By Daily Star Lebanon – Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi that, if adopted, would see Syrian refugees in Lebanon repatriated next year. The
plan, which consists of three phases and would commence in January
2017, heavily relies on the ability of international powers – namely
Russia and the United States – to secure sustainable cease-fires and
safe zones that Syrians can return to. “There are safe zones,” Azzi
insisted, “just no political decision or will to maintain the
cease-fire.”

Individuals who were not forcibly displaced will be identified
for the first phase of return. Monetary incentives would also be used
to lure Syrians back – payable upon arrival in Syria. In its first year,
the plan will focus on clearing out refugees residing in border areas
to mitigate terrorist infiltration into Lebanon. Syrians would have the
option to head to a safe zone or another area of their choice.

The
plan also proposes that nongovernmental organizations move to Syria to
facilitate the transition, while funds supplied by donor countries –
which must be committed before the end of this year – would sustain the
two-year plan. All relocation efforts would be overseen by a committee
consisting of government and UN representatives, with the possible
inclusion of other parties. With this plan, Azzi aims to transfer
1,235,000 Syrians back into Syria.

The plan omits Syrians who legally work in Lebanon
and have residency and work permits. A Human Rights Watch report
published in 2016, however, cites humanitarian agencies saying that
strict residency rules applied to Syrians have prevented two-thirds of
them from obtaining legal residency.

REUTERS — Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam told the international community that his country is lacking capacity and funding to further take care of the 1.5 million Syrian refugees it has sheltered on Monday (September 19). Speaking at a sideline event of the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on the global […]

by Peter Jacobs and Pamela Engel

The man the FBI sought in connection with this weekend’s bombings
in New Jersey and New York has been taken into custody after a
shootout with the police in Linden, New Jersey,
officials said Monday. The suspect, 28-year-old Ahmad Khan Rahami, was born in
Afghanistan and is a naturalized US citizen, according to the FBI. He was not on any US
terror watchlist, officials said.

Rahami was shot in the standoff with the police, and a witness
told The New York Times a police officer might have been shot as
well.

He is believed to have connections to three incidents this past
weekend, according to law-enforcement agencies:

• A bombing along the route of a New Jersey charity race
  Saturday morning;
• A bombing Saturday night in New York City;
• And additional devices found in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on
  Sunday night.

The mayor of Linden told
ABC 7 in New York that an officer found Rahami when
responding to a report of a person sleeping in the hallway of a
bar.

by Chris White

Human Rights lawyer Amal Clooney on Friday blasted
the United Nations over its failure to take meaningful action in the
nearly two years since ISIS began its reign of terror over the Yazidi
community. The Independent, a newspaper published in the United Kingdom, reported on Clooney’s speech, stating the speech served as an introduction to Nadia Murad,
a woman captured by ISIS in 2014.  Murad’s mother and six brothers were
killed almost immediately, while she was trafficked as a sex slave
before ultimately escaping herself.  Murad now serves as ambassador for
the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking through the UN’s Drugs and
Crime body, according to the report.

In her speech, Clooney cut right to the chase, saying, “I wish I could say I’m proud to be here but I am not.”

by Kevin Loria

The decision to demonize fat for its caloric density and
heart-clogging effects — a decision that drove people away from
butter and cheese and toward low-fat foods that required plenty
of sugar to have some flavor — wasn’t just bad science, according
to a report analyzing historical food industry documents that was
published September 12 in
the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

That national dietary shift from fat to sugar came about at least
in part because of a major 1967 review of dietary
science. Those historical documents reveal that a food
industry group called the Sugar Research Foundation paid three
Harvard researchers $6,500 (about $50,000 today) to discount
research that increasingly showed links between sugar and heart
disease and to point the blame at fat instead.

The industry group selected the data the Harvard scientists used
for the review and suggested the research to include. Their final
paper, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, set the
US diet on a new course. “The documents leave little doubt that the intent of the
industry-funded review was to reach a foregone conclusion,”
Marion
Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies, and public
health at New York University, wrote
in a commentary published alongside the new analysis.

by AP

ISIS has claimed responsibility for a mass stabbing at a
Minnesota mall.

A knife-wielding suspect who was dressed in a private security
uniform and made references to Allah while attacking at least
eight people at a Minnesota shopping mall was shot dead by
an off-duty police officer, authorities said. St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson said during a news
conference that eight people were taken to St. Cloud Hospital
with non-life-threatening injuries following the attack first
reported about 8:15 p.m. Saturday at the Crossroads Center. One
person was admitted. 

