Washington D.C., U.S.A. — Survivors of Iran-backed bombings in Beirut in 1983, at the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, and families who lost loved ones in these attacks praised the House and Senate for coming to agreement on an Iran sanctions bill, especially for including language that clarifies and strengthens current law governing collection of court awarded judgments against Iran for its role in the two terrorist events.

The survivors and families from across the United States said they are now closer to being able to hold Iran responsible for murdering 241 American service men in Beirut and 19 at the Khobar Towers and for maiming many others at both locations.

“This legislation is a major step in making sure that Iran understands that it will have to face responsibility for killing and injuring Americans. No legislation or legal judgment can repair the awful damage Iran did to all of our families, but at least we can all know that our country stands behind us in seeking justice forIran’s murderous rampages,” said Lynn Smith Derbyshire National Spokesperson for the Beirut Families and whose brother, Marine Captain Vincent Smith, was killed in the bombing.

The American victims of Iranian terrorism groups commended Congress for taking a strong stand in an array of sanctions areas. They said they were particularly grateful to the Senate Banking Committee, especially Senators Robert Menendez (D-NY) and Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL); the House Foreign Affairs Committee; especially the Chair, Representative Ileana Ross-Lehtinen (R-FL); the House Financial Services Committee and Chair, Spencer Bachus; the House Judiciary Committee and Chair, Lamar Smith(R-TX); and Representative Robert Turner (R-NY) as well as the tireless efforts of House and Senate staffers for their collective efforts in assuring that provisions that will make it easier to make Iran pay for its terrorism were included in the omnibus bill.

The groups urged expeditious passage of a final bill and expressed hopes that President Obama will sign it into law promptly.

Image Courtesy of    Official U.S. Air Force

The article Beirut and Khobar Bombing Victims Praise Iran Sanctions Bill appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

On June 22, the second day of the Full Hit Of Summer Festival took place in Vienna, Austria. The festival was organized by PSI2 music; it took place in the cozy venue of Arena, located in the city center. The place, which features an outdoor stage along with three buildings offering recreational areas, was packed.

The festival took place on June 20 and June 22. The first day saw a mix of Viennese and international bands performing, with Eagles of Death Metal as headliners. Beirut, the folk band coming from Santa Fe, New Mexico, headlined the second and final day of the festival. A thrilling crowd was longing the performance, and got completely caught into a magical atmosphere created by the band, as soon as the performance started. The day also saw the performances of Austrian multi-instrumentalist Matthias Frey, performing as Sweet Sweet Moon, of singer-songwriter Kurt Vile, and folk musician M Ward.

First time ever in Vienna for Beirut, as Zachary Francis Condon, frontman and founder of the Beirut project, told the audience. Certainly an excellent first time. The performance started at about 9:30 p.m. and went on for something more than one hour. There was not much interaction between the band and the audience in terms of talking, but there certainly was a very strong connection created by the performance and the excitement showed by the crowd.

The band went through its discography, performing several of the most famous hits, such as ‘Postcards From Italy.’ The members showed a level of maturity in terms of live performance, which can only be found in exceptional cases. Multi-instrumentalist Zachary Francis Condon sang, played and shook to the music getting completely into the soul of the show, and bringing the audience with him.

During the entire performance, Condon and the band also showed great humility, which made an already delicate performance even tenderer. The Balkan sonorities that characterize Beirut’s music, created a groovy rhythm that aroused the crowd. The majesty of the instruments that melted together created an inspiring and enchanted sound that seemed to reach and completely unify with the energetic nucleus of the concert attendees.

The band was able to serve the audience a cup full of some of the beautiful feelings that music and live performances can give. With the sole expression of music, the band was able to make the attendees leave the concert with the feeling they had just been loved very much.

Image Courtesy of  Beirut

The article Beirut Brings Magic to The Full Hit Of Summer appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Beirut, the folk-rock band that was raised from the idea of Zachary Francis Condon, will tour for the entire summer. Beirut started as Condon’s solo music project, growing then into a band during the development of the first band’s album ‘Gulag Orkestar,’ released in 2006.

Starting at the end of May in the State of Washington, Beirut will tour the U.S., Canada and Europe, to satisfy as many fans as possible. The band will touch parks, arenas, theaters and festivals, such as the Full Hit of Summer Festival in Vienna, Austria, and the Calgary Folk Music Festival in Canada.

The band is currently promoting its latest album, released in 2011 via Pompeii Records, ‘The Rip Tide,’ which marked a line of change for Beirut. ‘Gulag Orkestar’ was the product of the European, and mainly Balkan, influences that Zachary Francis Condon acquired during his time spent in Europe, after dropping out of school at the age of sixteen.

When back in the U.S., he started working on the project with the help of external musicians, such as Jeremy Barnes (Neutral Milk Hotel, A Hawk and a Hacksaw) and Heather Trost (A Hawk and a Hacksaw), who joined the band at the time.

This kind of folk influence also characterizes Beirut’s second album ‘The Flying Club Cup,’ released in 2007, which, though, presents more French traits. ‘The Rip Tide’ maintains the roots of the band’s sound and does not betray the folk soul of it, but it takes a step forward in experimenting, creating, out of what was an already exceptional sound, a more mature and complete defining style.

