Khazen

Lebanese billionaire: I was set up

KUALA LUMPUR: Lebanese businessman Dr Elie Youssef Najem, who announced he was making a US$275mil (RM1.04bil) donation for cancer research, has landed himself in an unwanted spotlight.  The 45-year-old self-professed billionaire came out in defence of himself following allegations made against him. 

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Palestinian guerrilla wound two Lebanese policemen (Roundup

Beirut/Damascus – The Palestinian gunman who shot and wounded two Lebanese policemen Monday south of Beirut, has been handed over to Lebanese authorities, a spokesman for the militant Palestinian organization of which he is a member told Deutsche Presse Agentur dpa. The policemen, who were on patrol in the area of Naameh, were taken to hospital after being hit by gunfire from the nearby base manned by the pro-Syrian Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC).

One of the policemen was wounded in the foot while the other was more seriously wounded, hospital sources said. Anwar Raja, a spokesman for the PFLP-GC in Lebanon told dpa the group had handed over the attacker, but suggested the incident had been ‘planned’ and called on Lebanon to investigate the two policemen for possible political connections.

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Belgian prosecutor expected to head Lebanon UN probe

By Evelyn Leopold, UNITED NATIONS, Jan 11 (Reuters) – A Belgian prosecutor with the International Criminal Court is expected to be named on Wednesday as head of the U.N. investigation into the death of a former Lebanese prime minister, U.N. officials said. Serge Brammertz, now the deputy prosecutor of the Hague-based court, would replace German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who intends to leave the inquiry into the assassination of Rafik Hariri shortly after a replacement is chosen.

The appointment of Brammertz, a former federal prosecutor of Belgium, was to have been announced a month ago. But U.N. officials said Secretary-General Kofi Annan delayed the appointment because the Brammertz first needed to assure governments who support the International Criminal Court (ICC) that his departure would not delay investigations in Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Brammertz would take a leave of absence from the ICC, which was set up more than two years ago to prosecute individuals suspected of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

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LEBANON: Critics allege lack of transparency in hospital survey

BEIRUT, 9 January (IRIN) – Alleged irregularities in a hospital survey last week have left the health sector in turmoil, say health workers. The survey report, conducted by a committee of Lebanese and Australian health professionals under contract with the health ministry, revealed that only 86 out of 160 of the country’s hospitals had received accreditation.

Survey results, however, were marred by allegations concerning a lack of transparency and unfair procedures. "In my area [of North Lebanon], some non-accredited hospitals are much better than others that deserve to be closed, and which passed the accreditation exam," said local resident Mayssa Romanos. According to a public official who requested anonymity, "many factors

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LEBANON: Press federation to press charges against killers of slain journalist

BEIRUT, 8 Jan 2006 (IRIN) – The Lebanese Press Federation announced it would press murder charges against those involved in the killing of journalist and Member of Parliament Gebran Tueini, who died in a car-bomb attack on 12 December 2005 in the capital, Beirut.According to a statement, federation president Mohammad Baalbaki commissioned has lawyers to "file a lawsuit against everyone which the investigation proves to be a perpetrator, accomplice, instigator or participant in this hideous crime."

As editor-in-chief of independent daily Al-Nahar and a vocal anti-Syrian human rights advocate, Tueini "became a target to the enemies of free opinion," the federation stated.The lawsuit comes in addition to the legal case filed by Tueini

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Middle East needs Russian-U.S. cooperation – General Aoun

BEIRUT, January 7 (RIA Novosti) – Former army commander and prime minister of Lebanon Michel Aoun said in an interview with RIA Novosti Sunday that cooperation between Russia and the U.S. is important for the world as a whole, including the Middle East."Russia is now not a side in the conflict, it plays the role of helper in funding the needed solutions, and this is right," he said.

"The arms race [between the U.S. and the Soviet Union] and creating threats for one another has become a thing of the past, and there is now an exchange of interests, a mutually complementary search for important solutions, which is having a positive effect on the world as a whole, particularly in the Middle East region," Aoun said.On Russia’s role in the Middle East in recent years, General Aoun said, "Moscow has no direct influence on events in Lebanon, but it is capable of significantly altering the progress of events in the region with its membership of the UN Security Council, as a state with a veto right."Aoun said Russia is attempting to reduce international pressure on Lebanon’s neighbor Syria, without imposing any conditions on its leadership. "Russia defends Syria to give it another chance, but Syria should, in its turn, pass a lot of tests to justify this relationship," he said.

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Lebanese MP Calls for ‘International Trial’ of Syrian Regime

Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat- Walid Junblatt, head of the Democratic Gathering bloc in the Lebanese parliament, has continued his campaign against the Syrian regime, which he described as a "family regime." He rejected any settlement with this regime "after the assassinations and assassination attempts it carried out in Lebanon." Junblatt explained to Asharq al-Awsat some aspects of the telephone interview conducted with him by the newspaper Washington Post two days ago, considering that the talk that he called on the United States to invade Syria was a "hasty interpretation" of what he said, but at the same time he called for change in Syria "because the Syrian people deserve this." Junblatt said "the Syrian regime’s filibustering with regard to an international trial and its exertion of pressure on some parties in Lebanon regarding this subject is aimed at escaping an international solution similar to the trial of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosivic.

 He emphasized that "the only solution is this method (international trial), which will put both Syria and Lebanon at ease." Junblatt explained that the his talk that the Americans came to Iraq in the name of the majority does not mean that invasion is the solution, considering this "a hasty interpretation" of his talk, but he stressed that "one day there must be democratic change in Syria that will give the people the chance (to govern themselves). Until now the regime in Syria is a family regime and not the regime of the Ba’th Party or the regional command of that party. The Syrian people deserve a chance to govern themselves."

Asked whether he supported change, regardless of the method, Junblattt said: "Syria has capacities and efficiencies that can carry out a democratic and peaceful change." He strongly rejected the "blackmail" practiced by the Syria regime, which is telling the international community "either us or chaos." He cited several examples of the downfall of regimes similar to the Syrian regime, such as the collapse of the former USSR and its satellite regimes.

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AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

5 January 2006, Lebanon: Latest charge against human rights lawyer Dr Muhamad Mugraby must be dropped and all harassment against him ceaseHuman rights lawyer Dr Muhamad Mugraby is due to appear before the Military Court in Beirut on 9 January charged with slandering the

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