The refugee camp witnessed growling battles in 2007 between the Lebanese Army and the Fatah Al-Islam militants
The Saudi Fund for Development had donated USD 25 million to UNRWA to help rebuild Nahr El-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, said a statement on Tuesday. The deal was signed by the fund's Deputy Treasurer Yousif Al-Bassam and UNRWA Director General Karen AbuZayd.
Al-Bassam told the press after signing the deal that the donation would help bring back 500 displaced families to the camp. On her part, Abuzayd lauded the Saudi donation for the rebuild of the camp, saying that Saudi Arabia was always on the front in terms of helping the needy.
The refugee camp witnessed growling battles in 2007 between the Lebanese Army and the Fatah Al-Islam militants which led the deaths and injuries of many.
The rebuilding budget for the camp was estimated at USD 450 million.
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[Al Arabiya Latest] United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday said Arab allies had no cause for concern over a possible U.S.-Iran rapprochement and promised Washington would be "tough-minded" with Tehran if its overtures were rebuffed.
Gates, who visits Egypt and Saudi Arabia this week, said U.S. allies had no cause for concern and promised Washington would be "tough-minded" with Tehran if its overtures were rebuffed.
The possible shift in U.S. policy toward Iran has stirred unease among Gulf allies of the United States, who fear they could lose out if Washington builds a better relationship with Tehran.
There were "some exaggerated concerns, some notion here in the region that there might be some grand bargain between the United States and Iran that would suddenly be sprung on them," he told reporters in Cairo.
Such concerns were "completely unrealistic," Gates said before arriving in Riyadh to meet Saudi leaders.
"One important message will be, particularly for the Saudis, that any kind of outreach to Iran will not be at the expense of our long-term relationships with Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states that have been our partners and friends for decades," he said.
"We will deal with this in a sensible way and in a way that hopefully increases the security of everybody in the region, not just us," Gates told reporters.
He promised that Washington would consult closely with its allies and that no deal would be hatched in secret. "We will keep our friends informed about what is going so that nobody gets surprised," he said.
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Cause Iranians swore on a stack of Korans that they only want to wipe out Israel?
[ADN Kronos] There was "absolutely no foundation" to rumours that the Islamist Hamas movement had asked its exiled political leader Khaled Meshal to end the group's activities in Syria, a source has told Adnkronos International (AKI). In an interview, the source said the news had "no link to reality" and was an attempt to generate confusion about political goals.
According to the source, "all Palestinian forces without exception continue to play a political and informative role among the Palestinians who live in Syria, starting with Fatah to all the other factions".
Ali Badwan spokesman for the Palestinian National Council said "the causes and rights of the Palestinians are not something to be traded by Syria".
Badwan also said that Damascus was not looking to renew relations with the United States at the expense of Hamas and other Palestinian resistance movements.
"The fact that Palestinian forces have a real range of action in Syria is a positive factor in the sense of reinforcing the Syrian role," he told AKI.
As for suggestions from the Syrian ambassador to Washington that a peace accord would be reached between Syria and Israel and that Palestinian groups could no longer remain, Badwan said this had to be seen "in context".
"For 20 years the Syrian position has remained the same," he said. "There are more than 700,000 Palesinian refugees in Syrian territory."
Badwan said whatever position that Syria adopts, a just solution was needed to resolve the Palestinian problem, based on the right to return to their homeland, something that Israel has categorically rejected.
Mashal heads the Syrian branch of the political bureau of Hamas.
He is reportedly playing a key role in negotiating a prisoner exchange with Israel that would include the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit who was kidnapped by Palestinian militants in 2006.
Israel has agreed to release more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, but there is ongoing disagreement over a number of more serious prisoners.
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2009 00:00 ||
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Iran's supreme leader publicly rebuked the president over his removal of a top official, a rare show of discontent with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the country's most powerful figure.
The rebuke, issued in the press on Monday, quickly raised questions whether the supreme leader is backing off support of Ahmadinejad in the president's tough battle for a second term in June 12 elections. If so, that could be a heavy blow to Ahmadinejad. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei holds ultimate power in Iran, at the top of the clerical hierarchy above elected figures. If he is seen as moving away from Ahmadinejad, the president's conservative base could take it as a signal to back an alternative candidate.
The flap centered around control of a body that organises the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which traditionally comes under Khamenei's vast powers. The supreme leader overturned the government's removal of the head of the organisation. The dispute may appear like a minor turf battle. But some observers saw it as a sign of Khamenei distancing himself from Ahmadinejad, whose popularity has fallen among some Iranians because of the ailing economy. Political analyst Saeed Leilaz called the rebuke "unprecedented" and said it "clearly means that Khamenei doesn't insist that Ahmadinejad deserves to remain as president. That's the message."
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Posted by: Fred ||
05/06/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
Skid, that Vietnam picture is, IIRC, deceptive. It had the intended effect of ginning up the anit-war feelings, but the shooting itself was pretty much defendable. (Wish this old brain could pull forward the details.)
The 'victim' had killed a one of Loan's (the shooter) officers and his entire family. Also note that the 'victim' is out of uniform - an illegal combatant. According to the Geneva Convention illegal combatant can be summarily executed.
And what the hell does that picture have to do with the article anyway?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Iran's supreme leader publicly rebuked the president over his removal of a top official, a rare show of discontent with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by the country's most powerful figure.
