There’s a bit more coming in from Associated Press on the Lebanese situation:
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — President Emile Lahoud said Friday that Lebanon is in a “state of emergency” and ordered the army to take over security powers, hours before he was stepping down without a successor and leaving the divided country in a political vacuum. The government rejected the move, raising tensions.
Lahoud’s announcement immediately raised further confusion amid Lebanon’s political turmoil, which many fear could explode into violence between supporters of the government and the opposition.
The president cannot declare a state of emergency without approval from the government, but Lahoud’s spokesman said the Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora is considered unconstitutional.
“The president of the republic declares that because a state of emergency exists all over the land as of Nov. 24, 2007, the army is instructed to preserve security all over the Lebanese territory and places all the armed forces at its disposal,” presidential spokesman Rafik Shalala said.
The statement instructed the army “to submit the measures it takes to the Cabinet once there is one that is constitutional,” he said.
Saniora’s government, which has been meeting in Beirut as the announcement was made at the presidential palace in suburban Baabda, rejected the announcement.
“It has no value and is unconstitutional and consequently it is considered as if it was not issued,” said a government spokesman, who asked not to be identified because an official announcement has not yet been made by the prime minister.
The spokesman said the constitution stipulates that the Cabinet – not the president – has the authority to declare a state or emergency and to give the army the authority to take over security.
“Any decision not issued by the Cabinet has no constitutional value,” the spokesman told The Associated Press.
With the Prime Minister and his cabinet declaring this emergency rule unconstitional, this could get pretty bad, pretty fast. Lebanon is a cultural melting pot, still recovering from a long and unpleasant civil war. I’ll keep looking for info.
Under Lebanon’s unwritten constitutional agreement the presidency is earmarked for a Maronite Catholic, the prime minister’s post is reserved for a Sunni Muslim and the parliament speaker’s post for a Shiite Muslim. The civil war that stretched from 1975 to 1990 was primarily fought on ethnic and religious lines, which is the reason for such a power sharing agreement.
That the Middle East’s only christian leader has declared emergency law over the objections of his islamic Prime Minister does not look good. Hezbollah have yet to respond, so far as I can tell, but they are unlikely to take this well.
8:51 pm GMT: I am slightly chastened by Mustapha of Beirut Spring
An important clarification for outside observers who are overstating Mr. Lahhoud’s statement.
The outgoing Lebanese President did NOT declare a state of Emergency or Martial law. The statement that caused the confusion was this: “the threats that require a state of emergency prevail over Lebanonâ€.
What Mr. Lahhoud effectively did was assign the Army to take care of the security on the ground. A redundant procedure given that the Seniora government had already done that.
If anything, the statement by the soon-to-be ex-President reveals his incapacity to do anything more serious. All comparisons with Pakistan, Jordan, or Egypt, where the Army heavy-handedly represses the people, should immediately be removed from your heads.
I don’t know much about Mustapha, or his general angle on things, but even though he no longer lives in Lebanon he certainly understand the dynamics better than I, so I’d better pay some attention to what he says. It could be we’re getting all wound up over nothing, though I think perhaps the President could use a refresher course in using temperate language, if that be the case.
I thought having the military in charge of internal security was an important part of what martial law is. I wonder if a curfew has been enacted. I guess the only way to find out whether this is a nothing story, or something critical for Lebanon, is to wait and see. I still have a very bad feeling about it all.
Just a heads up. There’s a lot of chatter in the last few minutes about an AP newswire received by actual news organisations. ie, not me.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud declared a state of emergency and ordered the army to take control less than four hours before his terms ended. (AP)
I’m trying to find something a bit more concrete, but if it’s true it is absolutely dreadful news. Why was emergency rule needed? Will Israel or Syria use it as a pretext for invasion?
Theres nothing on the news sites or TV yet, other than a few just quoting that wire. Lets hope it’s just a hoax or mistake.
7:10 pm GMT. A bit more information coming in.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT
President Emile Lahoud has ordered the army today to take over security powers in Lebanon, saying the country is in a state of emergency.
That came hours before Lahoud was stepping down without a successor and leaving the divided country in a political vacuum.
The announcement immediately raised further questions amid Lebanon’s political turmoil.
The president cannot declare a state of emergency without approval from the government, but Lahoud’s spokesman said the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora is considered unconstitutional.
Presidential spokesman Rafik Shalala says the army is instructed to preserve security all over the Lebanese territory and places all the armed forces at its disposal.
There was no immediate reaction from the Saniora government, which has been meeting at government house in Beirut as the announcement was made at the presidential palace in suburban Baabda.
I wonder how the White House will respond, given their generally forgiving response to Musharraf’s emergency rule. Of course, Lebanon isn’t a close ally in the War on Terror, so we can expect some stern words. I’m still looking for a bit more info on why martial law has been seen to be necessary. Has there been an attempted coup?
COLFAX TOWNSHIP — A man says he shot a neighbor’s cow after mistaking it for a coyote. Authorities and the owner are skeptical.
