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U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe vs Wade

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by catholicherald.co.uk -- Simon Caldwell -- The U.S. Supreme court has over-ruled a landmark ruling which made abortion up to birth a constitutional right. The decision does not abolish access to abortion but hands the power to individual American states to decide what their abortion laws might be. The court over-turned Roe vs Wade, a 1973 abortion case, by five votes to four. It also voted by six votes to three to uphold a ruling which supported a Mississippi law which bans abortion after 15 weeks. The opinion, in the Mississippi abortion case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, is widely seen as the Supreme Court’s most highly anticipated and consequential ruling since Roe.

It not only overturns Roe, the landmark 1973 abortion case, but also Casey v. Planned Parenthood, a 1992 decision that affirmed Roe. “Abortion presents a profound moral question,” the opinion states. “The Constitution does not prohibit the citizens of each State from regulating or prohibiting abortion. Roe and Casey arrogated that authority “We now overrule these decisions and return that authority to the people and their elected representatives.”

The judgement was welcomed by Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, who has denied Holy Communion to Catholic politicians who aggressively promote and defend abortion, including Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. He said: “This historic Supreme Court decision would not have happened without 50 years of patient, loving, hard work by people of all faiths and none in diverse fields including social service, religion, law, medicine, culture, education, policy and politics. But our work has just begun. “The artificial barriers the Supreme Court created by erecting a so-called Constitutional right out of thin air have been removed. “The struggle to demonstrate we can build a culture that respects every human life, including mothers in crisis pregnancies and the babies they carry, continues. “We must redouble our efforts to accompany women and couples who are facing unexpected or difficult pregnancies, as well as to offer mercy to those suffering the after-effects of the abortion experience.”

60,000 students take exams as Lebanon grapples with crises

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By arabnews.com - Najia Houssari -- BEIRUT: On Saturday, 60,933 Lebanese students took their intermediate certificate exams (Brevet) amid severe power cuts, water shortages and inflated transport costs. However, the security forces provided a peaceful environment inside the exam centers while the Lebanese Army was deployed outside. The Ministry of Education and Higher Education organized exams around where invigilators live to reduce transport costs. It also ensured that exams were only taken in centers that students and teachers could efficiently access. Lebanon’s worsening financial crisis and the local currency’s depreciation meant that the ministry faced several challenges for holding the exams. The ministry canceled the exams last year during the pandemic and struggled to organize them this year amid a teachers’ strike and parents grappling with the high costs of driving their children to centers.

Making matters worse for the students, an unusual end-of-June thunderstorm hit Lebanon on Saturday morning. Given the cloudy weather, the ministry had to plead with private generator owners to provide exam centers with power so students can clearly see their exam sheets. In some centers in Diniyeh, northern Lebanon, exams were delayed for over two hours due to the power outage and the storm. The second part of the Brevet exams will be held on Monday; just two days of exams are now required after subjects were reduced to five instead of nine. The official exams of the Lebanese Baccalaureate Certificate of Secondary Education, which 43,000 students will take, are scheduled to start on Wednesday and last for three days. A total of 12,000 teachers are supervising the official exams as the official education associations decided not to boycott exams at the last minute despite their demands to raise the allowance.

Minister Sejaan Azzi: أنا المكلَّفُ وحكومتي المواعيدُ

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أنا المكلَّفُ وحكومتي المواعيدُ

