LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

May 06/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.may06.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 16/15-20:"‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover. ’So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it."

John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit
Acts of the Apostles 01/01-14:"In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. After his suffering he presented himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over the course of forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. ‘This’, he said, ‘is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’ So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven. ’Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus,  and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers."

Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
The Lord consoles us. We are all called to comfort our brothers and sisters, to testify that God alone can eliminate the causes of tragedies
الرب يعزّينا. جميعنا مدعوون لنعزّي إخوتنا ونشهد أن الله وحده قادر على إزالة أسباب المآسي

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 06/16

Political Deadlock Leaves Lebanon to Unravel/Yaroslav Trofimov/The Wall Street Journal/May 05/16
What does Charbel Nahas really want/Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/May 05/16

Iran Accuses U.S. of Meddling as Tensions Grow/By Rick Gladstonemay/The New York Times 4, 2016
Should the U.S. Build an "ISIS Wall"/Raymond Ibrahim/May 05/16
Iran Comes Clean on Banking Problems/Lawrence A. Franklin/ Gatestone Institute/May 05/16
Saudi Columnist Khalaf Al-Harbi: Assad Is The No. 1 Terrorist; Is Putin Any Different From Al-Baghdadi? Is Khamenei More Humane Than Al-Zawahiri/MEMRI/May 05/16
Migrant Rape Epidemic Reaches Austria/Soeren Kern/ Gatestone Institute/May 05/16
On hiding behind a pseudonym/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
Aleppo is the key to peace in Syria/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
Is Saudi Vision 2030 realistic/Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
For almost a decade, Gaza stripped of bare necessities/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
 

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on May 06/16

Political Deadlock Leaves Lebanon to Unravel
What does Charbel Nahas really want?
Al-Rahi to Meet Hollande during 4-Day Visit to France.
Security Forces Arrest Escaped Qobbeh Inmate.
Nasrallah Meets Khamenei Aide, to Deliver Speech Friday.
Salam Meets Mashnouq: Hopes Municipal Polls Will Lead to Presidential, Parliamentary Elections.
Fadlallah: Illegal Internet File Will not Be Covered up.
Interior Ministry Postpones Jdita, Hosh al-Harima Elections over 'Sectarian Tensions'.
FPM Will Not Withdraw from 'Beirutis' Municipal List.
Bassil Announces Implementation of Law on Restoring Lebanese Nationality for Expats.
In First, Civic Campaign Vies for Power in Beirut Vote.
Mazloum Denies al-Rahi-Nasrallah Meeting.
Arsal Imposes Curfew on Syrians during Municipal Polls.
Rahi, interlocutors take up relevant affairs.
Salam: Press martyrs commemoration makes us remember their great legacy .
Mashnouq inaugurating UK funded VTC Room in presence of Shorter: Democracy cannot exist without competent state.
Azzi: Fixing Syrians in Lebanon is conspiracy against Lebanon and Syria.
Hamad voices support to 'Beirutis' list.
Survival and Prosperity' electoral list announced in Kfershima.
Hariri at "Beirutis" rally in Ras Beirut: Vote for coexistence and national unity.
LADE detects contraventions, Baroud stresses on elections' democracy.
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 06/16

Alberta in emergency as fires torches 1,600 homes, threaten Canada oil town
Trump’s last rival Kasich to drop out: reports
Truce Takes Hold in Syria's Aleppo
Air Strikes on Idlib Displaced Camp Kill 28 as Aleppo Truce Holds
More than 60,000 Syrians Stranded at Jordan Border
From Airbase in Syria, Russia Monitors Fragile Truce
Underage Syrian refugee illegally locked up by British government
Will London elect its first Muslim mayor?
Australia says most dangerous Australian ISIS operative killed
EU leaders in Rome to discuss migrant crisis
Russia foils ‘terrorist attacks’ from Turkey, Syria
Davutoglu to Step Down May 22, Vows Not to Criticize Erdogan
Saudi Executes Jordanian Drug Smuggler
Israeli Army Says Finds New Hamas Tunnel Reaching into Israel from Gaza
Iran regime plans to blind man with acid next week
Iranian students show support for political prisoners
Iran regime arrests two bloggers
IRGC’s new threat to close Strait of Hormuz, a hollow show of force
Syria’s White Helmets say Assad must be prosecuted for “war crimes”

Links From Jihad Watch Site for May 06/16
Video: IDF discovers CAIR-linked Hamas terror tunnel inside Israel.
SC cops “shocked” Islamic State-inspired Muslim teen gets parole.
“You have no respect of our religion, and we have come for your life today”.
Germany: “Sharia police” to face trial.
London’s new Muslim mayor has shared platform with Jew-haters.
Islamic State in France: “The French must die by the thousands”.
Washington Post: ‘It could get a lot worse for Muslims in America’.
Egypt’s Information Service chief blames rise of Islamic State on Tom and Jerry.
UK Muslim group: women shouldn’t travel over 48 miles without male escort.
UK to take in Muslim refugees rejected by other European countries.
Bosch Fawstin’s winning Muhammad cartoon removed by eBay on ‘technicality’.
California Muslimas sue cafe for discrimination; cafe countersues.
Death threats for “teaching my kid about football and not teaching him about the Quran”.

Latest Lebanese Related News published on May 0616

Political Deadlock Leaves Lebanon to Unravel
Yaroslav Trofimov /The Wall Street Journal/Updated May 5, 2016
BEIRUT—On the surface, Lebanon appears to be weathering the mayhem that has engulfed the Middle East surprisingly well. Despite dire predictions of sectarian strife spreading from next-door Syria, there has been relatively little violence. Fancy restaurants on Beirut’s seafront remain packed with diners, the streets clogged with traffic. But it is also increasingly a country adrift, hostage to the regional conflict between Saudi Arabia, long a supporter of Lebanon’s Sunni political bloc, and Iran, sponsor of the Shiite bloc dominated by the Hezbollah militia. This zero-sum confrontation has translated into political deadlock—and the steady unraveling of the Lebanese state. “It isn’t a failing state, it is a fading state. There is nothing left of it, just a shell,” said Ibrahim Shamseddine, a former Lebanese cabinet minister and a prominent Shiite politician independent of Hezbollah.
It has been almost two years that Lebanon has been without a president. The parliament has been unable to elect one because Hezbollah and its allies have boycotted the legislature’s sessions. The latest—38th—such attempt to hold the vote failed in April because of the lack of a quorum.
The parliament’s own term expired all the way back in 2013, and no national elections are in sight even though municipal polls are slated for this month. A Lebanese government, which unites all the main political forces, still exists. But the ministers have been unable to do much actual governing because important decisions require the elusive consensus. “There is a desire to run away from reality.…It is kind of going into a suicidal process, which is unacceptable in a country that is a rare democracy in the Middle East,” said Ibrahim Kanaan, a prominent lawmaker from the Free Patriotic Movement of Michel Aoun, one of two main contenders for the presidency. While the political crisis hasn’t led to bloodshed—no major political force in Lebanon wants to replay the horrors of the 1970s and 1980s civil war—it already is suffocating economic activity.
Lebanon’s economy stagnated last year. It isn’t expected to do better in 2016, in part because of tensions with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, which have advised their citizens to vacation elsewhere to protest Iran’s rising influence in the country. This in turn is undermining the critical tourism and property industries. National debt and the government deficit, meanwhile, have ballooned—a trend economists expect will continue as long as the political paralysis persists.
For a while, this deadlock was acceptable to many Lebanese political forces. Everyone was waiting to see how the war in Syria, the big neighbor that traditionally dominated Lebanese politics, would play out and how the outcome would affect the balance of power within Lebanon.
While it is far from over, Russia’s intervention to shore up President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has been a vindication for Hezbollah, which has lost hundreds of fighters on the Syrian battlefields. Hezbollah’s decision to get involved in Syria also earned it a degree of admiration from many Lebanese Christians, terrified by the prospect of Sunni Islamist radicals coming to power in Damascus, and even from some Sunnis.
“If Hezbollah had not gone to Syria, the war would have come to Lebanon, and we would have seen [Islamic State] all over our cities and towns,” said Kamel Wazne, a political analyst and director of the American Strategic Studies center in Beirut. But it is far from certain that success in Syria, at the end of the day, would bring meaningful political gains for Hezbollah at home. For one, the Lebanese system, based on guaranteed shares of power for its 18 religious sects, is built to limit such ambitions.
“In the Lebanese formula of power-sharing nobody can get more than what they were getting originally. No one side can be able to be the dominant power,” said Yassine Jaber, a parliament member from the Shiite Amal party, a Hezbollah ally, and a former minister of economy.
But, in the absence of a functioning state, Hezbollah—the only Lebanese political force with a significant military muscle—is able to exercise de facto control over issues that matter to it and to its Iranian patrons.
Ghattas Khoury, a former lawmaker and an adviser to Saad Hariri, the country’s leading Sunni politician, pointed out that Hezbollah continues to impede a presidential election even though both leading candidates, who must be Christian, are from political forces aligned with it.
“The status of chaos that the Lebanese institutions are living in isn’t against Hezbollah and Iran, but against all the other Lebanese,” Mr. Khoury said. “At the present time, Hezbollah and Iran don't want a president at all. They enjoy the vacuum of leadership and power.”
Write to Yaroslav Trofimov at yaroslav.trofimov@wsj.com

What does Charbel Nahas really want?
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/May 05/16
Charbel Nahas, the former Labor and Telecommunications Minister and head of the secular group “Citizens within a State” (Mouwatinoun Wa Mouwatinat fi Dawla), is running for Beirut’s municipal elections. For the past year, Nahas’ name has been circulating among civil society groups and public figures. An alleged fighter for public matters, his candidacy does not come as a surprise to those who know of him and his interest in being involved in Lebanon’s politics and economic development. However, political opinions and views of Nahas vary. Although he has always attempted to fight against the political sectarian system ruling over Lebanon, Nahas has had his share of benefits from the same political system he claims to be fighting. Nahas previously worked for a company owned by Saad Hariri, held two ministerial positions—due to his alignment with Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement. Furthermore, he was an economic consultant for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has very strong relations with Assad’s allies in Lebanon —formed mainly during former president Emile Lahoud’s term— and he is considered a communist by some analysts who have always criticized the context and logic that “a communist can be part of a fascist government.”
Last year, amid the garbage crisis, Lebanon’s civil society could not remain silent and the You Stink movement was born; the movement organized a series of protests in an attempt to pressure the government into finding an environmentally sustainable solution for the garbage crisis. Consequently, many civil society activists became highly visible and were considered the leaders of the movement that was born within civil society. Several politicians tried to join or hijack the movement. However, You Stink activists decided: to ban politicians from joining the movement that was born to object their behaviors and policies. Nahas was no different from the other politicians; he also tried to steal the spotlight away from the movement. Being an economic and development expert, he managed to gain visibility through the media; however, he did not manage to convince You Stink activists or their supporters of his intentions.
Nevertheless, the You Stink movement failed for many reasons. Nahas did not only fail to become a part of the civil movement, he made sure it failed. Working with groups, such as We Want Accountability—that were more political than developmental, he allied with actors who had a negative impact on the You Stink movement on several occasions, and he—directly or indirectly, intentionally or unintentionally— helped the corrupt political system push the You Stink movement to fail.
With the municipal elections in Lebanon nearing, particularly Beirut’s elections—scheduled for May 8, 2016—civil society groups have, once again, tried to be more involved, in an attempt to fight the corrupt political system in the country. Therefore, “Beirut Madinati” was formed, gathering a group of intellectuals and civil society members with no previous political involvement to run for Beirut’s municipal elections. And, once again, Nahas, who claims to support civil society, decided to run against them by forming his own list. It has not been confirmed, but several unofficial sources purported that Charbel Nahas had requested to be on Beirut Madinati’s list and was denied. Neverthelss, his candidacy against the civil society group will definitely have a negative impact on them. In fact, Nahas’ ambition to become a member of Beirut’s municipal board is not something new. In 1998, after the well-known slogan “My country, my town, my municipality” was launched, Charbel Nahas ran for Beirut’s municipal elections against the political parties that had lined up together and were the dominant power at the time—however, the results were not in his favor. He lost the election and was fired from SGBL, which is owned by Maurice Sehnaoui.
Today, Nahas is trying to do the same thing. Although he continues to criticize Lebanon’s political corruption and allegedly supports civil society groups, Nahas has chosen to run against the only electoral list in Beirut that presents democracy, elections and change to Lebanese citizens, and specifically Beirutis, in a pragmatic sense. As a Lebanese citizen, Nahas has the right to run for elections; however, the alignment of the electoral lists in Beirut today reveals that in the past year Nahas has attempted to become more involved in public matters under the umbrella of civil society activists. This means that Nahas’ priority might not only be change and development, but rather ensuring that he has a spot among the new wave of activists who are engaging in politics and public matters and do not have a shameful past.This makes one wonder what differentiates Charbel Nahas from the rest of the politicians or intelligence agents who belong to the corrupted system and have survived for ages only because they were capable of dividing and conquering? The politicians and agents who insist on weakening Lebanon’s civil society to prevent them from gaining any power, which would threaten the personal interests of Lebanese politicians.
Myra Abdallah tweets @myraabdallah.

Al-Rahi to Meet Hollande during 4-Day Visit to France
Naharnet/May 05/16/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will meet with French President Francois Hollande during a four-day visit to France that will begin on Saturday, Lebanon's National News Agency reported Thursday. The trip will be both pastoral and political and will involve meetings with Hollande, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, parliament speaker Claude Bartolone, senate speaker Gérard Larcher and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, NNA said. Al-Akhbar daily reported Wednesday that al-Rahi had visited Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah a couple of weeks ago following a meeting he held with Hollande during the latter's recent trip to Lebanon – a claim that has been denied by the Maronite patriarchate's Vicar General Samir Mazloum. The daily quoted alleged March 14 sources as saying that the two discussed the vacuum at the presidential post in light of a recent proposal to shorten the presidential term from six to two years as a temporary solution. Hollande's visit to Lebanon last month involved meetings with senior officials and a visit to a Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa. He also held talks with al-Rahi and other officials. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of president Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014.

Security Forces Arrest Escaped Qobbeh Inmate
Naharnet/May 05/16/Security forces tracked down on Thursday an inmate who had escaped from al-Qobbeh prison in the northern city of Tripoli on Wednesday. The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau arrested the fugitive, identified as A.R. He is jailed on charges of forming a robbery gang.

Nasrallah Meets Khamenei Aide, to Deliver Speech Friday
Naharnet/May 05/16/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah met Thursday at his office with Ali Akbar Velayati, the international affairs adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei, the party said. The meeting was held in the presence of Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Fathali, Hizbullah added in a terse statement. The two men discussed “the latest political developments in Lebanon and the region,” the Hizbullah statement said. Both Iran and Hizbullah have provided instrumental military support for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime in its confrontation with rebels and jihadists seeking to oust it. Nasrallah is scheduled to make a televised speech on Friday afternoon, reported various media outlets on Thursday. Friday's speech will be part of a ceremony for the Hizbullah-affiliated Islamic Resistance Support Organization. Nasrallah is set to discuss the latest local and regional developments, most notably those linked to the upcoming municipal elections.The speech is scheduled for 5:00 pm.The Hizbullah leader is also set to make another appearance next week to commemorate Hizbullah's wounded fighters. The four-stage municipal elections will start in Beirut and Bekaa-al-Hermel districts on May 8, while the elections in Mount Lebanon will be held on May 15. Elections in the South and Nabatieh are set for May 22 and on May 29 the polls will be held in the North and Akkar.

