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Mustaqbal Announces ‘Full Support’ to Geagea

Al-Mustaqbal bloc announced on Monday its “full support” to the leader of the Lebanese Forces in his presidential bid, as LF delegates continued their visits to parties and parliamentary blocs over Samir Geagea’s run for office.

“We announce our full support to Samir Geagea in his run for presidency,” al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat stated after talks with LF delegates.

Fatfat added that Geagea’s presidential program “responds to the needs of the Lebanese people, to their aspirations and to their longing for strengthening the state’s sovereignty, and restoring its prestige and role.”

LF MP George Adwan praised al-Mustaqbal bloc’s stance, considering it a “major step.”

He also assured that “all March 14 blocs are committed to attending the scheduled parliamentary session on Wednesday to elect a new president.”

“We will have a unified stance before Wednesday’s parliamentary session,” he revealed.

Simultaneously, another LF delegation met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam in the Beirut neighborhood of Msaytbeh to hand him Geagea’s presidential program.

MP Sethrida Geagea reiterated after the talks that March 14 will have one presidential candidate, noting that a positive atmosphere has prevailed so far in the envoys’ meetings with local figures and parliamentary blocs.

Earlier in the day, MP Geagea handed Kataeb Party chief Amin Gemayel the presidential program of the LF leader, stressing also the unity of the March 14 alliance regarding the presidential polls.

She said after meeting Gemayel at the Kataeb’s headquarters in Saifi in Beirut: “The March 14 alliance will be united in its stand over the elections.”

“The alliance will stand behind one candidate when it heads to the parliamentary session on Wednesday,” she told reporters.

Geagea described her meeting with Gemayel as positive, saying that the two sides highlighted the importance of the elections.

MP Geagea then met Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, handing him a copy of the LF chief’s presidential program.

Jumblat confirmed after the talks that he will attend Wednesday’s parliamentary session, saying however that he will declare his stance on the polls on Tuesday.

OTV revealed later that the National Struggle Front will convene tomorrow at 5:30 pm to discuss the presidential elections.

Meanwhile, another LF delegation met on Monday afternoon with National Liberal Party leader MP Dory Chamoun and the Jamaa Islamiya.

“We agreed on the importance of holding the presidential elections on time,” LF MP Antoine Zahra said after meeting with Chamoun, remarking that the March 14 coalition agrees on Geagea’s presidential program.

The two-member delegation, which included Geagea’s adviser Wehbe Qatisha in addition to Zahra, then visited the headquarters of the Jamaa Islamiya in Beirut where it held talks with MP Imad al-Hout and the party’s political bureau chief Wael Najm.

LF delegates also met with former premier Najib Miqati and they are scheduled to meet with Speaker Nabih Berri to hand him a copy of the presidential program.

The party’s envoys had met with President Michel Suleiman, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun for the same purpose.

Geagea is the only political leader to so far announce his nomination for the elections.

Parliament is scheduled to convene on Wednesday in order to hold the polls amid concerns that the needed quorum will not be met.

Commenting on this possibility, MP Geagea said: “All lawmakers are obligated to exercise their duties and attend the session.”

Source: Naharnet

Rebels in Syria’s Homs go on counteroffensive

BEIRUT: Syrian rebels in the central city of Homs were on the counteroffensive Sunday, taking control of several buildings in regime-held areas, an activist group said.

The change comes nearly a week after the army launched a fierce ground offensive aimed at reclaiming a handful of besieged areas that are the opposition’s last remaining bastion in the city.

Rebels and troops meanwhile battled on the edges of Homs’ besieged Old City, as the army pounded a handful of opposition areas there with tank and rocket fire.

“The rebels have reclaimed the initiative, and have taken control of several buildings in the Jeb al-Jandali area” of Homs city, said Rami Abdel-Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group with sources inside Syria.

The counteroffensive began after the jihadist Nusra Front, an ally of Syria’s rebels, killed five troops in a suicide car bomb attack Saturday in the Jeb al-Jandali area.

The car bomb attack came after soldiers at a regime checkpoint at the entrance of the neighbourhood defected and abandoned their positions, Abdel-Rahman said.

“The rebels’ entry into Jeb al-Jandali, which has been under army control for a year and a half, has diverted the loyalists’ attention from attacking the Old City to defending their positions,” he added.

Only a handful of districts in the heart of Homs, referred to by activists as “the capital of the revolution” against President Bashar Assad, remain under rebel control.

Some 1,500 people were evacuated from the Old City in a U.N.-supervised operation in February, leaving some 1,300 others still trapped inside.

Most are rebel fighters, according to opposition activists.