سجعان قزي

@AzziSejean

كنا نَعجِزُ عن تأليفِ حكومة، فصِرنا نَعجِزُ عن تسميةِ رئيسٍ مكَلَّف. لا يستطيعُ لبنانُ مفاوضةَ صندوقِ النقدِ الدُوليِّ وإجراءَ إصلاحاتٍ وتَسَوّلَ مساعداتٍ ولا يؤلِّفُ حكومة. لا يستطيعُ لبنانُ التزامَ قراراتِ الأممِ المتَّحِدة والتعاطي مع المجتمعَين العربيِّ والدُوليِّ ولا يؤلّفُ حكومة. لا يستطيعُ لبنانُ وضعَ استراتيجيّةٍ دفاعيّةٍ وعقدَ مؤتمراتِ حوارٍ وطنيٍّ ولا يؤلِّفُ حكومة. لا يَستطيعُ لبنانُ البقاءَ دولةً واحدةً وإنقاذَ شعبِه مِن الفَقرِ والذُلِّ والموتِ والانهيار ولا يؤلِّفُ حكومة. إنَّ تَعمُّدَ افتعالِ فَراغٍ شرعيٍّ يُعيدُ لبنانَ إلى عهدِ المتصرفيّةِ في أفضلِ الأحوال، وإلى عهدِ القائمقاميَّتين، وربّما القائمقاميّاتِ، في أسْوَئها.

منذ أنْ وَطِئَ حزبُ الله الحياةَ السياسيّةَ بصُحبةِ "التيّارِ الوطنيِّ الحرّ" اخْتلَّت مواعيدُ الاستحقاقاتِ الدستوريّة. وأمْسى الاختلالُ نهجًا سياسيًّا وقاعدةً لأنَّ أحدًا لم يَتصدَّ لذلك منذ اللحظةِ الأولى. اكتفَت القِوى الأُخرى بأخْذِ العلمِ والتعقّلِ الزائدِ والصبرِ الفائض، حتّى اضْطُرّت إلى التكيّفِ مع الواقعِ الجديد من حربِ 2006 مرورًا باحتلالِ وسطِ بيروت 2007ـ واتّفاقِ الدَوحة 2008، وصولًا إلى التسويةِ الرئاسيّة 2016 وما تَلاها. وها هي قِوى المعارضةِ مرتبِكةٌ حيالَ المرحلةِ الحاليّة، ومنقسِمةٌ تجاه تسميةِ رئيسِ الحكومةِ الجديدةِ وقرارِ المشاركةِ فيها، وفي عزِّ تَكرارِ سيناريو المجلسِ النيابيّ. وما نخشاه هو أن نُصبحَ أمام هذه الاحتمالاِت الثلاثة (حربٌ ما ودوحَةٌ ما وتسويةٌ ما) إذا لم تُقْدِم القوى السياديّةُ على المواجهةِ من داخلِ المؤسّساتِ ومن خارجِها.

Lebanon’s Mikati named PM, urges action to secure IMF deal

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BEIRUT (by reuters) — Lebanon’s Najib Mikati was named prime minister on Thursday, urging fractious politicians to set aside differences to secure an IMF deal which he said was the only chance to save the country from financial collapse. Facing a politically difficult path to agreeing on a new cabinet, the billionaire tycoon who led three previous governments said Lebanon did not have time for “drowning in conditions and demands” of rival groups over ministerial posts. “We are facing the challenge of either complete collapse or gradual salvation,” said Mikati, referring to the IMF deal that promises $3 billion in support, contingent on reforms that have long been put off by Lebanon’s political elite.

Now in its third year, the financial meltdown has sunk the currency by more than 90 percent, spread poverty, paralyzed the financial system and frozen depositors out of their savings, in Lebanon’s most destabilizing crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Donor states want Lebanon to enact reforms to address root causes of the crisis, including decades of state waste and corruption, before aid is released. “We have wasted enough time and lost many chances of support from brotherly and friendly countries whose stance has always been clear: ‘Help yourselves so we can help you,'” said Mikati, a Sunni Muslim as required by Lebanon’s sectarian system.