Salam Meets Mashnouq: Hopes Municipal Polls Will Lead to Presidential, Parliamentary Elections
Naharnet/May 05/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam called on Thursday for a heavy turnout in the upcoming municipal elections, saying they are an occasion for the people to exercise their rights. He hoped that the polls will “pave the way to holding the presidential and parliamentary elections.” He made his remarks after holding talks at the Grand Serail with Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq to discuss the latest preparations to stage the municipal polls that start on Sunday. Salam added: “I hope for a heavy turnout in Beirut because its municipality achieves balance among its citizens, who are committed to unity and coexistence.” “We hope the elections will be successful due to the efforts of the Interior Ministry and security forces and hope that they will restore democratic practices that have been absent from our political life for years,” stated the premier. The four-stage municipal elections will start in Beirut and Bekaa-al-Hermel districts on May 8, while the elections in Mount Lebanon will be held on May 15. Elections in south Lebanon and Nabatieh are set for May 22 and north Lebanon and Akkar for May 29.

Fadlallah: Illegal Internet File Will not Be Covered up
Naharnet/May 05/16/MP Hassan Fadlallah vowed on Thursday that the judiciary will continue on investigating the case of the illegal internet, stressing that this issue will not be victim of a political cover-up. He said after a meeting of the parliamentary media committee: “This file will not be subject to a cover-up and all low- and high-ranking officials linked to the case will be held accountable.” He revealed that Israel had set up some equipment on the illegal internet stations that were discovered earlier this year. “This equipment was dismantled before the concerned agencies arrived at the scene to inspect them,” added the MP in a press conference with Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb. “The evidence in the case has been concealed and we demanded that an investigation be launched in this issue,” Fadlallah added. A new meeting of the parliamentary telecommunications committee will be held on May 31. For his part, Harb echoed Fadlallah's vows that no one involved in the illegal internet network will be protected politically. He also said that the Financial General Prosecution had requested that the Telecommunications Ministry prosecute OGERO telecommunication company chief Abdul Moneim Youssef as a suspect in the case. Youssef however is in Paris where he underwent heart surgery and has been ordered by his doctor to rest, said the minister. Earlier on Thursday, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat wondered via Twitter: “Why has talk about the illegal internet file suddenly calm down?”“Has a settlement been reached? It appears that those smoking cigars in their higher circles are laughing at the judiciary, which we reject.”Harb revealed last month that around four illegal internet stations have been proven to exist in the mountainous terrains of al-Dinnieh, Ayoun al-Siman, Faqra and Zaarour. Suspects involved in the case and believed to be associated with the state-owned OGERO were arrested over possible links to the networks. Harb said Thursday that eight people have so far been detained following the investigations. Early in March, the parliamentary media committee unveiled what it described as a “mafia” that are taking advantage of internet services by installing internet stations that are not subject to the state control. The owners of these stations are buying international internet bandwidth with nominal cost from Turkey and Cyprus which they are selling back to Lebanese subscribers at reduced prices.

Interior Ministry Postpones Jdita, Hosh al-Harima Elections over 'Sectarian Tensions'
Naharnet/May 05/16/The Interior Ministry announced on Thursday the postponement of the municipal elections in the eastern Bekaa towns of Jdita and Hosh al-Harima over “sectarian tensions” in the area. It said in a statement: “The elections in the towns were postponed indefinitely given the high tensions and after the electoral campaigns started to take a sectarian turn.” The escalation of tensions led to security incidents among residents in the town, it explained. The elections have therefore been delayed “out of the interest of the public good and to preserve security and coexistence.” The statement revealed that officials and lawmakers from the Bekaa city of Zahle had filed a petition explaining the situation in Jdita, which prompted the ministry to take the decision to postpone the polls. The four-stage municipal elections will start in Beirut and Bekaa-al-Hermel districts on May 8, while the elections in Mount Lebanon will be held on May 15. Elections in south Lebanon and Nabatieh are set for May 22 and north Lebanon and Akkar for May 29. Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Wednesday declared that the some 20,000 security forces members and soldiers will be deployed to ensure the safety of voters during the electoral process.

FPM Will Not Withdraw from 'Beirutis' Municipal List
Naharnet/May 05/16/The Free Patriotic Movement will not withdraw from the “Beirutis List” of candidates running in Sunday's municipal polls after reaching a settlement that will garner it the most mayoral seats in the capital's Ashrafiyeh district, reported the daily An Nahar on Thursday. It said that the FPM will enjoy the greatest representation among Christians in Ashrafiyeh. The “Beirutis List” is advocated by Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri. The MP has been waging an electoral campaign, calling for a heavy turnout in Sunday's polls. His list is running against the “Beirut Madinati” coalition and another led by former Labor Minister Charbel Nahas. Al-Liwaa newspaper on Thursday revealed that the settlement calls for the distribution of the 40 mayoral seats in Ashrafiyeh as follows: Ten for the Tashnag party, six for the Lebanese Forces, six for the FPM, five for the Kataeb Party, four for Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon, and the rest among various families. FPM chief Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said of the elections on Thursday: “We entered the polls the same way we entered the government.”“We will see that once we enter the Beirut municipality, our voice will come from within it and we will speak out against any wrong, similar to what happens at cabinet,” he added.He urged unity “to achieve change.”“We all seek change and no one can aspire for change while rejecting the other.”“We should not politicize municipal work as municipalities seek development, but we cannot reject any political support aimed at achieving this growth.” The four-stage municipal elections will start in Beirut and Bekaa-al-Hermel districts on May 8, while the elections in Mount Lebanon will be held on May 15. Elections in south Lebanon and Nabatieh are set for May 22 and north Lebanon and Akkar for May 29.

Bassil Announces Implementation of Law on Restoring Lebanese Nationality for Expats
Naharnet/May 05/16/Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil announced on Thursday the launch of the implementation of the law on allowing expatriates to regain their Lebanese nationality. He urged during a press conference on the expats that they should head to Lebanese embassies the world over to restore their nationality. “This law was a dream and its now a reality,” he stressed. “We are all soldiers for nationality and identity and we are soldiers for Lebanon to preserve the state and protect independence.” Expats are the cornerstone of spreading Lebanese culture all over the world. “You are the most effective way for Lebanon to relay its message to world,” Bassil stated. Lawmakers from the Lebanese Forces and Free Patriotic Movement signed in 2015 the draft-law on allowing expatriates to regain their Lebanese nationality. It was approved during a legislative session later that year.

In First, Civic Campaign Vies for Power in Beirut Vote
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/Armed with a 10-point platform and a shot of ambition, an unlikely alliance of Lebanese citizens will for the first time take on Beirut's powerful political class in Sunday's municipal elections. Beirut Madinati -- Arabic for "Beirut is my city" -- is a civic campaign of 24 candidates, equally split between men and women, and Muslims and Christians. And they aren't backed by politicians, which makes them a breath of fresh air for many voters in a country as divided as Lebanon. "We don't have a lot of political experience as Beirut Madinati, but we've been able to win people's hearts because we're independent," says Ibrahim Mneimneh, an architect by trade and the campaign's leading candidate. "When election day comes, we'll be ready to win," Mneimneh says, hoping to capture the majority of the 470,000 registered Beirut voters, although the city's actual residents are estimated to be four times as many. Municipal elections in Lebanon take place every six years, with political parties often forming joint candidate lists. Sunday's vote is the first of any kind in Lebanon since the last municipal elections in 2010. A parliamentary vote in 2013 was canceled when its members controversially extended their own mandate. Since the end of its brutal civil war in 1990, Lebanon's political scene has been dominated by a handful of parties often formed along sectarian lines and led by former warlords. Beirut Madinati will face the formidable challenge of breaking through that entrenched political class in a bid to win all 24 seats in the Lebanese capital's municipal council.
- 'Never thought it's impossible' -
The campaign was founded in 2015 shortly after a dispute that closed Lebanon's largest trash dump and sparked protests to demand not only an end to the growing piles of waste, but an overhaul of paralyzed government institutions.Beirut Madinati seized on that frustration to put together a 10-point platform -- the campaign's magnum opus and a rallying call for young voters. It includes plans to improve public transport in the notoriously traffic-ridden city, introduce more green spaces, make housing affordable and, of course, implement a lasting waste management solution. The platform was developed by consulting residents of Beirut through open-houses and neighborhood visits, and "is centered around the daily life of the person, the citizen," says soft-spoken candidate Rana Khoury. Khoury is the step-daughter of slain Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir and one of the core founders of Beirut Madinati. "We began this campaign in September, because we felt that it was no longer possible for us to demand change from the people in power," she tells AFP in the campaign headquarters in the edgy Badaro neighborhood. "We never thought it was impossible, because the whole time we were thinking that it was necessary, that there is no other choice."Once the platform was ready, Beirut Madinati put together its candidate list, including celebrated director Nadine Labaki and the head of the country's fishermen cooperative, Najib al-Deek.
'Today, there's a choice'
Beirut Madinati has been infectious, garnering thousands of views on videos it posted on Facebook in lieu of plastering traditional candidate portraits on the walls of Beirut. But the movement still has to face off this Sunday against other electoral lists, chiefly the seasoned politicians who have formed a super-list of candidates. The "Byerteh List" -- or Beirutis' List -- includes well-known figures agreed upon by all of Lebanon's political parties and is backed by leading politician and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri. "The biggest challenge we are facing is our rival. We are facing a regime, a regime that has been in power for 40 years -- and we're outsiders," says Beirut Madinati electoral strategist Rayan Ismail. Indeed, for decades, Lebanon's political class has cultivated a strong grassroots presence through clientelism, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods. Manned by a group of activists and intellectuals without the political cunning of their rivals, Beirut Madinati has struggled to build up similar support there. One former Beirut Madinati volunteer said candidates were "naive" in thinking a well-developed platform without backing from working-class neighborhoods would be enough to win. "We're not in la-la land. We're in Lebanon," he says. Beirut Madinati is also up against a disillusioned electorate, many of whom believe that a change from the entrenched clientelism and corruption of Lebanese politics is simply impossible. "I won't vote for anyone -- not even my brother who's a candidate... They're all liars," says Beirut resident Issam Ghlayen. Still, Khoury says that hasn't stopped her. "There were a lot of people for a while who were saying that the same people will be re-elected, and that nothing will change in Lebanon," she explains. "Maybe that was true when there was no choice. Today, there is a choice. There's Beirut Madinati. And we can vote for it."

Mazloum Denies al-Rahi-Nasrallah Meeting
Naharnet/May 05/16/Maronite Bishop Samir Mazloum denied that a meeting had recently taken place between Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Thursday.
He said: “This claim is baseless.”Media reports on Wednesday said that al-Rahi and Nasrallah had held talks in wake of French President Francois Hollande's recent trip to Lebanon. “The Maronite Patriarchate does not stop at every news story that is published,” added Mazloum. Al-Akhbar newspaper on Wednesday said al-Rahi and Nasrallah discussed the vacuum at the presidential post in light of a recent proposal to shorten the presidential term from six to two years as a temporary solution. Hollande visited Lebanon in April where he met with senior officials and visited a Syrian refugee camp in the eastern Bekaa region.

Arsal Imposes Curfew on Syrians during Municipal Polls
Naharnet/May 05/16/The municipal chief of the northeastern border town of Arsal, Ali Mohammed al-Hujeiri, imposed a curfew against Syrian refugees in the area during the upcoming municipal polls, reported the National News Agency. He said in a decree: “Given the upcoming polls, the sensitive security situation in Arsal, and the heavy deployment of security forces and in order to ensure the smooth operation of the elections and the safety of our Syrian brothers, a curfew will be imposed against them starting Saturday.” The curfew will begin at 1:00 pm on Saturday and end until 10:00 am on Monday. Exceptions will be made for emergency medical cases, he said. The municipal elections in the area are scheduled for Sunday as part of elections in the entire Bekaa region. Similar elections will also be staged in Beirut. Arsal has become a conduit for Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict in their country. Thousands of displaced people have sought refuge in there, creating security tensions in the area.

Rahi, interlocutors take up relevant affairs
Thu 05 May 2016 /NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Boutros Rahi met on Thursday at Bkirki with Imam Khamenei's Legal Agent in Lebanon Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, whereby they discussed an array of matters on the domestic arena. On emerging, Sheikh Yazbek said that they discussed issues related to activating the state notion and the election of the president of the republic. Sheikh Yazbek beseeched all the Lebanese and politicians to shoulder their responsibilities in a bid to reinforce "Lebanon's sovereignty, independence and freedom."On the other hand, Patriarch Rahi met with a delegation of the French Diocese of Versailles, led by Versailles Bishop Monsignor Eric Omonieh and the General Manager of Oeuvre D'orient Association Monsignor Pascal Gollnich, whereby they discussed the outcome of the recent twinning project between the diocese of Versailles and the Maronite Diocese of Tyre.

Salam: Press martyrs commemoration makes us remember their great legacy

Thu 05 May 2016/NNA - "The memory of press martyrs is a cause to remember the great legacy left by journalists with bright minds, and paid their souls for their adherence to free opinion," a statement by Prime Minister, Tamam Salam, said. "It is also an opportunity to shed light on the significance we highlight in favor of maintaining an environment of freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution," the statement added.

Mashnouq inaugurating UK funded VTC Room in presence of Shorter: Democracy cannot exist without competent state
Thu 05 May 2016/NNA - Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nuhad Mashnouq, inaugurated on Thursday the UK-funded VTC Room (Central Operation Room- Martyr General Wissam Hassan Hall) at the Ministry's headquarters, in the presence of British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Minister Mashnouq said that he chose municipal elections as the date for the Chamber's inauguration because "democracy is the one which ensures justice.""Democracy cannot exist without institutions and proficient state, not only protected by weapons but also by success and leadership," said Mashnouq. The VTC Room contains the latest technology and modern means of communication, in the aim of bolstering and promoting the technical and electronic capabilities of security services. The Minister reiterated that their longstanding demand remains doing justice in the case of martyr Wissam Hassan and late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri and other martyrs, stressing that "justice and democracy require state protection." Mashnouq also brought to attention that the British government has provided $20 million in-kind contribution to the internal security forces, during his recent visit to London. Mashnouq thanked the British government's decision to support the state and its apparatuses. Ambassador Shorter, for his part, said: "I am very pleased to be here today to inaugurate the VTC room. It demonstrates again the UK's continued practical support for the institutions of the state charged with protecting Lebanon's security - and for improving coordination between them." Addressing Minister Mashnouq, Shorter said: "Your visit to London in March moved the security partnership between our countries to a new level. I also welcome the fact that this facility is being used to manage secure and free municipal elections. Over the past weeks it has been great to see the energy in the country in the run-up to municipal elections and it's good to see real competition taking place in many municipalities, with local issues that matter to people's daily lives taking precedence." Shorter concluded: "I look forward to the successful holding of the elections, and also to continuing our work delivering projects in close partnership with municipalities throughout the country."

Azzi: Fixing Syrians in Lebanon is conspiracy against Lebanon and Syria
Thu 05 May 2016/NNA - Labor Minister, Sejaan Azzi, said that the countries promising to give financial grants to find jobs for displaced Syrians in Lebanon and fix them in the country is not something good as any attempt "to affix the displaced is a conspiracy against Lebanon and Syria."Azzi's words came Thursday in the context of a ceremony held by Amal Movement on Labor Day occasion, under the auspices of Minister Azzi, at Martyr Hasan Kassir Secondary School on Airport Road. Azzi hoped that political forces and syndicates would help his ministry "which is struggling in favor of preserving Lebanese labor force."

