lebanon finally has an elected parliament and a cabinet. It is high time decision-makers engage in meaningful reforms prioritizing the public interest. Authorities have a responsibility to respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of the people in the country and ensure a more just and equitable future for everyone,” said Maalouf.
Below are some of the recommendations put forth by Amnesty International:
- Amend law 293 criminalizing domestic violence to include the criminalization of marital rape;
- Repeal articles 505 and 518 allowing marriage with minors
- Adopt a law criminalizing sexual harassment
- Guarantee the equal rights of women, in law and practice, by revising all discriminatory provisions in the Penal Code, and include a definition of rape that is defined as any sexual act involving penetration without consent, in line with international human rights law and standards;
- Amend the personal status code to ensure the equal rights of women in relation to divorce, annulment, guardianship, child custody and inheritance, including Lebanese nationality Law No. 15 of 1925, so as to grant Lebanese women’s children and spouses citizenship rights;
- Abolish article 534 as well as other laws being used to harass LGBTQI individuals;
- Revise the Standard Unified Contract to eradicate the current inequality between a worker and the employer when ending the contract and
- Establish at the Ministry of Labour an inspection and compliance unit with a facilitated complaint mechanism and compensation schemes,
- Revise and amend Law 65 to fully comply with the recommendations of the UN Committee against torture which includes banning the military court from looking into torture allegations and removing the statute of limitations
- Fund and staff the national commission to investigate the fate of the disappeared without delay and in a transparent manner;
- Ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
- Protect the right to freedom of expression by ensuring individuals, including human rights defenders and other activists, are not detained over any form of peaceful expression,
- Ensure that the jurisdiction of the military court is limited to trying military personnel for breaches of military discipline only, and not used to try civilians or to prosecute ordinary criminal offences or human rights violations.

Hankache: Kataeb Will Give a Vote of No Confidence to New Government
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 12th February 2019/Kataeb MP Elias Hankache on Tuesday revealed that the party's politburo has unanimoulsy decided to not give the vote of confidence to the new government, saying that it does not differ from the previous governments.
“The new government’s policy statement is similar to the one adopted by the previous Cabinet, except that one clause pertaining to the CEDRE reforms has been added to it,” Hankache told Voice of Lebanon radio station, adding that the government's main components have declared it already as a failure. The Kataeb lawmaker took pride in the party's mission to enforce accountability in a country where this concept is missing, affirming that the Kataeb will stand firm in the face of all trespasses and wrongdoings. “We are playing our role in accordance with our conscience, history and struggle course," he said. "There may be a lot of lawmakers who will grant confidence to the government, and the number may be the highest one witnessed throughout the years, but we ask the Lebanese one question: Are you satisfied with the current political approach in the country?” Hankache asked.

Sources Warn of Looming Power Blackout if Funds Not Secured
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 12th February 2019/Lebanon will experience widespread and complete power outages if the Parliament fails to approve the needed funding for Electricite du Liban soon. Lawmakers will have to approve a bill allowing the Finance Ministry to release funds ($1.8 billion) to EDL to buy the fuel necessary for Lebanon’s power plants. LBCI channel quoted EDL sources as saying that electricity production has already been reduced from 1900 to 1300 megawatts, warning that electricity supply will be tapered off until completely stopped in no more than one week if no breakthrough is reached. Al-Markazia news agency reported that officials are mulling the approval of an extra-budgetary spending of LBP400 billion (around $267 million) to meet EDL's fuel needs until mid-March. Production units are being shut down gradually as EDL's fuel reserves are running out.

Hezbollah’s control of Lebanon’s health ministry poses a grave danger
By Makram Rabah/Al Arabiya/February 12/19
After nine months of a serious deadlock, Lebanon’s political elite finally ironed out a new Faustian deal, one that gave Hezbollah and its ally President Michael Aoun a clear majority. More seriously, this cabinet saw Hezbollah clinch the portfolio of Public Health-MOH with the group’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s personal physician, Jamil Jabak, appointed as health minister.
As soon as this news broke out, Lebanese people customarily flocked to social media to joke and comment about Hezbollah’s new acquisitions. The jokes ranged from remarking that Hezbollah will soon import saffron-flavored medicine from Iran, to the more smart-alecky jokes that Hezbollah will not treat the sick because their doctrine celebrates martyrdom.
As humorous as these jokes may seem, Hezbollah’s gain in government and its assumption of such an important government portfolio is not a laughing matter as the repercussions of such an act can only bode ill for the Lebanese state. There are many facts and indications that talk of future sanctions over the Lebanese state is not merely a scarecrow tactic, but rather an eventual result of the many unwise decisions of Hariri, and his allowing of an organization classified internationally as a terrorist entity to occupy cabinet positions.
The Lebanese at large, and unjustifiably, are beyond convinced that having Hezbollah hegemony over the government through its Christians allies and controlling key government positions, ones which receive substantial funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), can be ignored, and more importantly uncontested.
While the MOH at present does not receive any substantial US funds as it had been in the past, many of the health care programs for Syrian refugees have to go through it, and any disruptions to these programs will only place unwarranted burdens on Lebanon and its defunct healthcare system. More so, even if these funds are compensated by any other means, there is nothing to prevent the various international funding bodies from reviewing all of its other programs to make sure that Hezbollah and its partners are not recipients of any of these funds, thus greatly risking the whole aid system.
Since the start of the debate over the government’s formation nine months ago, Hezbollah brazenly demanded the MOH while knowing quite well that such a request will lead to the immediate seizure of millions of dollars of funding that the Lebanese state receives from international agencies. Strangely, despite repeated warnings of the imprudence of such an appointment by the US administration through its ambassador in Beirut as well as a number of senior state department envoys, Hariri and all other political factions refrained from flagging the obvious dangers of such a reckless move.
At present, Hezbollah not only fancies this key government portfolio, but rather needs it in order to overcome a series of challenges it faces both locally and regionally. The hardening US sanctions on its financial network has forced Hezbollah to scavenge for additional resources and to turn to places it formerly chose to avoid, particularly the Lebanese state and its resources.
Hezbollah’s infrastructure includes thousands of fighters and their extended families- some of whom have been seriously wounded in battle both in Syria and the region- and requires costly recurrent medical care, one which Iran’s Lebanese proxy might find difficult to provide in the future. Second, the sanctions on Iran primarily exempts both food and medicine, thus these loopholes are perfect for Hezbollah to funnel the much needed funds and possibly conceal them within the framework of the MOH as well as other ministries they can subjugate.
More conveniently, as Hezbollah and its allies now have quasi veto power over the cabinet, it can take a back step and use the MOH as a PR tool to improve its standing vis-a-vis other Lebanese communities. The MOH, with its vast network of services, crosses over the various sectarian and district lines, some of which have thus far remained immune from Hezbollah influence. If Hezbollah succeeds in properly running the MOH and gains the approval of the wider Lebanese public, its popularity can only stand to improve. If it fails, it can simply blame the US and the West for their failure.
By trying to wear a humanitarian face, Hezbollah wishes to force the Lebanese people to forget the essential truth that many of their current political and economic plights and their alienation in the region are largely connected to Iran’s policies. This is a policy that has repeatedly shown that Lebanon and its people are only pawns in a never-ending game of nations, but more alarmingly, it reveals that Hezbollah is willing not only to expose the Lebanese and their fragile economy, but more dangerously, exposing what remains of their crumbling healthcare system.

Analysis/No Revolution in Lebanon's Future
تحليل لزفي هارئيل من الهآرتس: لا ثورة في مستقبل لبنان
Zvi Bar'el /Haaretz/February 12/19
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/72110/zvi-barel-haaretz-no-revolution-in-lebanons-future-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D9%84%D8%B2%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA/
Uproar over the self-immolation of a Lebanese driver who couldn't bankroll his daughter's tuition recalls start of Arab Spring, but Lebanon's relative liberalism will likely dissolve any dissent into peaceful protest.
George Zreik, a hardscrabble salaried driver, immolated himself last week outside the school his daughter was attending, creating a nationwide uproar in Lebanon.
Zreik could not meet the payments he owed his daughter’s private school and only asked the school for a document certifying that his daughter was studying there, so he could register her at a government school. The prestigious school informed him that he could not get such a document before paying his debts. All the fury that had accumulated within him for months, during which he had first removed his son from the school, then realized that his daughter would likewise not be able to complete her studies there, erupted in one outburst. He felt trapped inside a fiendish circle and decided to take his own life.
His story instantly made major headlines in Lebanese media, which blamed the new government that had been appointed only 10 days earlier, following a long and torturous gestation period lasting nine months.
“Will Zreik’s suicide lead to an Arab Spring-style revolution in Lebanon?” asked the daily Al-Nahar. “George’s murderers – stay away from the funeral,” wrote publicist and famed musician Ziad al-Rahbani, the son of Fairouz, the Arab word’s most famous singer. “George is a Shaheed,” wrote someone on Twitter, with schoolteachers staging a sit-down strike in front of the Ministry of Education until steps are taken to prevent a repeat of similar incidents.
The George Zreik affair contains all the components that triggered the mass protests that ignited the Arab Spring revolution in Tunisia nine years ago, but it’s doubtful this affair will yield similar results in Lebanon. In contrast to Tunisia in 2010, in which all channels of media protest were blocked by ordinances and brutal monitoring squads that barred government opponents from expressing themselves even on the internet, Lebanon is an open country. Communications are in private hands, with some outlets controlled by political parties and other movements. Some outlets are owned by private businessmen who are close to public figures and political leaders. However, social media is a wide-open field, which can dissolve anything that has the potential of developing into violent demonstrations, channeling it into protest writing.
It’s not that Lebanon was spared such demonstrations in the decades that have passed since its civil war. The wildest and most threatening ones were in 2005, after the murder of prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, as well as protests over non-collection of garbage. These threatened the fragile balance that prevented Lebanon’s slide into a war of barricades, allowing it to somehow survive, possibly because of the deep trauma left by the 15-year-long civil war.
The effort to hold together the sensitive ties that bind Lebanon’s society together was also evident in the political realm, which from time to time places the country in front of what looks like a political firing squad. The establishment of the current government didn’t have to take such a long time, with the delay causing immense economic harm due to the freezing of projects and the postponement of delivery of billions of dollars from donor states. At the end of lengthy negotiations and power struggles, Lebanon got the compromise government that was expected all along, in which Hezbollah holds the health portfolio and its abundant budgets. Hezbollah also controls a political bloc which gives it veto power over the most crucial decisions.
It seems that concerns over an internal rift overcame a fear of American and Saudi threats, both of which pressured Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri (son of slain Rafik) to curb the political clout wielded by Hezbollah, and thus by Iran. The big surprise was the new minister of state for administrative development, Dr. May Chidiac, the representative of the Christian Lebanese Forces party. She declared, “If Hezbollah was trying to challenge the international community, it would not have appointed a health minister who wears ties and shakes hands.”
Such a clean bill of health, coming from Chidiac of all people, shook not only her own party; even Hezbollah supporters and the left found it difficult to absorb the gesture. Chidiac, one of the most talented, experienced journalists in Lebanon, escaped an assassination attempt by the skin of her teeth in 2005, a year in which two of her senior colleagues were murdered. They were Jubran Tawini, the editor of al-Nahar, and Samir Kassir, also from al-Nahar. This was part of a drive by Syria to eliminate political opponents. Chidiac lost an arm and a lower part of her leg in that attempt on her life. She managed to recover and returned to the political arena.
The expectation was that she would head a hawkish anti-Hezbollah camp, not stroke the organization. But just like what happened with Lebanon’s president Michel Aoun, who was a fearless fighter against the Syrian occupation, going into exile for 15 years only to return as a Hezbollah ally, and just like Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader, who often exchanged his support for Syria for battle fatigues against it, so does Chidiac come now holding a new political dictionary. She got rebuked by Pierre Abi-Saab, al-Akhbar’s deputy editor, who accused her of posing as a dove and of being a privileged intellectual, who from the heights of her arrogance is trying to diminish the demonic nature of Hezbollah.
Chidiac, who has a sharp tongue and pen, chose to reply, unlike her in customary manner, with statesmanlike words, just so the stitches holding this government together do not unravel.
https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-no-revolution-in-lebanon-s-future-1.6920918

