By Paul Szoldra

While on the campaign trail, President-elect Donald Trump often
asserted that “torture
works.” But one meeting with legendary Marine Gen. James
Mattis appears to have made him rethink that stance. On Saturday, Trump met with the retired four-star general at the
real-estate mogul’s Bedminster, New Jersey, golf course
for about an hour to discuss the possibility Mattis could be
tapped to serve as defense secretary.

Details about the private conversation are hard to come by,
but Trump did reveal an interesting bit
Tuesday to reporters at The New York Times when asked about
waterboarding.

From The Times:

“‘He said, “I’ve never found it to be useful,”‘ Mr. Trump said,
describing the general’s view of torturing terrorism suspects. He
added that Mr. Mattis found more value in building trust and
rewarding cooperation with terror suspects: ‘”Give me a pack of
cigarettes and a couple of beers and I’ll do better.”‘

“‘I was very impressed by that answer.’

“Torture, he said, is ‘not going to make the kind of a difference
that a lot of people are thinking.'”

It amounts to a “remarkable” reversal for the president-elect, as
The Times put it. It also somewhat contradicts the position of
Trump’s national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael
Flynn, who has said “all options are on the table.”
Before he campaigned for Trump, however, Flynn criticized the practice.

By Babu Das Augustine, Banking Editor

Dubai: The recent political developments in Lebanon such as the
election of President Michel Aoun and the designation of Saad Hariri to
form the government is expected to boost investor confidence in the
country’s financial system. However analysts say in the short to medium
term, banks’ foreign asset holdings paint a grim picture.

In
mid-October, Banque du Liban (BdL), Lebanon’s central bank, published
data showing that Lebanese banks’ foreign assets, mostly in the form of
foreign bank placements, had declined by $1.9 billion (Dh6.9 billion)
between May 2016 to August 2016, and by $1.1 billion in August alone. As
a result, Lebanese banks’ net foreign liabilities increased to $18
billion in August from $15 billion at the beginning of the year.

The
repatriated $1.9 billion of foreign assets were invested in long-term
Lebanese government Eurobonds and BdL certificates of deposits (CDs)
that increased the banks’ overall exposure to the sovereign.

The
large reduction in Lebanese banks’ foreign assets is the result of a BdL
financial operation that began in May. Although the BdL has not
disclosed details of this operation, according to Moody’s estimate, BdL
bought $2 billion of Eurobonds from the Lebanese Ministry of Finance in
exchange for an equivalent amount of debt denominated in Lebanese
pounds.

Additionally, there are reports that BdL bought roughly $6
billion of Lebanese pound denominated Treasury bills over the summer
from commercial banks at a premium and sold them the $2 billion in
Eurobonds and an additional $4 billion in CDs. Banks were required to
keep the profits generated from these transactions as Lebanese
pound-denominated reserves ahead of the implementation of International
Financial Reporting Standard No 9, which takes effect in 2018.

Lebanese Saints

 The US has the most ultra high net worth individuals. Credit Suisse by Rachael Levy North America can expect to mint a new billionaire every six days for the next five years. That’s according to Credit Suisse’s 2016 global wealth report, which charts the number of millionaires and billionaires around the world, and forecasts trends in […]

By Bryan Logan

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has died, his brother, Cuban
President Raul Castro, announced on state-run media. President Castro announced Fidel’s death in a
televised address. “At 10:29 in the night, the chief commander of the Cuban
revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz, died,” he said. “Ever onward, to victory.”

Castro had been in failing health for years, and was the subject
of death rumors for nearly as long. His cause of death was immediately unclear.

The Cuban revolutionary was born Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz on
August 13, 1926, in the small eastern village of Biran. His
father was a wealthy sugarcane farmer; his mother worked as a
maid to his father’s first wife. Castro received a Roman Catholic education through high school.
He later excelled as an athlete and went on to law school at the
University of Havana, where he would find an interest in
politics.

A more radical bent soon emerged, as Castro plotted and executed
several attempts at overthrowing Cuban leaders and making an
attempt at a bid for Cuba’s House of Representatives. Following a
series of offensives, he seized power in 1959 from Cuban dictator
Fulgencio Batista. He did not look back.

Fidel
Castro.

JFK Library

Though he was admired by leftists worldwide, Castro was demonized
by the US and many of its allies. Castro moved quickly to nationalize businesses across the island,
moving away from the US and toward the Soviet Union. The US
officially cut all diplomatic ties with Cuba in January 1961.

To exiles who awaited Castro’s death, the Associated Press
reported, he embodied a heavy-handed regime that jailed political
opponents, suppressed civil liberties, and wrecked the island’s
economy. After decades of political and military tumult, the tide began to
shift in Cuba’s ruling class. Cuba’s insular policies began to thaw a bit in 1998, when Pope
John Paul II became the first pontiff to visit the nation. Pope
Benedict would follow more than a decade later. In 2003, Castro was confirmed as president for another five-year
term. Then in the waning years of his rule, Castro oversaw
several initiatives that led to a major crackdown on independent
journalists, dissidents and activists, and a strengthening of
ties with Venezuela. The Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas was birthed from
that, in which Cuba sent health professionals to Venezuela in
return for discounted oil.

Cuban
leader Fidel Castro looks out over a 3,000 stong crowd that
screaming “Fidel, Fidel,” in a concert hall were left-wing groups
were holding a rally against the UN summit for Social Development
in Copenhagen.

Reuters/FOR
P-BASE- FILE PH0TO

By 2006, Castro handed provisional control of Cuba to his
brother, Raul, while Fidel reportedly recovered from a major
intestinal surgery. That was the first time he surrendered
control of his power in 47 years.

By Vishakha Sonawane Eleven members of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS, have been arrested near Lebanon’s border with Syria, the Lebanese army said Friday. The terrorist group has claimed several blasts in the country in the past two years, killing several people. The ISIS fighters were arrested following an operation by the […]

BEIRUT –  The last public beach on
Beirut’s heavily developed seaside could soon be squeezed out by yet
another luxury resort, raising fears that residents could find
themselves living in a coastal city without much of a coast.

The fight for Ramlet al-Baida beach has emerged as a
new flashpoint between civil society activists and the entrenched
political establishment over land management and public services in
Lebanon’s capital. It follows last year’s trash crisis, in which
mountains of garbage piled up for months, and a conflict over a local
park that until recently was only open one day a week.

Activists say the Eden Rock Resort development,
greenlighted by the city’s governor in September, is the first step to
transforming the city’s last public beach into yet another exclusive
resort.

“If this is how Beirut is going to be, then tomorrow,
we’re going to be sitting in a cage,” said Nazih al-Raess, the
custodian of the beach’s public swimming zone. “The people who have
money will be able to go out to smell the breeze and the people who
don’t … will be buried at home.”

The project has rekindled debate in this intensely
stratified city over who has the right to its shrinking green spaces and
shores. Many of Beirut’s well-to-do have turned up their noses at
Ramlet al-Baida — or pinched them, as the case may be — as municipal
authorities have allowed sewage to pollute its once azure waters and
white sands.

Sharkass cuts and fastens a piece of wire to a nail, which will be fastened to the wooden cutting board to slice the soap into small bars. Almost everything in the factory is done by hand. [Jillian Kestler-D’Amours/Al Jazeera] Using this system, each piece of soap comes out in one standard size. [Jillian Kestler-D’Amours/Al Jazeera] […]