(Reuters) – Police are expected to question Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his official residence in
Jerusalem on Monday on suspicion of receiving gifts from
businessmen in breach of his role as a public servant, Israeli
media reported. The move was authorized by Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit,
who decided after a preliminary probe that there was sufficient
evidence for a criminal investigation, Haaretz newspaper
reported. The questioning will take place on Monday evening,
Israel Radio said.
The police and Justice Ministry would not confirm when the
interview would take place or the nature of the investigation,
details of which have appeared in the media in recent days.
Netanyahu’s office has denied any wrongdoing. “All the supposed affairs will turn out to be fiction,” his
family spokesman said on Monday. “We are repeating: there will be
nothing, because there is nothing.” Photographers were camped outside the heavily guarded residence,
hoping to get pictures of investigators arriving. Black screens
were erected inside the gates of the property to block the view. Haaretz and other newspapers said the probe related to gifts
worth “hundreds of thousands of shekels” ($1=3.85 shekels) given
to Netanyahu by Israeli and foreign businessmen.
by naharnet Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq reassured Monday that security is “under control” in Lebanon, following the latest terrorist attacks in Istanbul, Berlin and some countries in the region. “The good security situation on New Year’s Eve proves that security is under control in Lebanon and that the security agencies are performing their duties to […]
According to reports coming from Israel, the IDF would continue
to use preemptive operations, such as the “unconfirmed” attacks on
Syrian armories and on truck convoys hauling advanced weapons across the Lebanese border, to be handed to Hezbollah. IDFF is reportedly “cautiously optimistic” in its assessment of the
security challenges of 2017, expecting to get to the other side “without
having to wage major combat operations,” writes DefenseNews‘ Barbara
Opall-Rome, after an interview with a senior defense official in Tel
Aviv. However, she quotes the same official, “Today, the most probable
war is one in which both sides didn’t want it, but due to the dynamic of
escalation, we might find ourselves in it.”
The senior official told Opall-Rome that Israel is cautious and mindful of “unintended consequences” resulting from its actions regarding Hezbollah up north, Hamas in Gaza, the Palestinian Authority, and even faraway countries such as Iran.
In his opinion, the hierarchy of threats against Israel in 2017 will
be: 1. The PA; 2. Hamas; and 3. Iran-backed Hezbollah, which, despite
the fact that it is the strongest of the three “the probability [for
confrontation] is low, as long as we don’t get into a dynamic of
escalation.”
Khazen.org presents its deepest condolences to the victims of the Istanbul Reina Nightclub Ortakoy Istanbul nightclub
in New Year’s celebrations. The Lebanese victims Elias Wardini,Rita Chami, Haykal Mousallem. May the virgin Mary protect them and help the
family of the victims & quick recovery for the injured!!!
Elias Wardini in the picture funeral
By Naharnet: Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Tuesday declared national
mourning over the Lebanese victims of Istanbul’s nightclub massacre as
the country bid farewell to three youths killed in the bloody attack. “Work will stop across Lebanon and radio and TV networks
should adjust their programs in a manner befitting of this tragedy for
one hour starting from 2:00 pm today, Tuesday, January 3, 2017,” said a
decree issued by Hariri. “Lebanese wherever they may be are also asked to observe
five minutes of silence at 3:00 pm to condemn this heinous crime,
express a comprehensive Lebanese stance against terror and terrorists,
and show solidarity with the families of the martyrs and the wounded,”
Hariri added. There has been widespread shock and mourning in Lebanon over the deaths of the three Lebanese killed.
Rita Shami was a 26-year-old student. Elias Wardini,
also 26, was a personal trainer. Haykal Musallem was a 36-year-old
physical trainer with the Tadamon Zouk basketball team whose wife
managed to survive the attack. A convoy carrying the coffin of Mussallem
had left
Ashrafieh’s Hotel Dieu de France hospital for his hometown al-Bireh in
Chouf in the morning. The coffin Wardini was meanwhile taken from
Ashrafieh’s
Saint George Hospital to a nearby church for the funeral. He was laid to
rest at Ashrafieh’s Mar Mitr cemetery. Wardini’s body was carried
through the streets of Ashrafieh to the sounds of traditional darbuka
drums and trumpets.
At the district’s Notre Dame church, his open casket was
lifted over the heads of friends and family, beneath giant portraits
reading “The Angel of Ashrafieh” and “The Groom of Ashrafieh”. As is tradition in Lebanon for the death of young
unmarried people, the funeral ceremony included the trappings of a
wedding, with the church decorated in white flowers. His two older sisters collapsed several times during the
ceremony, one them shouting at the body: “Get up! Why don’t you answer
me?” The night before a minute of silence had been observed
for the three victims during a basketball match between Tadamon, where
Musallem worked, and Beirut club La Sagesse, Wardini’s favorite team.
Portraits of the three victims hung over the stands.