'From the north to the south we are ready' for war: IDF officer
Anna Ahronheim/Jerusalem Post/February 12/19
Hundreds of troops completing two-week drill simulating war with Hezbollah.
With tensions high along Israel’s northern border, soldiers from the IDF’s 401st Armored Brigade are completing a large-scale drill simulating war with Hezbollah. “This drill simulated what will need to be done during a war with Hezbollah,” Maj. Tsur Goldman of the 401st Armored Brigade told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. While most drills take place in the Ramat HaGolan, hundreds of troops drilled for two weeks in the northern Jordan Valley in challenging mountainous terrain which is similar to the terrain found in southern Lebanon and on a variety of scenarios including urban combat. According to Goldman, “there is a good feeling among the soldiers that we will complete our mission,” especially after they finished a 17 week long training “which allowed us to go from looking at the most basic thing to in depth to the smallest detail.”The IDF has significantly stepped up the scope and frequency of its combat training in order to improve its readiness. As part of the IDF’s five-year Gideon plan, the military has returned to 17 weeks of consecutive training, an increase from the 13 weeks soldiers trained for the past 15 years. Last week, the IDF’s Givati reconnaissance battalion completed a challenge drill simulating war with Hezbollah and a week earlier troops belonging to the 450th Battalion from the IDF’s school for Infantry Corps Professions & Squad Commanders (also known as Bislamach), completed a similar large scale drill in northern Israel. Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in 2006 where around 165 Israelis and 1,200 Lebanese were killed, and in recent months tensions have once again risen along the northern border. According to Goldman the biggest challenge facing troops confronting Hezbollah is that the group has morphed from a guerrilla organization into an army which has gained a significant amount of battlefield experience through its fighting in Syria for the regime of Bashar Assad.
The group has also obtained sophisticated anti-tank weapons that could be used against Israeli tanks in the case of another war between the two enemies. “But we have the best tanks in the Middle East,” he said. With the help of Iran, Hezbollah has also rebuilt its arsenal since 2006 and has hundreds of thousands of short and medium-range rockets and several thousand more missiles that can reach deeper into Israel. The group also dug several cross-border attack tunnels from southern Lebanon into Israeli territory and in December Israel launched Operation Northern Shield in order to detect and destroy them. Israel believes that the tunnels would have been used by the Hezbollah’s elite Radwan unit to infiltrate into Israel in an attempt to take control of several communities and kill as many civilians and troops as possible. While Goldman told the Post that he was not expecting a war with the Shi’ite Lebanese terrorist group in the near future, his troops-which will now head down south to defend Israel’s border with Gaza-are ready.“We are ready, whether it is in the north or south. After all this training, we are ready... it doesn’t matter what front it is.”

