The Daily Star - State-owned media to be enhanced with U.N. deal - March 1, 2011

BEIRUT: Caretaker Information Minister Tarek Mitri signed a cooperation agreement with the U.N. Information Center in Beirut Monday in a bid to enhance the performance of several state-owned media outlets. The agreement which was signed by Mitri and the director of the U.N. Information Center Bahaa al-Qawsi would launch training courses to improve the reporting and editing skills of journalists in Arabic, English and French. Ethical practices of the profession and objective reporting would also figure among the objectives of the agreement. According to a statement by UNIC, carefully selected experts would supervise the courses. Following the signing of the agreement, Qawsi said that the U.N. safeguards its commitment with different media agencies to facilitate their access to facts and information of the international organization. –The Daily Star

The Daily Star - Sit-ins demand news on Sadr, denounce regional crackdowns - March 1, 2011

Protesters gather in Beirut to call for information on the fate of missing imam
By Wassim Mroueh
Daily Star staff

BEIRUT: Dozens of protesters gathered outside the U.N. headquarters in Beirut Monday in condemnation of the violent state crackdowns on anti-government protesters in Yemen, Bahrain and Libya, while a bigger group of students stood nearby calling for revealing the fate of disappeared Imam Musa al-Sadr.

Carrying Lebanese flags and pictures of Sadr, hundreds of students, the bulk of whom came from schools in Beirut and its suburbs, took part in a sit-in called for by student leagues and youth movements to demand answers about the fate of the founder of the Amal Movement.

“People want to free the imam!” they chanted, as Amal anthems played. The sit-in was attended by MPs Ali Khreiss and Emile Rahmeh, as well the head of the Marada Movement’s youth branch, Shadi Dahdah, and representatives of other factions.

Sadr and his companions Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine went missing during a visit to Libya in August 1978.

Lebanon’s Judicial Council indicted in 2009 Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and 16 of his aides in the case and a trial date has been set for March.

The Libyan regime denies the allegation and claims that Sadr left the country for Italy. But the ongoing unrest in Libya has raised hopes that the mystery will be resolved. A two-week revolt against Gadhafi’s rule has plunged Libya into a cycle of chaos and bloodshed.

Hassan Qabalan, an Amal politburo member, voiced hopes that Sadr would return to Lebanon. “We have high hopes that Imam Musa al-Sadr will return to the jihad field and that Gadhafi’s regime will not escape punishment,” he said, adding that he hopes Gadhafi “will appear in chains before the Judicial Council” in Lebanon.

Qabalan told The Daily Star that the sit-in was part of efforts to “free Imam Sadr, especially as we are witnessing the last moments of Gadhafi’s rule.

“This movement is part of a 33-year old effort,” he added.

Thousands are thought to have been killed already in Libya’s unrest.

Ali Akil Khalil, the ambassador of the International Organization for Human Rights, said Monday that the latest reports he received from Libya indicated that more than 15,000 people have been killed and thousands more wounded, adding that hospitals could no more accommodate the huge number of casualties.

“IOHR representatives who arrived in Libya yesterday [Sunday] have told us that mass graves were dug in several areas and especially in some army barracks where tens of soldiers and officers, who refused to obey orders to open fire on unarmed citizens, were executed,” he said during a sit-in near the U.N. House in Downtown Beirut to condemn the state crackdowns on anti-government protesters across the region.

Khalil urged the international community to form an investigation committee to try Gadhafi and to investigate other crimes in Yemen and Bahrain. “What is the reason for this horrible international silence?” he asked.

Among the few attendees of the sit-in were representatives from the Bahraini and Tunisian oppositions.

L'orient Le Jour - Diverses arrestations dans la Békaa - March 1, 2011

Diverses arrestations dans la Békaa
La police a procédé à plusieurs arrestations dans la Békaa. À Brital, la gendarmerie de Talia a arrêté A.S., né en 1976, et qui fait l'objet de trente mandats d'arrêt émis par des tribunaux dans la Békaa, au Mont-Liban et au Liban-Sud ainsi que par Interpol. 
À Ksara, un ressortissant syrien, F.K., âgé de 31 ans, a été arrêté. Il est recherché pour vol. 
La gendarmerie de Ras-Baalbeck a arrêté dans le secteur al-Aïn A.N., 18 ans, et K.N., 19 ans, qui avaient dévalisé un commerce vendant des ordinateurs et des téléphones portables. 

L'orient Le Jour - Sayegh lance neuf projets de service social financés par l’Italie - March 1, 2011

Le ministre des Affaires sociales, Sélim Sayegh, a tenu hier au siège du ministère, à Badaro, une conférence de presse au cours de laquelle il a lancé neuf projets de service social financés par le gouvernement italien. La conférence de presse a eu lieu en présence du chargé d'affaires près l'ambassade d'Italie, Andrea Ferrarese. 
Ces neuf projets couvrent différentes régions périphériques, dans la Békaa, au Mont-Liban, au Liban-Nord et au Liban-Sud. Le montant de chacun de ces projets s'élève entre 30 000 et 70 000 dollars, suivant le cas.
Dans son intervention, le chargé d'affaires italien a mis l'accent sur l'importance de la coopération entre l'Italie et le ministère des Affaires sociales, soulignant que les neuf projets en question se caractérisent par leur dimension environnementale, économique, pédagogique, culturelle et agricole, de manière à soutenir les factions « marginales et pauvres » de la société. M. Ferrarese a, d'autre part, indiqué que l'Italie a alloué un budget de près de 2,5 millions d'euros en vue de développer des centres de service social et d'exécuter certains projets sociaux, en collaboration avec le ministère des Affaires sociales.
De son côté, le ministre Sayegh a souligné que le choix de ces projets de développement se fait sur base des priorités et critères fixés par le ministère dans le cadre de ses efforts visant à lutter contre la pauvreté, à protéger les enfants en bas âge et à venir en aide aux personnes du troisième âge ainsi qu'aux handicapés.
Notons que dans la soirée de dimanche, M. Sayegh avait inauguré un centre de service social et médical à Antélias. Dans une allocution, il avait souligné que les personnes du troisième âge représentent 10 % de la population libanaise, et parmi les pays arabes, le Liban est le pays où les personnes âgées sont les moins autonomes et les plus dépendantes de leurs familles.