by AFP — WASHINGTON: Key lawmakers called Sunday for a halt to a Saudi military training program after a shooting rampage at a US naval base in which a Saudi officer killed three American sailors. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he has ordered a review of vetting procedures while defending the training program that brought Mohammed Alshamrani to Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida. Alshamrani, a 21-year-old second lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force, opened fire in a classroom at the base on Friday, killing the three sailors and wounding eight other people before being shot dead by police. The FBI: Rachel L. Rojas, FBI agent in charge said Sunday the shooting was being investigated with the “presumption” it was an act of terrorism, but that authorities had yet to make a final determination.

FBI are reportedly focused on finding several unaccounted for Saudi nationals linked to the shooting, as additional details have emerged about the shooter’s movements in the weeks leading up to the rampage. “The fact that the FBI has not been able to, the reports say, the FBI has not been able to talk to every airman. I mean, I can’t imagine that,” US Senator Scott said on “Fox & Friends.” “If the Saudi government is our ally, our partner, they will make sure that there is full cooperation, not one airman needs to leave this country until the complete investigation.”

Alshamrani was reported to have posted a manifesto on Twitter before the shooting denouncing America as “a nation of evil.” “We need to suspend the program until we investigate,” Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential Republican on national security issues, said on Fox News. “I like allies. Saudi Arabia’s an ally, but there’s something really bad here fundamentally. We need to slow this program down and reevaluate,” he said. US media reported that six Saudi nationals also assigned to the base have been questioned, and that Alshamrani had shown videos of mass shootings at a dinner party the night before the attack. In a pre-taped interview that aired on Fox News Sunday, Esper confirmed that several Saudis have been detained, including “one or two” who filmed the shooting on their cellphones. He said it was unclear if they began filming before the shooting began or after it started.

Authorities believe the gunman made social media posts criticizing the U.S. under a user handle similar to his name, but federal law enforcement officials are investigating whether he authored the words or just posted them, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Also, investigators believe the gunman visited New York City, including Rockefeller Center, days before the shooting and are working to determine the purpose of the trip, the official said. All international students at the Pensacola base have been accounted for, there have been no arrests, and the community is under no immediate threat, Rojas said at a news conference. A Saudi commanding officer has ordered all students from the country to remain at one location at the base, authorities said. “There are a number of Saudi students who are close to the shooter and continue to cooperate in this investigation,” Rojas said. “The Saudi government has pledged to fully cooperate with our investigation.”

Earlier in the week of the shooting, Alshamrani hosted a dinner party where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, another U.S. official told the AP on Saturday. Alshamrani wounded two sheriff’s deputies, one in the arm and one in the knee, before one of them killed him. Eight others were also hurt. Both deputies were expected to survive. Alshamrani used a Glock 9 mm weapon that had been purchased legally in Florida, Rojas said. Family members and others identified the three dead as Joshua Kaleb Watson, a 23-year-old graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy; Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham, 19, of St. Petersburg, Florida, who joined the Navy after graduating from high school last year; and Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, of Richmond Hill, Georgia. The official who spoke Saturday said one of the three students who attended the dinner party hosted by the attacker recorded video outside the classroom building while the shooting was taking place. Two other Saudi students watched from a car, the official said.

VETTING

(AP) — Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday welcomed a Lebanese-born Swiss real estate mogul who purchased Nazi memorabilia at a German auction and is donating the items to Israel. Rivlin called Abdallah Chatla’s gesture an “act of grace.” Chatila, a Lebanese Christian who has lived in Switzerland for decades, paid some 600,000 euros ($660,000) for the items at the Munich auction last month, intending to destroy them after reading of Jewish groups’ objections to the sale. Shortly before the auction, however, he decided it would be better to donate them to a Jewish organization. Among the items he bought were Adolf Hitler’s top hat, a silver-plated edition of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and a typewriter used by the dictator’s secretary. The items are to be donated to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

by AFP — BEIRUT: A man in Lebanon tried to self-immolate during a protest in Beirut on Saturday, the Lebanese Red Cross said, before protesters extinguished the flames. Protesters in Riad al-Solh Square smothered the flames with jackets and blankets, an AFP photographer said. The man, who did not lose consciousness, was evacuated in a […]

by middle-east-online.com — BEIRUT – On the edges of a protest in Lebanon’s capital, 24-year-old cartoonist Mohamad Nohad Alameddine bites through sticky tape and plasters one of his political sketches to a side wall. “I haven’t been able to work with newspapers, so instead I come down and stick them up in the street,” says the unemployed artist, who graduated this year with a master’s degree in press cartoons. Until this autumn, Alameddine had been poking fun at his country’s political and economic ills in sketches he posted online.

But from October 17, anti-government protests swept across the country, giving him a broader audience as protesters denounced the very same issues he had been drawing all along. In public spaces, he and friends stuck up gags about failing electricity and trash management plans, as well as sketches mocking a political class perceived as corrupt. In one cartoon, a skinny man stripped down to his underpants stands in front of a leader carried in on a gilded throne. “We want your underwear to pay back the debt,” says the moustachioed politician, clutching a lit cigar.