The young woman Rita Shami will be buried on
Thursday. The bodies of the victims and five of the wounded had arrived
Monday evening in Beirut aboard a Middle East Airlines plane. Bushra
Doueihi, the wounded daughter of Zgharta MP
Estephan Doueihi, stayed in an Istanbul hospital due to her serious
injuries and is expected to be transferred to Lebanon in the coming
days.
in the picture: Haykal Mousallem, Rita Chami & Elias Wardini
In the picture: Elias Wardini
In the picture: Haykal Mousallem
In the picture taking the selfie: Rita Chami
by Hasan Darwish| The Daily Star – BEIRUT: Three Lebanese were killed and several others wounded in Sunday’s midnight attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey. The family of 25-year-old Elias Wardini confirmed that the Lebanese national was dead, local Al Jadeed TV reported. “He threw
himself in the Bosphorous waters, but he could have frozen to death
after five minutes,” Wardini’s sister, Mirna, exclaimed while speaking
to MTV earlier Sunday. “[Actor] Nadine Rasi called us and said
that Elias is now with Jesus,” Wardini’s cousin had said as he pleaded
with Lebanese officials to uncover his whereaoubts. After they received the news, the family did not give any further details as they were in shock. Wardini’s sister could not speak to reporters at the family residence in Ashrafieh after she suffered from a nervous breakdown.
Wardini’s fiance Melissa Papalardu had also been hurt in the shooting, LBCI said. LBCI
reporter Bassam Abu Zeid said that Melissa had been hit by a bullet on
her hand, and that she had undergone a minor surgery.Melissa is currently in stable condition, the reporter said.
Later Sunday evening, Rita Chami succumbed to the wounds she had sustained in the attack, Reuters quoted her family as saying. Rita Chami had previously been reported missing by her family after they lost contact with her. She is the daughter of the famous Lebanese businessman Elias Shami, according to a report by local MTV.
Haykal Mousallem, another Lebanese man, was confirmed dead a short while later, his family told Reuters. The
Foreign Ministry issued a statement Sunday afternoon confirming that
four Lebanese victims had been wounded, according to a preliminary
tally.
Local LBCI TV said that the total number of Lebanese nationals hurt in the attack had risen to 13. LBCI added that the victims included Nidal Bsherrawi, Francois Asmar, Bouchra Doueihi, Nasser Beshara, and Melissa Papalordu.
However, LBCI did not provide the names of the remaining victims. Most
of the bullets hit the victims in their hands and legs as they ducked
under the seats for protection, the local channel said. Nidal
Bsherrawi and Francois Asmar, were mildly wounded when a gunman went on a
rampage at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul while it was packed with New
Year’s revelers, a Foreign Ministry statement announced. Only Nidal and Francois were identified by their full names in the ministry statement.
Bsherrawi’s
brother, Hassan, while speaking over the phone to LBCI, said that
another Lebanese national whom he identified as Nasser Beshara had been
wounded. The daughter of a Lebanese MP Estephan Dweihi, along with
a man from the Haikal family, whose first names were not disclosed,
were also slightly wounded in the attack, the ministry said.
MP
Doueihi’s daughter, Bouchra Doueihi, whom local Al Jadeed TV said was in stable
condition, is allegedly undergoing a critical surgery, Hassan Bsherrawi
added while speaking to LBCI. Bsherrawi and Asmar are expected to
undergo minor surgical operations, Lebanese consul in Istanbul Hani
Shmaiteli was quoted as saying by the NNA. Dr. Tony Elias, a tourist who had been celebrating in a nearby club, said to LBCI that he had perfomed Bouchra Doueihi’s surgery. He confirmed that she was in a stable, though critical, condition. Elias
described the shooting as frightening and a scene that seemed to be
part of a war zone as bullets and grenades poured all over the place. He added that 80 Lebanese nationals had been in the club at the time of the attack.
Nasser Bechara
In the picture Nidal
Bsherrawi
In the picture Francois Asmar
MTV
reported that approximately 100 people out of the 700 people
celebrating the new year in the club had been Lebanese nationals. 39 people were first announced dead following Sunday’s attack, which Turkish officials have described as a terrorist act. The tally increased with the death of the Lebanese victims and another reported death of a Kuwaiti national. The
Lebanese consul in Istanbul visited hospitals in Turkey, in order to
follow up on the numbers and conditions of the Lebanese victims. Lebanese
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil had called the Lebanese Consul Sunday
morning, inquiring about the conditions of the Lebanese nationals
wounded in the attack.
President Michel Aoun followed up on the conditions and treatment of the victims with Lebanese officials. MTV
said that Lebanese officials had been informed that none of the
Lebanese victims would be repatriated unless the investigations were
concluded. During a phone call with LBCI, a Lebanese travel agent
offered to fly any of the victims’ family members to Turkey for free
Monday. Later, Sunday afternoon, Lebanese Minister of Public
Works and Transport Youssef Fenianos ordered that Middle East Airlines
grant the families of the victims tickets onboard the flight departing
for Istanbul Sunday evening, the NNA reported. The tickets to Istanbul Airport will be given to the families free of charge, it added.