Hamad voices support to 'Beirutis' list
Thu 05 May 2016/NNA - Beirut Municipality Council Head, Bilal Hamad, held a press conference at the Municipal Council in Down Town on Thursday during which he voiced full support to the "Beirutis List". The current Municipality head confirmed his affiliation to Hariri "despite the media attempts to smear this fact." Hamad delivered a detailed briefing on all the accomplishments of Beirut Municipality since its election back in 2010. He also spurned all the improper accusations that targeted his municipality within the last 6 years. "After the election of the current Municipal Council back in 2010, we conducted an accurate study on the needs of the city. We crafted an implementation strategy for all the required developmental work across the different Lebanese regions without prioritizing one area over another," Hamad said. However, he regretted that Beirut Municipal Council "has faced a lot of difficulties that hindered its ability to implement all its projects."Hamad also blamed the nature of the public sector's activity and administrative routine for such an eventuality.

Survival and Prosperity' electoral list announced in Kfershima
Thu 05 May 2016/NNA - The electoral list for the imminent municipal polls in the town of Kfershima was announced on Thursday, comprising of independent figures under the title of "Survival and Prosperity", NNA reporter said.

Hariri at "Beirutis" rally in Ras Beirut: Vote for coexistence and national unity
Thu 05 May 2016/NNA - Under the patronage of Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the "Beirutis List" of candidates for the Beirut municipal elections organized a large rally this afternoon at the Riyadi club in Ras Beirut, in the presence of a large number of Beirut MPs, mayors and citizens. The rally began with the Lebanese national anthem, and then the Head of the Beirutis List, Jamal Itani, introduced the other members of the list, and said it will work for the development of the capital. Premier Saad Hariri then delivered the following speech: "Nothing is more beautiful than Beirut, or the people of Beirut!
All this time, I missed Beirut, and now as I stand among you I know exactly what I was missing: I was missing you, being with you, I was missing these moments where I feel that I am actually among my brothers and beloved ones, among the Beirutis!
Let's start from the end. You tell me: What is the name of the people of Beirut? Yes, the Beirutis! What is the name of your list? The Beirutis list. And your voice that I hear today will vote for whom on Sunday? For the Beirutis list! They ask us why the Beirutis List, well the people of Beirut are Beirutis!
It is true that the capital belongs to everyone, and to all of Lebanon. It is true that the people of the capital are for all of Lebanon, but this does not mean that Beirut does not have people. If we want to keep Beirut proud, we must keep Beirut's decision in the hands of its people. You are the people of Beirut. You are its decision, its dignity, its spirit, its father and mother; you are the first defense line of its history and role. We are here to say that without the Beirutis, there is not Beirut, no Ras Beirut, Ashrafieh, Mazraa, Tarik Jdideh, Moussaitbe, Saifi, Zkak Blat, Bachoura, Minet Hosn, Ain Mraisse, Rmeil, Mdawar, and no port! You are the backbone of the city and the source of its strength. Without you, Beirut has no soul, no role and no future. You made Beirut the capital of Lebanon, and you are responsible for the capital, so it remains a place that gathers all the Lebanese.
We know that Beirut is big and great because it is the capital of Lebanon. Beirut grows, with all the Lebanese, who lived, studied and worked in it to make it the capital of civilization, culture, science and creativity in the Arab world. We want Beirut to be as big as the dreams of all the Lebanese and as big as the loyalty of the Beirutis to Beirut and all of Lebanon! The Beirutis is the name of the list of the people of Beirut. It is a working team, not a show off team. A working team of engineers, architects, doctors, lawyers, financial experts, media experts, IT experts, businessmen and activists in the social, sport and educational, energy and environment fields. A working team that is not allowed to fail. The Beirutis list represents all the people of the capital, but all the people of the capital want to see work being done. They want to see a clean city, sidewalks they can walk on, they want to go to the clean sea, to see Beirut as the most beautiful city in the Middle East! Nothing prevents us from being the best, the most beautiful and the cleanest city. This is a challenge that we want to face together, and I personally will not tolerate any failure, I will not allow Beirut to drown in rubbish anymore. I repeat: I was not here, but I am here now and I will stay! I am staying in Beirut, with you, among my family in Beirut and all of Lebanon.
It is true that some say that these elections are about development, family, and are not political. But no, this is Beirut, the capital of everything, the capital of economy, of management, of sports, of arts, of health and the capital of culture. This is the capital of the state, and thus: the capital of politics. Rafic Hariri knew what Beirut is and its importance. Aren't they the same ones who accused Rafic Hariri of having focused the economic, development, educational, health and sports project in Beirut? Yes. Because Beirut is the capital of Lebanon and its facade. To bring investment, employment opportunities, tourism and cultural and scientific life to Lebanon, one must begin with the capital of Lebanon, Beirut.

Beirut was and remains the façade of Rafic Hariri's political project too! This is an occasion to talk again about our project, about the Future Movement's project, because some might have forgotten it or want to forget it: the Future Movement is the movement that educates, builds schools and supports universities. We are the forty thousand university graduates in the face of the militias, we are reconstruction in the face of destruction, and we are the economic boom in the face of devastation. We are the martyr for the sake of the country. We are the Second Independence in 2005. We are Bassel Fleihan, the Beirut MP and one of the finest Lebanese men who martyred near the St Georges. We are Walid Eido, the Beirut MP and the voice of freedom, who martyred in Manara, a few meters away. We are Wissam al-Hassan, the hero of the fight against terrorism, who martyred in Ashrafieh. We are Mohammad Chatah the man of understanding and dialogue, who martyred in Minet Hosn. We are openness and moderation in the face of extremism and terrorism. We are Lebanon First, we are you and we are the Lebanese.
Since the days of Rafic Hariri, our political project can be summed up by two words: coexistence and national unity. The defense line for this project is parity, in the capital specifically, and this is the reason for our insistence on parity, and that is why they have been trying, since March 14, 2005 and until today, to hamper parity, by any means.
It is our responsibility to say, through our votes on Sunday, that Beirut is still committed to parity, coexistence, national unity and the national project of Rafic Hariri, for Beirut and all of Lebanon. And those who tell us that the elections are not political, stay home, don't vote, remove this or that name from the list, or vote against the Beirutis List… are telling us: vote against the project of Rafic Hariri! It is true that we are gathered in a basketball court, and by the way, I thank the Riyadi club that gathered us, I thank this deep-rooted Beiruti club! A basketball court brings us together, but the game for which we are preparing ourselves is the real, popular democratic game. The elections on Sunday. In this game, unlike basketball, we are not spectators. Each and every one of you is a player and can affect the outcome of the game. We are all one team, the team of Beirut, the Beirutis team.
It is not a basketball game that we could watch from home on television, and in which we have no say. In order for Beirut and the Beirutis to win, each one of us has a responsibility to go and vote for the Beirutis list. Some might tell you, why vote, the list will win in any case. These are the ones who want to eliminate your voices, they want you out of the game and the whole tournament as well. This Beirut, that Rafic Hariri adored, that he martyred for, deserves our voice on Sunday. Beirut deserves our voice on Sunday to prevent anyone from breaking the testament of parity. We shall meet on Sunday, at seven in the morning, to vote for the Beirutis List "as it is". And we shall meet on Monday hopefully with your new Municipal council and with a better future for the capital and its people!"

LADE detects contraventions, Baroud stresses on elections' democracy
Thu 05 May 2016/Written by Rima Youssef/Translated by Rabab Housseiny/NNA - Lebanon is well known for democracy, and it had had the upper hand while drafting, among others, the Human Rights Charter. But the reality does spark questions and doubts over the country's ability to enforce and implement laws, especially as the count down for the next municipal polls has begun. Accordingly, the Lebanese Association for Democracy of Elections (LADE) has detected 20 contraventions reported by citizens, such as gunfire in Bekaa, seizure of IDs, and usage of electricity poles and trees for electoral purposes. Former minister Ziad Baroud told the National News Agency that violations were normal amid the polls, adding that what is sought is to address those breaches. Hoping that the municipal polls would take place in a democratic atmosphere, Baroud maintained that the elections were not aimed to building walls among people. "Consensus is not necessarily a great thing (...) there must be a different opinion," he said. For her part, the Secretary General of LADE, Zeina Helo, told NNA that the security forces were thoroughly detecting the contraventions. It is to note that LADE was formed by a group of civil activists in 1996, and it seeks to build a democratic society and enhance citizenship upon the bases of transparency and accountability.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 05/16

Alberta in emergency as fires torches 1,600 homes, threaten Canada oil town
AP, Fort Mcmurray, Alberta Thursday, 5 May 2016/Alberta declared a state of emergency Wednesday as crews frantically held back wind-whipped wildfires that have already torched 1,600 homes and other buildings in Canada’s main oil sands city of Fort McMurray, forcing more than 80,000 residents to flee.
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said fire had destroyed or damaged an estimated 1,600 structures. Flames are being kept from the downtown area thanks to the “herculean” efforts of firefighters, said Scott Long of the Alberta Emergency Management Agency. No injuries or fire related fatalities have been reported. The fire appeared near the airport late Wednesday where crews were onsite. All commercial flights in and out of Fort McMurray have been suspended. Unseasonably hot temperatures combined with dry conditions have transformed the boreal forest in much of Alberta into a tinder box. Fort McMurray is surrounded by wilderness in the heart of Canada’s oil sands - the third largest reserves of oil in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Danielle Larivee, Alberta’s minister of municipal affairs, said the fire is actively burning in residential areas. More than 250 firefighters are battling the blaze. An update from the Municipality of Wood Buffalo later in the evening indicated the fire was continuing to claim homes and had destroyed a new school. Fatalities have been reported from a collision on a nearby highway but she was unaware if it was related to the evacuation or fire.
There were haunting images of scorched trucks, charred homes and telephone poles, burned out from the bottom up, hanging in the wires like little wooden crosses. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley flew up to survey the situation, while officials in the evacuation center had to bolt to the south of the city as flames edged closer. Notley tweeted pictures of the fire from above. “The view from the air is heartbreaking,” she wrote. The blaze effectively cut Fort McMurray in two late Tuesday, forcing about 10,000 north to the safety of oil sands work camps.The other 70,000 or so were sent streaming south in a bumper-to-bumper snake line of cars and trucks that stretched beyond the horizon down Highway 63. Some vehicles sat in ditches, the victims of engine trouble or a lack of gas.
Firefighters were working to protect critical infrastructure, including the only bridge across the Athabasca River and Highway 63, the only major route to the city in or out. Notley called it the biggest evacuation in the history of the province. Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale called it one of the largest fire evacuations in Canadian history, if not the largest. “It’s a community of 88,000 people that’s been totally evacuated,” Goodale said. “This is going to take a while to recover.”Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said while the full extent of the damage isn’t yet known he called it “absolutely devastating” and said there’s a loss on a scale that’s hard to imagine. Trudeau said he’s offered the province his government’s full support. He encouraged Canadians to support friends and donate to the Red Cross.
Trudeau noted climate change is contributing to an increase in extreme weather and fires but said it’s difficult to establish a direct link. Most oil sands projects are well north of the community, while the worst of the flames were on the city’s south side. Allen said he’s not aware of any threat to oil facilities but called the fire a “moving animal.” Notley said about 10,000 evacuees moved north where oil sands work camps were being pressed into service to house evacuees. The bulk of the evacuees fled south to Edmonton and elsewhere, and officials said they eventually would like to move everyone south.
Shell said it has shut down production at its Shell Albian Sands mining operations- about 60 miles north of the city - so they can focus on getting families out of the region. Suncor, the largest oil sands operator, said it is reducing production at its regional facility - about 15 miles north of the city. Many other companies evacuated non-essential staff. Chelsie Klassen, a spokeswoman for The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said all large oil sands facilities have emergency crews and plans for forest fires, noting all personnel would be evacuated and facilities would be properly shut to minimize the damage. She noted 80 percent of the oil sands is located deep underground and can only be extracted through a drilling process. The remaining twenty percent is minable from the surface and predominantly located north of Fort McMurray. She said it can burn under certain circumstances, however oil sands would burn at a much slower pace considering its composition with sand. Official said they believed everyone was out of the city. Resident Breanna Schmidt said evacuating almost felt like “an apocalypse.”
“We had to literally drive through smoke and fire, vehicles littered all over the sides of the road, and we had to drive as fast as we could and breathe as little as we could because the smoke was so intense and we could feel the heat from inside the vehicle,” she said. Former National Hockey League player Doug Sulliman said he could see from his apartment balcony that both sides of the highway south were engulfed in flames and estimated hundreds of homes in the Beacon Hill suburb over the hill were destroyed. “You could hear the pop, pop, pop because of the propane tanks. The fire was just consuming these houses. It just destroyed the whole community,” he said. He said the highway later opened and it was bumper to bumper and said there were many cars on the side of the road because service stations were out of fuel. “There was a Shell gas station that blew up and a Denny’s next door. There was nothing but the foundation and it was still smoldering in flames,” he said.

Trump’s last rival Kasich to drop out: reports
Agencies Wednesday, 4 May 2016/Ohio Governor John Kasich, the long-shot candidate who only won his own state in the race for the Republican presidential nominate, has suspected his presidential campaign, NBC News reported, making New York tycoon Donald Trump's nomination almost certain. Kasich also canceled a media appearance on Wednesday in Virginia and scheduled a 5 p.m. EDT (2100 GMT) statement in Columbus, Ohio, his campaign said. Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s decisive victory in the Indiana primary on Tuesday night forced another rival, Ted Cruz, to suspend his candidacy and prompted speculation that Kasich, running a distant third, would do the same. Trump's win cleared the way him to prepare for a likely match-up in the Nov. 8 general election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Democratic front-runner Clinton lost the Indiana primary to her tenacious challenger, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, but remains on course to become her party's nominee. Republican presidential candidate and de-facto nominee The New York businessman's immediate challenge is to mend deep fissures within the Republican Party, easing tensions with party loyalists who are appalled by his bombastic, bullying style, his denigrating comments about women and his proposals to build a wall on the border with Mexico and deport 11 million illegal immigrants.