An ISIS statement claimed the man was responding to a call to
attack citizens. Anderson said an off-duty police officer from another
jurisdiction shot and killed the unidentified suspect, who was
armed with a knife and wearing a private security firm uniform at
the time of the attack. Anderson did not say where the off-duty
officer serves.

Anderson also said the suspect made at least one reference to
Allah during the attack and asked at least one person whether
they were Muslim.

By Pamela Engel

Most people know the world’s most barbaric terrorist group as
ISIS or the Islamic State.

Some world leaders have taken to calling
them “Daesh,” knowing the terror group hates the
name so much that its militant members have threatened
to “cut the tongue” out of anyone who used it. But some experts say there’s one moniker the terrorist group
hates even more than Daesh — and enemies of ISIS have been using
it to taunt the group.

Malcolm Nance, a terrorism expert and veteran
military-intelligence officer, made note of the name “Khawarij”
during a terrorism debate at the Comedy Cellar in New York City
last month. “They are the 7th century Islamic cult,” Nance explained in an
email to Business Insider. “[T]he reason they don’t like it is
because they are considered apostates in the Quran. The Prophet
Mohammed warned about them being false Muslims.”

Some Muslims — and even ISIS’ jihadi rivals — refer to ISIS
members as “Khawarij” or “Kharijites.” The leader of Al Qaeda,
Ayman al-Zawahiri, recently referred to the followers of ISIS
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by the name, according to Thomas
Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies and an expert on terrorist groups.

By Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: Lebanon is witnessing the return of fresh political protests as unresolved political issues resurface. The
pro-Syrian Free Patriotic Movement Party has pledged fresh
demonstrations in the coming weeks to voice their anger over perceived
slights in the Cabinet and National Dialogue sessions.

FPM leader
Jibran Bassil, who also serves as Lebanon’s foreign minister, says the
National Charter, which guarantees equal power sharing between Muslims
and Christians, is not being applied properly. In a recent speech,
Bassil warned that “if they [meaning the Future Movement and most Sunni
deputies] do not elect Michel Aoun as president during [the next
scheduled parliamentary election session] on [September] 28, then we
will commence a series of escalatory measures. We will go down to the
streets and we will not leave until we achieve our objectives”, he
affirmed.

According to spokesman Habib Younus, the FPM planned to
demonstrate in front of “all the ministries and public institutions, not
to cripple them and cause people discomfort, but to show our numbers
and our strengths”.

On their part, the anti-Syrian Lebanese Forces (LF) staged a sit-in
on Thursday demanding the formal extradition of two Syrian officers
indicted in the deadly 2013 blasts on two mosques in the northern city
of Tripoli.

A week after Judge Ala’a Al Khatib indicted two Syrian
officers, Mohammad Ali Ali and Nasser Juban, no formal request was made
to Damascus to extradite the two men. Students demanded that Prime
Minister Tammam Salam and his Cabinet make such a request as a sign of
respect for the law.

By John Bell.

There
was once a Turkish tradition of shadow puppets that children and adults
would watch throughout the Ottoman Empire. The characters were called
Karagoz and Hacivat, the former meaning “Black Eye” in Turkish after the
character’s dark and haunting look. Over time, in Lebanon and
elsewhere, the term went on to mean a clown or joker, or Karagoz.

Today, politics in Lebanon reflect both meanings of that term: the
clown and the puppet show. Every evening, Lebanese are entertained on
the TV news by the splendiferous view of their politicians meeting and
greeting each other.

Nothing much gets done – there is no president and only a
transitional government. But, there they are, the well known cast
trading deals and whispers that, like the unrequited love of Victorian
novels, never transpire. It may be harsh to call them clowns, but the
charade, the endless soap opera, does go on and on.

By travelerstoday.com

For a lot of people who do not know Beirut, it is a city of chaos. But
for those who have had a taste of it, the city can be described as a
rebellious beauty with an eclectic mix that continues to inspire and
attract its people and those who have seen her. Evidence of that is the
upcoming Beirut Art Fair, which will take place on September 15 to 18 with 18 countries participating in the event.

This is only just the beginning because Beirut’s art scene is alive
and kicking. At the end of September, Beit Beirut, a center that holds
memories of conflict and chaos in the country, will open its doors to
the public. And there’s more to Beirut that would make any art
enthusiast cry out with glee. Here are a few places to go to and a few
things to do in Beirut:

Sursock Museum is the headliner of the art scene in Beirut. This
contemporary art gallery has a very colorful past being a sniper outpost
during the civil war. Headed by French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte,
the building has been beautifully preserved together with the bullet
pockmarks that serve as a reminder to the city’s past turmoil.