Activists posted photographs Sunday showing food rebels had seized from regime-held areas a day earlier, such as pasta and vegetables.

For nearly two years, people living in besieged areas of Homs had been surviving on little more than herbs.

Elsewhere in Syria, a man and his two children died in a mortar attack on Arnus Square in the heart of Damascus, the Observatory said.

Rebels operating on the outskirts of the capital frequently launch mortar attacks against regime-controlled areas. Most of the casualties are civilians.

Syria’s conflict began as an Arab Spring-inspired protest movement demanding political change, but escalated into an armed insurgency after the regime launched a fierce crackdown on dissent.

In three years, more than 150,000 people have been killed and nearly half the country’s population have fled their homes.

Source: AFP

Lebanese rank as top Arab investors in Dubai

The Dubai Land Department (DLD) reported that Lebanese citizens generated the most Arab investment (outside the GCC) in Dubai real estate, with 247 citizens creating an expenditure of $177.5mn (AED652mn).

The figures, released by DLD’s Real Estate Sector Development Department, also found that Indians were at the top spot for international investment, both in terms of the number of investors which reached 2,414, and the amount of expenditure $1.6bn (AED5.895bn).

The DLD announced that Dubai’s real estate sector’s investments stood at $9.5bn (AED35bn) during the first quarter of 2014, up by 57% from the same period last year.

“The diverse array of nationalities putting their money into Dubai’s property sector and the high value of the investments being made confirms the city’s attraction for real estate investment, especially when compared to other property markets in the region,” said Sultan Butti Bin Mejren, director general of DLD .

The government property agency also reported that the number of investors had risen significantly in the same period, with 13,279 individuals making transactions compared to the 7,339 in the first three months of last year – an increase of 81%.

Emiratis ranked as highest among all investors in terms of the value of investments which reached $1.9bn (AED7bn) in Dubai’s real estate market, while GCC states contributed $816.7mn (AED3bn).

 

Source: Construction Week Online

Construction frenzy in Lebanon alters Beirut’s skyline

One by one, the old traditional houses of Beirut are vanishing as luxury towers sprout up on every corner, altering the city’s skyline almost beyond recognition amid an ongoing construction frenzy seemingly immune to tensions from the civil war raging next door.

Lebanon’s enchanting Ottoman and colonial French-style buildings once represented Beirut’s rich history, withstanding years of civil war and invasions only to be demolished in peace time by wealthy Gulf Arab investors.

In that, Beirut is no different than Dubai, Doha or other major world cities overtaken by a global trend for modern, tall buildings. But in a country that prides itself on its rich history, many complain that Lebanon is losing its charm and character, often said to be the only thing going for it.

A famously scenic Mediterranean city surrounded by once lush mountains, Beirut may soon be overrun with buildings — all at the expense of green parks and pedestrian areas.

Robert Saliba, professor of architecture and urban planning at the American University of Beirut, said Beirut always has been attractive for investors because of its cultural diversity and free spirit.

“Beirut is a reflection of a hybrid city where the market takes over the future development. … My own observation is that Beirut was never interested in its history. It’s a city that was always taken by modernity,” he said.

Still, he said Beirut is fast becoming saturated, a city often said to provide the smallest ratio of open spaces for its inhabitants in the world.

It is a transformation that those familiar with the city can barely keep up with.

When Salim Baalbaki arrived to Lebanon last year for the first time after more than 15 years spent working in Canada, he struggled to recognize where he grew up, a few steps from Beirut’s seaside promenade and central district.

The tree-lined corniche where he took long walks during lulls in fighting during the 1975-90 civil war is now dotted with luxury apartment buildings that sell units for as much as $10,000 per square meter (square yard). The once bustling downtown area, razed to the ground and spectacularly rebuilt after the civil war, is seen as a beautiful yet sterile lot of polished boutiques and high-priced restaurants.

Tall buildings stick out at odd lengths and angles, wedged almost wall to wall between older buildings and sprouting out of alleys.

Worst of all for Baalbaki, the parking lot where he used to play soccer with friends next to his parent’s apartment building has been replaced with a high rise that blocks the light from the apartment.

“Actually my depression started when I looked down from the airplane during landing and saw the jungle of cement below,” Baalbaki said. “It is a disaster and it makes me sad for Lebanon.”

Not everyone shares Baalbaki’s gloom. Beirut’s post-war reconstruction is seen by many as a model to be looked upon by countries in the region. Despite the chaos in neighboring Syria, and bouts of deadly spillover, construction barely has slowed down. The city is buzzing with the sounds of jackhammers and active cranes dot the skyline — a healthy sign amid turbulent times, some say.