A world apart, Lebanon and Sri Lanka share economic collapse

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BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon and Sri Lanka may be a world apart, but they share a history of political turmoil and violence that led to the collapse of once-prosperous economies bedeviled by corruption, patronage, nepotism and incompetence. The toxic combinations led to disaster for both: Currency collapse, shortages, triple-digit inflation and growing hunger. Snaking queues for gas. A decimated middle class. An exodus of professionals who might have helped rebuild. There usually isn’t one moment that marks the catastrophic breaking point of an economic collapse, although telltale signs can be there for months — if not years. When it happens, the hardship unleashed is all-consuming, transforming everyday life so profoundly that the country may never return to what it was. Experts say a dozen countries — including Egypt, Tunisia, Sudan, Afghanistan and Pakistan — could suffer the same fate as Lebanon and Sri Lanka, as the post-pandemic recovery and war in Ukraine spark global food shortages and a surge in prices.

ROOTS OF CRISIS

The crises in Lebanon and Sri Lanka are rooted in decades of greed, corruption and conflict. Both countries suffered a long civil war followed by a tenuous and rocky recovery, all the while dominated by corrupt warlords and family cliques that amassed enormous foreign debt and stubbornly held on to power.

Lebanese PM Mikati likely to be nominated again amid deep crisis -sources

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by reuters -- BEIRUT – Lebanon’s caretaker premier Najib Mikati will likely be nominated for a new term on Thursday, political sources said, keeping him at the helm as the country prepares for steep financial and political challenges in the months ahead. If re-installed, Mikati will have to steer Lebanon through an economic recovery plan that aims to secure a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout to ease the country’s financial meltdown, one of the worst in modern times. Factions of Lebanon’s political and financial heavyweights remain divided over key issues, including how to address financial sector losses estimated at over $70 billion.

Political sources said Mikati, a billionaire from the northern port of Tripoli, would garner the support of over 50 of 128 parliamentarians, including the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah, the allied Amal party, and Sunni Muslim lawmakers. They are set to nominate Mikati during consultations with President Michel Aoun on Thursday at the presidential palace in Baabda, party sources told Reuters. If more parliamentarians back Mikati than any other candidate on Thursday, even if they do not comprise an absolute majority, then Aoun will name him to form a government. That process often draws out for months in Lebanon as the main political factions divvy up roles in cabinet and beyond. In theory, Mikati’s new term may not last long: after Aoun’s term ends on Oct. 31, parliament will elect a new president – who names a new premier to form another cabinet.

Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement will not back Mikati, according to party head Gebran Bassil. The Lebanese Forces Party, a Christian faction close to Saudi Arabia and vociferously opposed to Shi’ite Muslim Hezbollah, announced on Wednesday it would nominate no one. The LF has the largest single-party bloc in parliament. A host of independent newcomer parliamentarians were set to vote for Nawaf Salam, a judge and Lebanon’s former ambassador to the U.N.

Beirut welcomes tourists, expatriates after Hezbollah slogans removed from airport road

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by arabnews.com - Najia Houssari -- BEIRUT: The municipality has recently removed Hezbollah slogans, images and billboards that had been put up for years on the road to the Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut. They have been replaced with welcome signs by the Tourism Ministry to greet tourists and expatriates returning to Lebanon for the summer vacation. Pictures of Hezbollah leaders and deceased party members, as well as the party’s yellow banners, have long occupied the airport road space on both sides and in the median strip. The airport road borders the neighborhoods hosting the offices of Hezbollah and the Amal Movement — the two main Shiite parties — and their security zones. The sizes of the pictures almost exceeded that of the houses and small shops located on both sides of the road.

The images were not limited to the party’s Lebanese members but also included Iranian and Iraqi military, religious and political leaders such as Qassem Soleimani, Ayatollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, so much so that many people who crossed this road were confused as to whether it was part of Lebanon or Iran. Politicians opposed to Hezbollah often called for the removal of the images, which they described as “provocative to the Lebanese.” They blamed the state for its compromise with the party or its inability to confront its authority, prominently displayed on the route taken by diplomats and political figures coming to Lebanon. The removal of the propaganda material came in response to a call by caretaker Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar, who is affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement, allied to Hezbollah.