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Ahmad al-Assir arrested at Beirut airport; wife demands release

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese authorities arrested Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir at the Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday while he attempted to flee to Nigeria.

Ahmad al-Assir was attempting to travel to Nigeria via Cairo with a fake Palestinian passport, according to officials at the airport’s General Security division.

A circulating photo appears to show al-Assir clean-shaven, although security officials have not verified the photo's accuracy. (Photo via Naharnet)
A circulating photo appears to show al-Assir clean-shaven, although security officials have not verified the photo’s accuracy. (Photo via Naharnet)

Airport officials said al-Assir was arrested shortly after boarding the plane with a valid Nigerian visa. Two other individuals were reportedly accompanying him using forged passports.

According to the Beirut-based newspaper The Daily Star, al-Assir changed his appearance by removing his beard and “doing a number of plastic surgeries.”

Al-Assir, widely known as an anti-Hezbollah cleric, was holding a passport in the name of Rami Abdul Rahman Taleb, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.

A white Mercedes which reportedly transported al-Assir to the airport has been seized, and its driver was arrested, according to officials.

Media reports speculated that al-Assir may have been hiding in the Ain al-Hilwe refugee camp near Sidon. Al-Assir has been on the run since June 2013 after his armed supporters clashed with the Lebanese army and killed 18 soldiers.

In 2014, a military court recommended prosecutors seek death sentences for al-Assir and 53 others, including former singer Fadel Shaker.

Since his arrest, the wife of al-Assir staged a protest in Sidon near the Bahaa Eddine mosque, calling on the release of her husband hours after his arrest.

“I will keep blocking the road until my husband is freed,” she said, according to Sawt Lebnan, VDL 100.5 radio.

Security officials also arrested al-Assir supporter Ahmed Abdul Majid, a Palestinian living in Sidon.

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 News

Garbage crisis proves Lebanese politics stinks

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — As if 14 months without a president wasn’t enough, Lebanon has turned into a giant trash mound since July 17, after political quarrels have halted trash collection.

The Lebanese cabinet has failed to agree on a solution for the country’s growing garbage crisis, postponing discussion until next week as trash continues to pile up on the streets.

Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk estimated the amount of trash to be at 22,000 tons — and growing.

“It’s like a domino,” Lucien Bourjeily, a social activist, told The National. “It’s one more thing on top of everything else in this country: No electricity, no water, no proper internet, no roads, corruption and…there’s no president and then you have the garbage.”

Sukleen, the main company in charge of collecting trash, stopped its work last week amid a dispute over the country’s largest trash dump.

The government is searching for alternatives to the Naame landfill south of Beirut, which was closed down on July 17. Naame residents have protested the landfill since it opened in 1997.

Earlier this year, the government agreed that the landfill would be shut down in July. But they never agreed on an alternative plan to handle the massive amounts of garbage produced by Beirut and surrounding areas.

The mountains of garbage have overtaken sidewalks and empty lots, causing traffic delays and strong odors in Beirut-area neighborhoods.

(Photo via George Kmeid)
(Photo via George Kmeid)

Protestors took to the streets of Downtown Beirut on Saturday, holding signs that read, “Clean up the trash in the parliament.”

“In Beirut, it’s only been four or five days of garbage and people already can’t take it. We have been dealing with Lebanon’s trash for the last 17 years,” said Youssef Halabi, a resident of Aramoun village near the landfill.

“We can’t open our windows because of the gases coming off the dump,” the 28-year-old told the AFP news agency. “I’ve invited ministers to come to my place and see if they can tolerate it.”

Instead of extending meetings until a decision is made, Lebanese officials decided to postpone any decision until next week, allowing for several more tons of trash to pile on Beirut’s streets.

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 News

Man killed in apparent road rage incident; wife watches helplessly

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — A father of four was stabbed to death in Beirut on Wednesday in an apparent road rage incident near Gemmayzeh.

According to reports, Georges Al Reef and his wife got into a right of way dispute with Tarek Yateem and Lina Haidar, who attempted to get in front of Al Reef.

Haidar, who was driving, forcefully hit Al Reef’s car and kept going. That’s when Al Reef and his wife followed the car to reportedly get its license plate number.

Al Reef’s wife called the Internal Security Forces for help, but police said there were no personnel nearby.

The chase led to Gemmayzeh, where Yateem got out of the car and began attacking Al Reef, repeatedly stabbing him with a knife.

The attack took place roughly 40 meters from the home of Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian, who watched from his balcony.

