The Special Tribunal for Lebanon said Monday the trial chamber would hold later this week a third pretrial conference in preparation for the Jan. 16-17 trial of the four suspects involved in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The conference will be public and begin at 10:30 a.m. (Central European Time), the court said in a statement on its website.
“The Trial Chamber may decide to go into closed session if confidential matters need to be discussed,” the statement added.
The hearing can be followed on the STL website with a 30-minute delay in Arabic, English and French.

Il Gran Muftì del Libano, Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, ha ricevuto ieri una delegazione di Hezbollah al Dar al-Fatwa.

The delegation, headed by Sheikh Abd al-Majeed Ammar, said the visit aimed at voicing support with the mufti who was accosted last month while attending the funeral of teenager who died as a result of the bombing in Downtown Beirut that targeted former Minister Mohammad Shatah.
On Dec. 29 Several mourners attending the funeral of 16-year-old Mohammad Shaar furiously objected to Qabbani’s presence at the Khashuqji Mosque in Beirut. Qabbani, who is seen by many supporters of the Future Movement as pro-Hezbollah, was trapped inside the mosque for around two hours.
“The purpose of this visit was to reassure his eminence the mufti [of our support] and to condemn the incident that he was subjected to at the Khashuqji mosque,” Ammar said at a news conference.
“We also conveyed the greetings of Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,” Ammar said.

Cinque presunti  affiliati ad Al-Qaeda nella Penisola Arabica (AQAP) sono stati uccisi, e altri quattro feriti, in un raid aereo yemenita nel quartiere di Al-Mahfad, nel governatorato di Abyan, secondo fonti militari nella zona.

A soldier in the Abyan-based Brigade 111, Shakir Al-Ghadeer, said the Air Force targeted two Hilux model cars. Al-Ghadeer says his battalion examined the destroyed  vehicles following the attack.

Al-Ghadeer said the wounded were taken to nearby Shabwa governorate for treatment.

However, the Interior Ministry is denying any reports of an aerial raid. It reported on its website on Sunday that three AQAP affiliates were injured in the area after tribal gunmen shot at their car. No further information was provided.

“The…ministry said that [only] three gunmen were wounded, but this number is not accurate,” said Al-Ghadeer.

Al-Ghadeer alleges that security officials in the area inaccurately reported the casualties to the Interior Ministry.  He says one official said security is so “lacking in the governorate,” that it is “every man for himself.”

A local resident in Abyan, Abdulla Dokhn, said “planes constantly hover over Al-Mahfad and other areas of the Ahwar district.”

“We see Al-Qaeda gunmen, official security personnel, and members of the Popular Committees [local residents who work alongside the army] mixing in the streets at the same time. This shows how strong Al-Qaeda is [because they are not afraid to openly walk the streets], and this frightens us,” Dokhn said.

In addition to attacks from the Yemeni Air Force, Abyan is also targeted by controversial American drones in the U.S.’s efforts to combat militant groups like AQAP in the area.

The latest drone strike took place on Monday in the Rada’a district of Al-Beida’a governorate, near Abyan. Two were injured in the two-missile attack that hit a car travelling to the Qaifa area, said to Hamood Al-Amari, the security manager in Rada’a.

He said it is believed there were civilians in the car.

“This drone strike happened near the place where another drone strike hit a wedding procession three weeks ago,” he said, referring to the Dec. 11 incident in which 12 civilians were killed after a missile struck cars outside a village in Rada’a.

The Qaifa area is the home of the Al-Dhahab family, whom the government accuses of having ties to AQAP.

In a previous statement to the Yemen Times regarding the conflicting statistics provided by officials and eyewitnesses following drone strikes, Saeed Al-Jamhi, the head of the Al-Jamhi Center for Study and Research and an expert on terrorism, said, “The inconsistent statistics prove that the state is not really present in these areas and lacks accurate information about the real numbers of victims. We are used to such things…. The state doesn’t usually provide accurate information about air strikes because it does not have sufficient and real-time information. It relies on security chiefs in these areas [and doesn’t always pursue the] facts.”

Source Yemen Times

Gruppi ribelli hanno affermato di aver sconfitto l’esercito regolare in diverse aree del Sud Kordofan, annunciando il fallimento della campagna annunciata dall’esercito sudanese il mese scorso.

The Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SFR) military spokesperson Godi Rmboi and SPLM-N official spokesperson Arnu Lodi released two statements on Monday dismissing a communique by the Sudanese army about the recapture of three areas in the western part of the Nuba Mountains.
Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) spokesperson Al-Sawarmi Khaled on Friday said the army managed to retake Trogi, Angolo, and Al-Dabkaya where are based the forces of the rebel alliance including the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement North (SPLM-N) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) .
“The joint forces of Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SPLA – North and JEM) managed to destroy and disperse eight military convoys (…) in a battle that lasted for 24 hours from 4th of Jan 2014 at 3:00 pm, to 3; 00 pm of second day of January 5th /2014” said Rmboi.
In a separate statement, Lodi said that on the same 5 January the SPLA-N fighter defeated SAF military convoys in in Timbera village in Hieban County.
He further reported that SPLA-N combatants inflicted heavy losses on the Sudanese troops in Abassya County on 4 Januray.
The “so called 1st phase of NCP regime dry season offensive completely failed”, Lodi said.
On 26 December president Omer Al-Bashir vowed to end Sudan’s rebellions pointing that a military campaign in Darfur will follow the ongoing attacks on the positions of rebel groups in South Kordofan.

Source Sudan Tribune

A court house in the south of Benghazi was damaged and two guards seriously injured in an explosion early this morning. Some reports indicate that one of the guards, named Mohamed Mansour Al-Obeidi, has died.
The explosion occurred around 4.30 am and was heard across the city.  So far there is no further information about the blast.
Benghazi North Court, in the centre of the city, has more usually been the target of militants; in the past couple of years it has suffered several attacks.

Source Libya Herald

“Following recent bombings in Beirut and other instances of violence that have occurred in Lebanon in recent months, the U.S. government strongly urges U.S. citizens in Lebanon to exercise extreme caution and to avoid hotels, western-style shopping centers, including western-style grocery chain stores, and any public or social events where U.S. citizens normally congregate, as these sites are likely targets for terrorist attacks for at least the near term,” the statement read.
“The U.S. Embassy further urges all U.S. citizens to avoid all travel to Lebanon due to safety and security concerns,” said the statement, which was also tweeted by the official embassy Twitter account.
“ U.S. citizens living and working in Lebanon should understand that they accept risks in remaining and should carefully consider those risks,” it continued. “The ability of U.S. government personnel to reach travelers to provide emergency services may be limited.”
Sunday’s cautionary notice was more specific than general warnings issued in the past, but an embassy spokeswoman emphasized that the intention was to increase awareness, not induce panic.
“I can’t comment on specific intelligence,” she told The Daily Star. “We have very good relations with Lebanese security offices and we work together.”
“We do not say there is going to be an attack,” she said, adding that the statement was jointly drafted by the embassy in Beirut and the U.S. State Department.
Regarding the singling out of hotels and Western-style establishments, the spokeswoman said: “These are places where traditionally, U.S. citizens may congregate … we want them to be vigilant when visiting these places.”
She said the statement reflected the unpredictable nature of recent violent attacks, including the bombing just over a week ago in Downtown Beirut, an area that, until recently, was considered relatively safe.
“We just want to make Americans aware that really, no place is off-limits,” she said.
The U.S. Embassy’s statement follows decisions by a number of countries, many of them in the Gulf, to renew or issue their own travel warnings. Over the weekend, the Kuwaiti Embassy called on its citizens to leave. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also asked their citizens to leave the country for their own safety.

Source Daily Star

Il portavoce dell’Esercito del Sud Sudan (SPLA), Philip Aguer, ha dichiarato che le forze ribelli, fedeli all’ex vicepresidente Riek Machar, stanno progettando un attacco contro Bor, capitale dello stato di Jonglei.
I “ribelli” dell’esercito – di etnia Nuer – hanno preso il controllo di Bor pochi giorni dopo il conflitto, scoppiato il 15 dicembre nella capitale Juba, con i membri della guardia presidenziale -di etnia Dinka – L’esercito fedele al Presidente ha ripreso il controllo di Bor il 24 dicembre.

