By Mary Rezac

Vatican City,  (CNA/EWTN News).- There once was a Pope called “The Green Pope.” He earned the title from both the religious and the secular alike,
because he wrote frequently about the environment and asked all
Catholics to be better stewards of God’s creation.  

Under this pope’s pontificate, the Vatican became the world’s first
sovereign state to become carbon-neutral, meaning that all of the small
country’s greenhouse gas emissions are offset by renewable energies and
carbon credits, thanks to extra trees and solar panels. He also made use
of a more energy efficient, partially electric popemobile. No, “The Green Pope” is not Pope Francis.

It’s his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, which may come as a surprise to those who believe Benedict’s legacy was his staunch conservatism.   During the World Day of Peace celebration in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI
chose the theme “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation.” “We are all responsible for the protection and care of the environment,” he said.

Drawing on the wisdom from his own predecessors, including Pope John Paul II, Pope Leo XIII and Pope Paul VI, Benedict in his message
implored his flock to view climate change and care for creation as an
extension of the Church’s care for humanity. He also addressed the
phenomenon of “environmental refugees” several years before Francis
noted the environment’s contribution to the current refugee crisis. “Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such
realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss
of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and
aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural
catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions?
Can we disregard the growing phenomenon of ‘environmental refugees’,
people who are forced by the degradation of their natural habitat to
forsake it – and often their possessions as well – in order to face the
dangers and uncertainties of forced displacement? Can we remain
impassive in the face of actual and potential conflicts involving access
to natural resources?” Benedict asked in his message.

Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: Although Lebanon’s President-elect Bashir Gemayel was
assassinated on September 14, 1982 — along with 26 others who perished
when a bomb exploded in the Phalange Party headquarters in Ashrafieh —
the country’s Judicial Council finally launched a trial in absentia,
calling on Habib Shartouni, who confessed to planting the bomb before
escaping from prison, to turn himself in.

Jean Fahd, the
magistrate entrusted with the case, issued a statement that gave
Shartouni an ultimatum to hand himself over to the judiciary “within 24
hours at the latest from the March 3, 2017 trial session”, though it is
unclear what meaning that ultimatum has.

Fahd further demanded proof that Nabeel Al Alam, a second culprit involved in the plot, is dead Shartouni,
a member of the Syrian Social National Party (SSNP), was born into a
Maronite Catholic family in Aley (Chouf Mountains) and served in one of
the SSNP stations there though he fled to Cyprus and France at the
beginning of the civil war where he attended university and obtained a
business degree. During a 1977 visit to Lebanon, he formally joined the
SSNP and became an active member though it was unclear whether Syrian
intelligence operatives recruited him in France. It was in Paris that he
met Nabeel Al Alam, then a leading SSNP intelligence lieutenant, who
made a big impression on him.

Al Alam knew that Shartouni’s family
members lived in the same building where the Phalange Party kept a
headquarters, which most probably justified the recruitment. Two days
after the assassination, the 24-years-old Shartouni was arrested by the
Lebanese Forces and handed over to the Lebanese judiciary. In his
confession, he called Bashir a traitor and accused him of selling the
country to Israel, and acknowledged that he “was given the explosives
and the fancy long-range electronic detonator by Al Alam, who promptly
fled to Syria and vanished.

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 […]