Truce Takes Hold in Syria's Aleppo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/A 48-hour ceasefire took hold Thursday in Syria's battered second city of Aleppo after President Bashar Assad's regime and rebel forces gave in to mounting diplomatic pressure.Relieved residents returned to the streets after two weeks of heavy fighting in the divided metropolis, a key battleground in Syria's five-year civil war. The Syrian army said late on Wednesday that it had agreed to calls from Russia and the United States for a two-day truce in Aleppo that would begin from 1:00 am on Thursday. The agreement followed an intense diplomatic push by Moscow and Washington -- the co-sponsors of a February 27 ceasefire agreement that had begun to fall apart -- to salvage peace efforts. Renewed fighting in recent days, especially in and around Aleppo, had threatened the full collapse of the ceasefire, a landmark in attempts to finally resolve a conflict that has left more than 270,000 dead. More than 280 civilians were reported killed since April 22 in the clashes in Aleppo, with regime air strikes pounding the opposition-held east while rebels fired a barrage of rockets into the government-controlled west. Early on Thursday, an AFP correspondent in the city said there had been no signs of fresh air raids since the ceasefire took effect. As residents emerged, shopkeepers were reopening their doors while fruit and vegetable markets -- one of which was struck in an April 24 raid that left 12 dead -- were again up and running. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, confirmed there had been no bombing in the city, though it said a civilian had died in a western district from rebel shelling that came minutes after the ceasefire took effect. After a whirlwind of talks involving diplomats from top world powers and the United Nations, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the truce had taken effect and that violence had already fallen off. "We've seen an overall decrease in violence in those areas even though there are some reports of continued fighting in some locations," Kerry said. Kerry said U.S. officials in Geneva were coordinating with their Russian colleagues on "enhanced monitoring efforts for this renewed cessation". The Russian defense ministry said its ceasefire monitors had agreed with their U.S. counterparts to oversee this truce until midnight on May 6. In Aleppo, the head of the local branch of the powerful Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel force, Ahmad Sanada, said the group would respect the ceasefire.
"We are in favor of any initiative that relieves the suffering of civilians and avoids bloodshed and we will respect" the ceasefire, he told AFP. Diplomats are hoping a nationwide ceasefire can underpin efforts to resolve Syria's war, which evolved from a crackdown on anti-government protests into a devastating multi-front conflict.
U.N.-backed peace talks in Geneva, which mediators hope can resume later this month, have so far made little headway, with the regime rejecting the opposition's demand that Assad step aside as part of a political transition. The conflict led in part to the emergence of the jihadist Islamic State group, which has seized control of large areas of Syria and neighboring Iraq. On Thursday, twin bombings in central Syria killed at least 10 civilians and wounded 40 more, the Observatory said, amid recent fighting in the area between IS fighters and regime troops.
State television reported that at least six people were killed and 28 seriously wounded in the suicide attack and car bombing in a square in Mukharram al-Fawqani in Homs province.The area, controlled by the regime, is located between the cities of Homs and Palmyra, which was recaptured by the Syrian army from jihadists last month.
The blasts came just days after IS seized the nearby Shaer gas field, one of the biggest in Homs, in an attack that killed at least 16 regime troops. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Thursday's attacks but suicide and car bombings are a favorite tactic of IS jihadists. Western powers are hoping that ending the fighting in other parts of Syria will help focus efforts against IS, which a US-led coalition has been targeting with air strikes in Syria and Iraq since mid-2014. Syrian officials have insisted they are targeting jihadists in Aleppo not covered by the ceasefire, in particular members of the Al-Qaida affiliated Al-Nusra Front, which is fighting in the city alongside other rebel groups. At an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Aleppo Wednesday, Syria's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Mounzer Mounzer defended the regime's actions in the city.
"What the Syrian government has been doing in the city of Aleppo is merely the fulfillment of its obligations to protect its citizens from terrorism," he told the council.

Air Strikes on Idlib Displaced Camp Kill 28 as Aleppo Truce Holds
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/Air strikes killed at least 28 civilians Thursday in a camp for the displaced in northern Syria near the Turkish border as a 48-hour ceasefire took hold in Aleppo. The truce came after fierce violence in and around Aleppo and was made possible as President Bashar Assad's regime and rebel forces gave in to mounting diplomatic pressure for a pause. But as relieved civilians went out onto the streets after two weeks of heavy fighting in the divided city, a key battleground in Syria's five-year civil war, others were attacked further west. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said air strikes struck the camp for internally displaced people near Sarmada, in Idlib province, which is controlled by Syria's al-Qaida affiliate al-Nusra Front. Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said women and children were among 28 civilians killed while 50 others were wounded. Mamun al-Khatib, director of the Aleppo-based pro-rebel Shahba Press news agency, said "regime aircraft" fired missiles on the camp in the village of al-Kammouna. "Two missiles fell near the camp causing people to panic and two more fell inside where a dozen tents caught fire," he said. Online images showed emergency workers putting out fires among damaged blue and white tents. EU humanitarian aid commissioner Christos Stylianides denounced the strikes."Shocking bombardment of refugee camp on Syria/Turkey border is unacceptable. My thoughts are with the people who suffered already enough," he tweeted. The February 27 ceasefire brokered by the United States and Syrian ally Russia, calls for and end to fighting between regime forces and rebels nationwide but does not include jihadist held areas. Fierce violence in and around Aleppo that claimed the lives of more than 280 civilians since April 22 sparked an intense diplomatic push by Washington and Moscow to salvage peace efforts. Late Wednesday the Syrian army said it had agreed to calls from Russia and the United States for a two-day truce in Aleppo that would begin from 1:00 am on Thursday. An AFP correspondent in Aleppo said Thursday there had been no signs of fresh air raids since the ceasefire took effect. Residents who had cowered indoors for days emerged and some set up tables and chairs on the streets to enjoy the sunshine, drink tea and smoke cigarettes, the correspondent said. Shopkeepers also reopened their doors while fruit and vegetable markets -- one of which was struck in an April 24 raid that left 12 dead -- were again up and running.
- U.S., Russia monitoring
The local council dispatched bulldozers to remove rubble in stricken areas where water and electrical supplies were also restored, the AFP correspondent said. After a whirlwind of talks involving diplomats from top world powers and the United Nations, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the truce had taken effect and that violence had already fallen off. He said U.S. officials in Geneva were coordinating with their Russian colleagues on "enhanced monitoring efforts for this renewed cessation." The Russian defense ministry said its ceasefire monitors had agreed with their U.S. counterparts to oversee this truce until midnight on May 6. In Aleppo, the head of the local branch of the powerful Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) rebel force, Ahmad Sanada, told AFP the group would respect the truce. The head of Syria's opposition High Negotiations Committee Riad Hijab meanwhile urged the international community to impose "robust measures" to ensure respect for the ceasefire. Diplomats are hoping a nationwide ceasefire can underpin efforts to resolve Syria's five-year war that has already killed more than 270,000 people and forces millions out of their homes. Mediators hope that U.N.-backed peace talks could resume later this month in Geneva, although previous rounds have failed to make any major breakthrough with the regime rejecting the opposition's demand that Assad step aside as part of a political transition.
Concert in Palmyra
On Thursday, a suicide attack and a car bombing in central Homs province killed at least 12 civilians including two women, the Observatory and state television said. The twin bombings came amid recent fighting in the area between Islamic State group fighters and regime troops. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks but suicide and car bombings are a favorite tactic of IS jihadists. The area is located near Palmyra where on Thursday Russian maestro Valery Gergiev led Saint Petersburg's celebrated Mariinsky orchestra in front of a crowd of Russian soldiers, government ministers and journalists. Palmyra, a UNESCO world heritage site, was retaken from IS on March 27 with Russian support.The concert was held against the backdrop of Palmyra's Roman theater where IS jihadists staged mass executions less than a year ago.

More than 60,000 Syrians Stranded at Jordan Border
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/Around 64,000 Syrians are stranded at the border with Jordan after intensified violence around Aleppo, Jordanian border guards said on Thursday. The kingdom, which is already home to more than 630,000 Syrian refugees, introduced additional security checks at the Hadalat and Rokbane border crossings at the start of the year, leading tens of thousands more to congregate along the frontier. "The number of refugees has hit 59,000 at Rokbane and it's rising," the head of Jordan's border guards General Saber Al-Mahayra told reporters on Thursday.
Another officer told AFP that 5,000 others were massed at Hadalat, around 70 kilometers (40 miles) further west. Mahayra said nearly 5,500 had arrived at Rokbane in the last 24 hours, an influx he attributed to increased fighting around Syria's second city Aleppo, where more than 280 civilians have died in recent weeks. Jordan has insisted it must screen newcomers to ensure they are genuine refugees and not jihadists seeking to infiltrate the country. The kingdom is now allowing in only a few dozen refugees each day after screening. According to Mahayra, around 2,000 Syrians currently camping near the border are suspected by Jordanian authorities of involvement with the Islamic State group. Weapons have already been seized from some would-be refugees along the border, he added. After Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, Jordan initially kept open 45 crossing points along its 378 kilometer (235 mile) frontier. But after a mass influx into the kingdom -- Amman says the true number of Syrians in Jordan is closer to 1.4 million -- there are now just five crossing points open, and three of those are reserved for the wounded. Syria's conflict began with anti-government protests but fighting quickly escalated into a multi-faceted war that has killed more than 270,000 people and forced millions from their homes.

From Airbase in Syria, Russia Monitors Fragile Truce
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/Russian servicemen in sand-colored fatigues sit by phones and computer screens at a base in northwestern Syria, monitoring a ceasefire often on the brink of collapse. In coordination with a U.S. center in the Jordanian capital, soldiers at Russia's Hmeimim airbase record breaches of the truce -- brokered by Moscow and Washington -- from barracks converted into a makeshift call center. "This is our direct line to Amman," said the head of the ceasefire monitoring center, Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, pointing to a telephone. "And these two phones are for calls from any resident of Syria and from citizens of the world." Russia began a major bombing campaign in support of its longtime ally President Bashar Assad in September, enabling regime forces to seize back territory. A ceasefire introduced on February 27 between the government and non-jihadist rebels largely held for several weeks before starting to fall apart as fighting surged in Syria's divided second city Aleppo. While Kuralenko showed off satellite images attesting to Moscow's monitoring work to journalists on Wednesday during a press tour organized by the Russian defense ministry, deadly violence raged in Aleppo. On Thursday a new 48-hour ceasefire took hold in the northern city as Assad's regime and rebel forces gave in to mounting diplomatic pressure.
Aleppo had been left out of the so-called "regime of silence" -- reportedly at Moscow's request -- declared last week in a bid to salvage the February 27 ceasefire. World powers have since stepped up diplomatic efforts to end violence in the city that has claimed the lives of 280 civilians since April 22. Kuralenko accused rebel groups of responsibility for most of the truce violations. Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov blamed attacks by Syrian Al-Qaida affiliate Al-Nusra Front for preventing Aleppo's initial inclusion in the fighting freeze. "As of today the regime of silence (in Aleppo) has been prevented by the terrorist group Al-Nusra," Konashenkov said on Wednesday, accusing the extremist movement of perpetrating rocket attacks on residential areas of Aleppo. Konashenkov, however, underlined that the freeze in fighting along two major fronts in Syria's northwest and the Damascus region was overall being respected.
Hopes for villagers' return
In the village of Kawkab, northeast of Damascus, elderly men in chequered headdresses, accompanied by Russian colonels, participated in the signing of a local agreement allowing residents to return after the area was recaptured from Al-Nusra. Locals danced alongside Kalashnikov-wielding Syrian soldiers while children in dusty clothes brandished Syrian flags and portraits of Assad. Around the corner, Russian servicemen unloaded humanitarian aid trucks. "Some 10,000 people used to live here," a local leader, Ahmed Mubarak, said through a translator. "I don't know how many there are now, but I am sure that in four days they will be back."Located near a frontline, Kawkab was recaptured by government forces about a year ago, locals said, but residents had not felt it was safe to return until recently. "Russia has played a significant role in the peace process," Mubarak said, echoing statements by Russian defense officials. "Of all countries it has provided the most aid." Since President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial withdrawal of Russian forces from Syria in mid-March, Moscow has presented itself as a key peacemaker on the ground. Konashenkov said that more than 90 towns and villages and 52 rebel groups had signed local truces with government forces that have Moscow's backing. He said that these local agreements had seen around 7,000 fighters lay down their arms."That's a lot," he said. Russia has been a key player in UN-mediated talks between the regime and opposition forces but has dismissed calls for Assad to step down.
The Kremlin has insisted the West should focus its efforts on ending the five-year conflict that has killed more than 270,000 people before it can tackle extremist organizations such as the Islamic State group.

Underage Syrian refugee illegally locked up by British government
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Thursday, 5 May 2016/A 16-year-old Syrian refugee, who traveled across Europe without his family, was unlawfully held by the British government for almost a month as officials believed he was older, UK-based paper The Guardian reported on Wednesday. The boy’s uncle, who lives in the UK, had the child’s Syrian passport and his civil registration record – sent in the post from Syria – that showed his date of birth as 25 August 1999. However the UK’s Home Office official who handled his case declined to look at the documentation, as they believed he was over 18, locking him up for 26 days - which as a child goes against British law. The young boy – whose name has not been made public – fled Syria last August to join his uncle in the UK, leaving his family in Damascus, was confirmed by a doctor working for the UK Home Office to have had injuries consistent with torture. And according to the report, the boy said he had been kidnapped by Syrian government officials, who tortured and forced him to work transporting ammunition. On the same day, the boy’s solicitors appealed for an urgent judicial review of his application on April 15, the Home Office conceded it had detained a child and released him into the care of social services.

Will London elect its first Muslim mayor?
Reuters, London Thursday, 5 May 2016/Labour candidate Sadiq Khan was set on Thursday to become the first Muslim to be elected mayor of London, loosening the ruling Conservatives’ hold on Britain’s financial center after a campaign marred by charges of anti-Semitism and extremism. His expected victory may be a lone bright spot for Labour on a day of local elections in England, Scotland and Wales. Opinion polls suggested the main opposition party would lose seats in some traditional strongholds, testing the authority of its new left-wing leader, Jeremy Corbyn. In bright sunshine, Britons trickled in to voting stations to cast their ballots in elections which some campaigners fear could fail to attract many voters, as the contests have been overshadowed by next month’s referendum on whether Britain should leave the European Union. The fight to run London - the top prize in the local elections - has pitted Labour’s Khan, 45, the son of an immigrant bus driver, against Conservative Zac Goldsmith, 41, the elite-educated son of a billionaire financier. Sadiq Khan, Britain's Labour Party candidate for Mayor of London, speaks to supporters at Canary Wharf in London, Britain May 4, 2016. (Reuters)
The winner will replace Conservative Boris Johnson, who has run the city of 8.6 million people for the past eight years and is seen as a leading contender to succeed David Cameron as party leader and prime minister. Khan has a big lead in the opinion polls, despite accusations by Goldsmith that he has shared platforms with radical Muslim speakers and given “oxygen” to extremists. “Yes Goldsmith’s argument on the radio made me distrust him ... I am absolutely amazed how he tried to smear by innuendo,” said self-employed voter Ian Whisson, describing the Conservative candidate’s campaign as “disgusting and slimy”. Goldmith denies the charge, saying he has raised legitimate questions over his opponent’s judgment. London Mayor Boris Johnson and Conservative  The campaign, condemned by Labour for using what it calls Donald Trump-style tactics to divide Londoners along faith lines, has swept aside usual concerns in the capital over high transport costs and a lack of affordable housing.
Heated campaign
On the eve of the vote, Prime Minister Cameron and Labour leader Corbyn went head-to-head over Khan and Goldsmith’s campaigns in a heated parliamentary debate. Cameron accused Khan of sharing “a platform with an extremist who called for Jews to drown in the ocean”, while Corbyn accused the Conservatives of “smearing” Khan. Khan says he has fought extremism all his life and that he regrets sharing a stage with speakers who held “abhorrent” views. But the former human rights lawyer has also had to distance himself from Corbyn after a row over anti-Semitism. The Labour leader ordered an inquiry into charges of anti-Semitism after suspending Ken Livingstone, a political ally and a former London mayor, for saying Adolf Hitler had supported Zionism. Khan was quick to condemn the comments. Although people out in the capital said the row had done little to change their view of the Labour candidate for mayor, others said they had become disenchanted with the party itself. “Yes it has affected my view of Labour, it’s very disappointing,” said Sylvie Edge, a 60-year-old photographer, as she cast her ballot in Shoreditch in central London.Corbyn risks losing dozens of seats in some of Labour’s traditional strongholds in his first major electoral test since being elected party leader in September on a wave of enthusiasm for change and an end to ‘establishment politics’. After Corbyn expressed confidence that Labour would gain seats, his spokesman qualified his remarks on Thursday, saying he rather wanted to say: “We’re not in the business of losing seats and we’ll be fighting to win as many as possible tomorrow.”

