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Lebanon forms government after 10-month deadlock
Lebanon forms government after 10-month deadlock (Reuters) / 16 February 2014 Prime Minister Tammam Salam hopes the new government would allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections before May. Lebanon announced a new government on Saturday, breaking a 10-month political deadlock during which spillover violence from neighbouring Syria worsened internal instability. A caretaker government has run the country since former Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigned in March as parties aligned with the Hezbollah movement and a Sunni-led rival bloc pursued a power struggle exacerbated by their support for opposing sides in Syria’s almost three-year-old civil war. “A government in the national interest was formed in a spirit of inclusivity,” new Prime Minister Tammam Salam declared on live television. He said he hoped the new government would allow Lebanon to hold presidential elections before President Michel Suleiman’s mandate expires in May and finally conduct parliamentary polls that were postponed last year due to the political impasse. “I extend my hand to all the leaders and I am relying on their wisdom to reach these goals and I call on all of them together to make concessions in the interest of our national project,” he said. Parliament designated the Sunni lawmaker as prime minister in April 2013, but he had been unable to form a cabinet for months due to rivalries between the Hezbollah-dominated March 8 bloc and the March 14 alliance, led by the Sunni Future Party. Former Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, from the March 8 bloc, becomes foreign minister. Former Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, also from March 8, takes the finance portfolio. Nouhad Machnouk, a March 14 legislator, was named interior minister. Salam said his “national interest government” had a mandate to fight mounting security problems, which he linked to Syria. “We must also deal with our complicated economic and social issues, the most important of which is the growing number of refugees from our Syrian brothers and the burdens this has placed on Lebanon,” he said. Sectarian violence has erupted sporadically in the past year, particularly in the north, and car bombings targeting both security and political targets have increased dramatically, with Hezbollah-dominated areas being the most frequent target. “We want this new government to open the doors for a complete settlement and to get the country back on the train to stability,” Finance Minister Khalil told Reuters by telephone. Salam had tried again to form a government last month, but was thwarted by a row over who would hold the energy portfolio, a ministry given extra weight by the discovery of potential gas and oil reserves off Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast. The Christian Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), a Hezbollah ally, had insisted former Energy Minister Bassil keep his post. The dispute was finally resolved with the appointment of Arthur Nazarian, from the FPM-aligned Tashnag, a small Armenian party. “The top priority of this government will be stability and security, and also to improve people’s daily life, and I think one of the essential things that is important to all Lebanese is the petroleum issue,” Bassil told a news conference. Salam had earlier made a deal with political parties that requires all cabinet roles to be rotated among different religious groups in each new government, so that no sect can indefinitely dominate a particular ministry. Lebanon, still struggling to recover from its own 1975-1990 civil war, has found its internal rifts aggravated by the conflict in Syria, whose sectarian divisions mirror its own. The Future party supports the anti-Assad uprising led largely by the Syria’s Sunni majority. Syria’s war has stoked a region-wide struggle for influence involving Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled states against Iran and its Shia allies in Lebanon and Iraq. The Lebanese cabinet deal could signal that those powers want to stem the sectarian violence convulsing Syria and rippling across Lebanon, Iraq and other countries. In a televised speech on Friday, Future party head Saad Hariri, a former prime minister who threw his weight behind a unity government with March 8 last month, vowed to tackle sectarian radicalism within his own Sunni sect. He also called on Hezbollah to pull its forces out Syria to prevent a “sectarian holocaust” in Lebanon. For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Rise in Internet use reason for decline in family time
Rise in Internet use reason for decline in family time Staff Reporter / 16 February 2014 Expats suggest parents must try and spend at least the weekends with their kids, teenagers must try and give time to their parents. For Indian national Shreya Venkatesh (14) and her mother Kalpana Venkatesh, the idea of not spending enough time with each other is something of an alien concept. The Venkatesh family has been living in the UAE for the last 10 years. “I have two kids and I am very much involved with them. I always try and spend as much time as I can with them. One of the reasons I decided to become a stay-at-home mom, is so that I can pay attention to the needs of the kids,” said Kalpana. In response to her mother’s comment, Shreya said: “I think children and parents must make it a point to spend at least one entire day a week with each other. I have a lot of my friends whose parents work outside and parents lock their gadgets up. They don’t have any other options, except study at home.” Parents in the UAE are spending much less time together with their kids compared to when they were growing up, according to a survey of more than 1,200 expats conducted by 999 