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Egypt tycoon to be hung for Lebanese pop star

CAIRO
A Cairo court on Thursday confirmed a death sentence against an Egyptian tycoon and an ex-cop hitman for the murder of a Lebanese pop star after the verdict was approved by Egypt's top cleric.

Judge Al-Mohammedi Qunsua confirmed sentences of death by hanging for Hisham Talaat Mustafa and retired policeman Mohsen al-Sukkari for respectively ordering and carrying out the killing of Suzanne Tamim in a luxury Dubai apartment in July 2008.
The court initially issued its verdict in May, but in line with Islamic law, the death sentence had to be approved by the country's mufti.
The defendants were escorted out of the courtroom after the verdict which was greeted calmly by their friends and relatives in sharp contrast to scenes of screaming and fainting during the May hearing.
Since his appointment as mufti in 2003, Sheikh Ali Gomaa has received 480 requests to review death sentences and only refused two of them.
Executions are carried out in secrecy in Egypt, after which a black flag is hoisted over the prison.
Mustafa and Sukkari can still appeal the decision, a justice official said.
Mustafa, a stalwart of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party, was found guilty in May of paying Sukkari two million dollars to cut the throat of his one-time lover at the Dubai flat she bought months before the murder.
The case with its mix of wealth, show business and politics has gripped Egypt, where powerful businessmen are rarely seen to face justice.
Mustafa ordered the killing after Tamim -- who had previously married two men in the music business -- tied the knot with Iraqi kick-boxing champion Riyad al-Azzawi, whom she met at London's renowned Harrods department store.
Sukkari followed Tamim, 30, to Dubai to stake out her flat. He then bought a knife, went to the apartment saying he worked for the building owner and killed her when she opened the door.
Mustafa, 49, was arrested in September and had his immunity lifted as a member of the Shura Council, Egypt's upper house of parliament.
He ran the Talaat Mustafa Group real estate conglomerate that is worth several billion dollars until his arrest, when the group appointed his brother Tareq Talaat Mustafa chairman of the board and chief executive officer.
Mustafa is said to be close to President Hosni Mubarak's son and heir apparent, Gamal.
Tamim's life had been marred by domestic disputes, including a rocky marriage with her second husband and agent, who had accused her in 2004 of being behind an attempt on his life.
Egyptian media said Tamim had a three-year relationship with Mustafa that ended several months before her death.
Sukkari, who headed security at one of Mustafa's hotels, was arrested after Dubai police found his footprint at the crime scene, found the shop where he bought his shoes and tracked him through his credit card.
Evidence presented by the prosecution included recordings of conversations between Mustafa and Sukkari, taped by the latter, a former member of Egypt's feared state security services.

Hariri poised to be designated Lebanon PM

BEIRUT - Saad Hariri was poised to be designated Lebanon's new prime minister after his Western-backed party, which along with its allies holds the majority in parliament, picked him for the post on Friday.

"We have chosen as our candidate for the premiership the head of the Future Movement, Saad Hariri," party official and MP Samir el-Jisr told reporters after holding consultations with President Michel Sleiman.
Sleiman is expected to officially designate Hariri on Saturday.
Hariri's March 14 alliance won 71 seats in this month's parliamentary election against 57 won by a coalition led by the militant group Hezbollah, which is supported by Syria and Iran.
The other parties that are part of Hariri's alliance are expected to voice their support for his nomination as premier during consultations due to be wrapped up on Saturday.
Hezbollah, whose leader Hassan Nasrallah met with Hariri late Thursday, will continue cooperating with an "open mind" in the discussions on naming a new premier, the head of the group's parliamentary bloc Mohamed Raad said.
Hezbollah and its allies want a continuation of the government of national unity formed last year after deadly clashes between the rival blocs brought Lebanon to the brink of a new civil war.
But Hariri's majority bloc insists it will only accept a unity government if the Hezbollah alliance surrenders the veto powers it enjoys in the outgoing cabinet.
Hariri, 39, is the son and political heir of slain ex-premier Rafiq Hariri who was killed in a massive bombing in 2005 that forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after a 29-year presence.

Former President Bill Clinton Delivers Keynote Remarks at ADC Convention

Washington, DC : The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is pleased to have President Bill Clinton, Founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, accept the ADC Global Leadership Award and deliver keynote remarks at this year’s Saturday Evening Gala during the annual National Convention.

William Jefferson Clinton was elected President of the United States in 1992, and again in 1996, the first Democratic president to be awarded a second term in six decades. Under his leadership, the United States enjoyed the strongest economy in a generation and the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. His administration resulted in moving the nation from record deficits to record surpluses; the creation of over 22 million jobs; low levels of unemployment, poverty and crime; and the highest homeownership and college enrollment rates in history.

After leaving the White House, President Clinton established the William J. Clinton Foundation with the mission to strengthen the capacity of people in the United States and throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence. Today the Foundation is working to improve lives through several initiatives, including the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative which is helping 2 million people living with HIV/AIDS access lifesaving drugs. Other initiatives are applying a business-oriented approach worldwide to fight climate change and develop sustainable economic growth in Africa and Latin America. As a project of the Foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative brings together global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing issues.