Australia says most dangerous Australian ISIS operative killed
The Associated Press, Canberra Thursday, 5 May 2016/Australia’s most dangerous known ISIS movement operative had been killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq, the government said Thursday. The United States had confirmed that Neil Prakash, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi, was killed in Mosul on Friday, Attorney-General George Brandis said. The 24-year-old Australian citizen of Cambodian and Fijian heritage converted from Buddhism in 2012 and traveled to Syria a year later. The former rapper from Melbourne city featured in ISIS recruitment videos, was linked to several attack plans in Australia and had urged lone wolf attacks against the United States. “Prakash was a very important, high-value target,” Brandis told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. “He was the most dangerous Australian involved with ISIL in the Middle East,” Brandis added. The United States also confirmed the death in Syria of the sister of a 15-year-old Australian schoolboy who was shot dead by police after he gunned down a police accountant outside a Sydney police station in October last year, Brandis said. The sister, Shadi Jabhar Khalil Mohammad, left Australia the day before her brother Farhad Jabhar died. She and her Sudanese husband, Abu Sa’ad al-Sudani, were killed in a U.S. airstrike near the Syrian town of al-Bab on April 22. Both had been ISIS recruiters of foreign fighters and had inspired attacks against Western interests, Brandis said. Authorities estimate 110 Australians are fighting for the ISIS in the Middle East, Brandis said.

EU leaders in Rome to discuss migrant crisis
AFP, Rome Thursday, 5 May 2016/EU president Donald Tusk travels to Rome Thursday with fellow EU institution leaders and German Chancellor Angela Merkel for two days of talks likely to focus on next steps in Europe’s migrant crisis. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who fears Italy becoming the new migrant frontline after the closure of the Balkan route, will host the first day of talks, followed by Pope Francis on Friday. As the EU braces for more turbulence notably with next month’s “Brexit” referendum in Britain as well as renewed Greek debt talks, Italy is keen to keep the focus on forging a joint plan over migrants. Renzi will start by meeting Merkel from 2 pm (1200 GMT), followed by talks with European Commission leader Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Council president Tusk and European Parliament chief Martin Schulz. From 6:30 pm (1630 GMT) they will hold a conference on the future of the EU, which will take place in the same room in the Capitole where the 1957 Rome Treaty was signed, founding the body that developed into today’s 28-nation EU. With over 28,500 migrants arrived since January 1, Italy has once again become the principal entry via the Mediterranean, after the controversial EU-Turkey deal and the closure of the Balkan route north. Rome fears that, unlike previously, Italy will be left hosting masses of new arrivals if, for example, Austria mounts stricter controls at the Brenner pass linking Italy through the Alps to northern Europe. Threats to the Schengen Treaty on free movement sparked by the migrant crisis were described by Italian Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan as “more dangerous than the euro crisis a few years ago”. UN refugee agency spokeswoman in Italy, Carlotta Sami, on Wednesday welcomed the “movement from an emergency approach to a structured approach, making plans and reflecting on (the) integration” of migrants into countries where they arrive. After Renzi on Thursday, Pope Francis will meet Merkel and the three EU institution leaders on Friday, before making a speech as he is given the EU’s Charlemagne prize, which each year honours “an exceptional contribution to European unification.” The Pope, who usually refuses prizes, explained in February that he accepted this one in order to appeal for a “refounding” of the European bloc. In November 2014 he called at the European Parliament for Europe to become a “reference point for humanity.”

Russia foils ‘terrorist attacks’ from Turkey, Syria
Moscow, AFP Thursday, 5 May 2016/Russia has foiled a string of plots ordered by “international terrorist organizations” active in Syria and Turkey, the FSB intelligence agency said Wednesday, adding that several suspects had been arrested.
“A group of immigrants from Central Asian countries who were planning to carry out a series of terrorist acts in the Moscow region” have been arrested, the FSB said, cited by state news agency RIA Novosti. The FSB added that the attacks, which would have struck in early May, had been ordered by “the leaders of international terrorist organizations active in Syria and Turkey”. Several high-profile cultural and political events occurred on May 1 in or near Moscow to mark Labour Day, a national holiday in Russia. In addition, this year the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated Easter on May 1. On May 9 hundreds of thousands of people usually flock to the heart of the Russian capital for a military display and other celebrations to mark the anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. During the arrests, which occurred in Moscow but the date of which was not given, “a large number of arms and explosives” were seized, according to the FSB statement. Those arrested “are progressing towards making confessions”, it added. The announcement comes amid violent clashes since April 22 between the Moscow-backed Damascus regime and Syrian rebels supported by Turkey, in Aleppo in northern Syria, despite diplomatic efforts to restore a ceasefire. Russian forces have backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his offensive against “terrorist” groups and helped Damascus retake the ancient city of Palmyra at the end of March from ISIS fighters. Russia is regularly accused by the West and Syrian opposition fighters of launching strikes against rebels opposed to Damascus. Moscow has always denied this.

Davutoglu to Step Down May 22, Vows Not to Criticize Erdogan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced Thursday he would step down as ruling party chief at an extraordinary party congress on May 22, meaning he would also quit as premier. "I declare that we will hold our congress on May 22," Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara after a meeting of the central committee of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). "I don't think I will be a candidate in the next congress in the current circumstances," he added. According to AKP party rules, the party chief and premier are always the same person. Divisions between Davutoglu and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that had been rumored for months erupted into the open on Wednesday, with the two leaders holding crisis talks at the presidential palace that failed to resolve the conflict. With some AKP officials openly weeping in the press conference room, he said the end of his term was "not my choice but a result of necessity". Davutoglu became premier in August 2014 when Recep Tayyip Erdogan was elected head of state after more than a decade as prime minister. In an emotional statement in which he took no questions, Davutoglu gave a long description of his achievements as premier. "There is no feeling of failure or regret in making this decision" to step aside, he said. Amid reports that his departure was the result of a split with Erdogan, Davutoglu said he would not criticize the Turkish strongman. "Whatever happens, I am sticking to the promise I made. I will continue a committed relationship with our president until my last breath.""No one heard or will ever hear a single word from my mouth, from my tongue or my mind against our president. He also said he would continue to serve as a lawmaker for the AKP even after he steps down. But Davutoglu hinted that divisions within the AKP were in part behind his decision to quit. "In both (past AKP) congresses, I was elected party leader by consensus. I will not be a candidate for the party leadership if there is no consensus."

Saudi Executes Jordanian Drug Smuggler
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/Saudi Arabia on Thursday put to death a Jordanian convicted of drug trafficking, in the kingdom's 91st execution this year. Maher al-Ghurabli had been found guilty of smuggling amphetamine pills into the kingdom, the interior ministry said in a statement. Authorities carried out the sentence against him in the northwestern region of Tabuk, which borders his Jordanian homeland. Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword. Ghurabli's is the 91st execution of a local or foreigner this year, according to an AFP tally. The executions include 47 for "terrorism" on a single day, January 2. Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions. Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia had the third highest number of people put to death last year -- at least 158. That was far behind Pakistan, which executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said Amnesty, whose figures exclude secretive China.

Israeli Army Says Finds New Hamas Tunnel Reaching into Israel from Gaza
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 05/16/Israeli forces uncovered a Hamas tunnel stretching across the border from Gaza on Thursday, the army said, the second such discovery in recent weeks."About four hours ago the IDF exposed a second tunnel in the southern Gaza Strip," army spokesman Peter Lerner said."We understand the tunnel was approximately 28 to 29 meters (100 feet) deep in the southern Gaza Strip, stretching from Gazan territory into Israel."He did not say how far into Israel the tunnel stretched but confirmed the discovery was made by Israeli forces on the Gazan side of the border. The discovery follows another on April 18 in which the IDF said it had uncovered the first Hamas tunnel since the devastating 2014 war in Gaza. It comes amid a new flare-up in violence along the border with the Palestinian enclave. A series of Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight wounded four people, including three children, while Israel said Hamas fighters have fired a number of mortars at Israeli territory since Wednesday. Lerner confirmed IDF forces had been fired on, saying that in the last 24 hours "we have had at least six incidents where Hamas has fired at IDF activities." It was the first time Hamas had directly fired on Israeli soldiers since the 2014 conflict, which left over 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead, he said. "Israel has no interest in escalation whatsoever," Lerner added.

Iran regime plans to blind man with acid next week
Wednesday, 04 May 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI - Iran’s fundamentalist regime plans to completely blind a man with acid next week as a form of punishment under the mullahs’ brutal retribution law, according to news received from inside Iran. Mojtaba Saheli (Sabeqi), 31, who was previously blinded in his left eye by the regime, has been informed by prison officials that he is to be blinded in the right eye with acid next week in Gohardasht (Rajai-Shahr) Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran. On August 3, 2009 he allegedly blinded a driver in Qom, south of Tehran, with acid. The regime’s court in Qom sentenced Mr. Saheli to be blinded in both eyes with acid, pay blood money and serve a 10-year prison term as part of the regime’s inhumane law of retribution (qisas). On March 3, 2015 he was blinded in one eye with acid in Gohardasht Prison in the presence of the regime’s deputy prosecutor in Tehran Mohammad Shahriari and prison officials after the draconian sentence was upheld by the regime’s Supreme Court. Mr. Saheli is currently imprisoned in Ward 2 of Hall 4 of Gohardasht Prison. He had been told to pay blood money to avoid the new blinding sentence from being implemented on his right eye. Dr. Sanabargh Zahedi, chairman of the Judicial Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: “The inhumane law of retribution (qisas) has been implemented against the Iranian people for the past 37 years. These punishments date back to the medieval ages and show the clerical regime’s reactionary nature. These inhuman punishments are clear violations of all principles and norms of a modern judiciary, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and all civil and political covenants. Such punishments undoubtedly constitute a savage form of torture and should be condemned by any freedom-seeking person. The Iranian Resistance and NCRI members have since 1980 condemned the regime’s qisas law as anti-human.”“According to the logic of the Quran and modern democratic Islam the first principle which applies to the penal code is dynamism. Thus the Islamic penal provision should be interpreted within the context of social and economic conditions and scientific progress. The clerical regime is centuries away from this logic, and as such it is clear that there is no possibility of reform within this regime,” he added.Amnesty International in a statement on March 5, 2015 condemned the Iranian regime for blinding Mr. Saheli in his left eye two days earlier. “Punishing someone by deliberately blinding them is an unspeakably cruel and shocking act," said Raha Bahreini, Amnesty International's Iran Researcher. "This punishment exposes the utter brutality of Iran’s justice system and underlines the Iranian authorities' shocking disregard for basic humanity. Meting out cruel and inhuman retribution punishments is not justice. Blinding, like stoning, amputation and flogging, is a form of corporal punishment prohibited by international law. Such punishments should not be carried out under any circumstances.”

Iranian students show support for political prisoners
Thursday, 05 May 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI - Students at the Tehran Polytechnic University (Amirkabir University of Technology) have shown their solidarity and support for teachers imprisoned in Iran over their political opinion. The students on Sunday, May 1, put up supportive statements and photographs of the imprisoned teachers, several of who are now on hunger strike in Iran’s notorious jails. Esmail Abdi and Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, two teachers who are behind bars in Evin Prison, are currently on hunger strike. Another political prisoner Ali Moezzi, whose relatives are members of the main Iranian opposition group People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), has announced that he plans to join Abdi and other political prisoners on hunger strike as a sign of solidarity beginning on Friday. Separately, students at the Medical University of Qom expressed their support for political prisoner Omid Kokabee. On Saturday, April 30, the students put up banners and signs calling for Mr. Kokabee's release from prison. Mr. Kokabee, a 34-year-old physicist, underwent surgery last month to remove his cancerous right kidney. His relatives had repeatedly warned about his various problematic health conditions, but the mullahs' regime systematically ignored their warnings in the past five years that he has been behind bars. Human rights groups say Mr. Kokabee is a prisoner of conscience held solely for his refusal to work on military projects in Iran and as a result of spurious charges related to his legitimate scholastic ties with academic institutions outside of Iran.In May 2012, after an unfair trial in the regime’s so-called Revolutionary Court at which it is understood that no evidence was presented against him, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having “connections with a hostile government,” according to Amnesty International. His sentence was upheld on appeal in August 2012. According to human rights groups, Iranian authorities unduly delayed Mr. Kokabee’s access to medical treatment in the past. In 2012, after an initial examination found that he had a tumor, Mr. Kokabee experienced a long delay in getting permission to be transferred from a prison health clinic to a hospital for critical medical examinations. In an open letter written from prison in April 2013, Mr. Kokabee said: “During interrogations which were conducted in solitary confinement, while all my communication with my family and the outside world was cut off, and while I was constantly being put under pressure and threats by receiving news about the horrible physical and mental state of my family, I was asked again and again to write up various versions of my personal history after 2005.”

Iran regime arrests two bloggers
Wednesday, 04 May 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI – The Iranian regime’s repressive Cyber Police (FATA) has arrested two young webloggers in Rasht and Roudbar, northern Iran, charging them with “computer crimes.”The head of the FATA police in Gilan Province, Colonel Iraj Mohammadkhani, announced the arrests on Tuesday, adding that "[illegal] production, distribution and access to any data, software or any type of electronic devices are regarded as computer crimes and anyone committing such acts will be sentenced from 91 days to one year of imprisonment, or will have to pay a fine of five million to 20 million Rials (U.S. $166 to $662), or both."Tuesday, May 3, marked World Press Freedom Day 2016. As recently as March 2016, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Iran is still one of the world’s five biggest prisons for media personnel and is ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on Tuesday said: "Freedom of the press and freedom of expression are non-existent in Iran under the mullahs' regime. Not only does the regime severely clamp down on journalists for reporting on subjects considered sensitive by the mullahs, it even goes so far as arresting and torturing to death dissident bloggers such as Sattar Beheshti.”“The regime's draconian measures against news organizations have become more aggressive since Hassan Rouhani took office as President in 2013. Several international human rights organizations have attested to this reality," Mr. Gobadi added.

IRGC’s new threat to close Strait of Hormuz, a hollow show of force
Wednesday, 04 May 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI - The deputy commander of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in a televised broadcast on Wednesday threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, on Iran's southern shores, to the United States and its allies. “If the Americans and their regional allies want to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and threaten us, we will not allow any entry,” said General Hossein Salami. Nearly a third of all oil traded by sea passes through the narrow strait. "The Americans should learn from recent historical truths,” Salami said in a reference to the capture of 10 U.S. sailors in January. The sailors were paraded on state television with their hands over their heads and released shortly afterwards. Commenting on the IRGC’s announcement, Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) on Wednesday said: “Salami’s remarks can be described as posturing by a weakened regime. The Iranian regime is engulfed in numerous crises including the one in Syria and it faces regional isolation as was manifested in the recent resolution by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). As such these remarks are just a hollow attempt for a show of force to boost the morale of the regime's forces. In reality, this act would be tantamount to the regime shooting itself in the foot.”