Now in the grips of a dollar liquidity crunch, Lebanon is staggering under a public debt of $86 billion. Wherever there was a protest, “I’d go down and stick up a related cartoon,” says Alameddine, who signs his drawings as Nougature. “A lot of people encouraged me.” In late October, the government stepped down, but a deeply divided political class has yet to form a new one. Inspiration everywhere Last month, Alameddine drew his same long-nosed politician clutching the leg of his throne. “Don’t worry my love, I’d never leave you,” says the character he has called President Nazeeh, dressed in a rabbit-themed pyjama onesie. Alameddine says the fictional leader is his way of criticising the traditional ruling class without naming names. “President Nazeeh headed a militia in the civil war and then became a political figure” after the 1975-1990 conflict, he says. “We see how he deals with people, what he does under the table, what he says in public, how he manages corruption rings – but in a funny way,” he says. “In the end you want to laugh at what’s hurting you.”

By Paulina Dedaj | Fox News — The Saudi national who killed three people Friday morning after opening fire in a classroom at a naval air station in Florida reportedly hosted a dinner party earlier this week where he and several others watched videos of mass shootings, a U.S. official said Saturday. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, who was identified as […]

by bbc.com — The US and Iran have conducted a prisoner swap in a rare sign of co-operation between the two countries. The exchange involved a Chinese-American researcher convicted of spying in Iran and an Iranian scientist held by the US. Both deny wrongdoing. Iran’s foreign minister said he was glad as he announced the exchange. Hours later, US President Donald Trump tweeted: “Thank you to Iran on a very fair negotiation. See, we can make a deal together!”

Who were the prisoners?

Xiyue Wang was arrested in Iran in 2016 for “collaborating with foreign governments”. Massoud Soleimani, a stem cell expert, was arrested at a Chicago airport last year. He was accused violating trade sanctions by trying to export biological material to Iran. Iran and the US have had an increasingly strained relationship in recent years and share no diplomatic links. Both have thanked the Swiss government for its assistance as an intermediary facilitator.

What happened?

Mr Wang was flown in a Swiss government plane from Tehran to Zurich, and then to Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he will undergo medical check-ups before heading home. Mr Soleimani was also flown to Zurich and then on to Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted photos of himself with Mr Soleimani after his release. He was the first to announce the news, via a tweet. “Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly,” he wrote. In a formal statement, US President Donald Trump said Mr Wang had been “held under the pretence of espionage”. “Freeing Americans held captive is of vital importance to my Administration, and we will continue to work hard to bring home all our citizens wrongfully held captive overseas,” the statement said. Hua Qu, Mr Wang’s wife, wrote in statement: “Our family is complete once again. Our son Shaofan and I have waited three long years for this day and it’s hard to express in words how excited we are to be reunited with Xiyue. “We are thankful to everyone who helped make this happen.” Princeton University, where Mr Wang was studying as a postgraduate, said in a statement it was “overjoyed” with the news of his release and was looking forward to “welcoming him back to campus”.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s outgoing prime minister called on several Arab and world leaders Friday to help his country secure credit lines for imports from friendly nations as the tiny Mediterranean country passes through its worst economic and financial crisis in decades. According to a statement released by his office, Saad Hariri sent letters to […]

Beirut: Banks in Lebanon could be flouting laws — or at least the spirit of it — by restricting the weekly amount a citizen can debit from his account. And account holders are well within their rights to pursue claims against such banks, legal sources say. “A big part of what banks have been doing are based on unauthorised and unilateral decisions,” said Zeina Mouanness, a lawyer. “They cannot apply such precautionary measures without clear regulations.” Last month, the Lebanese Central Bank set a limit of $1,000 as weekly withdrawals of cash and another limit on online transfers. ATMs have stopped dispensing US dollars even before the popular protests erupted in the country on October 17. Banks have been applying random caps on weekly cash withdrawals, varying between $100 to $500.

Reclaim their rights So, what can the ordinary Lebanese citizen do? They could look at any of three options. “They could launch a bankruptcy lawsuit against the banks for failing to pay them the amounts requested,” said Mouanness. “They could lodge a breach of trust [criminal case] against the bank. “The third type of legal procedure is lodging a lawsuit before a judge on an urgent basis demanding the bank pay their money in cash. As per the first two procedures, a claimant could also request the court to impose a provisional seizure against the bank’s assets to ensure that the claimants’ money remains safe and untouched.” According to Joceline Al-Rai, another Lebanese lawyer, people also need to read the contracts with their banks. “Clients and depositors have the right to take legal action against their banks and reclaim their money … however, they need to review the clauses included in the contracts they signed upon opening their accounts. Unfortunately, the majority of clients sign those contracts blindly and without reading those clauses thoroughly,” Al-Rai told Gulf News.

 BEIRUT(Xinhua) — The French Development Agency (AFD) signed on Thursday a financing agreement valued at 20 million euros (22.2 million U.S. dollars) with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to support Lebanon’s Rafik Hariri University Hospital. French Ambassador to Lebanon Bruno Foucher, AFD Country Director for Lebanon and Syria Olivier Ray, and Christophe […]

BEIRUT, (Xinhua) — Lebanon’s presidency issued a statement on Wednesday, announcing that President Michel Aoun will conduct parliamentary consultations on Dec. 9 to name a prime minister for the formation of the new government, the National News Agency reported. Officials belonging to different political parties announced in the past few days that businessman Samir Khatib […]