Magazine. Conducted in January, the survey points out that on an average, expat parents in the UAE spend just 50 minutes of quality time together with their children on a normal working day, with a slight improvement on Thursday (75 minutes). Some of the reasons include increased workloads of parents and children, longer commuting time, increased time spent watching TV and being on the Internet. The poll shows that the UAE’s expat families have a little more than 11 hours together in total each week, with weekends the best time for family bonding. Khaleej Times caught up with a few expatriate residents in Dubai, and all of them are of the opinion that parents must try and spend at least the weekends with their kids. They added that teenagers must try and give time to their parents, as well. Student and Pakistani national Maryam Waris (21) said: “With the state that the economy is in, parents have no other choice except work. But weekends can be kept aside for the family. Growing up, I didn’t face much of a problem with my folks not giving me enough time, but kids must also take the initiative to spend time with their parents, especially teenagers.” Another Pakistani national Mubeena Waris (23) said: “I think that off late, because parents don’t spend enough time with children, a lot of children have low emotional maturity. Parents must take care of their kids and must be careful not to drag them into their personal problems like fights between parents.” Twenty-four-year old insurance consultant Rebecca Pinto said: “I used to spend time with my parents every weekend and even though my dad used to be away for work while I was growing up, I never got the feeling of being left out of anything. I used to spend a lot of time with my extended family, like my grandparents as well. I think off late there is a trend where kids are a little emotionally stunted because they don’t spend sufficient time with parents.” Janeiro D’souza (23) said: “Weekends were strictly family time. We would see to that we have lunch or dinner with the family. It is the parent’s duty to spend time with the child, and if they can’t do it, then it is very unfortunate. If the parent does not do so, there is a high tendency for the child to drift away.” The survey further stated that even when families get together, more than six in 10 parents (62 per cent) said the quality of time spent is not great as most of it is spent either in front of the TV, doing homework, reading, playing computer games or some other tasks that don’t qualify as quality family time. Experts are warning against the dangers of not spending enough quality time with children, maintaining that family time can be ‘therapeutic’ and acts as a deterrent to potential serious problems. The decline in family time in the past few years coincides with a rise in Internet use and the popularity of social networks. dhanusha@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
Rare maps, manuscripts and books on show
Rare maps, manuscripts and books on show Lily B. Libo-on / 13 February 2014 Gulf studies centre exhibiting unique collection as part of fourth Sharjah Light Festival. For the first time, a unique collection of centuries-old cartograph, rare maps and history is in spotlight at the Dr Sultan Al Qasimi Centre of Gulf Studies during the fourth Sharjah Light Festival (SLF) that is simultaneously taking place in 12 locations from 7.30pm to 11pm and until midnight on weekends until February 14. The festival started on February 6. The Sharjah Light Festival show on Dr Sultan Al Qasimi Centre of Gulf Studies. — KT photos by M. Sajjad The 12 sites under special presentation of lights, colour and melody, offering a peek into the region’s history, are Dr Sultan Al Qasimi Centre of Gulf Studies, Sharjah City Municipality, Kuwait Square, Cultural Palace Square, King Faisal Mosque, Al Taqwa (Al Majaz) Mosque, Al Majaz Waterfront, Central Souq, Al Qasba (Internal façade), Hamza Bin Abdul Mottaleb Mosque in Kalba, Dr Shaikh Rashid Ahmed Al Qasimi Mosque in Dibba Al Hisn and Omar Bin Al Khattab Mosque in Khorfakkan. Khalid Jasim Al Midfa, Director-General of the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority (SCTDA), said the show at Dr Sultan Al Qassimi Centre of Gulf Studies is particularly special as it highlights the centre’s unique collection of rare maps, manuscripts and books that are several centuries old as well as some stunning specimens and models of European and Arabian ships that played a pioneering role in the maritime history of the region. He said the history of the region and world is illuminated on the façade, as the dome becomes a luminous sphere representing the other half of what exists inside the centre. Dr Sultan Al Qasimi Centre of the Gulf Studies boasts a rich treasure from the personal collection of His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, which had been collected over the decades. With its theme “Capital of Islamic Culture” this year, SLF through its magic of lighting and technology narrates the story of Sharjah’s heritage and architecture and displays the emirate’s beautiful Islamic architecture as well as a modern urban structure that is ideal for the celebration of the festival of lights. Al Midfa said that SCTDA, which is hosting the festival for the fourth year, has been keen to add new, outstanding locations and historical landmarks to the SLF celebrations each year to highlight the emirate’s distinct Arab and Islamic heritage and legacy. Every SLF edition, internationally-acclaimed artists from around the world are invited to join the festival to add special creative touch to bring out the aesthetic grandeur of Sharjah’s historical buildings and modern landscape. lily@khaleejtimes.com For more news from Khaleej Times, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/khaleejtimes , and on Twitter at @khaleejtimes Continue reading