Syria’s White Helmets say Assad must be prosecuted for “war crimes”
Wednesday, 04 May 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI – A Syrian aid volunteers group has accused Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad of deliberately targeting rescuers and aid centers, with the backing of the Iranian regime, in intense fighting in the city of Aleppo. The Syrian Civil Defence group - known as the White Helmets - strives to save the lives of innocent people in Syria who fall victim to attacks on residential areas by Assad's regime. As Assad's forces carry out aerial attacks on civilian areas across Syria, the volunteer White Helmets risk their lives to rush to the aid of men, women and children buried under the rubble and to give safe refuge to the victims of the brutal assaults. To date, they have managed to pull some 41,000 people out of the rubble. In recent weeks as fighting has intensified in Aleppo, the White Helmets have found it increasingly difficult to operate and have themselves fallen victim to Assad's bombardments. In a press conference on Sunday the local Aleppo Free Council and representatives of the White Helmets force gave a harrowing account of the recent crimes of the Assad regime and called for the persecution of the perpetrators of “war crimes” in Aleppo. Lawyer Ibrahim Hilal, head of the White Helmets in the province, in an interview with the Iranian opposition satellite channel Simaye-Azadi described some of the recent crimes carried out by the forces of the Syrian and Iranian regimes in Aleppo. "We would like to draw international attention to the crimes of the Syrian and Iranian regimes and Russia,” Mr. Hilal said. "Their warplanes have carried out over 320 aerial attacks on Aleppo. Additionally they have used 65 barrel bombs and fired 110 artillery rounds and 17 surface-to-surface missiles on Aleppo.” “The number of martyrs has reached 206 people, and at least 523 people have been injured.”“The warplanes mainly target critical and civil infrastructure, hospitals, rescue teams, schools and mosques.”“We have urged international organizations and the world community to uphold their responsibilities and force the regime to stop its crimes against the people of Syria.”“There is a systematic international silence in the face of the crimes of the Syrian and Iranian regimes and Russia.”“Aleppo is right now in a very perilous situation because the warplanes are not leaving the skies. They are attacking the frontlines, and Aleppo is under siege.”He added that since the recent spike in violence in Aleppo the White Helmets had carried out at least 330 rescue operations. He pointed out that in recent days Syrian jets had destroyed one of the White Helmets' centers in Aleppo, killing five volunteers and injuring numerous others.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 05/16

Iran Accuses U.S. of Meddling as Tensions Grow
By Rick Gladstonemay/The New York Times 4, 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/world/middleeast/iran-us-relations-persian-gulf.html?_r=0

Secretary of State John Kerry in New York last month with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of Iran. Credit Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters
Tensions between Iran and the United States, never far from the surface, showed signs of worsening on Wednesday, with the Iranians threatening to block a vital Persian Gulf access route and protesting what they called the American “meddling approach and tone.”The Iranian messages, conveyed in statements by a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and by the Foreign Ministry, came a few days after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, expressed exasperation with the United States, questioning the longstanding deployment of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.“It is Americans who should explain why they have come here from the other side of the world and stage war games,” the ayatollah said in remarks widely reported in Iran’s state news media. Together, the messages appeared to reflect a steady buildup of anti-American sentiment in Iran recently despite the nuclear agreement that took effect in January, which, on paper at least, eased the country’s economic isolation. American and Iranian diplomats had hoped the agreement would help lead to a new period of détente in the estranged relations between their countries.
But the Iranians have not yet benefited economically and have accused the United States of obstructing their ability to do business and attract investments, in part because of other American financial restrictions unaffected by the nuclear agreement.“Iran is not experiencing the benefits it envisioned after sanctions relief,” said Alireza Nader, an Iran expert at the Washington offices of the RAND Corporation, a research group. The increasingly angry tone from Iranian leaders, he said, can be partly traced to “Iran signaling its displeasure” about that problem.The Iranians have also taken note of efforts by some lawmakers in Washington who opposed the nuclear agreement and who have warned against a resumption of commercial dealings with Iran. On Monday, for example, three members of Congress sent a letter to Boeing’s chief executive, Dennis A. Muilenburg, urging him “in the strongest possible terms” not to execute any sales to Iran, which the company is considering after meeting with Iranian aviation officials last month. Boeing has not commented on the letter but has acknowledged opening discussions with Iran. The Iranians have also been seething over an April 20 Supreme Court ruling that permitted the use of nearly $2 billion in seized Iranian assets to compensate American victims of overseas attacks that United States officials have attributed to Iran despite its denials. Iran remains on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, another sore point with the Iranians.
Last week, Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, known for his good relations with Secretary of State John Kerry and for advocating improved relations with the United States, wrote to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations, calling the ruling a crime and an example of American arrogance. The warning from the Revolutionary Guards about blocking American access to the Persian Gulf waterway known as the Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil shipping route, appeared to be partly a response to a congressional resolution introduced April 28 by Representative J. Randy Forbes, Republican of Virginia.The resolution condemned what it called Iran’s illegal detention of American sailors patrolling near Iran in January and said Iran had “undermined stability in the Arabian Gulf.” The use of the term “Arabian Gulf” has long irritated Iran, which bans publications that do not use “Persian Gulf” to describe the body of water. On Wednesday, Iran’s Fars News Agency, which has links to the Revolutionary Guards, said Lt. Cmdr. Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami had issued a warning to the United States to avoid escalation. “Iran will decisively confront any menacing passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Fars quoted him as saying. “We warn the Americans not to repeat their past mistakes, and they should learn from historical realities.”
In what appeared to be a coordinated message, the Foreign Ministry delivered a note of protest on Wednesday to the Swiss Embassy in Tehran, which represents American interests. The official Tasnim News Agency said the note, referring to Mr. Forbes’s resolution, “slammed Washington’s meddling in the security affairs of the Persian Gulf and strongly objected to the use of a fake name for the body of water in a resolution proposed by a U.S. congressman last week.”Political analysts in the United States noted that the Strait of Hormuz has long been a potential flash point for American-Iranian animosity, but questioned whether Iran would risk a military confrontation by closing it or denying American access.Eugene Gholz, a public affairs professor at the University of Texas and a former Pentagon adviser, played down Iran’s umbrage at the use of the term “Arabian Gulf.”“Nobody is seriously going to contemplate fighting a war over that,” he said. But he added that he did not rule out further escalation, saying, “People who are looking for an excuse to fight will find something.”

Dear Eliane: I am very sick with throat infection and flu. It will be safer for my beloved Yasmina not to come until I am recovered. hopefully by Sunday I will be better. Kiss her for me.

Should the U.S. Build an "ISIS Wall"?
Raymond Ibrahim/May 05/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7987/isis-mexico-border-wall
"If you really want to protect Americans from ISIS, you secure the southern border. It's that simple." — Rep. Duncan Hunter.
The Department of Homeland Security denied Hunter's claims, called them "categorically false" and added that "no credible intelligence to suggest terrorist organizations are actively plotting to cross the southwest border." Days later, however, it was confirmed that "4 ISIS Terrorists" were arrested crossing the border into Texas.
Under Obama's presidency alone, 2.5 million illegals have crossed the border. And those are just the ones we know about. How many of these are ISIS operatives, sympathizers or facilitators?
Securing the U.S.-Mexico border — with an electronic fence, which has worked so effectively in Israel — is more urgent than we think.
Of all the reasons a majority of Americans support the plan of businessman and U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump to "build a wall" along the U.S.-Mexico border, perhaps the most critical is to avoid letting terrorists into the country. Drugs enter, the victims of traffickers enter, but the most imminent danger comes from operatives of the Islamic State (ISIS) and like-minded groups that are trying to use this porous border as a way to smuggle weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) into the United States and launch terror attacks that could make 9/11 seem like a morning in May.
Just last week, "One of the American men accused in Minnesota of trying to join the Islamic State group wanted to open up routes from Syria to the U.S. through Mexico... Guled Ali Omar told the ISIS members about the route so that it could be used to send members to America to carry out terrorist attacks, prosecutors alleged in a document."
ISIS, however, did not need to be "told" by Ali "about the route." Nearly a year earlier, ISIS explored options on how it could smuggle a WMD "into the U.S. through Mexico by using existing trafficking networks in Latin America."
The Islamic State's magazine Dabiq last May (issue #9) published the following scenario: Let me throw a hypothetical operation onto the table. The Islamic State has billions of dollars in the bank, so they call on their wilāyah [province] in Pakistan to purchase a nuclear device through weapons dealers with links to corrupt officials in the region. ... The weapon is then transported over land until it makes it to Libya, where the mujāhidīn [jihadis] move it south to Nigeria. Drug shipments from Columbia bound for Europe pass through West Africa, so moving other types of contraband from East to West is just as possible. The nuke and accompanying mujāhidīn arrive on the shorelines of South America and are transported through the porous borders of Central America before arriving in Mexico and up to the border with the United States. From there it's just a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel and hey presto, they're mingling with another 12 million 'illegal' aliens in America with a nuclear bomb in the trunk of their car.
The ISIS publication added that if not a nuke, "a few thousand tons of ammonium nitrate explosive," which is easily manufactured, could be smuggled.
Such thinking is hardly new. Back in 2009, a Kuwaiti cleric explained how easy it would be to murder countless Americans by crossing through the Mexican border:
Four pounds of anthrax — in a suitcase this big — carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there. What a horrifying idea; 9/11 will be small change in comparison. Am I right? There is no need for airplanes, conspiracies, timings and so on. One person, with the courage to carry 4 pounds of anthrax, will go to the White House lawn, and will spread this 'confetti' all over them, and then we'll do these cries of joy. It will turn into a real celebration.
Plans aside, ISIS and other Islamic terrorists are based in and coming from Mexico. The evidence is piling up. In August 2014, Judicial Watch reported that ISIS was "operating in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez and planning to attack the United States with car bombs or other vehicle borne improvised explosive devices." Months later in April 2015, ISIS was exposed operating in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua — eight miles from the U.S.
In October 2014, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif) said, "I know that at least 10 ISIS fighters have been caught coming across the Mexican border in Texas." The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) emphatically denied Hunter's claims, called them "categorically false" and added that "no credible intelligence to suggest terrorist organizations are actively plotting to cross the southwest border." Days later, however, it was confirmed that "4 ISIS Terrorists" were arrested crossing the border into Texas.
On September 20, 2015, "U.S. Border Patrol nabbed two Pakistani men with ties to terrorism at the U.S.-Mexico border. ... Both men ... took advantage of smuggling networks or other routes increasingly used by Central American illegal immigrants to sneak into the U.S."
This is uncomfortably reminiscent of the scenario outlined in the ISIS magazine: after naming Pakistan as the nation from which to acquire nukes — the two men arrested for "ties to terrorism" were from Pakistan — the Dabiq excerpt explained: "The nuke and accompanying mujāhidīn... are transported through the porous borders of Central America before arriving in Mexico and up to the border with the United States. From there it's just a quick hop through a smuggling tunnel."
On December 2, 2015, "A Middle Eastern woman was caught surveilling a U.S. port of entry on the Mexican border holding a sketchbook with Arabic writing and drawings of the facility and its security system." Around the same time, "five young Middle Eastern men were apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol in Amado, an Arizona town situated about 30 miles from the Mexican border. Two of the men were carrying stainless steel cylinders in backpacks..."
These arrests clearly indicate that Islamic terrorists are crossing the border into the U.S. For every illegal person caught, how many are not? One estimate says that at best only half of those illegally crossing the border are ever apprehended. Under Obama's presidency alone, 2.5 million illegals have crossed the border. And those are just the ones we know about. How many of these are ISIS operatives, sympathizers or facilitators? Border guards cannot even be "especially alert" for terrorists: many easily blend in with native Mexicans.
Three facts are undisputed: 1) ISIS and other terrorist groups see Mexico as a launching pad for terrorist acts in the U.S.; 2) ISIS and other terrorist groups have bases of operations in Mexico; 3) Members of ISIS and other terrorist groups have been caught trying to enter through the border.
In other words, it is just a matter of time. As Rep. Duncan Hunter once put it: If you really want to protect Americans from ISIS, you secure the southern border. It's that simple. ISIS doesn't have a navy, they don't have an air force, they don't have nuclear weapons. The only way that ISIS is going to harm Americans is by coming in through the southern border — which they already have. Just as before 9/11 — when U.S. leadership had received ample warnings of a spectacular terrorist attack targeting the U.S. — this problem may well be ignored until a spectacular attack occurs: San Bernardino was apparently too small, it did not count. Then, it will be more of the usual from the comatose media and many politicians: "shock," handwringing, and appeals against "Islamophobia."
Securing the U.S.-Mexico border — with an electronic fence, which has worked so effectively in Israel — is more urgent than we think.
The Israeli-built border fence between Israel and Egypt, completed in December 2013, put a complete stop to illegal infiltration from Egypt into Israel. Before the fence was built, many terrorists, traffickers, and drug smugglers crossed the border each year. (Image source: Idobi/Wikimedia Commons)

Iran Comes Clean on Banking Problems
Lawrence A. Franklin/ Gatestone Institute/May 05/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7958/iran-bank-problems
Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor Seif Valiollah mentioned that Iran has a reputation for not being exactly transparent on countering financial support for terrorist operations. He further blamed the regime's willingness to facilitate money-laundering schemes as another factor discouraging investment from abroad, and indirectly criticized the overweening influence of the huge business conglomerates run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the Iranian economy.
Nasser Hakimi, another CBI official blamed Iran's own banks for access problems with the Society for Worldwide International Transactions (SWIFT) network.
Several of Iran's key banks had not yet purchased or installed the required software and financial identifier codes that would enable SWIFT to become operable in Iran.
Central Bank of Iran (CBI) officials have admitted that the regime's own financial policies, and not the United States, are responsible for some of the country's banking problems. CBI governor Seif Valiollah admitted recently that Tehran's failure to reap more economic benefits from the JCPOA agreement is, at least in part, Iran's own fault.
These revelations by Iran's top banking officials refute charges by Iranian hardliners that the United States has been orchestrating a toteyeh bozoorg ("grand conspiracy") to deny Iran access to international banking networks.
CBI officials and others have detailed the shortcomings of Iran's own banking system. These CBI statements challenge the skewed comments in the Iranian press that America's refusal to grant foreign banks access to U.S financial services is what is responsible for Iran's bank problems. Some of the negative commentary came from economists disappointed with President Rouhani's management of the economy.
CBI governor Valiollah said that the failure of the country's banks to adhere to standard international reporting practices is at fault. He also blamed the financial policies of former President Ahmadinejad as contributing to the present disorder in Iran's banking network. Valiollah criticized, for instance, Ahmadinejad's populist policies, such as frequent and careless loans, as a waste of finances. Valiollah also specifically mentioned Ahmadinejad's penchant for using non-accredited financial institutions, through which he doled out rewards to political cronies, and addressed the lack of liquidity in Iran's banks as a consequence of the large amount of failed loans. Subsequently, these bad loans necessitated the buy-back by the government of physical assets, such as residential and business properties. Valiollah offered an overall bleak assessment of Iran's tarnished financial image, which he suggested, has discouraged foreign investment.
In a swipe at the hardliners who oppose President Rouhani's economic "opening to the West," Valiollah also mentioned that Iran has a reputation for not being exactly transparent on countering financial support for terrorist operations. He further blamed the regime's willingness to facilitate money-laundering schemes as another factor discouraging investment from abroad, and indirectly criticized the overweening influence of the huge business conglomerates run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the Iranian economy. Valiollah also called for Iran to have a unified and stable exchange rate tied to the market rate, not one subject to manipulation by powerful groups affiliated with the regime.
Nasser Hakimi, another CBI official, blamed Iran's own banks for access problems with the Society for Worldwide International Transactions (SWIFT) network. The SWIFT messaging system enables banks to process financial transactions in a secure and rapid manner. Moreover, one CBI functionary added that several of Iran's key banks had not yet purchased or installed the required software and financial identifier codes that would enable SWIFT to become operable in Iran.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated in the press that Iran's banks are determined to improve access to SWIFT, and urged Iranian economists to visit the SWIFT Room of the CBI.
Economists opposed to the Rouhani administration had accused Washington of obstructing banking ties with the European Union and discouraging investment in Iran.[1] One of these economists, Asadollah Asgaroladi, claimed that Iran still can only process transactions with foreign countries through Dubai. One official, affiliated with the Iranian Chamber of Commerce's Industries, Mines, and Agriculture Division, stated that there is limited access to SWIFT, but with Asian nations only, such as China, Japan, and South Korea.
CBI officials realize now that the Obama White House went out of its way to allay the fears of Western banks, especially those from the European Union, that they would risk being fined for conducting normal banking relations with Iran. CBI governor Valiollah even complimented Secretary of State Kerry's assistance in convincing European banks that it is acceptable to deal with their Iranian counterparts. In praising Kerry's effort to facilitate the foreign transactional activity of Iran's banks, "Kerry insisted that foreign banks should cooperate with Iranian banks and that any bank that doubts this, should contact Washington."
**Dr. Lawrence A. Franklin was the Iran Desk Officer for Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. He also served on active duty with the U.S. Army and as a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, where he was a Military Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Israel.
[1] Keyhan Newspaper quotes hard-liner Jaffar Bolour re U.S. Bank Conspiracy and exerting pressure on EU banks.