Carter: US could lift Syria sanctions

DAMASCUS - Former US president Jimmy Carter said on Thursday he believed the new US administration of President Barack Obama could lift sanctions on Syria and upgrade ties by sending an ambassador to Damascus.

"I think the United States will respond... to any positive steps that Syria takes," Carter said at a press conference after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.
"There's no doubt on my mind that the American president wants to have full and cooperative relationships with Syria, and that involves the lifting of sanctions in the future and that also involves the appointment of an American ambassador to Damascus," he said.
Carter, who is in Syria ahead of a visit by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell on Friday and Saturday, said he is also due to have talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on his peace mission.
"I hope that we can see a rapid renewal of peace talks between Israel and Syria concerning the withdrawal of Israel of the Golan Heights," he said, referring to the strategic Syrian which Israel occupied in 1967 after it waged war on its neighbors.
The Obama administration has been cautiously pursuing diplomatic engagement with Syria.
Washington first imposed economic sanctions on Syria in 2004 over charges that it was a state sponsor of terrorism and they have been extended several times since.
Ties deteriorated after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005 which was blamed on Syria.
Washington recalled its ambassador in February 2005 following Hariri's murder and no decision has yet been taken on his replacement.
Damascus has denied any involvement in Hariri's killing, but withdrew its troops from Lebanon two months later.
Carter also urged reconciliation between Hamas and the rival Fatah movement headed by Mahmud Abbas "so they can have a stable foundation on which they can negotiate effectively with the Israeli leaders."
"I don't believe there is any possibility to have peace between Palestinians and Israel unless Hamas is involved directly, with Fatah."
His comments came shortly before he met with the group's Syrian-based leader, Khaled Mashaal.
Carter met with Mashaal twice under the Bush administration, but this was his first meeting under the Obama administration.

Iraq says arrested Sunni MP killer

BAGHDAD - Iraqi police arrested a man on Wednesday over the killing of a senior Sunni Muslim MP and human rights advocate who was shot dead in a Baghdad mosque last week.
Obaidi was killed one day after calling for an independent inquiry into torture and abuse of detainees in Iraq's prisons.
The arrest came after intelligence efforts led police to a house in the western Baghdad neighborhood of Ghazaliyah, not far from Al-Yarmuk where Harith al-Obaidi was assassinated on Friday.
"We received information from one of our sources in Ghazaliyah that the group involved in the assassination were in one house," said Brigadier General Noaman Dakhil Jawad, the commander of the police's rapid intervention forces in Baghdad.
"We prepared our forces, we raided the house, and we arrested the criminal Ahmed Abed Oweiyed."
Jawad said Oweiyed was alleged to be the deputy commander of Al-Qaeda's military wing in Iraq.
"Through intelligence efforts, we tracked down the criminal who masterminded the killing," he said.
A teenage gunman shot dead Obaidi and his bodyguard in Al-Shawaf mosque in the predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Al-Yarmuk after Obaidi led worship on the weekly Muslim day of prayer.
The gunman then killed three others and wounded 12 by throwing a grenade into a crowd, before killing himself.
Obaidi, born in 1966, was deputy chairman of parliament's human rights committee and head of the biggest Sunni bloc in parliament, the National Concord Front.
The day before he was killed, he called for an independent inquiry into torture and abuse of detainees in Iraq's prisons.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki led mourners at Obaidi's funeral on Saturday, while Vice President Adel Abdel Mahdi, a Shiite Muslim like Maliki, described the murder as a "brutal crime."
Iraq has seen several political assassinations since the US-led invasion of March 2003.
In February, Islamic Party official Samir Safwat was killed outside his Baghdad home by gunmen in a car. A month earlier, two candidates standing in provincial elections held on January 31 were killed in Baghdad and Mosul.
The US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 is viewed by critics as an 'act of aggression' that violated international law.

Obama praises ‘wisdom’ of Saudi monarch

RIYADH
RIYADH - US President Barack Obama launched a Middle East mission on

Wednesday to reach out to Muslims but was greeted by threats from Osama bin Laden who accused him of sowing fresh seeds of hatred.
Obama arrived in Riyadh to a red-carpet welcome and a kiss on both cheeks from Saudi King Abdullah, a key regional power broker who also serves as protector of the two holiest sites in Islam.
But minutes after Air Force One touched down, Al-Jazeera television aired a combative new audiotape from the fugitive Al-Qaeda chief.
Joining a battle for the hearts and minds of the Arab world, bin Laden accused Obama of perpetuating former president George W. Bush's policies of "antagonising Muslims."
"Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred against America," said the Saudi-born bin Laden whose network carried out the September 11 attacks in 2001.
"Let the American people prepare to harvest the crops of what the leaders of the White House plant in the next years and decades."
Obama and King Abdullah held talks at the monarch's sprawling farm outside Riyadh in the president's first foray into tricky personal diplomacy in the region, after a flurry of talks with Middle East leaders in Washington.
The president praised the "wisdom and graciousness" of his host, saying he was confident of progress on a host of issues.
"I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty's counsel," Obama said.
The king presented Obama with a gold medallion, and called him a "distinguished man who deserves to be in this position."
On Thursday, Obama will travel to Egypt, another pillar of the Arab world, to deliver a personal appeal for reconciliation to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, and hold his first talks with President Hosni Mubarak.