A spokesperson for the dissident forces on Saturday said their troops briefly withdrew from Bor town for “tactical” reasons, admitting that government forces were in control.
“It is only [a matter] time for our forces to reclaim the town to prevent targeted lynching of individuals on suspensions of their loyalties”, partly reads a statement extended to Sudan Tribune.
The United Nations says that 120,000 people have been displaced and over 1,000 people killed since the fighting spread from Juba to Jonglei, as well as the oil-producing states of Unity and Upper Nile.
“We have information that forces loyal to Riek Machar are believed to be preparing a fresh offensive on Bor. We don’t know the number, but it is estimated 25,000 youths from the Lou Nuer [tribe] have been mobilised to participate in the attack”, Aguer told reporters.
South Sudan’s information minister, Michael Makuei Lueth, accused Machar of mobilising young men from his Nuer tribe to rise up against the government.
“Riek Machar has decided to mobilise the youth in the name of his tribe. This is unacceptable. He is putting in danger the lives of these innocent youth”, Lueth said in an interview on government-owned broadcasters on Saturday.
FIGHTING IN UNITY STATE
Aguer said government troops had clashed and repelled attacks by forces loyal to Machar in Unity state, where the SPLA’s state division commander defected a week ago.
The “SPLA is fighting back”, Aguer said, adding “it is the other side that is attacking us”.
East African body, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has said that negotiations will begin before the end of the year, but there were no signs that a ceasefire agreement was being observed on Saturday.
It is feared that the situation is likely to continue unabated unless regional leaders expedite the process of negotiations.
Earlier, South Sudanese vice-president James Wani said his government was ready to begin negotiations earlier than the initial period put forward by regional leaders in a bid to end the violence.
“We are ready to meet even before that. It is now up to Machar to accept the ceasefire”, said Igga.

Source Sudan Tribune

Fouad Siniora ha promesso un duro “confronto” con chi é in possesso di armi “illegittime” in Libano, in un chiaro riferimento a Hezbollah, durante la processione funebre dell’ex ministro Mohammad Shatah, che è stato sepolto al mausoleo dell’ex primo ministro Rafik Hariri . Shatah, 62 anni, è stato ucciso in un attentato con autobomba venerdì insieme ad altre sette persone nel quartiere commerciale nel centro di Beirut. L’esplosione ha ferito 70 persone.

“The March 14 coalition has decided to free the nation from the occupation of illegitimate arms so we could protect our independence and guarantee our sovereignty and civil peace,” Siniora, a former PM, said at the mausoleum in Downtown Beirut where hundreds, including government officials and politicians, flocked to the Beirut mosque to bid farwell to the veteran diplomat.
“We say to the Lebanese and the family of Mohammad Shatah: We will not surrender, back down or fear criminals, terrorists and murderers; they are the ones who should be in fear,” he added.
“They kill so they could tighten their grip and we reiterate our commitment for a Lebanon of coexistence, freedom, equality, human rights, peaceful alternation of power and respect to the Constitution,” Siniora said.
The veteran diplomat who was also former PM Saad Hariri’s senior adviser was on his way to a meeting of the March 14 coalition at Hariri’s residence in Beirut.
Seen as a moderate figure in the March 14 coalition and the Sunni community, Shatah was a former finance minister and a former ambassador to the U.S.
Hariri, who has been out of the country for over two years for security reasons, has implicitly blamed Hezbollah for Shatah’s assassination while the March 14 coalition has accused Syria and its allies in Lebanon for the killing.
In his speech at the funeral procession following prayers at the mosque, Siniora said Shatah was killed with “cold blood without shame or hesitation,” saying the perpetrators repeat their crimes thinking they will get away with it.
“They indulge in killing, destroy the economy and living conditions, and ruin Lebanon’s ties with its Arab surrounding and the world but we will not turn into killers and destroy Lebanon like you are doing,” Siniora said.
The coalition, Siniora said, rejects bullying, terrorism, extremism, and violence.
“Despite the level of arrogance you have reached and how much lies and fabrications you have disseminated, you will fade,” he added.
Shatah’s assassination was the latest among a serious of bomb attacks that have targeted several areas across the country throughout the year, killing and wounding hundreds.
Tripoli Mufti Sheikh Malek Shaar said voices of moderation will prevail in Lebanon and that a new government would be formed soon for the sake of the country’s interest.
“We will not retreat from the path of state-building and we will reject all forms of violence,” Shaar said at the mosque surrounded by PM-designate Tammam Salam and Future bloc head MP Fouad Siniora.
“Righteousness will be victorious and moderation will always prevail,” he added.
Shaar said a new Cabinet will be formed soon “to address people’s issues without any [imprudent] reactions but with wisdom.”
“The Cabinet will be formed soon without spite but consensus for the sake of the country’s interest and the security of the citizens so that Lebanon remains sovereign, free and independent and for loyalty to be exclusive to the nation,” he added.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah MP Hussein Musawi responded to accusations against the party over Shatah’s assassination, saying hasty allegations only harm stability.
“Wise people have always said that hasty accusations harm the ongoing investigation and the unified stance against the criminals,” Musawi said in a statement.
“The core problem some people have with us is that we believe there is a need to fight the Zionist germ to save our future,” he said. “We hope that those would leave us be as we face the enemy and its agent.”

Source Daily Star