Saudi Columnist Khalaf Al-Harbi: Assad Is The No. 1 Terrorist; Is Putin Any Different From Al-Baghdadi? Is Khamenei More Humane Than Al-Zawahiri?
MEMRI/May 05/16/ Special Dispatch No.6413
Following the massive attack on the city of Aleppo by the Syrian regime and its Russian ally, which included the destruction of a hospital, Saudi columnist Khalaf Al-Harbi penned an article in which he harshly attacked the Syrian regime as well as the leaders of Russia, Iran and Hizbullah. Writing in the government Saudi daily 'Okaz, he accused these leaders of committing a "genocide" of the Syrian people, and the international community of silent complicity in this crime. He added that this crime was comparable to, if not worse than, the crimes of terrorist organizations such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
The following are excerpts from the article:[1]
"In disaster-ridden Aleppo, a [Syrian air force] jet dropped barrel bombs on a hospital that was treating victims of previous airstrikes. The wounded [victims], the doctors and [other] patients were killed, and at the same time another jet bombed the rescue teams and civil defense [forces]. All this, of course, under the pretext of combatting terrorists!
"What action can terrorists carry out that is worse than the destruction of a hospital[?]
"Look at all the terrifying ISIS videos and the barbaric Al-Qaeda statements, and you will see the same [acts], possibly even less severe ones. If ISIS sends a suicide [bomber] to blow up a vegetable market, Bashar [Al-Assad] and Putin's jets, together with Iran and Hizbullah, have already erased an entire city, and strove with all their might to exterminate its peaceful residents.
"What's the difference between Putin and [ISIS leader] Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi? Is it possible that [Iranian Supreme Leader] Khamenei any more humane than [Al-Qaeda Leader] Al-Zawahiri? Did [Al-Qaeda in Iraq leader] Al-Zarqawi commit any crimes that [Hizbullah leader] Hassan Nasrallah has refused to commit? And as for Bashar Al-Assad – he cannot even be compared to the most satanic among people and demons, since he is the number one terrorist butcher, who receives the blessings of the international community, and in most cases has even conspired with it.
"Moreover, one could say that the case of Al-Baghdadi, Al-Zawahiri, and other terrorist leaders is simpler than that of Putin, Khamenei, Nasrallah, and Bashar, since these terrorist leaders are wanted all over the world, whereas the leaders of the barrel bombs are presidents of UN member-states. The silence regarding the crimes [of these leaders] provides certain legitimacy to the methodical extermination [they carry out in Syria], while we thought that such matters have long ago disappeared from the world.
"If the horrible crimes taking place in Aleppo today are classified as 'combatting terrorism,' then we say to the supporters of the barrel bombs – you will surely lose [this] campaign. This, because the child whose good family was destroyed in front of him will not become a peace activist or a human rights activist, but will seek an organization even more barbaric than ISIS to [join, in order to] avenge his family that was wiped off the face of the earth. Shame will continue to hound all those who, for political or sectarian reasons, supported [the dropping of] barrel bombs..."
Endnotes:
[1] 'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), May 2, 2016.

Migrant Rape Epidemic Reaches Austria
Soeren Kern/ Gatestone Institute/May 05/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7995/migrants-rape-austria
A 20-year-old asylum seeker from Iraq confessed to raping a 10-year-old boy at a public swimming pool in Vienna. The Iraqi said the rape was a "sexual emergency" resulting from "excess sexual energy."
Those who dare to link spiraling crime to Muslim mass migration are being silenced by the guardians of Austrian multiculturalism.
According to data compiled by the Austrian Interior Ministry, nearly one out of three asylum seekers in Vienna was accused of committing crimes in 2015. North African gangs fighting for control over drug trafficking were responsible for roughly half of the 15,828 violent crimes — rapes, robberies, stabbings and assaults — reported in the city during 2015.
Austria received 90,000 asylum requests in 2015, the second-highest number in the EU on a per capita basis, but this pales in comparison to what may lie ahead. Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka warned last month that up to one million migrants are poised to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe.
The brutal gang rape of a woman by three Afghan asylum seekers in central Vienna on April 22 has shocked the Austrian public and drawn attention to a spike in migrant-related rapes, sexual assaults and other crimes across the country.
The migrant crime wave comes as the anti-immigrant Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has surged in opinion polls. The party's candidate, Norbert Hofer, won the first round of Austria's presidential elections on April 24, and is on track to win the presidency in the second round, run-off election scheduled for May 22.
The three Afghans — two 16-year-olds and one 17-year-old — followed the woman, a 21-year-old exchange student, into a public restroom at the Praterstern train station, one of the main transportation hubs in Vienna. One of the migrants held the woman down while the other two took turns raping her.
A passerby called the police after she heard the woman screaming. By the time police arrived, the men had gone. The suspects, who were arrested as they were attempting to flee the station, do not speak German. Through an interpreter, the migrants told police they were drunk and do not remember carrying out the crime.
If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of seven-and-a-half years in prison. Due to the lenient nature of the Austrian judicial system, however, they may end up spending only two years behind bars, according to local observers.
It is also unlikely that the migrants will be deported: according to European law, sending them back to Afghanistan would be a violation of their human rights. Instead, observers say, the Afghans will qualify for Austrian social welfare benefits — €830 ($950) per month plus free healthcare — and probably for the rest of their lives become wards of Austrian state.
The assault in Praterstern is one of a growing number of migrant sex crimes in Austria (other migrant rapes and sexual assaults are included in the appendix below):
A 20-year-old asylum seeker from Iraq confessed to raping a 10-year-old boy at a public swimming pool in Vienna. The Iraqi said the rape was a "sexual emergency" resulting from "excess sexual energy." The man, who left his wife and child behind in Iraq, said he had been unable to control his libido because he had not had sexual relations since arriving in Austria in September.
An 18-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan was sentenced to 20 months in prison for raping a 72-year-old woman in Traiskirchen. "First he beat the woman black and blue, then he raped her, and then he took her underwear as a trophy," local police said. In addition to a lenient sentence, the man will be allowed to remain in Austria and, after he leaves prison, collect social welfare benefits.
A 20-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan was arrested after he coerced 13-year-old girl from the town of Korneuburg repeatedly to have sex with him. The man, who was living in an asylum shelter in Hollabrunn, first established contact with the girl over the Internet. Each time they met in person, he verbally threatened her until she agreed to have sex. The man was arrested after the girl told her parents about the relationship, which had been going on for more than three months.
Mobs of Arab migrants sexually assaulted dozens of women in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck on New Year's Eve. The sex attacks, known in Arabic as taharrush ("harassment"), were similar to those carried out that day by North African migrants in Cologne, Germany and other cities. Police initially denied that the attacks had taken place, but later admitted to lying, purportedly to protect the privacy of the victims.
Those who dare to link spiraling crime to Muslim mass migration are being silenced by the guardians of Austrian multiculturalism.
In April, for example, the Austrian Press Council (Presserat) — a group that enforces a politically correct "code of ethics" to ensure that Austrian media outlets toe the line of state-sanctioned multiculturalism — censured the left-leaning magazine, Falter, for "blanket discrimination" against Muslims.
The magazine's editors — otherwise faithful proponents of European multiculturalism — appear to have had enough of migrants raping their way through Europe with virtual impunity. For the January-February 2016 edition, Falter's cover featured a black and white drawing of five "light skinned" European women surrounded by large numbers of "dark skinned" Arab males. The image evoked images of the taharrush assaults in Cologne.
In a three-page "decision," the Presserat ruled that the image violates the "code of ethics" because it amounts to "blanket slander and discrimination" against Arab men:
"The men are all portrayed with the same fierce-looking facial expression, dark hair and noticeably dark eyebrows. In this way — in the context of the attacks in Cologne — the artist is constructing a prototype of men from North Africa, i.e., the Arab world. The uniformity of the image suggests that, rather than portraying individuals, it depicts a homogenous group whose members all behave in the same way.
"Therefore, readers could be left with the impression that the sexual assaults in Cologne were not the acts of individual persons or person groups, but that such conduct is typical for men from North Africa, i.e., the Arab world. The image could leave the impression that all North Africa men who are here in Europe fail to conduct themselves correctly vis-à-vis women."
The editors of Falter defended themselves against accusations of racism:
"The fact is that North Africans were overwhelmingly responsible for the assaults in Cologne. This is what took place and we should be allowed to represent it as such."
Vienna is the epicenter of migrant crime in Austria. According to data compiled by the Austrian Interior Ministry, nearly one out of three asylum seekers in Vienna was accused of crimes in 2015. Of the nearly 21,000 officially approved asylum seekers in the capital, 6,503 were known to have committed crimes in 2015, a jump of nearly 50% over 2014. The data shows that 2,270 of the criminals were under the age of 20, a 72% jump over 2014. Seven were under age nine, while 31 were under age 13.
According to Vienna Police Chief Gerhard Pürstl, North African gangs fighting for control over drug trafficking were responsible for roughly half of the 15,828 violent crimes — rapes, robberies, stabbings and assaults — reported in the city during 2015.
The area around the Praterstern station, where the exchange student was raped, has become overrun by shiftless migrants from Afghanistan and North Africa who are selling drugs, fighting turf battles and assaulting female passersby. Police were dispatched to the area a total of 6,265 times in 2015, or an average of 17 times a day, according to local media. But local authorities appear unable or unwilling to restore order to the area.
Left: The area around Praterstern train station in Vienna is overrun by shiftless migrants from Afghanistan and North Africa who are selling drugs, fighting turf battles and assaulting female passersby. Police were dispatched to the area 6,265 times in 2015. Right: The left-leaning magazine Falter was accused of "blanket discrimination" against Muslims, after it ran a cover with a drawing of five "light skinned" European women surrounded by large numbers of "dark skinned" Arab males. The image evoked the mass sexual assaults in Cologne on New Year's Eve.
The head of the Austrian Police Union, Hermann Greylinger, estimates that Vienna needs around 1,200 more police officers in order to establish order in the capital:
"If we are allowing in our country 111,000 migrants, few of whom have had background checks, then clearly the police must be massively increased. Almost all asylum claimants are moving to Vienna. We now have more migrants than the population of the city of Salzburg, the fourth-largest city in Austria."
Austria's migrant crime problem is being exacerbated by an extremely lenient criminal justice system. On May 4, for example, a 21-year-old migrant from Kenya randomly killed a 54-year-old woman on a busy street in Vienna by hitting her over the head with an iron bar. It soon emerged that the Kenyan was well known to city police: since arriving in Austria in 2008, he had committed at least 18 previous crimes — including dealing drugs, attacking police officers and hitting someone over the head with an iron bar — but he has repeatedly been set free.
Given the growing insecurity, it comes as no surprise that Austrian voters are looking for a change in political direction.
In what amounts to a political earthquake, Freedom Party (FPÖ) candidate Norbert Hofer won 36% of the vote in the first round of Austria's presidential election on April 24. Hofer — who has campaigned on a platform calling for strict limits on immigration and tough rules for asylum seekers — defeated all of the other candidates, including those from the two governing parties, the Social Democrats and the Austrian People's Party, which have dominated Austrian politics since the end of World War II.
Hofer, who says that as president he will be the "protector of Austria," is now on track to defeat the Green Party's Alexander Van der Bellen, a 72-year-old economist who is opposed to limits on immigration, in a run-off ballot to be held on May 22.
Hofer's meteoric rise is focusing the minds of the establishment parties. On April 27, just three days after Hofer's electoral victory, the Austrian Parliament adopted what may be one of the toughest asylum laws in Europe.
Under the new law, Austria will declare a "state of emergency" on the migration crisis. This will allow Austrian authorities to assess asylum claims directly at the border. Only asylum seekers with immediate family members already in Austria, or those who can prove they are in danger in neighboring transit countries, will be allowed to enter the country. Other migrants will be turned away. The new law also limits any successful asylum claim to three years.
Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said the new law is needed to stem the flow of migrants and refugees: "We cannot shoulder the whole world's burden."
Austria received 90,000 asylum requests in 2015, the second-highest number in the European Union on a per capita basis, but this pales in comparison to what may lie ahead. In a radio interview on April 28, Sobotka warned that up to one million migrants are poised to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Europe.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter. His first book, Global Fire, will be out in 2016.
Sexual Assaults and Rapes by Migrants in Austria, January-April 2016.
Gatestone Institute has reported about the migrant rape epidemic in Germany and Sweden. The problem has now spread to Austria. Following are a few cases from the first four months of 2016:
April 29. A 35-year-old migrant from Algeria attempted to rape a woman at a bus stop in Linz. The man beat the woman unconscious, but not before she broke his nose. He was arrested after he went to a local hospital seeking medical attention. It later emerged that the Algerian has a long criminal record, including other attempted rapes, but cannot be deported because Algeria will not take him back.
On April 25, Kronen Zeitung, the largest newspaper in Austria, reported that an "Arabic-looking man" attempted to rape a 27-year-old woman at a bus stop in Vienna. "All he could say was sex, sex, sex," the woman said. The man pulled a condom out of his pants pocket and then dropped his trousers. "I screamed as loud as I could," the woman said, "until the man ran away." She said that city police have been wholly uninterested in her case: "They have not even asked me for my name." After local media reported on her case, police issued an apology and blamed their failure to take her seriously on a "regrettable misunderstanding."
April 24. An unidentified migrant raped a 19-year-old woman in Eisenstadt.
April 22. Three asylum seekers from Afghanistan gang-raped a 21-year-old woman at a train station in Vienna.
April 22. A 17-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan attempted to rape a 20-year-old woman in Graz.
April 21. A 17-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman on a train in Grieskirchen. The train's conductor intervened after he heard the woman scream. The Afghan told police that the woman was lying and demanded an apology.
April 20. Two North African migrants sexually assaulted a woman in front of the main train station in Salzburg. When a 26-year-old passerby attempted to intervene, the migrants punched and kicked him so hard that he was rushed to a nearby hospital. One of the attackers is a 31-year-old asylum seeker from Morocco. The other suspect remains at large.
April 15. A 42-year-old migrant from Slovenia was arrested for attempting to sexually assault two 18-year-old women in Leibnitz.
April 13. An "Arab looking" man sexually assaulted three women at a bus stop in Vienna.
March 24. Two Afghan migrants were arrested for raping a 20-year-old woman in Wels.
March 21. A migrant from North Africa assaulted a 27-year-old woman on a packed subway train in Vienna. The man began touching the woman on her hands. When she got up to find another seat, the man grabbed her and began kissing her on the mouth. Police told the woman there was nothing they could do because kissing does not qualify as sexual assault.
March 12. A 16-year-old asylum seeker from Libya attempted to kidnap and rape two women in Vienna. After the three met on a subway train, the Libyan promised to take the women to a nightclub. He took them instead to an apartment where he attempted to lock the women in the basement and rape them. One of the women escaped and called the police.
March 8. A 20-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan was observed pointing to his genitals in front of a seven-year-old girl at a public swimming pool in Vienna. The pool director and a swimming instructor held the man until police arrived. The police let him go.
March 6. A "foreign looking" man sexually assaulted a 37-year-old woman at a public swimming pool in Klagenfurt after she intervened to prevent him from molesting her four-year-old boy.
February 25. A "southerner" sexually assaulted two teenage girls at a shopping mall in Innsbruck.
February 22. An 18-year-old migrant from Afghanistan was arrested for raping a 52-year-old woman in Innsbruck.
February 14. Six migrants sexually assaulted a 49-year-old woman on a subway in Vienna. Two of the men, an 18-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan and a 23-year-old asylum seeker from Iraq, were arrested as they tried to exit the station. The other four remain at large.
February 11. A 33-year-old migrant from Iran masturbated in front of female patrons at a public swimming pool in Linz.
February 8. A 22-year-old migrant from Macedonia identified only as Ibrahim J. was arrested in Vienna for sexually assaulting more than 20 women in Vienna and other parts of Austria. Among other crimes, the man is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl.
February 6. A group of 28 male asylum seekers sexually harassed female patrons at an outdoor ice skating rink in Stockerau. The migrants then attacked security guards who tried to intervene. Police were needed to restore order.
February 4. Six "southerners" assaulted a 53-year-old woman in front of a grocery store in Spittal after she refused to give them money.
February 3. Three migrants sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl at a streetcar stop in Leonding. One of the men held the girl down while the other two took turns assaulting her.
January 26. A 24-year-old asylum seeker from Gambia raped and murdered a 25-year-old American woman in Vienna. The woman from Colorado, who was working as an au pair (nanny), had given the man, Abdou I., shelter in her apartment. He had fled his asylum shelter because his asylum request was denied and he feared being deported. After the murder, the man fled to Switzerland, where he was arrested after police traced his cellphone. It later emerged that he was wanted in Germany for sexually assaulting an underage girl.
January 23. A migrant from Macedonia attempted to rape a 21-year-old woman in Vienna. The man made eye contact with the woman on a subway and followed her after she got off the train.
January 16. A 21-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan raped an 18-year-old woman at the Prater, a large public park in Vienna.
January 10. A 29-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan tried to molest a six-year-old boy at a public swimming pool in Linz. The mother of the child said: "I noticed six migrants enter the building. Two of them sat down at the edge of the pool for children. One of them began stimulating his genitals while flirting with my youngest child."
January 1. Mobs of Arab men sexually assaulted at least 24 women in Vienna, Salzburg and Innsbruck.
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On hiding behind a pseudonym
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
It is people’s rights to express their opinions within the context of common laws, regulations and values, and by either using a pseudonym or their real name. For example, the requirements, conditions and bases of expressing one’s opinion on Twitter are the same whether or not the user is anonymous. The history of literature is full of prominent authors and poets who used pseudonyms to test their styles and ideas, or to protect their posts or status in society.
Fear and weakness
The problem nowadays lies in hiding behind a fake name to attack and defame. Hiding behind a pseudonym is a sign of fear and a desire for revenge. Some of those who do so suffer from a psychopathic crisis, as they have issues with their society and want to criticize and libel others without confronting them or making a public appearance. Hiding behind a pseudonym while expressing opinions that sometimes harmonize with rogue or terrorist groups reflects weakness, and a lack of morals and values However, hiding behind a pseudonym while expressing opinions that sometimes harmonize with rogue or terrorist groups reflects weakness, and a lack of morals and values. Saudi rules strictly criminalize those who attack others. This is justice and the implementation of civil formulas.