Lebanon's Government Policy Statement
Kataeb.org/Tuesday 12th February 2019/
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/72117/lebanons-government-policy-statement-in-both-arabic-english-%D9%86%D8%B5-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A9/
Last week, the Lebanese government agreed on its policy statement which sets the main objectives of the new Cabinet that was finally formed on January 31, after nine months of wrangling over ministerial shares.
Below is the unofficial translation of the policy statement based on which the government is seeking to win the Parliament’s vote of confidence this week.
Your Excellency the Parliament Speaker, fellow colleagues
We want this government to be a government of actions, not words. We want it to be a government of bold decisions and reforms that can no longer be evaded. We want it to be a government that curbs administrative flaws, financial corruption and tax evasion. We want it to be a government that alleviates the Lebanese people’s suffering, meets the youth’s aspirations, and sets political, security, economic and social stability for all citizens as its top priorities.
This government has no time to waste given that its agenda is riddled with challenges, including investment boost, spending rationalization, corruption fight, and growth stimulation in a bid to reduce poverty and unemployment rates.
One of the basic requirements to deal with these challenges is to launch joint efforts and cooperation between the executive and legislative authorities in order pull the country out of the state of economic and social anxiety, and to reduce the people’s complaints about the lack of fundamental state services. These efforts would help move the country into a state of much-anticipated stability, and restore the citizens’ confidence in the State, its institutions, and its ability to carry out reforms and to modernize itself.
We are all on the same boat; the holes jeopardizing it are perceived by everyone. Therefore, it’s useless to trade blame.
What we need today are bold and specific decisions, legislations and reforms. They might be hard and painful so as to avoid a further deterioration of the economic, financial and social situation; a goal that the government will seek to achieve with full transparency, determination and solidarity between its components, upon the instructions of the President of the Republic and amid continuous coordination with the Parliament.
We have now a rare opportunity of rescue and reform; it is the responsibility of each of the political factions taking part in the authority to not miss it, to opt for positive complementarity with the opposition, and to work, without any delay, on achieving the pledges that we’ve made to the Lebanese as well as sister and friendly countries that gathered to support Lebanon.
Recent years have witnessed remarkable breakthroughs which we must count on to achieve economic growth and to get out of the state of despair. The Lebanese have succeeded in safeguarding civil peace and coexistence despite the wars and crises that have swept through the entire region, in holding onto dialogue as a way to resolve differences as well as onto dissociation towards policies that disrupt ties with Arab countries.
The government deems the Taef Accord and the Constitution deriving from it as the basis for the maintenance of stability and civil peace, the main guarantor of national balance, and the sole regulator of relations between the constitutional institutions. It also pledges to rally around the Army and security forces in the fight against terrorism and Israeli spy networks, and to consolidate the Judiciary’s authority and independence in fulfilling its mission. Today, the Lebanese are aspiring to the State and its institutions to succeed the available chance for revival.
Your Excellency,
Our government is committed to the fast and effective implementation of an economic, reformist, investment, service-based and social program which relies on the basic foundations mentioned in the Lebanese government’s vision presented at the CEDRE conference and the recommendations of the Economic and Social Council.
This program is a comprehensive package of financial, investment and sectorial legislations, as well as reformist measures whose success is linked to its integrality (i.e. not fragmenting or randomly picking what reforms should be undertaken) and interconnection with the recommendations put forth in the economic study carried out by the McKinsey consultancy company.
1. Public Investment
• Speeding up the execution of the projects whose funds, estimated at $3.3 billion, have been secured before the CEDRE conference, and implementing the investment spending program, as stated at the CEDRE conference. This program is estimated at $17 billion to be invested over a period of eight years after the government endorses the relevant projects and requirements. A sum of $5 billion out of the program’s total value will be financed by the local and foreign private sector within the framework of the partnership mechanism between the public and private sectors. A periodic review of the investment program will be carried out with the aim of updating and developing it according to the State’s needs and priorities. The necessary funds will be secured for the State’s acquisitions.
2. Financial and Monetary Stability
• Adopting a consistent monetary and financial policy that reinforces confidence in the national economy and reduces the public debt-to-GDP ratio, notably by increasing the size of the economy and reducing the budget deficit.
• Once it wins the Parliament’s vote of confidence, the government will start discussing the 2019 draft budget law with the aim of approving it, and will refer the audit of previous years’ financial accounts to the Parliament.
• Undertaking a financial adjustment, starting with the 2019 budget, of at least 1% per annum of the GDP over a period of five years by increasing revenues and reducing the spending; this would start with decreasing the annual deficit of the Electricite du Liban until it is totally abolished.
• Expanding the taxpayer base, activating tax collection, combating squandering, ending customs and tax evasion, and updating the laws and work methods of the tax administration.
• Applying fairness and equality between the beneficiaries of the funds and institutions in the public sector so as to ease the burden on the treasury. Reducing allocations granted to non-profit organizations and other bodies, reconsidering their classification as part of new policies based on transparency and unified standards, and benefiting from the recommendations of the Economic and Social Council.
• Reducing consumption expenditures by at least 20% compared to the 2018 budget.
• Implementing the law of the program related to the establishment of public institutions’ buildings in order to reduce rental costs.
• Activating financial governance by boosting the budget’s transparency, advancing the level of the electronic services provided by the Finance Ministry, consolidating accountability and developing internal auditing.
• Opting for soft financing sources for development and investment projects, by resorting to international and Arab funds and institutions, and involving the private sector in infrastructure projects.
• Upholding the policy pertaining to the exchange rate of the national currency, knowing that it is a priority for social and economic stability.
3. Public Sector Modernization
• Implementing the reforms aimed at modernizing the public administration and controlling expenditures, as stipulated by Law No. 46 (ratified on August 21, 2017). These reforms include:
1) Freezing employment and volunteer recruitment during the year 2019, in all its forms and denominations (contracted, daily-paid workers, services purchase, etc), in all public administrations and institutions as well as military and security agencies. In the following four years, employment and volunteer recruitment will be equal to half the annual number of retirees, provided that the budget deficit then is reduced by no less than the percentage mentioned in this statement.
2) Restructuring the public sector through a comprehensive and descriptive study that indicates the employees’ number and productivity, as well as vacancies and superfluous posts. Accordingly, the functional needs of all departments, institutions and councils would be determined for the short and medium terms.
3) Reforming the pension systems in the public sector.
4) Reviewing the United Nations’ development joint programs with the public administrations.
5) Appointing members of the administrative boards in public institutions and mixed companies.
4. Structural Reforms
• Implementing laws and issuing the relevant regulatory decrees.
• Approving the national anti-corruption strategy, the relevant draft laws and its executive program. Issuing the regulatory decrees pertaining to the Right to Access Information Law.
• Proceeding with the implementation of customs reforms by simplifying procedures in partnership with the private sector, updating regulations and activating electronic payment.
• Applying the e-government in the public administrations and institutions, wherever it is applicable, in preparation for the adoption of the comprehensive strategy of digital government and an executive program for it.
• Modernizing the public procurement and tenders law, preparing and approving standard conditions books to boost transparency.
• Improving the business environment through the adoption of a series of draft laws related to the enhancement of the institutions and companies’ work, notably:
1) Draft law on land trade, including the provisions related to companies and institutions
2) Draft law on private employment companies
3) Draft law on real guarantees on movables
4) Draft law on business rescue, restructuring and liquidation
5) Draft law on insolvency agents in Lebanon to protect creditors
6) Draft laws on intellectual property (literary and artistic property, trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic coordinates)
• Developing the financial markets by transforming the Beirut Stock Exchange into a joint stock company, and launching the electronic trading platform.
5. Sectorial Reforms
- Energy Sector:
• Committing to partnership with the private sector to provide a 24/24 power supply as soon as possible, in accordance with the laws and regulations in force. Restoring the financial balance of Electricite du Liban by limiting technical and financial waste, and reconsidering the tariffs after the power supply is increased while taking into consideration people with limited income.
• Appointing members of the regulatory authority in accordance with the Electricity Sector Regulatory Law which would be reviewed and modernized.
• Appointing a new administrative board at Electricite du Liban.
• Reducing the cost of production by using natural gas, diversifying the sources of energy production, including renewable energy, improving and developing both the transmission and distribution networks.
- Oil and Gas:
• Consolidating Lebanon’s full right to benefit from its natural resources within the Exclusive Economic Zone by confirming its maritime borders.
• Completing the second round of offshore blocks licensing by the end of 2019.
• Issuing the regulatory decrees pertaining to the Petroleum Transparency Law, and endorsing both the Sovereign Wealth Fund Law and the law for onshore petroleum activities.
- Solid Waste:
• Completing the implementation of the solid waste management plan approved by the previous governments.
• Issuing the regulatory decrees pertaining to the law on the integrated management of solid waste.
- Water and Sanitation:
• Going over, developing and proceeding with the implementation of the national strategy for the water and sanitation sector which was approved by the government in 2012.
- Telecommunication:
• Setting up a general policy for the telecommunication sector; one that aims at liberating it and opening it up to the private sector investments as part of a comprehensive vision that takes into consideration technical advancements, and involves the application and development of the Telecommunication Law (number 431).
• Appointing the regulatory authority for telecommunications and assigning members of Liban Telecom’s administrative board.
• Updating fixed telecom networks and completing the gradual installation of the fiber-optic broadband network nationwide by the end of 2020.
• Providing high-quality coverage nationwide for the 3G, 4G, and 5G cellular networks.
• Proceeding with the policy of reducing the costs of phone calls and Internet services.
• Establishing a national data center which includes the Cloud technique in cooperation with the private sector, while respecting the confidentiality of the information.
• Installing a third submarine cable that directly links Lebanon to Europe, and preparing Lebanon to become a regional Tier-2 Internet hub in collaboration with the private sector.
• Setting an integral strategy to move into digital economy and establish a cybersecurity system.
6. Transportation
• The government pledges to accord the necessary importance to the public transportation file so that it regains its role, and to benefit from the private sector in the land, sea, and air transport fields.
• Appointing members of the regulatory body of civil aviation as well as the managing councils of the ports.
• Appointing members of the management councils that run the sea and land transport, and opening the door for the private sector’s participation.
7. Media
• Taking the necessary measures to dissolve the Information Ministry and to form the Higher Information Committee which would take charge of the management and development of the media sector in Lebanon.
8. Production and Service Sectors
• Adopting a strategy to diversify the production and service sectors in order to expand the resources of growth, through specific initiatives in the sectors of agriculture, industry, as well as environmental, religious and hospitalization tourism, financial services and knowledge economy. Benefiting from the capacities and expertise of the Lebanese expatriates worldwide.
• Setting out an incentive program to develop productive economic activities and to diversify it, while focusing on agriculture, industry, as well as environmental, religious and hospitalization tourism in order to increase the share of its contribution in the economy, boost its role in development, reduce trade deficit, protect national productions, reevaluate protectionism measures as well as customs exemptions and agreements. Examining and reassessing the methods and mechanisms of support, working hard on marketing the Lebanese products abroad and safeguarding its compliance to international standards by adopting modern technology.
9. Environment Protection
• Carrying out a study that examines the impact before executing any project, as stipulated by the law.
• Implementing the law on cleaning up the Litani River and the Qaraoun Lake, activating a roadmap leading to it, devising and implementing protection plans for other rivers and lakes, and putting an immediate end to sources of pollution.
• Preparing and executing a permanent policy to the sector of sand blowers, quarries and crushers; one that includes the restoration of damaged environmental areas, and the adoption of a guided project to be enforced on the national council for quarries, crushers, administrations and all forces.
• Putting an end to random urban expansion by planning and implementing a policy that protects mountain tops, beaches, agricultural lands and green areas via a readjustment decree.
• Implementing the national strategy for biological diversity and the 2016-2030 work plan endorsed by the previous government.
• Issuing decrees pertaining to the law on the protection of air quality and the stimulation of climate action (Law number 78/ 2018).
10. Healthcare and Social Security
• Broadening the National Poverty Targeting Program, securing the funds needed for it to cover the most impoverished families, and implementing programs to pull people out of poverty.
• Offering comprehensive health coverage to the Lebanese who have no health insurance and endorsing the draft law on pensions and social protection.
• Reinforcing the role of public hospitals and appointing members of its administrative councils.
• Reducing medication prices incurred by the state and the citizens.
• Setting a housing policy and adopting the subsidized loans policy in accordance with the conditions of The Lebanese Public Housing Institute.
• Reforming and modernizing the National Social Security Fund by reviewing its regulations, structure and system, and finding solutions to the problems facing it.
• Modernizing the Labor Law and developing the National Employment Office as part of a plan to reduce unemployment.
• Setting a plan to build central prisons, renovate current detention centers and ensure favorable conditions to rehabilitate inmates in the context of consolidating human rights.
• Applying and developing Law number 220, ratified on May 29, 2005, related to the rights of handicapped, and taking care of the rights of people with disabilities.
11. Education
• Securing the right to education and its quality in all public schools, preserving the stability of the private educational sector, and seeking to provide Internet access to all institutions.
• Applying a national strategy for education as well as professional and technical training.
• Developing curricula in a way that meets the requirements of national belonging, scientific evolvement and the labor market, especially in the fields of telecommunication and information technology.
• Supporting the Lebanese University, in all its branches and faculties, consolidating its national role, boosting the independence of its bodies and completing appointments within it.
• Executing the Higher Education Law, notably with regard to the accreditation system, as well as activating and strengthening supervision of higher education institutions.
12. Youth and Sports
• Activating the role of public institutions to manage, operate, develop and maintain sport and scouting facilities, while setting out a revival plan for both the youth and sports sectors. Arranging advanced programs on youth policy, especially those related to the motivation of innovation and business. Providing job opportunities.
13. The Displaced
• Providing the necessary funds to continue resolving what is left of the displaced files and the Central Fund for the Displaced in preparation for the annulment of the Ministry of the Displaced and the Central Fund for the Displaced within two years.
14. Sustainable Development Goals
The government will commit to moving forward with the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by merging it with the national plans and programs, as well as adopting a an approach linked to the economic, social and environmental dimensions of the “2030 plan.”
Your Excellency,
The government renews its commitment to the content of President Michel Aoun’s inaugural speech, regarding the fact that Lebanon, which steps between the mines, is still immune to the flames raging around it in the region thanks to the Lebanese people’s unity and commitment to civil peace. It is therefore necessary to dissociate Lebanon from external conflicts, while adhering to the Charter of the Arab League, notably Article 8 thereof, adopting an independent foreign policy based on Lebanon’s higher interest, and respecting international laws in view of safeguarding the country as a platform of peace, stability and encounter.
The government will surely continue to strengthen relations with sister and friendly countries, and to consolidate partnership with the European Union within the bound of mutual respect of national sovereignty. It also affirms its commitment to the international charters and resolutions, including UN Security Council Resolution 1701, as well as to the continuity of the work of the UNIFIL’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
As for the conflict with Israel, we shall spare no effort and no resistance to liberate the remaining occupied Lebanese territories, and protect our country from an enemy that still covets our land, water and natural resources.
By virtue of the State’s responsibility and role to preserve Lebanon’s sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and the safety of its citizens, the government stresses upon the State’s duty and quest to liberate the Shebaa Farms, the Kfarshouba Hills and the Lebanese part of Ghajar village by all legitimate means as well as upon the Lebanese citizens’ right to resist the Israeli occupation, repel its attacks and regain occupied territories.
The government, in compliance with international resolutions, confirms its commitment to establishing and disclosing the truth in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his companions, and will follow up on the progress of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon which was originally set to serve justice and truth away from politicization or revenge whatsoever so as not to affect Lebanon’s stability, unity and civil peace.
With regard to the crime of disappearance of Imam Moussa Al-Sadr and his companions in Libya, the government will double its efforts on all levels, and will support the official follow-up committee to ensure their release and safe return.
The government will continue to work with the international community to honor the pledges it made in terms of dealing with the burdens of the Syrian refugee influx, and to abide by international charters while stressing upon President Michel Aoun’s calls for steering this issue clear of political polarization so as to serve Lebanon’s best interest which should be favored over all else.
The government insists that the only solution is to ensure the safe return of refugees to their homeland and reject all forms of integration in host communities. The government welcomes Russia’s initiative aimed at returning Syrian refugees back to their country, and will work on approving its policy regarding the displaced.
The government reiterates its commitment to the Constitution provisions which reject the naturalization of refugees, notably the Palestinians, and stresses upon their right to return to their homelands. We shall work with sister and friendly countries on finding a solution to the funding crisis of the Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), and maintain the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue so as to spare encampments further tensions and use of arms; something that is rejected by the Lebanese as per the unified Lebanese vision pact.
The government pledges to maintain its cooperation with the Parliament to seek the ratification of a law on administrative decentralization. It also pledges to include the civil society in the decision-making process, continue to consolidate the women’s rights and role in the public and political life, and to eliminate all forms of gender discrimination.
The government deems the Taef Accord and the Constitution deriving from it as the basis for the maintenance of stability and civil peace, the main guarantor of national balance, and the sole regulator of relations between the constitutional institutions.
The government stresses upon its commitment to the dissociation policy which was approved by the previous Cabinet, in its entirety, during the session held on December 5, 2017.
The government will work on approving the general amnesty draft law.
The government will work on adopting and following up on the President’s initiative to nominate Lebanon to become a center for dialogue between civilizations, religions and races by establishing the Human Academy for Encounter and Dialogue.
The government will follow up on the implementation of the initiative that the President put forth at the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit and which consists in establishing an Arab reconstruction and development bank.
The government pledges to grant the deputy prime minister and all the ministers of state (for parliamentary affairs, administrative development, refugee affairs, foreign trade, presidency affairs, social and economic empowerment of women and youth, and information technology affairs) the needed capabilities for them to fulfill their duties and tasks.
Your Excellency, fellow colleagues
We wanted this policy statement to serve as a comprehensive depiction of the tremendous challenges and the high hopes pinned on us, the government, the Parliament and the living society, to address and confront them all.
There’s a chance for us to undertake a promising economic, social, service-based and investment revival. The chance is on its way to be turned into actions, with the will of both the Parliament and the government. Based on that, we ask for the Parliament’s confidence. May God grant us success!