The undersheriff in northern Michigan’s Benzie County says he doesn’t see how anyone could confuse a 1,400-pound pregnant cow with a coyote, which typically weighs between 20 and 45 pounds.
And anyway, shooting coyotes is illegal during firearm deer season. Authorities asked the county prosecutor to bring charges against the shooter.
A 42-year-old man told authorities he was out to shoot coyotes near his Colfax Township home Saturday when he killed the cow, Undersheriff Rory Heckman told the Traverse City Record-Eagle for a story published Wednesday. Heckman said the man then tried to drag the cow home.
“The part of his story he his holding to is he shot at a coyote. I don’t know how he hit a several-thousand pound cow mistaking it for a coyote,†Heckman said.
The cow was named Hannah and had wandered away from its farm, about 205 miles northwest of Detroit.
“My husband thought that he should go through some therapy looking at repeated pictures of cows and coyotes because they look nothing alike. It didn’t make any sense to me,†said owner DeAnn Mosher.
I have a theory….
I know. Too much video news recently. I’ll try to write something a bit more substantial over the weekend! Or do you like videos. Let me know!
The Sun, Mirror, and just about every other UK paper report:
England crash out of Euro 2008!!! ZOMG!!! Shoot McClaren into the sun!!!
Just because we invented the game doesn’t give us a timeless right to be in tournaments, if we can’t be bothered to assemble a team that doesn’t suck. Premier football in Britain, and increasingly the rest of the world is so flush with money that the players are paid such incredible fees that I’m not surprised they don’t really care all that much about victory. So, you drop out of the cup. You can just go back to your mansion (either of them), sportscars, model wife, or yacht. How can you be 100% passionate about an individual game, if you can afford to do or buy anything you want? Maybe some of them do still devote themselves to the beautiful game all the way, but to many others I suspect its like a lot of us view our own jobs. An inconvenience necessary to being paid. Like us, bonuses are a lot more inspiring to extreme efforts than your regular salary, so maybe if we slashed top rank footballers salaries by, hmm, 90% perhaps, and increased bonuses for playing well, we might do a bit better. With ever-rising ticket prices for attanding a match, we deserve players that care enough to play their hearts out.
If I won the lottery, I’d probably quit my job. Team England footballers HAVE won the lottery. And have quit trying.
Terry’s acknowledgement that the travelling fans had paid good money to be present was as hollow as his team’s eventual win. It’s a stock response for players on a losing team to give a token nod to the financial sacrifices made by disappointed fans, but their sincerity is questionable when most of them have long since lost any appreciation of the value of the few hundred quid it costs supporters to travel abroad. If a football fan pays a week’s wages to stand topless in the wind and rain watching his team look clueless against a ski resort, then that football fan is perfectly entitled to voice his outrage in the strongest terms possible whenever he likes.
While watching mindblowingly rich people running around on a field for 90 minutes can be fascinating, I’ll stick to my true love: Watching comfortably well-off people standing around in a field for four days.
Many people are beginning to consider a 4 dollar coffee an unnecessary luxury. Food costs are up. Fuel is soaring. Mortgages, lets just not talk about. It seems that as a society many of us have reached our credit limits, and often our breaking points, and are looking for ways to cut back our expenditure. This is particularly difficult with the holidays coming up, and I’m sure a lot of folks, like me, are going to have to keep a tight grip on their budgets.
To get some sort of handle on how people are feeling out there, please take part in my exceptionally unscientific poll. Don’t worry, it’s totally anonymous, but if you have anything extra to add about the situation in your neighbourhood, I’d be very interested to read it in the comments.
Update: Iwas using a free poll from Bravenet, and it seems it was causing annoying popup ads, which was certainly not the goal. This one is a WordPress plugin, so should behave itself. I transferred the previous votes, so need to vote again.
Once upon a time, there was a gentleman by the name of Professor Butterburger. Professor Butterburger liked sitting on things. Hard. When he moved into the town of Jollyton, everybody had been extremely pleased to have such a learned man join their community, and he had received countless invitations to take tea. His visits would go something like this :
“Why, Professor Butterburger! How lovely to see you today. Have a seat while I make us a nice cup of tea, and maybe a spot of cake.”
“Why thankyou! Don’t mind if I do!”, he would say, targetting the nearest chair, and collapsing upon it with as much force as he could muster. KRUMPH!
“Oh my! Dear Professor, are you hurt? I am so terribly sorry.”
“My goodness. How on EARTH did that happen? It must have been broken already!”
“Yes, I suppose it must have been. Please, you must be quite shaken up. Do sit down.” KRUMPH!
“My chair!”
“My bottom! You must have woodworm! I cannot think of any other possible explanation. Let me test your other chairs.”
“No! I mean, I just remembered that I have a terribly important appointment that I really cannot be late for. I’m afraid we shall have to take tea another day.”
“Oh dear, that is a shame. Well, I bid you good day!”, and he would leave, feeling extremely pleased with himself. Upon reaching home, he would write the details of his sitting in his sitting journal, and mark himself for style, strength, and quantity.
After a time, it will not surprise you to hear that people stopped inviting him to visit.