The construction boom has been fueled in the past decade by rich expatriates and Gulf Arab investors who have driven prices up, encouraging Beirut property owners to sell.

Analysts say despite slowing local demand because of the war in Syria, high real estate prices in Lebanon have been sustained partly because of the scarcity of land. The increase in real estate demand by displaced Syrians somewhat compensated for reduced local demand, helping maintain real estate prices.

But while Lebanon’s real estate sector has developed to become one of the country’s success stories, many say it is coming at the expense of Lebanon’s identity and heritage.

It has led to the destruction of hundreds of traditional Lebanese houses known for their stoned, arched headways, elaborate balconies and colorful windows and gardens. The houses, dating back French and Ottoman era, are mainly in Beirut and its peripheries, areas that were heavily damaged during Lebanon’s civil war.

An initial census in the early 1990s counted 1600 traditional homes and buildings in the greater Beirut area. Today, an estimated 250 standing structures remain, said Naji Raji, an activist and spokesman for Save Beirut Heritage.

He blames the demolitions on politicians’ corruption, greed and non-existent construction regulations or any sort of urban planning outside the Beirut Central District. There are virtually no laws that specifically protect old buildings, except for a ministerial decree issued a few years ago which states that every demolition permit must be co-signed by the Culture Ministry, giving it power to stop the demolition of traditional homes.

Save Beirut Heritage has a hotline through which it receives tips about old buildings threatened with demolitions, which it conveys to the Culture Ministry. This has allowed the group to halt the demolition of up to 60 buildings in Beirut and its suburbs since 2010.

Raji’s latest pet project is lobbying against the Fouad Boutros highway, a 1.3-kilometer (0.81-mile) road expected to cut through historic quarters of Beirut.

Like many others, Raji worries that Beirut is losing its identity to become more like Dubai, famous for its splashy megaprojects but often criticized as being artificial and lacking character.

“Modernization should not be at the expense of history,” Raji said.

However, Saliba said that modernizing mess is seen by some as Lebanon’s charm.

“Strangely enough this visual chaos is appreciated more by … foreigners, by Westerners who come to Beirut, who fall in love with this chaos,” Saliba said.

The professor added: “But we don’t.”

Source: FOX News

Sleiman reiterates rejection of extending his term

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman reiterated Sunday that he would not accept an extension of his presidential term that ends next month.

“I am bored of answering the question about extending my term, and I say it once again that I am against the extension because it not democratic,” Sleiman said, speaking from Bkirki where he attended the Sunday Easter Mass.

“I say no for extension of the presidency or in Parliament,” he said.

Sleiman said that boycotting the upcoming Parliament session to elect a new president would be “wrong” as it meant “boycotting consensus and Dialogue.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai also appealed to lawmakers to attend the session, saying that “it is an honor for lawmakers to elect a new president.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has called for a Parliament session to elect a new head of state Wednesday, but it is not certain whether a quorum for such session will be secured.

The president also praised the presidential campaign platform of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who declared his candidacy for the election earlier this month.

“I like the presidential program of Samir Geagea because it is national and sovereign, and I congratulate any president who applies such program,” he said.

A delegation from the LF held a rare visit to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at his Rabieh residence Saturday afternoon and gave him a copy of Geagea’s presidential program.

The delegation included MPs Strida Geagea, Joseph Maalouf and Fadi Karam, along with former Minister Toni Karam and a member of the party’s executive committee, Eddy Abi al-Lamaa.

Sleiman also spoke about his ties with Hezbollah, which have deteriorated recently over the president’s criticism of the party’s role in Syria.

“My ties with Hezbollah are normal, Hezbollah ministers are present within the government and I see them once or twice a week,” he said.

“The party just took inappropriate stances, and I made statement that they did not like.”

Source: The Daily Star

On Easter, pope calls for end to war, condemns waste

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, in his Easter address before a huge crowd, Sunday denounced the “immense wastefulness” in the world while many go hungry and called for an end to conflicts in Syria, Ukraine and Africa.

“We ask you, Lord Jesus, to put an end to all war and every conflict, whether great or small, ancient or recent,” he said in his “Urbi et Orbi” (to the city and the world) message.

Francis, marking the second Easter season of his pontificate, celebrated a Mass to an overflowing crowd of at least 150,000 in St. Peter’s Square and beyond.

The crowd stretched back along all of Via della Conciliazione, the boulevard between the Vatican and the Tiber River.

Speaking under a sunny sky after a midnight rainstorm soaked the tens of thousands of flowers that bedecked the square, Francis weaved his message around the suffering of people across the globe.