Renault: Ghosn remains director of Renault, Bollore chairman of Renault-Nissan
Reuters//February 12/19/Thierry Bollore is now chairman of the Renault-Nissan BV holding company “Mr. Ghosn retains, as of the date hereof, his positions within Alliance Rostec Auto BV and Renault do Brasil,” Renault said. PARIS: Carlos Ghosn remains a director of Renault SA even though he has resigned as chairman and chief executive and Thierry Bollore is now chairman of the Renault-Nissan BV holding company, Renault said on Tuesday. “In addition to the Board of Directors’ communication of January 24, 2019, Renault wishes to specify that Mr. Ghosn resigned from his terms of office as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer, but remains, as of the date hereof, Director of Renault SA,” the company said. “Mr. Ghosn retains, as of the date hereof, his positions within Alliance Rostec Auto BV and Renault do Brasil,” Renault added.

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on February 12-13/19
Netanyahu on Reported Attack: Israel 'Constantly Operating' Against Iran in Syria
Noa Shpigel/Haaretz/February 12/19/'We do whatever is necessary,' Netanyahu says day after Syrian media reported that Israeli tank shells hit targets in southern Syria. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday that Israel is "constantly operating" against "Iran and its satellites" in Syria in response to a question about a report the previous day that Israel attacked near the border. Syrian state media reported on Monday that Israeli tank shells hit a demolished hospital and an observation post in Syria's southern Quneitra province near the border with Israel. "We are constantly operating according to our assessments and needs to prevent Iran and its satellites from forming bases near our northern border or in our area at all," Netanyahu said at a naval base in Haifa, adding: "We do whatever is necessary." The Israeli military refused to comment on the report, saying that it does not react to foreign reports on attacks in Syria. Russia warned Israel on Friday that it must stop conducting airstrikes in Syria, according to the Russian news outlet Sputnik News. "With regard to the latest Israeli attacks, we said that such arbitrary attacks on sovereign Syrian territory should be stopped and excluded," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said, Sputnik reported. Netanyahu is set to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 21 in Moscow following brief talks that took place at the Paris Peace Forum in November, as well as a series of phone calls between the two leaders. The meeting comes after tensions between the two countries rose in recent weeks following Israeli airstrikes on Damascus Airport last month. Twenty-one people were killed in the extensive strike, according to a war watchdog. At least 12 of them were members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

Saudi King: We stand by the Palestinians’ right to establish their own state
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 12 February 2019/Saudi Arabia’s King Salman assured President Mahmoud Abbas that Riyadh stands by the right of Palestinians to establish their own state with Jerusalem as its capital. King Salman’s statement came on Tuesday after formal talks between him and Abbas in which they discussed the latest developments on Palestine. For his part, the Palestinian president expressed his appreciation to King Salman and for Saudi Arabia’s support for Palestine. From the Saudi side, the talks were attended by Riyadh Governor Prince Faisal Bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State and Member of the Council of Ministers Prince Mansour Bin Muteeb bin Abdulaziz, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir and Minister of Finance Mohammed al-Jadaan. On the Palestinian side, Abbas’ delegation consisted of Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Dr. Saeb Erekat, the head of the Civil Affairs Authority Sheikh Hussein, the head of the General Intelligence Service Majid Faraj, the Presidential Advisor for Diplomatic Affairs Majdi Khalidi and Palestinian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Bassem Abdullah Al-Agha.

Trump objects to measure ending US support for Saudis in Yemen
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Tuesday, 12 February 2019/The Trump administration threatened on Monday to veto an effort in the US Congress to end US military support for the Saudi-led coalition in the war in Yemen, continuing a standoff with lawmakers over policy toward the kingdom. The administration said the resolution was inappropriate because US forces had provided aircraft refueling and other support in the Yemen conflict, not combat troops. It also said the measure would harm relationships in the region and hurt the US’s ability to prevent the spread of violent extremism.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al-Jubeir, said: “I find it very strange that members of Congress would try to curtail allies like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates in trying to push back against terrorist organizations supported by Iran and Hezbollah”. “So basically what this legislation is doing is its providing ammunition to the ‘Death to America’ crowd,” al-Jubeir told CBS News’ Face the Nation program on Sunday. The White House has angered many members of Congress, including some of President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans, by failing to provide a report by a Friday deadline on the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. The United States has supported the Saudi-led air campaign with mid-air refueling support, intelligence and targeting assistance. Democrats view the war powers resolution as a way to assert Congress’ constitutional right to authorize the use of military force in foreign conflicts. The Republican-controlled US Senate passed the war powers resolution in December, the first time such a resolution had passed even one house of Congress. But Republicans, who then controlled the House, did not allow a vote in the lower chamber.
After sweeping election victories, Democrats now have a House majority. They intend to take up the resolution this week. However, it would struggle to garner the two-thirds majorities needed in both the House and Senate to overcome a Trump veto.
(With Reuters inputs)

U.S. Denies Telling Banks to Stop Working with Palestinians
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/The United States has denied accusations it is pressuring banks to stop dealing with the Palestinian government, whose relations with Washington have been plummeting. Several Palestinian officials have accused the US of trying to force banks not to deal with transactions linked to the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank. "The United States has not requested that foreign donors restrict assistance to the Palestinians, nor has it requested that financial institutions cease transfers to Palestinian Authority (PA) bank accounts," a US official told AFP late Monday. "We are aware of media reports suggesting this has occurred. Those reports are incorrect." On Sunday, senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh charged that Washington was launching a "financial siege" on the PA. "Major international financial institutions and parties have begun to accede to an American request to impose a tight financial siege on the Palestinian Authority," he told AFP. "Washington has asked for financial aid given to the authority to be stopped, and it has also issued a circular to banks not to receive transfers for the authority’s accounts."
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki has said on local radio that the US was using "all means to press Arab countries to stop financial support for our people". Relations between the US and the Palestinians have broken down since President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in late 2017. The Palestinians consider the eastern part of the city their capital and have boycotted the Trump administration since. In response the US has cut more than $500 million in annual aid to the Palestinians, mostly to the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The cuts have worsened longterm financial shortfalls for the PA, which is heavily reliant on international aid.

Acting Pentagon Chief Makes Surprise Baghdad Visit
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit Tuesday for talks on the sensitive issue of a continued troop presence following withdrawal from neighboring Syria. Shanahan, who flew in from Afghanistan on his foreign tour since taking office last month, is keen to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Donald Trump angered many by saying he wanted to keep troops at the Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, to keep an eye on Iran.

Venezuela Opposition Prepares Protest, Presses for Aid to Be Let In
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Venezuela's opposition plans more marches Tuesday to press the military to let in US humanitarian aid, which President Nicolas Maduro says is the stepping stone to an invasion. Opposition leader and self declared president Juan Guaido will lead a rally in eastern Caracas but demonstrations have been called all over the country. They are to mark Youth Day but also to honor 40 people killed in anti-government rallies in January, many of them youths. "We are going back to the streets to demand the entry of humanitarian aid that will save the lives of more than 300,000 Venezuelans," said Guaido, who is speaker of the National Assembly. Maduro will counterattack by leading a march of young leftists protesting "imperialist intervention" in the center of Caracas, where the government says it will collect signatures of people who reject US President Donald Trump.
The tug of war between the government and opposition is centered on whether humanitarian aid will be allowed into the economically crippled country, which suffers shortages of food, medicine and other basics. For five days, aid material including food and medicine has been piling up at collection centers in Colombia near the border with Venezuela. A modern bridge linking two border towns has been blocked with two large containers and the tanker section of a big fuel truck. The Venezuelan government distributed food and medicine on Monday. Guaido, recognized by some 50 countries, has offered amnesty to military personnel who dump Maduro and told them that refusing to allow in badly needed aid is a crime against humanity. The UN says some 2.3 million people have fled the country since 2015. Guaido says almost 100,000 Venezuelans have signed up as volunteers to help bring in aid and distribute it to those most in need.
Second storage center
Maduro refuses to buckle, though, branding the aid convoys massing in Colombia a "political show" and a pretext for a US intervention. Humanitarian aid has become a key factor in the power struggle between Guaido, who last month proclaimed himself acting president, and Maduro. National Assembly president Guaido's envoys met with Brazilian officials in Brasilia and announced plans to establish a second aid storage center in the state of Roraima, on Venezuela's southeastern border. Guaido's ambassador to Brazil, Maria Teresa Belandria, said she had received assurances from Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo over the new aid center. Lester Toledo, head of Guaido's aid distribution team, told reporters that the Roraima center would start receiving supplies next week. But Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino announced that the armed forces were deploying a "reinforced presence all along the border."
On Sunday, dozens of doctors protested on the Venezuelan side of the border demanding the aid, which started arriving at the Colombian town of Cucuta on Thursday, be allowed into the country.But the military has blockaded the border bridge linking the two countries.
The parliament speaker wants to oust Maduro and set up a transitional government ahead of new elections. To do so, he needs the support of the armed forces. Speaking to AFP last week, Guaido refused to rule out asking for foreign intervention. The Venezuelan military meanwhile announced it had started conducting exercises, set to run until Friday, to "reinforce the country's defensive capacity."
Financial probe into Guaido
Venezuela's financial accountability authority announced a probe into Guaido's income, saying he had "allegedly... received money from international and national bodies without any justification."Two weeks ago, the regime loyalist-dominated Supreme Court barred him from leaving the country and froze his assets. Tuesday's march, in part to remember the estimated 40 people killed in clashes between protesters and the security services since January 21, aims to increase the pressure on Maduro to step aside. Guaido warned that the military would be held responsible for the deaths of protesters. The US is using sanctions as an attempt to starve Maduro's regime of its funding. More than 40 percent of Venezuela's oil, which makes up 96 percent of its revenue, is sold to the US. Pope Francis has said he would be prepared to mediate between the rival leaders but Guaido has rejected negotiations with Maduro, believing he would use them to buy time. While keen on papal mediation, Maduro was less impressed last week when a group of European and Latin American ministers called for new presidential elections. Maduro accused them of bias. Last week, he also rejected a call by European Union countries to hold elections, prompting them to recognize Guaido.

