The Cabinet will meet again Thursday after concluding another fruitless session to agree a draft state budget, yet Information Minister Melhem Riachi described the deliberations as “positive.” “We continued discussing the budget … and the salary scale and all the files that are included within the budget,” he told reporters ... Read More »
Rouhani lauds Berri as stabilizing force in Lebanon
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani praised Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri as a provider of support for Lebanon during a meeting yesterdy in Tehran. Rouhani voiced his support for Berri’s role in maintaining stability in Lebanon and the prospect of improving the two countries’ economic and trade relations. “We place a ... Read More »
Child Rights Toolkit out in Lebanon
“Everywhere around us, everyday Children are denied their rights,” Tanya Chapuisat, UNICEF representative in Lebanon, said at the launch of the joint EU-UNICEF Child Rights Toolkit Wednesday. “Society and the time we live in often take this for granted. It shouldn’t be so and that’s why we are here today.” ... Read More »
International Support Group for Lebanon urges timely elections
Members of the International Support Group for Lebanon yesterday called on Lebanese politicians to work together to reach a new electoral law and conduct timely elections. The group urged political leaders to reach “an early compromise, which would present an appropriate electoral framework for Lebanon.” It also called for “timely, ... Read More »
Riachi discusses media cooperation with China
Information Minister Melhem Riachi discussed possible media cooperation with Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian Wednesday. “Lebanon’s media sector has a large impact not only in the country but regionwide as well,” the state-run National News Agency reported Wang as saying after the ambassador expressed interested in working with Lebanon ... Read More »
Hariri to lead Lebanon-Egypt joint-committee in Cairo
Prime Minister Saad Hariri will head to Egypt next month for the first meeting of the Lebanese-Egyptian Joint Higher Committee since 2010, Egypt’s Ambassador to Lebanon announced after meeting with the prime minister Wednesday. “I had the honor of meeting with Prime Minister Hariri to discuss the preparation of upcoming ... Read More »
Airstrikes by Russia Buttress Turkey in Battle vs. ISIS
Russian warplanes have carried out airstrikes to support Turkey’s offensive in northern Syria against the Islamic State, an important evolution in a budding Russian-Turkish partnership. The deepening ties threaten to marginalize the United States in the struggle to shape Syria’s ultimate fate. The air missions, which took place for about ... Read More »
Truck-ramming attack kills four Israeli soldiers
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: A Palestinian rammed a truck into a group of Israeli soldiers visiting a popular tourist spot in occupied Jerusalem Sunday, killing four and wounding 17 others, authorities said. The driver was also killed at the location overlooking holy sites. It was the deadliest Palestinian attack in Jerusalem in ... Read More »
Watching Trump and Clinton debate Isis from my home in the Middle East was as predictable as it was absurd
‘We have to knock the hell out of Isis – and we have to do it fast,’ Trump told the world. Well, sure, but haven’t we all been knocking the hell out of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Syria, even Lebanon, and achieving the constant rebirth of ever more vicious warriors, of ... Read More »
Clinton puts Trump on defensive in blistering debate
Democrat Hillary Clinton accused Republican Donald Trump of racism, sexism and tax avoidance on Monday, putting him on the defensive during a debate that a snap poll said boosted her White House chances. Trump, a real estate tycoon making his first run for public office, said Clinton’s long years of ... Read More »