According to The Daily Star, Yateem was the bodyguard of prominent businessman Antoun Sehnaoui, the chairman of Société Générale de Banque au Liban.

Relatives and officials urged for the death penalty for Yateem on Friday at the funeral service for Al Reef.

Hospital officials say Al Reef was stabbed about 15 times in the chest. He died at Haddad Hospital in Achrafieh on Thursday.

Surveillance video shows several witnesses who watched the attack, but no one helped. His wife is seen begging Yateem to stop.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea called for a “maximum” punishment for Yateem, who was previously involved in a 2010 shooting at the White House restaurant in Sodeco.

“The Lebanese judiciary should give the maximum penalty for the perpetrator of this heinous crime, to be a clear lesson to all who would do a similar act,” Geagea wrote on Twitter.

Yateem is currently in police custody. He had several arrest warrants issued against him for previous assaults.

WATCH the attack, via LBCI News:

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 Entertainment

Haifa Wehbe reveals plans to enter U.S. music market

(LOS ANGELES, CA) — After releasing her first-ever English music video in April, Lebanese superstar Haifa Wehbe revealed plans to enter the U.S. music market with two additional English songs.

Haifa is planning partnerships with R&B singer Ne-Yo and Moroccan-born rapper French Montana for her new songs, “Habibi” and “Snake Charmer.”

Her first English music video, “Breathing You In,” pulled in a whopping 7.6 million views on YouTube.

“For me its about taking risks – lots of them,” Haifa told Entertainment Scoop. “I want to continue to push myself to do things that are outside of my comfort zone.”

“Breathing You In” featured a provocative Haifa flaunting around Jennifer Lopez’s ex-lover, Casper Smart. In June, celebrity tabloids revealed an alleged scandal between Haifa and Casper.

"I wanted to make sure that my video delivered visual impact," Haifa says of her music video for "Breathing You In." (YouTube screenshot.)
“I wanted to make sure that my video delivered visual impact,” Haifa says of her music video for “Breathing You In.” (YouTube screenshot.)

In Touch Magazine said a source told them Haifa and Casper began a “secret affair” that lasted until the spring.

“J-Lo saw texts between Casper and Haifa, that’s how she uncovered the affair,” the source is quoted by In Touch Magazine. “She became possessive and controlling, she was furious and forced him to sever all ties with Haifa.”

Haifa did not respond to the allegations, but admitted to being an “easy target” for controversy.

“The world is changing and people are ultimately frightened by the unknown so they lash out and I regrettably am an easy target,” Haifa said. “I work at not taking it personal because the issues are much bigger than me.”

“Breathing You In” was directed by Dubai-based businessman and film producer Tarik Freitekh. The music video was shot in Las Vegas in studios previously used by the likes of Shakira, Snoop Dog, and Justin Bieber.

WATCH Haifa’s first English music video:

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 Business, News

Real estate group reveals average apartment prices in Beirut

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Beirut-based real estate advisory firm RAMCO revealed the average sales prices of apartments under construction in Beirut vary between USD 2,088 and USD 7,000 per square meter.

The BCD, the seafront stretch, and some neighborhoods in Ashrafieh are still the most expensive in Beirut. The central residential neighborhoods – from Bachoura to the North down towards Hamad and Rweiss in the South – are the least expensive in the capital.

The RAMCO research department produced a map of average asking prices of apartments in 346 buildings among 71 Beirut neighborhoods.

Beirut_Prices_Neighbourhood_2015_EN

The map of the prices of new apartments, by neighborhood, reveals several indicators of the real estate market of Beirut:

  • Logically, the seafront neighborhoods of the capital post the highest prices. From Ain el Mreisseh to Ramlet el Baida, averages vary between USD 4,583 and 6,925 per SQM. These prices, however, are not only for projects located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea but also for projects under construction on secondary streets, where certain apartments do not offer open sea views.
  • The Beirut Central District (BCD) has been divided into five geographical sectors. Averages on the first floor vary between USD 6,000 and USD 7,000 per SQM. Overall, prices have dropped over the past 12 months. As there are no projects currently under construction around the Bay of St. Georges, averages have dropped compared to last year. The highest averages are located in the area of Foch-Allenby, which enjoys views of the Port of Beirut.
  • Not a single neighborhood in the capital posts prices below the symbolic bar of USD 2,000 per SQM. The lowest prices are found in the central neighborhoods of Beirut, between Bachoura and Tarik el Jdideh, and vary between USD 2,088 and USD 2,400 per SQM.
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 News

Lebanese officials react to Iran nuclear deal

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam and other Lebanese officials praised the deal reached between Iran and world powers Tuesday and expressed hope that the agreement would usher a new era of peace to Lebanon and the Middle East.