Venezuela's Food Crisis Hits Kids Hard
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Yemilay Olivar trudged nearly 10 miles in worn-out shoes to bring her malnourished baby to the hospital, and left another six hungry kids at home. As Venezuela's government and opposition quarrel over letting in foreign humanitarian aid, the saddest face of the crisis is indeed that of suffering children. Olivar's two-month-old baby girl Rosmilay should weigh around five kilos but tips the scales at just half that, and this is 200 grams less than at birth. The child's skin adheres so tightly to the bone that it was hard to carry out intravenous feeding. The drama played out in a pediatric hospital called Los Samanes, in the city of Maracay, about 100 kilometers from Caracas. "They could not find a vein," 29-year-old Yemilay, looking downcast and unhealthy. Huniades Urbina, president of the Pediatric Society, said 78 percent of children in Venezuela are at risk for malnutrition -- before due to food shortages and now staggering hyperinflation. A can of milk for newborns costs as much as 70,000 bolivares, or nearly four months the minimum wage. Elder, a pediatrician with 32 years of experience who asked that her last name be given for fear of repercussions, says she cannot recall seeing kids in such bad shape. "Children come in with their little bones wrapped in skin. It is shocking to see," Elder told AFP at the hospital. While holding her baby Yemilay Olivar recalls that she spent her pregnancy eating rice or grain that were gifted to her. She went to see Cuban doctors as part of a government health program but she got no vitamins, she said. This saga and many others like it are at the center of the fight between opposition leader Juan Guaido, who has been recognized as interim president by some 50 countries, and leftist president Nicolas Maduro. Guaido argues that it is urgent to let in U.S.-financed medicine and food stored inside Colombia on the border with Venezuela. Maduro says no to such assistance, saying it would be the first step toward a U.S. military intervention.
'They thought he was dead'
Samuel, who is 15 months old, weighs as little as a newborn. His mother Gleiny Hernandez cries as she looks at him in a bed in the city's Central Hospital, where he was close to death upon admission. "They did not want to treat him because they thought he was dead on arrival," said 26-year-old Hernandez, who recently gave birth to another child. Samuel's head stands out grotesquely because his little body is so emaciated. He barely moves and stares off at nothing. During 15 days of hospitalization, his weight has increased from 3.6 kilos to 3.9 kilos.
His yellowish arms and legs show a rash caused by some of the medicine he is being given. Even the 10-story hospital itself is a basket case. The floors are filthy, the elevator does not work and in many rooms there are signs warning there is no running water. "There are doctors who have fainted from not eating," an anesthesiologist with 20 years of experience told AFP. Maduro denies there is a humanitarian crisis and argues that six million poor families receive a crate of subsidized, cut-rate foodstuffs every month. "It is all so exasperating," said Grismely Morillo, a resident in internal medicine, who cries over what she describes as the utter chaos at the hospital. Of the 15 to 20 kids treated daily in the pediatric ward of the Central Hospital, 60 to 70 percent show some degree of malnutrition, hospital sources said. A study by the Catholic charity Caritas published in November revealed that 57 percent of the 4,103 kids under five who were treated there had some kind of malnutrition and it was severed in 7.3 percent of cases.
Donations from abroad
In an old house in downtown Maracay that used to be a casino, the walls are now covered with children's drawings."Bienvenidos" -- welcome -- is spelled out in colored letters in a room where kids learn to read and write. The house is now a school for some 20 kids and works as part of a foundation called Kapuy. It was created four years ago by Daniela Olmos, a 32-year-old doctor's assistant, when she returned to Venezuela from the United States. At first she used to hand out food in the streets. But eventually she realized this was tantamount to throwing food away if it was not part of a program with true social and nutritional impact. The opposition-controlled National Assembly says Venezuela is in the grips of a food emergency, the consequences of which include a growth delay in 33 percent of poor children up to two years of age. Overwhelmed by the crisis, Mayerlin Diaz, who has seven kids, one of them with Down syndrome, used to look for food in garbage cans or panhandle for money. The Kapuy foundation rescued her from that life. "Thanks to them, my children eat three meals a day. I have a job here," said Diaz, who said that from the government she gets a monthly voucher that does not even buy her a kilo of rice.

Israel's Rivlin Marks 70th Anniversary of Last Jewish Camps in Cyprus
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Israeli President Reuven Rivlin flew in to Cyprus Tuesday to mark 70 years since the closure of British detention camps on the island for Jews trying to reach Palestine after World War II. He was to visit a monument in Nicosia dedicated to the 2,200 children of Holocaust survivors who were born in the British colonial camps between 1946 and 1949. Rivlin also held talks with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades. Cyprus and Israel aim to upgrade relations, "especially on energy, security, economy, tourism, research and innovation," tweeted Anastasiades. Britain, the colonial power in Cyprus and Palestine at the time, detained about 52,000 illegal immigrants on Cyprus, mostly young orphans, and housed them in tents. The monument is situated at a present-day army camp that was known as the British Military Hospital. Those detained had been intercepted at sea by British mandate authorities as they approached Palestine, and they were held in 12 camps on the nearby island. The camps were closed a year after the 1948 establishment of the state of Israel. "Some of the babies born in Cyprus... are now Israeli citizens in their early 70s... Today, there is a very active organization of 'Cyprus babies' in Israel," the Jerusalem Post said Monday.

Turkey Detains More than 700 over Alleged Links to Coup Bid
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Turkish authorities detained 729 people in nationwide raids Tuesday over alleged links to a group blamed for a failed coup in 2016, the Ankara public prosecutor's office said. Officials had sent to authorities in 75 provinces the names of 1,112 people under investigation over suspected ties to U.S.-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen and his movement, it said. Gulen is accused of ordering the attempted putsch, a claim he strongly denies. Forty-five of those arrested were in the capital Ankara, a judicial source, who did not wish to be named, told AFP. "We do not know whether the provincial authorities detained or summoned all of the individuals whose names were given," the source added. The Ankara public prosecutor's office, which leads the coup investigation, said 130 people on the list of suspects were deputy police chiefs still on active duty. They are suspected of having obtained questions before sitting the 2010 exam to become inspectors, it added in a statement. Turkish officials defend the crackdown by pointing to what it describes as the Gulen group's "virus"-like infiltration of key institutions, including the police. Members of the movement are accused of cheating on entry exams to gain access to important public bodies. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Sunday that authorities "were planning a big operation" against the movement. "Devils wouldn't even conduct the tricks that they did," Soylu said, adding that Turkey would "finish them off in this country." There have been regular raids across Turkey in recent weeks against alleged members of the movement, despite criticism from human rights defenders and Ankara's Western allies over the scale of the crackdown. Tens of thousands of people have been taken into custody over suspected links to Gulen since 2016 while over 100,000 -- including teachers, police officers, and judges -- have been sacked or suspended from the public sector. Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul said last month that 31,088 people have been convicted or jailed over suspected Gulen links.

As Time Runs Out, U.S. Ready to Help with Jihadist Repatriation
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/The United States is ready to help countries repatriate Islamic State jihadists detained in Syria but time is of the essence and Washington insists that ultimately it is up to their home governments to come up with solutions. The window to organize the fighters' return with U.S. support "is quickly closing," a U.S. State Department official told AFP, on condition of anonymity. "We call on all countries to step up and take responsibility for their citizens that went to Syria to fight for the Islamic State." U.S. President Donald Trump's sudden announcement in December that U.S. troops would be withdrawing from Syria set off a countdown for governments whose citizens, having joined IS, were captured by the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Those forces, backed by artillery fire from a U.S.-led coalition, are in a final push this week to retake a last morsel of IS-held territory in Syria. Once the coalition declares it has taken all IS territories, the White House is expected to withdraw U.S. troops. When that happens, the risk is high that "foreign terrorist fighters", or so-called FTFs, will escape SDF control, posing a new threat. Several countries that have chosen to leave the jihadists in SDF detention -- including France -- now confront a diplomatic, legal, political and logistical puzzle. For governments whose own publics have been shaken by terrorist attacks in recent years, it's thorny problem: how to repatriate suspects held in a war zone by forces that do not belong to a recognized state. Despite the tough questions -- and under pressure from Washington -- some governments seem to be figuring it out.
U.S. planes
For nearly two weeks, the Trump administration has been pushing its allies to bring their citizens home. "Repatriating foreign terrorist fighters to their countries of origin and prosecuting them is the best way to prevent them from returning to the battlefield," the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, Nathan Sales, told AFP. In total, several hundred foreign jihadists -- likely some 800 -- are in SDF hands, in addition to non-combatant women and children, who also are awaiting repatriation. Their home countries include Tunisia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia -- as well as France, Britain, Germany and Belgium. U.S. diplomats have seen signs the French government is willing to hold behind-the-scenes talks on how to bring their nationals home. In Paris, a source close to the issue told AFP that a hypothesis under "strong consideration" is repatriation of the more than 100 French citizens, most of them minors, aboard U.S. planes. The commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East acknowledged in early February that the United States has the responsibility to facilitate this delicate task. "We can make arrangements," said General Joseph Votel.
The U.S. has already organized some flights to take jihadists held in Syria home to face justice in their countries. It has been willing to consider logistical solutions tailored to the legal and political constraints that governments are facing, even making stopovers in third countries if necessary. But as some countries consider shuttles or operations coordinated under the U.S. umbrella, the Trump administration might be less than conciliatory if talks bog down. "It is not the responsibility of the SDF, or the United States, to find solutions for the hundreds of FTFs in SDF custody," warned Sales. "Countries must take responsibility for their own citizens and not look to others to solve the problem for them," he added. The State Department official who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, cautioned that "repatriation operations are not as simple as sending an aircraft to a terminal in northeast Syria, loading it up with FTFs, and flying them to their country of origin."For every repatriation operation, he said, there are technical and logistical issues that must be addressed: the nationality of each jihadist must be verified, they must be gathered in a single location, overflight clearance must be received, and resources must be secured from all parties involved to execute the operation. And there is an overriding U.S. condition: "Under no circumstances during these operations does the United States ever take custody of the FTFs," the official said.

