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Lebanon

Ten Dead, More Than 100 Wounded As Syria Crisis Spills Over To Lebanon

REUTERS, SKY NEWS,BBC (UK), AL JAZEERA (UAE)

Worldcrunch

Sectarian violence in Lebanon escalated Tuesday night, claiming at least 10 lives, Reuters reports, as the Syrian crisis spills over to its neighbors.

Old tensions between Sunni Muslims and Alawites in Lebanon's second city Tripoli have flared up due to the continuing Syrian conflict, which has seen Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority clash with the mainly Sunni opposition.

The Lebanese government is attempting to quell the violence between the Sunni district of Bab al-Tabbaneh and the neighboring Alawite district Jebel Mohsen.

The BBC reported that Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni, urged citizens "not to allow anyone to transform you into ammunition for someone else's war."

Referring to the Syrian crisis, he said: "We have repeatedly warned against being drawn into this blaze that has spread around Lebanon."

Over 100 people have been wounded since violence erupted Monday night. According to Reuters, rocket-fuelled grenades shook the city in the small hours of Wednesday morning.

Al Jazeera reports that a Lebanese Shia clan last week kidnapped at least 23 Sunni Muslims and a Turkish businessman in retaliation to the Free Syrian Army's kidnapping of one of the clansmen.

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Economy

Lex Tusk? How Poland’s Controversial "Russian Influence" Law Will Subvert Democracy

The new “lex Tusk” includes language about companies and their management. But is this likely to be a fair investigation into breaking sanctions on Russia, or a political witch-hunt in the business sphere?

Photo of President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda

Piotr Miaczynski, Leszek Kostrzewski

-Analysis-

WARSAW — Poland’s new Commission for investigating Russian influence, which President Andrzej Duda signed into law on Monday, will be able to summon representatives of any company for inquiry. It has sparked a major controversy in Polish politics, as political opponents of the government warn that the Commission has been given near absolute power to investigate and punish any citizen, business or organization.

And opposition politicians are expected to be high on the list of would-be suspects, starting with Donald Tusk, who is challenging the ruling PiS government to return to the presidency next fall. For that reason, it has been sardonically dubbed: Lex Tusk.

University of Warsaw law professor Michal Romanowski notes that the interests of any firm can be considered favorable to Russia. “These are instruments which the likes of Putin and Orban would not be ashamed of," Romanowski said.

The law on the Commission for examining Russian influences has "atomic" prerogatives sewn into it. Nine members of the Commission with the rank of secretary of state will be able to summon virtually anyone, with the powers of severe punishment.

Under the new law, these Commissioners will become arbiters of nearly absolute power, and will be able to use the resources of nearly any organ of the state, including the secret services, in order to demand access to every available document. They will be able to prosecute people for acts which were not prohibited at the time they were committed.

Their prerogatives are broader than that of the President or the Prime Minister, wider than those of any court. And there is virtually no oversight over their actions.

Nobody can feel safe. This includes companies, their management, lawyers, journalists, and trade unionists.

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