He prayed to God to “help us to overcome the scourge of hunger, aggravated by conflicts and by the immense wastefulness for which we are often responsible.”

Since his election as the first non-European pope in 1,300 years, Francis had made defense of the poor a hallmark of his papacy, often criticising developed nations and the excesses of capitalism and consumerism.

The 77-year-old pope, wearing white vestments for the service, prayed for the protection of those members of society who are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and abandonment – women, children, the elderly and immigrants.

Easter is the most important day on the liturgical calendar because it commemorates the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion and the Church sees it as a symbol of hope, peace and reconciliation among peoples and nations.

BOLD PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

The pope called on the international community to “boldly negotiate the peace long awaited and long overdue” in Syria, where more than 150,000 people have been killed in the civil war, a third of them civilians. Millions have fled the country.

“We pray in a particular way for Syria, that all those suffering the effects of the conflict can receive needed humanitarian aid and that neither side will again use deadly force, especially against the defenseless civil population,” he said.

Francis asked God to “enlighten and inspire the initiatives that promote peace in Ukraine so that all those involved, with the support of the international community, will make every effort to prevent violence and, in a spirit of unity and dialogue, chart a path for the country’s future”.

He also asked for an end to violence in Iraq, Venezuela, South Sudan and the Central Africa Republic.

Francis appealed for more medical attention for the victims of the deadly Ebola epidemic in Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone and Liberia, and care for those suffering from many other diseases spread through neglect and dire poverty.

He called for a “halt to the brutal terrorist attacks” in f Nigeria, an apparent reference to Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which earlier this month abducted some 130 girls from a school in the north of the country.

The Easter Sunday services were the culmination of four hectic days of Holy Week activities for the pontiff.

Next Sunday, he will canonize Pope John Paul II, who reigned from 1978 to 2005, and Pope John XXIII, who was pontiff from 1958 to 1963 and called the Second Vatican Council, a landmark meeting that modernized the Church.

Hundreds of thousands of people are due to come to Rome for the canonisations, the first time two popes are be made saints simultaneously and the first canonizations of a pope since 1954.

Source: Reuters

PHOTOS: Lebanese-American Christians celebrate Easter

(WARREN, MI) Millions of Christians worldwide are celebrating Easter this Sunday, marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Several hundred parishioners attended Michigan’s largest Maronite church, Saint Sharbel Maronite Catholic Church in Warren, for a traditional midnight mass.

Christians celebrate Easter to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion. The resurrection symbolizes his victory over sin and death.

“Easter always means renewing our faith. This season is very important to us. A new person is being born inside of us,” said Samia Deban, a longtime and active St. Sharbel parishioner. “Look a how Jesus suffered for us. During this season, we forgive each other, we repent if we did something wrong, and we always look for a better life with Jesus.”

Chorbishop Alfred Badawi thanked the bishops, clergy, church staff, volunteers, and parishioners for their tireless efforts during Holy Week.

“This is your home. May this parish continue to grow with love, peace, and unity,” Chorbishop Badawi said.

Each year, St. Sharbel expects to serve almost 1,500 parishioners from across the state.

“It was a full house tonight. We’re getting a large crowd who are seeing this church as their home. This is what we’re here for,” said Eli Bassil. “This is the most important holiday for us. Christmas is commercialized by the media, but the value of Christ is still strong in Easter.”

Easter Sunday is a day for Lebanese believers to spend with their families and carry out rituals, including exchanging colored eggs and cracking them open.

Festive celebrations are preceded by a long period of Lent, which this year started on March 3. From that date until April 19, believers abstained from meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products while spending time in prayer.

“The faith is continuous – it’s through the whole year. It’s not only through Easter or Palm Sunday. We have to keep Jesus in our heart for as long as our heart beats,” said Deban.

Check out the gallery of photos from our Facebook page below.

‘Friendly’ Meeting between Aoun, LF Delegates

A Lebanese Forces delegation met with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Saturday afternoon, and handed him over a copy of the LF leader’s presidential program.

The delegation included MPs Sethrida Geagea, Joseph al-Maalouf, Fadi Karam, former minister Toni Karam and member of the party’s Executive Committee Eddy Abi al-Lamaa.

MTV provided late on Saturday details on the “friendly” meeting between Aoun and the LF delegates.

It reported that the talks started with MP Geagea handing over the presidential program to Aoun, with a greeting from LF leader Samir Geagea.

“We hope that you would support his candidacy,” Sethrida Geagea told Aoun, who responded with a smile, according to MTV.

The FPM leader told Geagea that the final decision on whether he will run for office or not will be announced on Tuesday, after his Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting.

“My presidential program is focused only on securing stability,” Aoun remarked.