Tajikistan Seeks Repatriation of 75 Children from Iraq
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Tajikistan's foreign minister said on Tuesday he hoped Iraq will return at least 75 children after their mothers, jailed over links to the Islamic State group, agreed to their repatriation. Sirodjidin Mukhriddin said that of 92 children from Tajikistan stranded in Iraq, 75 should be eligible for repatriation, 31 of whom are aged under three. Mukhriddin said that in most cases, the children had lost their fathers, who died fighting for the IS and other militant groups. Iraqi legislation demands that parents consent to their children leaving the country, he said. Tajikistan will have to pay $400 to repatriate each child, he said, a fee determined after diplomatic negotiations with Iraq. But Mukhriddin said repatriating the 43 women serving time in Iraqi jails would be an uphill battle. "Iraqi judges sentenced a number of female citizens of Tajikistan to long sentences, some even to life sentences," he said. The repatriation process "will be long and hard." Tajik diplomats will be heading to Iraq's neighbor Syria "in the near future" to discuss the issue with government officials including prison authorities, he said. Russia said Sunday that it had repatriated 27 children whose mothers were held in Iraq for belonging to the Islamic State group. Thirty had already been repatriated in December. IS seized large swathes of Iraq in a lightning 2014 offensive, before the Iraqi government dislodged the jihadists from urban centers and eventually declared victory in December 2017. Tajik authorities have said over 1,000 citizens left the country to fight on the side of militant groups in Iraq and Syria after 2011, some after stints working abroad in Russia. The most famous IS recruit from Tajikistan was Gulmurod Halimov, who headed the interior ministry's special forces unit before sensationally announcing his defection to IS in a video attributed to the group in 2015.

HRW Says Tunisia IS-Linked Children Must be Brought Home
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/Officials in Tunisia have been "dragging their feet" on efforts to repatriate Tunisian children of Islamic State group members from camps in Syria, Iraq and Libya, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. The rights group, quoting Tunisia's ministry of women and children, said about 200 children and 100 women claiming Tunisian nationality were being held in "squalid" camps abroad. Many of the children are six-year-olds or younger, the rights groups said, adding that most were being held with their mothers while at least six were orphans. Around 2,000 children and 1,000 women from 46 nationalities are being detained in prisons in Iraq and Libya and three camps in northeast Syria for ties to IS, HRW said, and Tunisia has "one of the largest contingents". "Tunisian officials are dragging their feet on helping bring (them) home." Hundreds of civilians, including IS-linked family members, have been fleeing a U.S.-backed offensive against the jihadist group's last holdout in eastern Syria. HRW said it has interviewed family members of women and children detained in Libya and Syria, as well as government officials, human rights activists, lawyers, U.N. representatives and Western diplomats for its report. The watchdog had also visited three camps in northeast Syria controlled by U.S.-backed Kurdish forces and cited what is said were "rare calls and letters" to family members by mothers of some children. "Legitimate security concerns are no license for governments to abandon young children and other nationals held without charge in squalid camps and prisons abroad," said Letta Tayler, senior terrorism and counterterrorism researcher at HRW. "Tunisian children are stuck in these camps with no education, no future, and no way out while their governments seems to barely lift a finger to help them," Tayler said. In response Tunisia's foreign ministry said it was "strongly attached to the values of human rights" and that authorities would not turn back Tunisians seeking to return home. According to authorities in Tunis, 3,000 Tunisians have gone abroad to join jihadist organizations, while the U.N. puts the figure as high as 5,000. Their return has been a cause of concern in Tunisia, which has been under a state of emergency following a string of IS-claimed jihadist attacks in 2015 and 2016. In 2017, hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets to protest against the repatriation of IS-linked citizens.

Hundreds Flee U.S.-Backed Syria Battle for Last IS Holdout
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/U.S.-backed forces pressed the battle to expel diehard jihadists from the last pocket of land under their control in eastern Syria on Tuesday after hundreds fled the holdout overnight. Outside the "Baghouz pocket", the plains were littered with empty pistachio-colored rocket shells, water bottles, clothes left behind, and rotting dog carcasses. The extremist group declared a cross-border "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq in 2014, but various military campaigns have chipped it down to a fragment on the Iraqi border. After a pause of more than a week to allow out civilians, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declared a last push to retake the pocket from the extremists on Saturday. Aided by the warplanes and artillery of a U.S.-led coalition, the Kurdish-led alliance has pressed into a patch of four square kilometers (one square mile). SDF spokesman Mostefa Bali said heavy clashes were underway on Tuesday, after hundreds fled the battle zone during the night. "A group of 600 civilians escaped from Baghouz at one in the morning and they are being searched now," he said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the new arrivals included women and children from France and Germany. "Most of those who got out are foreigners," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. Coalition spokesperson Sean Ryan said U.S.-backed forces were facing a fierce fightback. "The progress is slow and methodical as the enemy is fully entrenched and IS fighters continue to conduct counter attacks," he said. "The coalition continues to strike at IS targets whenever available."
'Six hours? In the cold?'
On Monday, the Observatory said a coalition air strike killed 16 civilians.
An Italian journalist was also wounded as he covered the clashes and evacuated for treatment, a colleague said on Twitter. The SDF launched the battle to expel IS from the eastern province of Deir Ezzor in September, slowly tightening the noose around the jihadists and their families since December. In the past two months, more than 37,000 people, mostly wives and children of jihadist fighters, have fled into SDF-held areas, the Observatory says. That figure includes some 3,400 suspected jihadists detained by the SDF, according to the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information. At a gathering point for new arrivals, dozens of men knelt on the ground. Iraqi and Syrian women and children prepared to make the long journey north to a Kurdish-held camp for the displaced, after spending the night in tents. A very thin child with dark circles around his eyes stumbled onto a truck, as other children screamed out for water and their mothers asked how long the drive would take. "Six hours? In the cold?" shouted a wrinkled Iraqi woman.Bali, the SDF spokesman, said on Saturday that up to 600 jihadists could still be left inside the pocket. But the group's elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who proclaimed the "caliphate" in 2014 was likely not there, he said. Inside the crumbling redoubt, Iraqis are now in charge, according to those fleeing it and the SDF, as a rift has emerged between them and non-Arabic speaking foreigners.
'Next week'
At the height of their proto-state, Baghdadi's followers implemented their brutal implementation of Islamic law in an area the size of the United Kingdom. But various offensives, including by the SDF and Russia-backed regime forces, have taken back all but a morsel of that territory near the village of Baghouz. Once the "caliphate" is declared over, the fight will continue to tackle IS sleeper cells, the SDF and their allies have said. The jihadist group retains a presence in eastern Syria's vast Badia desert and has continued to claim deadly attacks in SDF-held areas. U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said the coalition may declare victory over IS in the region within days. "Soon it will be announced, soon, maybe over the next week, maybe less," he told a rally in the U.S. city of El Paso. Trump shocked Washington's allies in December by announcing a pullout of all 2,000 U.S. troops from war-torn Syria. The decision has left Syria's Kurds scrambling for protection from Damascus against a long threatened attack by neighboring Turkey. After decades of marginalization, the Kurds have largely stayed out of Syria's eight-year civil war, instead setting up their own semi-autonomous institutions in the northeast of the country. Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people and displaced millions since starting in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests.

Little to No Change' in N. Korean Capabilities, Says U.S. General
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said Tuesday that he had seen "little to no verifiable change" in North Korea's military capabilities. President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last June in a bid to resolve tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear program, and the two signed off on a vaguely worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards "the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."General Robert Abrams, the new head of U.S. Forces Korea, said the summit had helped dial down tensions on the Korean peninsula, but had not led to substantive changes. "Little to no verifiable change has occurred and North Korea's military capabilities," Abrams told the Senate Armed Services Committee. "Further, North Korea's conventional and asymmetric military capabilities along with their continued development of advanced conventional systems remains unchecked. These capabilities continue to hold the United States, the Republic of Korea and our regional allies at risk."Abrams added that North Korea was continuing its winter military training at historic norms. Trump and Kim are set to meet in Hanoi from February 27 to 28 for a second summit, following their historic first meet in Singapore last year. Abrams noted that it had been 440 days since North Korea's last "provocative action" and credited diplomatic efforts and international sanctions for leading to a "significant reduction in tension." Despite the bonhomie of Kim and Trump's first meeting, progress has since stalled with the two sides disagreeing over what Kim's pledge means. Analysts say tangible progress on denuclearization will be needed if the talks are to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV." After that first summit, Trump called off large-scale joint exercises with South Korea. Abrams said "it is necessary to maintain a postured and ready force to deter any possible aggressive actions," but stressed that the two allied militaries continue to train together at a lower level.