“We hope that this development will have positive repercussions on the situation in the Middle East, in a way that helps reduce tensions and spreads peace and stability,” Salam said in a statement.

Before the agreement was reached, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Sunday that an Iranian nuclear deal could help pave the way to ending the presidential vacuum in Lebanon.

Other leaders from opposing parties also expressed their delight, including Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, Marada Movement chief Sleiman Frangieh, and former President Michel Sleiman.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblatt were the only officials in Lebanon who spoke against the deal on Tuesday.

“Some have hopes about the nuclear deal but I disagree,” Geagea told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

He said the deal is only a “mere agreement” and that it can potentially “aggravate” the situation in the Middle East.

Jumblatt said the deal “excludes Arabs…with total disregard for the Palestinian cause” and provided a “boost” to the “murderous” regime of Bashar Assad.

Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations will be lifted, in return for Iran’s acceptance of long-term curbs on its nuclear program, which the West had claimed was aimed at creating a nuclear weapon.

The lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets in the United States will provide Iran with billions of dollars.

The former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Sadegh Kharazi, was quoted as saying by The Guardian that the deal ended the “Cold War” between Iran and the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the agreement as a “historic mistake” and said he would do what he could to block Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons. Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted,” Netanyahu said at the start of a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders in Jerusalem.

“Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region and in the world. This is a bad mistake of historic proportions.”

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 Lifestyle, News

Malala Yousafzai visits Lebanon; opens school for Syrian refugees

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, celebrated her 18th birthday in Lebanon on Sunday by opening a school for Syrian refugee girls and called on world leaders to invest in “books not bullets”.

Malala became a symbol of defiance after she was shot on a school bus in Pakistan 2012 by the Taliban for advocating girls’ rights to education. She continued campaigning and won the Nobel in 2014.

“I decided to be in Lebanon because I believe that the voices of the Syrian refugees need to be heard and they have been ignored for so long,” Malala told Reuters in a schoolroom decorated with drawings of butterflies.

The Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. It can welcome up to 200 girls aged 14 to 18.

“Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world’s children, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Malala said in a speech.

Lebanon is home to 1.2 million of the 4 million refugees that have fled Syria’s war to neighboring countries. There are about 500,000 Syrian school-age children in Lebanon, but only a fifth are in formal education.

Malala Yousafzai, center, poses with girls for a picture at a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on July 12. The Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. (Jamal Saidi/Reuters)
Malala Yousafzai, center, poses with girls for a picture at a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on July 12. The Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. (Jamal Saidi/Reuters)

Lebanon, which allows informal settlements on land rented by refugees, says it can no longer cope with the influx from Syria’s four-year conflict. One in four living in Lebanon is a refugee.

The U.N. says the number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries is expected to reach 4.27 million by the end of the year.

“In Lebanon as well as in Jordan, an increasing number of refugees are being turned back at the border,” Malala said. “This is inhuman and this is shameful.”

Her father Ziauddin said he was proud she was carrying on her activism into adulthood.

“This is the mission we have taken for the last 8-9 years. A small moment for the education of girls in Swat Valley: it is spreading now all over the world,” he said.

Malala was feted with songs and a birthday cake. Moved to tears by the girls, she was modest when asked for advice.

“They are amazing, I don’t think they need any message, I don’t think they need any other advice because they know that education is very important for them.”

Reuters

 

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 News

Lebanese-American cancer doc Farid Fata sentenced to 45 years in prison

(DETROIT, MI) — Lebanese-American cancer doctor Farid Fata will spend 45 years in prison, Judge Paul Borman said on Friday.

Fata was crying in court Friday morning, saying, “I stand before you ashamed of my actions. It all went wrong. I cannot bring back the past.”

“I pray for redemption. I ask the court for mercy,” Fata said.

Evette Aubrey, 84, said she knew Fata from Our Lady of Redemption Church in Warren, Mich., where his children were altar boys. She said she hoped the judge would “take care of him.”

“God bless him. He’s a good man,” Aubrey said.

The judge also ordered Fata to get drug and alcohol treatment for alcohol and prescription drug abuse.

Samar Fata, the wife of Farid Fata and the CFO of his medical operation, has since fled the country to Lebanon with the couple’s three children.