‘The Rip Tide’ mixes the European/Balkan sentiment with the classic American sonorities, resulting in an unmatched piece of craft regarding the development of music styles.

According to fans, Beirut’s live performances manage to recreate on stage the same graceful and deep experience that the albums give the listener, enriching it with the live experience emotions; summing this to the greatness of the latest and the previous albums, Beirut’s concerts are surely a must-attend for this summer.

Here the complete list of Beirut’s live performances:

5/27 Sasquatch, The Gorge, WA
5/31 Primavera, Barcelona, Spain
6/02 Field Day 2012, Victoria Park, UK
6/04 Forbidden Fruit Festival, Dublin, Ireland
6/22 Full Hit Of Summer Festival – Arena, Vienna, Austria
6/23 Southside, Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany
6/24 Hurricane, Sheessel, Germany
6/26 Hove Festival, Arendal, NO
6/27 Train, Aarhus, Denmark
6/29 Rock Werchter, Werchter, Belgium
6/30 Open Source Festival, Dusseldorf, Germany
7/13 Quebec City Intl Summer Festival, Quebec City, QC
7/16 Metropolis Theatre, Montreal QC
7/17 Metroplois Theatre, Montreal
7/19 The Sound Academy, Toronto
7/21 The Cabooze, Minneapolis, MN
7/23 The Burton Cummings Theatre, Winnipeg, Canada
7/25 Edmonton Event Centre, Edmonton, Canada
7/26 Calgary Folk Music Festival, Calgary, AB, Canada
7/28 Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, Canada
8/28 House of Blues Boston, 15 Lansdown Street Boston, MA
8/29 Rumsey Playfield, Central Park, 72nd and 5th Avenue New York, NY
9/11 Barrowlands, Glasgow, Uk
9/12 Academy, Leeds, UK
9/14 Hammersmith HMV Apollo, London, UK
9/18 TonHalle, Munich, Germany
9/19 Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany
9/21 Turkcell Kurucesme Arena, Istanbul, Turkey

Image Courtesy of   http://www.siluh.com

The article Beirut’s Tour Will Charm the 2012 Summer appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Over 800 participants, representing more than 120 countries and civil society campaigners, arrived in Beirut to partake in the Second Meeting of States Parties (2 MSP) to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The conference commenced on Sep. 13 after H.E Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of the Lebanese Republic Adnan Mansour was elected as President of the 2MSP, and was composed of 8 plenary meetings.

Lebanon hosted the conference because it is a strong witness to the devastating effects of cluster munitions that were dropped by the Israelis in the 2006 war. According to the United Nations, Israel fired more than four million cluster bombs over South Lebanon during the last 72 hours of the war. Of those, up to one million cluster munitions failed to explode and continue to pose a deadly threat to civilians to this day. Since the ceasefire on 14 August, 2006, more than 400 people have been killed or injured by cluster munitions. Of those casualties, 90 percent were civilians — one-third being children.

Lebanon’s experience was a significant milestone in the movement to ban cluster munitions. The Israeli use of cluster munitions in Southern Lebanon in 2006 triggered the “Oslo Process,” which resulted in the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions.

According to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs: “The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) prohibits all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of Cluster Munitions.”

Over the course of four days, delegates of both signatory and non-signatory states came to discuss several key points regarding the convention: universalization of the convention, destruction of stock piles and storages, clearance of contaminated lands, and victim assistance.

During the meeting, countries explained their progress with regards to their commitment to the treaty obligations. According the Cluster Munitions Coalition (CMC) the most important statements at the conference were:

• Slovenia’s announcement that it has fully destroyed its stockpile of cluster munitions under the eight year deadline.
• Colombia expressing that with its first participation in the conference (it was an observer in the 1MSP), it has cleared its cluster munitions stockpiles and is ready to help other countries.
• The UK and Germany announcing that they have destroyed over 60% of their stockpiles.
• The UK announcing that it will raise its 30 million GBP fund dedicated to clearing cluster munitions, and Germany donating 700,000 Euros to Lebanon in 2012 for clearance of contaminated lands.
• Swaziland’s assent to become the 63rd state to ratify the convention.
• States pledging to increase their victim assistance programs.
• Seven countries announcing that steps towards ratifying the convention will be completed soon.

Most notably, several victims of cluster bombs or their family members attended the program and presented the “Victim’s Declaration” in which they expressed their happiness over the progress made towards riding the world of cluster munitions. They also urged governments to commit to their obligations towards the conventions and asked “to take immediate action to make victim assistance services accessible for all” in accordance to the 1st meeting of State Parties in Vientiane.

Swaziland delegate Mr. John Mandla Msibi

On the final day, state parties adopted the “Beirut Declaration” which acknowledged the progress the convention has made in such a short time towards freeing the world from cluster munitions. Furthermore, states agreed that more has to be done with regards to stockpiling, the clearing of contaminated lands, and victim assistance.

The article Global Conference on Cluster Munitions appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.