The meeting ended with both parties agreeing on attending Wednesday’s parliamentary session, and on supporting a “strong candidate who has a clear program.”

MP Geagea assured Aoun that the LF will be “the first to congratulate him if he wins in the presidential race, and that the party will stand by whomever becomes president.”

“I will also be the first to congratulate Geagea if he takes office,” Aoun responded, according to the same source.

LF officials have been holding talks with different parties and leaders in the country to hand them over LF leader Geagea’s presidential program, and to discuss the upcoming elections.

LF sources told MTV on Friday that a meeting with Hizbullah officials will be requested for the same purpose as well.

“We will request an appointment to meet with Hizbullah officials as well but we are not sure they will be responsive. But we are going to do what we have to do,” the sources said.

MTV said on Saturday that LF MP George Adwan is the person tasked with contacting Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal party over this matter.

On Wednesday, Geagea announced a presidential program that focused on “restoring the authority of the state against the proliferation of weapons during a time of regional unrest.”

The LF chief also called for a state monopoly on the use of force, including confronting Israel.

He is the sole politician to have officially announced his candidacy for the polls, which are first scheduled to be held on April 23.

Speaker Nabih Berri called on MPs to meet next Wednesday, although the election is not expected to be an easy process amid a lack of agreement on a consensual candidate.

President Michel Suleiman’s six-year tenure ends on May 25.

Source: Naharnet

Car bombs kill at least 10 in central Syria

DAMASCUS: Two rebel car bombs targeted two central Syrian areas controlled by government forces on Saturday, killing at least ten people as opposition forces fought fiercely to hold onto territory, officials and activists reported.

Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said one car bomb killed at least four people in the city of Homs, in an area dominated by Alawites – the same sect as President Bashar Assad. State-run television also reported the bombing but did not immediately have a death toll. The Observatory obtains its information from a network of activists on the ground.

Rebels in Homs have undertaken a spate of suicide car bombings targeting soldiers and civilians in government-held neighborhoods as Syrian forces launch their toughest assault yet on opposition-held areas. Rebels are already badly weakened by hundreds of defections and a blockade that caused widespread hunger and suffering.

Earlier in the day, another suicide bomber in a car blew himself up at a checkpoint near the government-controlled town of Salamiya, killing at least six soldiers, activists said. The bombing also left an unknown number of civilian casualties, the Observatory said.

A Syrian government official confirmed the bombing but said four people were killed and nine were wounded. Conflicting death tolls are routine after such attacks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.

The bombing at the entrance of the town comes in the midst of fierce fighting in the central province of Hama.

Assad-loyal forces have been clashing with rebels in the nearby town of Morek, and military helicopters have been dropping crude, explosive-filled barrels over the town of Kafr Zeita, some 40 miles away.

Two activists and a medic in Kafr Zeita told The Associated Press this week that at least three of the crude “barrel bombs” that fell on their town in April contained canisters of chlorine gas that have caused residents to choke and faint.

The Syrian government accuses rebels of using the canisters, which are readily available and can be used easily.

Car bombings are a prized tactic of Syrian rebels, particularly those belonging to hard-line Sunni groups.

Source: Associated Press

Salameh: Banking sector should remain apart from political disputes

BEIRUT: Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh Saturday expressed gratitude for those nominating him for the presidential election, while explaining that he had refrained from announcing his candidacy to keep the Central Bank isolated from politics.

“I thank the trust given to me as a presidential candidate, but my concern is for the Central Bank to remain at a distance from political bickering, which is why I do not take any initiative in that regard,” Salameh told a local television station.

Salameh, who has been the governor of the country’s Central Bank since 1993, is seen as a consensus candidate in light of the absence of any agreement on a single political candidate.

Last month, Lebanon has entered its two-month constitutional period to elect a new president, the country’s top Christian post.

In his interview, Salameh also spoke about the decline in the tourism industry, saying Gulf countries’ travel advisories on Lebanon had damaged that sector.

“The fact that Gulf tourists refrained from traveling to Lebanon has negatively affected the Lebanese economy because Lebanon relies heavily on tourism from Gulf States,” he said.

Salameh offered reassurances that Lebanon was still able to “finance its needs with stable interest” because of the trust in the country’s banking sector that allows for the flow of foreign funds to Lebanon.

He also said Lebanon was in line with international and Arab resolutions, particularly in terms of economic restrictions.

“ Lebanon is concerned with respecting international and Arab resolutions, and banking measures have been taken to ensure that Lebanon does not deal with money either from Syrian institutions or figures if we receive warning from any of the countries we deal with,” he said.

Source: The Daily Star

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