During his week of sentencing, Fata was described as a “cowardly bastard” by former patients, as he sat expressionless watching alleged victims take the stand to describe their medical nightmares.

Fata, 50, has admitted to billing insurers for millions of dollars while misdiagnosing and over-treating cancer patients with chemotherapy and other methods when they didn’t need it.

“Farid Fata: I hate you. You are repulsive. You disgust me. You are a monster. You are evil,” said Laura Stedtfeld, who took the stand and accused him of murdering her father, Piero Zanotti, who died in 2014.

“Clearly you are a coward because you can’t even look at me right now,” she said. “You murdered my dad. You poisoned, tortured and murdered my dad.”

Fata pleaded guilty last September to 13 counts of health care fraud, two money laundering counts, and one count of conspiracy to pay or receive kickbacks.

According to the government, Fata had a patient load of 1,200 people and received $62 million from Medicare. He billed for more than $150 million.

“(The fraud) hasn’t happened on a scale like this before anywhere,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Resnick Cohen, who called Fata’s actions “heinous and sadistically cruel.”

Fata has lived in Michigan for 10 years and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2009. He graduated from the Lebanese University in 1992 and completed his Internal Medicine Residency in Brooklyn, NY in 1996.

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 City Beat, Detroit, News

Bint Jebail Cultural Center vandalized amid Qazwini controversy

(DEARBORN, MI) — The Bint Jebail Cultural Center in Dearborn, Mich. was vandalized with graffiti recently, amid an ongoing controversy involving Imam Hassan Qazwini, who resigned from the Islamic Center of America in January.

“The Qazwini and Iraq Club,” the graffiti read in Arabic. Other statements attacking the center’s founder, Mohammed Turfe, were sprayed on doors and walls.

Qazwini has been hosting Ramadan prayer services at the Bint Jbeil Center, which prompted an anonymous letter attacking the center’s founder.

“We hold Mohammed Turfe fully responsible for the unprecedented act of hosting Qazwini, and we ask him to ban Qazwini from the center to save the community from controversy and divisions,” the letter said.

Qazwini is an Iraqi-American, while most board members are Lebanese-American. Qazwini says his opponents are targeting him because of his national origin.

In January, Qazwini was the target of anonymous letters that accused him of corruption and adultery, including diverting mosque money for his father’s projects in Iraq.

He strongly denied all allegations, except admitting that he sent some money to his father’s charitable orphanage in Iraq.

Qazwini, who was born in Iraq, says he was the victim of racism by Lebanese board members, who wanted to fund projects in Lebanon, according to the Detroit Free Press.

A group of volunteers have since cleaned off the graffiti. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Dearborn Police at 313-943-3012.

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 News

FPM protestors, Army soldiers injured during rally at Grand Serail

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Hundreds of supporters of a Lebanese Christian politician protested in Beirut on Thursday against the Sunni prime minister they claim is marginalizing Christian influence.

Seven soldiers and several protesters were injured during a brawl between the Lebanese Army and Free Patriotic Movement supporters near the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut.

Michel Aoun accuses Prime Minister Tammam Salam of taking decisions without cross-party consensus and usurping powers reserved for the president – a post set aside for a Christian but vacant since last year due to the wider political crisis.

Aoun’s critics, including other Christian leaders, say his motivation is personal. A presidential hopeful, he wants his son-in-law, Brigadier-General Shamel Roukoz, appointed as army chief when the job needs filling in September.

Aoun, 80, is an ally of Hezbollah, a powerful Lebanese Shi’ite group backed by Iran that is fighting alongside President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Hezbollah has said it backs Aoun’s political position, but is not taking part in the rally.

WATCH: FPM protestors scuffle with Lebanese Army outside of the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut.

Supporters of Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) waved its orange flag as groups on foot and in cars honking horns made their way towards the Grand Serail government headquarters in central Beirut, where Salam was holding a cabinet meeting.

The army had blocked roads using armored vehicles and metal barriers as the protesters chanted and took pictures on their smartphones. Soldiers watched in the shade.

“All parties should agree on laws,” said 21-year-old student Charbel Khoury. “They are taking everything from us. As Christians we should act, we should not stay at home. We are only a small number in the region.”

Political sources in parties allied to Aoun said his ministers would not resign, even as one of them threatened further escalation. “We will stay in the street until the government is toppled if it continues in this way,” Walid Khoury, an FPM lawmaker, was quoted by local media as saying.

Reuters

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