Denver, Colo., Dec 30, 2016 / 08:07 pm (CNA/EWTN News).-
It’s a common sight at a city intersection. A man or a woman holds a
cardboard sign: “Homeless, Hungry. Please Give. Anything Helps.”
Most motorists, stopped at the light and eager to move on, just ignore the person. But what should you do before the light changes?
The Denver-based urban ministry Christ in the City offers some advice. “Ask the person’s name,” said the group’s tip sheet. “One of our
friends on the street told us he went four months without hearing his
own name. Ask the person’s name and remember it. Those with a regular commute should remember that name and say hello the next time. “You’ll be amazed how his or her face will light up that you remembered.”
“To love is to know and be known,” Christ in the City said. “And so,
the chronically homeless become unknown, they become separated, not just
from society but from the experience of love itself.”
Lebanese daily newspaper As-Safir printed its final edition on Saturday,
forced to close after 42 years because of financial problems as other
news outlets in the country face similar difficulties. The front page led with an editorial entitled “The nation without As-Safir”.
“The economy is not well, and nor is politics. This cannot but reflect on and impact the press,” the article said. Chief editor Talal Salman earlier in the year blamed the newspaper’s
planned closure on falling revenues and Lebanon’s political and
sectarian problems, including the absence of a president and functioning
state institutions.
Lebanon’s parliament elected President Michel Aoun in October after
more than two years without a head of state, and a new government was
named this month. Growth in Lebanon’s economy has been sluggish since the collapse of a
unity government and the start of the Syrian civil war next door in
2011. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew at only two percent in 2014.
As-Safir’s editorial said that despite Lebanon escaping the levels of
violence that have plagued much of the region in recent years, the
knock-on economic and political effects on the tiny Mediterranean
country, which hosts over 1 million Syrian refugees, have taken their
toll on its once thriving press. The daily, which is close to the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah, was
founded in 1974 with the slogan “a voice for those who have no voice”.
Russian hackers breached a Vermont electrical utility, The
Washington Post
reported on Friday. Investigators found malicious code associated with the hackers
during an analysis of Russia’s cyberattacks against Democratic
Party organizations.
That code was apparently discovered on a laptop at the Burlington
Electric Department in Vermont,
the Burlington Free Press wrote on Friday. The code was apparently not used to disrupt operations at the
Vermont utility, and officials there said the laptop in question
is not associated with the operation of the electrical grid.
“The grid is not in danger,” Vermont Public Service Commissioner
Christopher Recchia told the Burlington Free Press. “The utility
flagged it, saw it, notified appropriate parties and isolated
that one laptop with that malware on it.” Officials interviewed by The Post said it is not clear how
hackers may have intended to execute the malware, if at all.
One of the biggest threats with breaches of utility sites is the
potential to disrupt the US electrical grid en masse. Such an
attack could have a devastating effect on emergency services
nationwide.
by Alex Lockie and Bryan Logan Sanitation trucks filled with sand acting as barricades along Fifth Avenue outside Trump Tower in New York City on November 8. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly Massive dump trucks filled with sand will line the streets surrounding New Year’s Eve celebrations in New York City this weekend. The 20-ton vehicles will hold […]
Beirut – Contrary to the status quo that prevailed in Lebanon by the
end of 2015, the situation today in the Mediterranean country looks
significantly more positive, especially following the election of a new
Lebanese president in October and the formation of a unity government
that has restored life to the different state institutions. Nonetheless, the new government, led by Prime Minister Saad
al-Hariri, has a major challenge, represented in the adoption of an
electoral law that would gain the approval of the different Lebanese
factions.
In this regard, sources told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that there has
been an overwhelming agreement over the need to put behind the 1960
electoral law, which was used in the last parliamentary elections in
2009. Based on the majority system, the electoral law, which was adopted in
1960, divides the country into 24 electoral districts. However,
Lebanese politicians are currently studying the adoption of a modern
electoral law that provides an appropriate representation of the
different Lebanese factions.
While Hezbollah and other political factions are insisting on a law
that would be solely based on the proportional system, other parties,
including the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Progressive
Socialist Party, back the adoption of a proportional system in some
regions and the majority system in others.
The
humanitarian work of Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its partner
agencies directed toward refugees in the Middle East deserves far more
attention than it has received and Maronite Bishop Gregory J. Mansour
says it’s time Catholics in the pew knew about it. The work of feeding, sheltering and providing health care for
hundreds of thousands of people who have trekked to safety in Jordan and
Lebanon from Iraq and Syria is a story that the mainstream media
largely has ignored, much to the chagrin of Mansour, the incoming
chairman of the board at CRS.
In a Dec. 16 interview with Catholic News Service, he said that
the focus of much media reporting has been on assessing blame for the
catastrophe or analyzing the response of governments in the region with
little attention paid to the plight of the people uprooted from
their homes. Mansour heads the Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn, which
includes Maronite Catholics in the District of Columbia and 16 states.
It is one of two Maronite eparchies in the U.S.