Mnuchin in Beijing for Crunch U.S.-China Trade Talks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 12/19/U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was "looking forward" to crunch negotiations with China as he emerged in Beijing on Tuesday with global attention focused on whether the two sides can reach a trade deal. Mnuchin appeared at a Beijing hotel a couple of days ahead of scheduled high-level meetings with Chinese officials in the capital, with a March 1 deadline looming to strike an accord. "It's great to be here back in Beijing. We're looking forward to several important days of talks," Mnuchin said to reporters. He then moved on without taking questions. Mnuchin will be joined by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as well as David Malpass, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the World Bank, in negotiations set for Thursday and Friday. China's delegation will be led by Vice Premier Liu He, who will be joined by central bank governor Yi Gang. Lower level officials had arrived earlier for what the White House has called preparatory meetings due to start on Monday. In December, Washington suspended for three months its plan to increase tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports -- to 25 percent from the current 10 percent -- to allow time for negotiators to work out a trade spat that has triggered fears of a global economic slowdown.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 12-13/19
The Best Diet for the Planet Isn’t the Best for Humans
Faye Flam/Bloomberg/February 12/19
A team of 37 scientists has designed a diet for the long-term future, and the good news is that it doesn’t require anyone to eat insects or soylent green. There’s nothing dystopian about it, but some nutrition experts are still turning up their noses at the plan, which was designed to minimize environmental degradation while still feeding the 10 billion people expected to inhabit the planet by 2050.
The main complaint: The EAT diet, published in the Lancet last month, is padded with lots of corn and soy, and would ask Americans to make a drastic cut in our average consumption of meat, dairy and eggs. There’s a bitter aftertaste of the 20th-century government-recommended diets high in carbohydrates and low in fat, which are now considered a factor in skyrocketing obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Critics quickly blasted the Lancet authors’ claims that meat is harmful to our health, or that vegan diets are better for the human body. They point out that scientific studies to date give mixed results, and are based on hard-to-interpret evidence rather than controlled experiments.
But this is a small flaw in a worthy exercise. As Earth’s population swells, a world where the perfect diet for planetary health coincides with optimal human health might not be possible.
Historically, advances in food quantity went along with degradation of quality. By studying ancient skeletons, archaeologists have found that as grain farming expanded, people deteriorated — their skeletons became shorter, with more signs of disease, and their teeth went from healthy to rotten. Nobility remained tall and healthy — eating more varied diets, including meat. It was the peasants who suffered.
Scientists eventually figured out that it takes more than just adequate calories to feed humans. We evolved to need the right combination of amino acids and particular forms of fat, as well as vitamins and minerals. Science has made great strides in preventing vitamin deficiencies, but we still don’t know what’s optimal — just what’s good enough.
The environmental side of the equation is simpler, and more obvious. Agriculture has so drastically changed our planet that in comparative biomass, wild animals make up just 4 percent of all mammals; humans, 36 percent; and livestock, 60 percent. The vast majority of bird biomass is now composed of chickens.
Gidon Eshel, a Bard College geophysicist who studies the environmental impacts of food production, lists many side effects of agriculture: the killing of wild plants and animals, nitrogen pollution in waterways, and emission of greenhouse gases. I got in touch with him because he’d given a talk several years ago at the Radcliffe Institute about a diet for environmental health that was fairly similar to the Lancet EAT diet.
Eshel concluded that the U.S. beef industry is hogging land, pouring nitrogen runoff into rivers and the Gulf of Mexico, and destroying biodiversity. That doesn’t mean everyone has to become a vegan to save the planet. We could keep up our meat-eating habits without the damage if we reduced beef production by two-thirds, and changed the way cattle are fed, he said, replacing corn with grazing and supplementing with things like the rinds left over after the squeezing of orange juice. Chickens are much easier on the environment, and eggs even better.
Nutrition isn’t Eshel’s field, but he said he does eat what he preaches — mostly plant-based food and no red meat. He’s from Israel, he said, and Middle Eastern food is traditionally more varied, and less focused on big slabs of meat.
But whether red meat is good or bad for individual people depends on the study. The Lancet report includes references to multiple studies, including one done in China that correlated meat consumption to better health. The authors acknowledge that in parts of Africa, where protein and healthy fats are scarce, children would be healthier if they had access to some meat and dairy products. There’s a hint of food socialism: a correction to today’s gross inequalities. And this is where science blends into ethics and politics. Should only the wealthy afford to be healthy? Should people in one country be allowed to eat in a way that contributes to global pollution? How much evidence is enough to justify recommending people change their eating habits? Nutrition science lost credibility for continuing to vilifying eggs, meat and dairy products over the possibility of a slight risk, all the while steering people toward sugary cereal, margarine and other items with effects likely to be much worse.
And to make matters more complicated, scientists have started studying the effect of diet on the brain, and they’re worried that we’re doing ourselves harm by consuming too much of a fat called omega-6 — which is among the “unsaturated” fats that the heart people deemed healthy. Omega-6 fats are in cheap cooking oils — corn, soy, safflower — and the meat of factory-farmed animals that are fed corn and soy.
For an article I reported back in 2011, I learned all about these very different kinds of fat from nutritional neuroscientist Joseph Hibbeln. He called the huge global increase in omega-6 consumption, “the greatest dietary transformation in the history of Homo sapiens.”
Chemically, omega-6 interferes with the body’s ability to absorb brain-building omega-3 fats. Studies have associated too little omega-3 with violence, suicide, depression and obesity. Some researchers worry the shift from omega-3 to mostly omega-6 is affecting the brain development of children around the world.
It might look arrogant for anyone to claim to have designed a perfect diet. What’s perfect for weight-conscious Americans may not coincide with what’s necessary to ensure proper brain development of every child in Africa. It’s also smart to be looking ahead to our more crowded future — so we can keep eating food and never have to resort to dystopian mystery substances.

Relations between the Holy See and Arab Peninsula: Beyond religious dialogue
Dr. Antonios Abou Kasm/Al Arabiya/February 12/19
Interreligious dialogue between Islam and Christianity is evolving under the mandate of His Holiness Pope Francis. Many events reveal that this dialogue will have a crucial impact on relations between the Holy See and Muslim countries. Before Pope Francis, Saint Pope John-Paul II had issued the Apostolic Exhortation to Lebanon in 1997, wherein he had emphasized that Muslims and Christians in Lebanon and the MENA region have a shared destiny and announced that Lebanon is the land of the Message.
For his part, Pope Benedict XVI issued in 2012 the Apostolic Exhortation on the Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness, in which he asked Arab Christians not to fear Muslims and said that fanatic groups constituted a threat to both communities. The visit of Pope Francis to Egypt and Al-Azhar in 2017 constitutes the first pillar for a serious dialogue, even though the Pope receives representatives of various religions in the world every year to pray for international peace. Meanwhile, the Pontifical Council for interreligious dialogue (PCID) of the Holy See has proven its activism towards the dialogue between the two main religions of the world.
In February 2017, a conference was held at Al-Azhar University on the theme “The role of al-Azhar al-Sharif and of the Vatican in countering the phenomenon of fanaticism, extremism, and violence in the name of religion”. The success of the mission of the PCID is crowned by the visit of his Chair, the Late Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran to the KSA in April 2018. The visit to the homeland of Islam by a senior principal from the Vatican constitutes a bridge between these two religions. This visit was held at the launch of a new foreign policy by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
It can be said, that all these events reveal that Pope Francis will visit the Arabian Peninsula. Being the first visit of the Pope to the Gulf, his historical visit to the UAE bears several dimensions. The human dimension is colossal and the document on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together” signed by His Holiness Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ahamad Al- Tayyib on February 4, can be considered as the “new” Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The importance of the document is that it covers new areas of human rights and provides a common Islamo-Catholic view against terrorism and fanaticism, with an emphasis on the concept of full citizenship while the document rejects the discriminatory use of the term ‘minorities’, which engenders feelings of isolation and inferiority.
The second connotation has a peaceful dimension. The visit of the Pope brings a message of peace to a region in conflict, and he clearly stated from the UAE that war should come to an end in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Libya. This message of peace cannot be brought by any other eastern foreign personality.
The third message concerns real dialogue between the Arab world and the West from the stage of an open-minded Islamic State, where many cultures thrive and where foreigners constitute over 85% of the UAE population. The final message of the Interfaith Meeting at Founder’s Memorial held in Abu-Dhabi, reassembling hundreds of religious leaders and scholars, was that ‘no violence can be justified in the name of religion’.
The next round of the interreligious dialogue will probably be held in Beirut next spring. The Secretary- General of the Muslim World League Sheikh Mohammed Al-Issa is one of the conference’s promoters. Meanwhile, Pope Francis is also scheduling an Apostolic journey to Morocco by the end of March.
Besides his religious status, the Pope also held the famous position of Arbitrator in the history of International Law before the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in 1899 in The Hague (e.g. the arbitration of Boniface VIII in 1298 between Edward I of England and Philip the Fair of France). Papal arbitration aimed to peacefully settle disputes between states in conflict (e.g. the arbitral case of the Beagle conflict between Argentina and Chile in 1980 and the papal mediation between USA and Cuba in 2014/2015). This juridical dimension of the Pope may be solicited to settle relevant international conflicts occurring nowadays. Beyond the interreligious dialogue, relations between the Holy See and Gulf States (and consequently the Arab Peninsula) can evolve on the political level in order to achieve lasting peace in the Arab world. The rapprochement between the States and the Holy See can enhance diplomatic role of the Pope to demolish the wall of the terrorism in the Arab world, like the toppling of the “wall of communism” by John Paul II in 1989, which ushered in a new era in international relations.

UAE paves way for long-term visa residencies in the Gulf
Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/February 12/19
As Gulf countries try to diversify their economies away from oil dependency, attracting qualified foreigners to take part in this objective is becoming an important objective in their policies. But the problem faced to date is the rapid turnover of qualified expatriates, leading to large overhead costs to replace them with new entrants to the labor market.
For highly qualified expatriates, there is a need for longer term job and residency security to enable them to fulfill innovative research and developmental projects, especially in newly emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robotics fields. Given the global competition for talent, it was no surprise that the UAE took the initiative to issue long-term residency visas under various categories starting February 3. Other Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, will be watching the results of this initiative and possibly following suit, given the Kingdom’s diverse range of ongoing projects, especially in renewable energy, tourism and AI, as well as the $500 billion NEOM project, which stands out as one of the most ambitious developmental projects anywhere in the Gulf.
The mega project being built on the Red Sea coast was unveiled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last year, comprising of a 26,500 square kilometer area northwest of Saudi Arabia. It aims to create a global model in various spheres by focusing on advanced industries and technology, with robots being used for many services, and power being generated solely from wind and solar energy.
To ensure that bureaucracy for foreign investors and international partners is kept at a minimum, NEOM, according to its senior officials, is planned to operate independently from the “existing governmental framework” with its own tax and labor laws and an “autonomous judicial system.”
Granting long-term residency visas is a logical step to follow this bold initiative. While the Gulf seems to be opening up to welcoming long-term expatriate workers, some countries are now imposing restrictions over granting new work visas, the latest being the ban on non-immigrant temporary worker programs for Filipino workers in the US. Effective since January, the Philippines has advised that the country may seek other host countries where its citizens can work should the US Department of Homeland Security pursue this ban.
By comparison, some Gulf officials have even recommended a more radical long-term scheme to retain skilled expatriate labor, and offer permanent residency or citizenship. There has also been a recommendation that expatriate workers who have been living in Gulf countries for 25 years or more should be granted free iqamas or permanent resident status outside the sponsorship system, according to Abdullah Sadiq Dahlan, Saudi Arabia’s representative to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Dahlan also suggested that the Kingdom should reform its citizenship system to make way for long-term legal residents to acquire naturalization. The reason was both economic and from a feeling that long term expatriates often cannot adjust when going back to their countries of origin as they become deeply rooted in Gulf society.
The issue of granting expatriates citizenship is indeed a bold one, possibly something that will be carried out on a selective sovereign recommendation basis, but again, the UAE has taken the initiative by announcing in late 2018 that it will allow foreigners to obtain long-term residencies in the country after they retire. The move is seen as part of the UAE’s policy reforms that seek to boost economic growth, but it has also come with certain qualifying conditions for expat retirees over the age of 55 years. The retirees are required to have an investment in a property worth AED2 million, or have financial savings of no less than AED1 million, or an active income of no less than AED20,000 per month. For those who have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle in the UAE, it is an attractive proposition.
The planned non-retiree residency move by the UAE has targeted not only the usual long-term foreign investors in real estate, which has been the Gulf model to date, but expanded it to include outstanding foreign students, and foreign nationals with exceptional talents, especially in the scientific field. Some categories will be given five-year residence permits, but the ten-year residency carrot is to be offered to specialist scientists, educationalists and even those with reputed skills in the creative world of culture and arts, as well as inventors.
The fact that various Gulf countries have opened up to international cultural and arts events will necessitate that top class international talent is recruited in this field to nurture homegrown talent. To ensure that families are also welcome on a long-term basis, bearing in mind the educational needs of some expatriate children, and to ensure settled family surroundings, the spouses of these long-term visa residency recipients and their children as well as their domestic helpers will be granted long-term visas as well.
Implementing these Gulf decisions and the mechanism adopted to ensure that the process flows smoothly is as important, if not more so, than the intention. The UAE has also decided to set up a so-called adjudication process to screen the granting of the two different categories of long-term residency, whereby a newly formed Investors Committee will screen applications for the five-year investor category while the ten-year residency applications will be dealt with through an Entrepreneur and Specialized Talent Committee.
In conclusion, whatever modalities and forms of granting long-term residencies is chosen, the renewed interest in attracting and retaining world class talent is sending a clear message that the Gulf is now open for business in a different way that is more welcoming to those that want to be part of its exciting new changes- on a long-term basis.