Aleppo is the key to peace in Syria
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
The ceasefire in Syria that was brokered by Washington and Moscow made a diplomatic settlement of the conflict possible, but not guaranteed, for the first time since the bloodshed began in 2011. Negotiations can only make progress with a sustainable ceasefire. The cessation of hostilities took effect on Feb. 27, after which a transition period appeared to be more achievable than ever, despite the differences between the negotiating sides being enormous. Ceasefire violations did not initially threaten the peace process. Concerns mounted with rumors that the forces belonging to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were going to launch an offensive on Aleppo. With clashes in the area becoming regular, causing dozens of deaths every day, the entire negotiation process became untenable.
The crisis of Aleppo represents a major failure of both Russian and American diplomacy. They failed to develop proper mechanism to ensure compliance with the ceasefire at the right time and could not react to the challenges in a proper manner. The establishment of the US-Russia Monitoring Center for Syria - announced by Russia’s Foreign Minister Serguey Lavrov after his meeting with the UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura on Tuesday - is an important step. However, it has come too late and it is still unclear how it will function and ensure compliance. The agreement reached on Wednesday between the US and Russia to extend Syria truce to Aleppo should have been implemented before violence broke out.
Taking responsibility
Russia's patronage of Assad has given him a sense of impunity and confidence that Moscow will support him whatever he does. However, it is very unlikely that the bloodshed in Aleppo is happening with Russia’s tacit consent, given its efforts and role in the peace process. However, it should be admitted that Russia is really too soft with the regime in Damascus and does not use all its influence. However, claims of Russian bombing of Aleppo are false, and are part of a media war by those hostile to Moscow.
Russia does not use barrel bombs, which are reportedly being dropped on the city. It only uses high-precision weapons. Thus, the responsibility for what happens on ground lies entirely on ground forces, and not just on Assad’s. US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned the missile attack on a hospital in Aleppo on Tuesday and said that it appeared to have been carried out from rebel-held territory. Kerry’s revelations do not spare the ruling regime's responsibility, but brings in a sense of justice.
Russian patronage of Assad has given him a sense of impunity and confidence that Moscow will support him whatever he does
To prevent further speculation in this regard, Russia has withdrawn, from its air military base Hmeymim, all its Su-25 bombers. Its military presence in Syria has now become very modest and is aimed exclusively at fighting ISIS and al-Nusra.
The limitation of military presence contributes to the balance of forces on the ground, on the negotiations process and on the long and complex process of trust-building. Acute distrust between the warring parties is a primary cause of ceasefire violations but such violations in Aleppo can have particularly far-reaching and dangerous consequences for Syria and the region.
Bringing an end to the violence in Aleppo is vital. International players must implement permanent ceasefire and prevent any violation. Temporary truce will not save lives of civilians but, most likely, just delay their deaths. The 48-hour truce confirmed by Syrian military is nothing considering the scale of the tragedy and the threat of escalation, which could further dampen the peace process. Moscow must use all its leverage on the Assad regime, which needs to stop feeling that it can hide behind Russia. Russia should make it clear that Damascus’ irresponsible acts will not be tolerated anymore. The key to peace in Syria is a tough, respected and regulated nationwide ceasefire, which excludes terrorists and extremist groups. Significant steps taken by international players, albeit late, gives us hope that this key to peace will not be lost.

Is Saudi Vision 2030 realistic?
Mohammed Fahad al-Harthi/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
Big and broad visions produce drastic change. Global experiences show us that large and complex success stories began with such visions. The experience of Singapore, for example, began with the vision of its leader who transformed a small island into a highly successful economy as well as a global commercial center. Lee Kuan Yew, the man behind Singapore’s renaissance, once said: “Make the man before anything; secure facilities and services and then make him use them in a clean and civilized manner, and pay attention to the details of everyday life.”
Similarly, Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia who spearheaded its transformation and believed in the power of initiative to bring about change, once said: “Economic and social development does not occur overnight; people have to move to create it.”We also know stories of individuals who had the vision to produce change. Steve Jobs, the successful founder of Apple, had a clear vision for the future and, as a result, was able to produce the most successful company of our time. As he once famously said: “Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower.”
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 is a comprehensive one which seeks to transform the entire state into a new country that ranks high among the developed nations. It is unfair to reduce Vision 2030 only to its economic side, despite the importance of that component, as the vision also includes social, humanitarian, developmental, military, and performance aspects. I think there are critical aspects of this vision that have yet to gain full attention. Social values, as the vision says, “will be based on moderation, tolerance, perfection, discipline, justice, and transparency, and our focus will be on achieving growth of these values and areas.” These are important elements for the next stage as the vision seeks to achieve a productive society rather than a consuming one. The principles of tolerance and moderation are a cure for many social phenomena that arise from those whose aim is to spread extremism and radicalization.
It is only natural for people to have doubts about the performance of government institutions and those institutions’ ability to implement the work. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the architect of Vision 2030, has revealed his expectations for the future of Saudi Arabia in several press interviews with the international media. These expectations and aspirations carry high hopes for future Saudi generations. On a personal level, I agree with most of what he proposed, but I disagree with him on the subject of women driving. That it is a social issue which the Saudi society must deal with. I believe that the time has come and is ripe for that issue to be resolved. The vision focuses on transparency and good governance, and eliminating leniency or tolerance for corruption at any level. This is critical to defeating corruption and is being increasingly demanded by the public. The fact that the vision speaks directly about this is the first step to fighting it. As we know, recognition of a problem’s existence is half the solution.
The vision also speaks of detailed reviews of all government structures and procedures so as to ensure clear separation between the decision-making process, the implementation, and the monitoring of such implementation and performance. This is very important as it guarantees transparency in monitoring performance and achieving results.
There is the oft-repeated problem of stalled projects – not only construction projects but also administrative ones. This has been discussed widely in both the print and social media. It is evident that the vision recognizes this, and so it includes establishing an office for the administration of projects at the Council of Economic and Developmental Affairs. That will be an office to oversee project completion and, perhaps where needed, rapid intervention. This innovative approach guarantees the adoption of scientific principles in project administration.
Regulations and policies
Many Saudis complain that our many regulations and policies are in need of renewal and renovation as many are more than 40 years old. The vision introduces an initiative to review regulations and enact new ones that, in some cases, are long overdue. In reality, it is not possible to achieve true development and modernization without modern and flexible legislation, and this is the key that must be in place for the implementation of new initiatives. It is only natural for people to have doubts about the performance of government institutions and those institutions’ ability to implement the work. Many people are in fact questioning whether the goals are realistic. This may be warranted as some earlier experiences, which did not succeed, left people skeptical of the ability to carry such goals to the end. For this reason, the vision has incorporated a program to measure performance, the National Center for Performance Measurement of Public Institutions. Indicators and regulations to measure performance have been produced with the goal of increasing accountability and transparency. I believe the responsibility of this center is essential to the vision and to translating it into reality.
There are in addition other important steps that were announced, namely the strengthening of governance of government work by establishing clearly defined terms of reference that allow for flexibility and accountability. An office for strategic management will be set up at the Council of Economic and Developmental Affairs and will work on preventing duplications or inconsistencies. A center will also support decision-making at the Royal Court and provide information and necessary data to support decision-making processes.
These two centers are critical to ensuring the success of the vision’s strategy, regardless of who the decision-makers are, and they will also ensure harmony of policies. The number of authorities that will be formed to guarantee execution and monitoring of the vision and its performance on a monthly basis will increase changes for success. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who heads the Council of Economic and Developmental Affairs, is a young enlightened man who is behind a project that will serve the country. I once heard him say he had the choice of living the kind of life his circumstances allowed or serving his society no matter the cost.It is clear he made the latter and more difficult choice. As the saying goes, a vision without action is a dream; an action without a vision is a waste of time, but a vision with action can change the world. Saudi Arabia has made an appointment with its future.

For almost a decade, Gaza stripped of bare necessities
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/May 05/16
For nearly a decade the people of Gaza have lived in increasingly inhuman conditions caused by Israeli and Egyptian blockades, outbursts of war with Israel, and by a Hamas government with little regard for human rights. Nearly two million people, two-thirds of them refugees, are in desperate need of breaking the chains of the political equivalent of solitary confinement and a vicious cycle of violence.
In the aftermath of the 2014 war with Israel, that claimed more than 2100 Palestinians lives and sowed destruction across this tiny strip, more than $3.5 billion were pledged by donor countries from within the region and from the wider international community –a third of this money is yet to be paid. Yet, the main obstacle to any change of fortune in Gaza is the punitive access policy, which prevents movement of people, goods and capital in and out of this tiny and isolated piece of territory.
It is ironic that senior Israeli political and security leaders became the proponents of easing the pressure off Gaza. Notwithstanding their constant uncompromising and menacing language, there is a growing recognition among them that inflicting unremittent misery on the Gazan population is counterproductive to Israeli interests. Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon was quoted, for instance, as saying that it was not in Israel’s interest for the people in Gaza to live without dignity. He acknowledged that they paid a heavy price, but now it is in Israel’s self-interest to allow them to revive their economy.
Regrettably, there is still a massive gap between the views expressed above, of the need to bring normality to the lives of the people in Gaza, and the translation of this into facts on the ground. The recognition that when despair instead of hope takes hold of a society, the only outcome is radicalsation and perpetual conflict, has not resulted in a profound change in Israeli policies.
As is the case of the general attitude toward the Palestinians, the Israeli government’s policy toward Gaza is incoherent and lacks sophistication and complexity
Two recent reports by the Israeli human rights NGO, Gisha (Access), highlight with surgical precision that Israeli policies, despite some improvements, still strangle Gaza’s economy and badly harm its civil society. The organisation, whose goal for more than a decade has been the protection of Palestinians’ freedom of movement, especially Gaza residents, rightly contends that the changes are mainly symbolic.
The prohibitions set by Israel on movement of people and goods range from incomprehensible to inexcusable and sheer arbitrary. Preventing visits of ailing family members or receiving of medical treatment is inhumane. Barring Gazan marathon runners from participating in a competition in Bethlehem, or children from attending a music camp in the West Bank is pathetic, and no security excuse can justify it.
To be sure, there was a significant increase in 2015 of travel permission for people and trade in and out of Gaza through the Erez and Kerem Shalom Crossings, in comparison to the two previous years. However, this is almost insignificant considering the real need for the reconstruction and development of the place. The more pertinent benchmark would the pre 2000 Second Intifada figures. In 2015, a monthly average of less than 15,000 exits by Palestinians was recorded, more than double than that of 2014.
Nonetheless, this was still unacceptably low in comparison to the 500,000 exits 16 years ago. To make things worse, this relatively modest increase is far from compensating for the ongoing closure of the Rafah Crossing by Egypt. The same is true for goods, especially those that are regarded as having a ‘dual-use’—that is those that can be used for both civilian and military purposes. These items include construction materials, chemicals, wood panels, uninterrupted power supply components, and batteries, to name a few. Admittedly, some of these items can be, and are, used in building tunnels or weapons and ammunition.
Viable economy?
Yet, the long list of materials that are prohibited from entering the Strip, or only allowed in limited quantities, are devastating to the development of a viable Gazan economy and the reconstruction of the many thousands of buildings destroyed or badly damaged in the last round of war with Israel, including hospitals and schools. The very modest increase in construction materials entering the Gaza Strip is a drop in the ocean. The barriers on exporting the already limited output of agriculture, furniture and textile goods from Gaza to the West Bank or Israel leaves the economy stagnated.
One could sympathize with Israeli conerns of enabling the Hamas’ military wing to get its hands on material that might pose a threat to the country’s security. However, this should not result in putting harsh restrictions on those who need the supplies for non-belligerent purposes. A more refined and limited list of dual-use goods, which is transparent, paired with a more efficient process, allowing these items to be utilized for civilian needs is urgently required. As it stands now, Israeli access policies for Gaza smack of punitive rather than self-defense measures.
The draconian restrictions on movement, imposed by Israel on civil society organizations, including women, humanitarian, cultural, development and human rights, are nothing short of absurd, ruthless and counterproductive. Preventing these organizations from flourishing, by restricting them from traveling to workshops, courses or meetings with experts, Israel suffocates the buds of the very elements of society which might bring about more pluralistic and liberal change—the very type of society that Israel persistently claims is lacking and needed in Gaza.
As is the case of the general attitude toward the Palestinians, the Israeli government’s policy toward Gaza is incoherent and lacks sophistication and complexity. It is more concerned with appeasing the right wing voices that are one-trick ponies, who think that force, occupation and depriving Palestinians of civil and political rights will guarantee their security. It leaves the people of Gaza to pay the price and with it also any prospect of peace and reconciliation with Israel.