UK crying out for a new party to rescue it from Brexit malaise
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/February 12/19
As the Brexit process drags on, the Conservative Party is critically wounded, and the Labour Party hasn’t covered itself in glory either. (Supplied)
The Brexit debacle is far from over, and it continues to reverberate across the UK, Europe and the world beyond. It is not a story that ever had a chance of a happy ending, and it is now limping toward a conclusion without closure, which will lead to years of social and political rupture. It also leaves Parliament, both its elected and non-elected chambers, more deeply divided than it has been for a very long time. For the British political system, the question of being part of Europe and, for the last two-and-a-half years, the means of leaving it, has served as a litmus test of its ability to rise to a crucial challenge that will determine the wellbeing of the nation, its identity and its values for generations to come. And it has failed spectacularly.
However, if this failure were to be followed by a period of profound reflection over the entire journey, from calling for a referendum to the struggle to find any constructive and reasonable way of dealing with its result, there might be a flicker of light at the end of a very dark epoch in British history. One fundamental question for such a reflection should concern the inability of the current political system to produce effective policies that safeguard the country’s national interest, and which are capable of mobilizing a critical mass of support for them.
This inevitably leads to the question of whether the existing political parties have reached the end of the road and are in need of a radical overhaul, or whether instead there is now a need for new alignments and new parties. All that the existing political configuration is capable of producing is incoherent vision, constant wrangling and poor leadership. Moreover, it has become clear throughout the Brexit experience that the parties, in their utter disunity, have been expending most of their energy on maintaining a facade, and not a very convincing one, of a united and functioning party. This has become a severe hindrance due to the acute nature of the Brexit calamity.
It goes without saying that, in a multi-party system, in which some are catch-all groupings such as the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats, there are bound to be differences within those broad-based parties, especially on issues with far-reaching implications for the nation. Nevertheless, when such disagreements threaten to paralyze not only the party but the entire country, it is imperative for politicians to consider whether they are in the right political home for them, or whether it is it time to either join another party or form a new one. It increasingly seems to me that the UK has reached the point where it desperately needs a new political party, or a new alliance, that will combine a robust European-global outlook with equally strong social democratic values that would reintroduce the notion of society to the public discourse, based on social justice and equal opportunity.
However, as the Brexit process drags on, whatever its outcome, the Conservative Party is critically wounded, and the Labour Party hasn’t covered itself in glory either. Deep disagreements about membership of the EU have been bleeding the Tories for half a century, whether in government or opposition. There has always been a persistent and vociferous anti-European element among the Tories. However, these Euroskeptics were kept at bay while the economy was doing well enough to prevent the spread of general malaise.
However, the most recent downturn in the economy, as a result of the global economic crisis a decade ago, along with nothing resembling fair distribution of wealth in society, gave British ultranationalists — and especially the opportunists among them who occupy the Tory backbenches — a chance to start their onslaught on the UK’s membership of the EU. Through manipulation, lies and deceit they brought upon the country the Brexit calamity. This points toward a structural crisis, not a temporary one, and the dysfunctionality of a party that has also produced a succession of mediocre leaders.
All that the existing political configuration is capable of producing is incoherent vision, constant wrangling and poor leadership.
It could have been expected that the political bloodbath among the Conservatives would serve as an incentive for Labour to stay united and prepare itself as a viable alternative for government. Reality within the party, however, is not much rosier than it is among the Tories. It is as almost as divided over the Brexit issue, and led by an equally weak leader who still claims to believe in “workers of the world unite,” but only as long as they don’t look for jobs in the UK.
Moreover, the row over consistent and allegedly prevalent anti-Semitism within the party, which is wrongly and often deliberately conflated with legitimate criticism of the Israeli government, is making some MPs, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, consider leaving the party. As is the case with Brexit, Jeremy Corbyn’s unconvincing stand on the issue made him look both indecisive and disingenuous. Persistent rumors of a breakaway faction within Labour are hard to ignore, and we might see some of its MPs leave to form a separate party, while the Conservative Party continues to destroy itself from within.
It is hard to imagine how the UK’s political parties could be in such complete denial about their growing irrelevance to most voters, as well as to those who are still too young to vote, let alone about the anger and scorn most feel toward them, as they witness their pathetic performance in handling the country’s affairs in a time of great crisis.
Both big parties are stuck in old debates and formulas. This surely opens up space for a third big party: One that is forward-looking and has more of a global perspective; one that wants Britain to be a global leader, and that recognizes that the great qualities of the British people are enhanced by close engagement with the world, and not by retreating into an island mentality; and one that would govern by being inclusive and that would reward and enable success, but would not leave behind those who need help and support.
The political arena is wide open for such a new force that would rise to the challenge and form a political power fit to lead the UK well into the 21st century.
*Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations at Regent’s University London, where he is head of the International Relations and Social Sciences Program. He is also an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media. Twitter: @YMekelberg

How will the triumphant women of Congress affect US politics?
Kerry Boyd Anderson/Arab News/February 12/19
Women Congress members, dressed in white in tribute to the women’s suffrage movement, before the State of the Union address. (AFP)
When President Donald Trump gave his annual State of the Union speech last week, he noted that the US now has “more women serving in the Congress than ever before.” In a stunning image, Democratic female lawmakers — dressed in white in honor of the suffragettes who had helped win the right for women to vote — stood, cheered and high-fived each other.
Following elections in November, the new Congress that took office in January includes 127 women — a record number for the US. However, at just under 24 percent of Congress, women remain notably underrepresented compared to the general population. According to the Brookings Institution, the US only now meets the world average for women in national legislative bodies. Nonetheless, the new Congress represents a historic increase in the number of female lawmakers.
This development naturally raises the question of whether, and how, having more women in leadership will affect the way Congress governs. With such a limited history of women in senior levels of government in the US, there is a lack of clear evidence to help answer those questions. However, there are some reasons and studies to suggest that a larger number of women in Congress will affect which issues it focuses on and how it functions. This is especially true since a few of the women are in positions of power, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, five women who chair House standing committees and one woman who chairs a standing Senate committee.
The 2018 elections saw a record number of women candidates, and many of those who won openly embraced their identity as women. Multiple studies have shown that female lawmakers are more likely than their male counterparts to address issues of specific interest to women, such as family leave policies, funding for women’s health issues, and domestic violence. There is also evidence that women politicians spend more time than men on different types of broader issues, such as education and climate change.
Different studies of women in national or state-level legislatures in the US suggest that women lawmakers are more likely to seek bipartisan support for legislation, to work cooperatively and to produce more legislative proposals than men.
One particularly interesting change is that Congress now has a significant increase in the number of lawmakers who are mothers of children aged less than 18 years — albeit still a small minority. According to Vox, 28 members of Congress are now mothers of younger children. Some changes are being made or considered to respond to their needs, including adding baby-changing stations to a House members-only restroom, adding more nursing areas, and possibly changing voting schedules to better accommodate parents with children at home. These changes might seem superficial, but they highlight the ways in which Congress has long acted on the assumption that members did not have children at home or, if they did, had a spouse at home to care for them. Adding more working parents, especially working mothers, to Congress means that its membership better reflects the realities of the American public, as both parents work in 61 percent of married-couple families in the country.
Democratic women are the driving force behind the historic increase in women legislators.
More generally, a significant portion of women lawmakers are new members of Congress. While they will lack the seniority that is important to holding power, they will also bring new ideas and challenge old norms.
While having more women in Congress is likely to spark some changes, none of the women came to Washington to only represent women. They were elected to represent their district or state’s constituents. They also have overlapping identities. They are members of racial, ethnic, religious, class and generational groups, and these identities also affect their views and priorities. Among the new female members of Congress are the first two Muslim American women elected to Congress, the first two Native American women in Congress, and the two youngest women ever elected to Congress. Women lawmakers’ life experiences include careers in the military, the CIA, business, law, academia and more. It is difficult to know to what extent these women will act as women, as conservatives or liberals, millennials or baby boomers, urban or rural, religious or not, and so on. To what extent will their actions reflect their identities and life experiences as women, and to what extent will they draw on their other life experiences and perceptions of their constituents’ needs?
The women of Congress also come from both parties and represent multiple different political ideologies. The partisan divide is important in understanding how women will affect Congress. Democratic women are the driving force behind the historic increase in women legislators. According to FiveThirtyEight, only about 15 percent of the women in the current Congress are Republicans. This means that women will have greater influence on Democratic legislation, and that women’s impact in Congress will have a Democratic tilt.
Women in the US Congress still face a major challenge in that they remain an underrepresented minority. How might women govern in a Congress in which they were closer to half of the membership? How would women affect Congress if they were more equitably divided between the political parties? Would a Congress with a membership that more closely resembled the population govern better? These are questions that will have to wait for the future.
*Kerry Boyd Anderson is a writer and political risk consultant with more than 14 years’ experience as a professional analyst of international security issues and Middle East political and business risk. Twitter: @KBAresearch