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 News

Trump, Hariri pledge solidarity in fighting terrorism

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that supporting Syrian refugees as close to their home as possible is the best way to help them.

Trump commented during an appearance with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, whose country is burdened by an influx of refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria and who is counting on continued U.S. assistance to help manage that burden.

During Hariri’s first visit to the Trump White House, the leaders also pledged continued solidary against terrorism from the Islamic State group and other militant groups.

“Our approach supporting the humanitarian needs of displaced Syrian citizens as close to their home country as possible is the best way to help most people,” said Trump, standing alongside Hariri in the Rose Garden after their talks.

The U.S. has provided billions of dollars in humanitarian assistance to help supply displaced and other Syrians with clean water, food, shelter and health care since the civil war broke out in early 2011.

Hariri said Syrian refugees account for about 1.5 million, or one quarter, of Lebanon’s population of about 6 million people. The prime minister was expected to seek additional U.S. assistance to cope with the refugee influx.

RELATED: Trump budget slashes aid to Lebanon by 80 percent

In brief remarks to open one of their meetings, Hariri said he hoped the anti-terrorism partnership between the U.S. and Lebanon would continue until all terrorists are defeated.

“We will do that,” replied Trump, who also praised the Lebanese army for keeping IS and other extremist groups from establishing a foothold in the country. “Ultimately you will win … we have great confidence in you.”

Continued U.S. support for the Lebanese military, financial assistance for Syrian refugees and U.S. plans to tighten sanctions on the militant group Hezbollah were the key items on Hariri’s agenda going into the meeting with Trump.

The Lebanese army in recent years has been battling Islamic extremists near its border with Syria and the country has suffered recurrent bouts of insecurity and spillover from the civil war raging next door.

U.S. security assistance for the Lebanese army has exceeded $1 billion in the past decade, but concern is mounting that the aid could be cut under Trump’s plan to slash the State Department budget.

But Hariri has a tough balancing act. Potentially embarrassing for him is the current offensive to clear Sunni militants along the Lebanon-Syria border, which is being spearheaded by Hezbollah and the Syrian army, with the Lebanese military serving largely as a bystander.

Trump has slammed the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group, and Congress recently introduced legislation to impose stiffer sanctions on the powerful group. Hariri, whose fragile governing coalition includes members of Hezbollah, is worried that U.S. efforts to widen sanctions on Hezbollah could negatively impact the banking industry in Lebanon.

At the same time, he has warned that Lebanon is close to a breaking point due to the strain of hosting more than 1 million Syrian refugees.

When asked, Trump declined to offer a position on possible tighter sanctions against Hezbollah.

WATCH: TRUMP, HARIRI MEET IN THE OVAL OFFICE

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 Lifestyle

Lebanese designer launches new ‘angelic’ collection

A Beirut-based fashion studio is catching eyes worldwide after its launch of a glitzy new ‘angelic’ collection of designer dresses.

Lebanese designer Mohammed Ashi is the brains behind the ice-white patterns and intricate embroidery. He has dressed A-list celebrities on the red carpet, including singers Celine Dion and Janelle Monae.

A post shared by Ashi Studio (@ashistudio) on

Ashi’s latest design is described on Instagram as “The Girl on the Moon.” The launch comes months before Paris Fashion Week, which is set to begin on February 27, 2018.

The Ashi brand was launched in 2007 to “tell fairy tales through every meticulously hand crafted design,” according to its website.

Ashi’s biography says he is “attached to his Arab roots yet inspired by diverse cultures.”

For more information on the Ashi brand, click here.

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 Entertainment

WATCH: Elissa music video hits 3 million views in first week

Lebanese superstar Elissa is breaking new records after the music video of her new song “Aaks Elli Shayfenha” hit more than 3 million views in its first week.

The song was posted on July 19 by Rotana Records, the Arab World’s largest record label, which has 4.5 million subscribers.

WATCH: “AAKS ELLI SHAYFENHA”

The hit music video is directed by Lebanese director Angy Jammal, who collaborated with Elissa for the fourth time after music videos for “Ya Merayti,” “Hob Kol Hayaty,” and “Saharna Ya Leil,” according to a press release.

“Aaks Elli Shayfenha” is composed by Amir Teima and with lyrics by Walid Saad. The song comes from Elissa’s album, “Saharna Ya Leil.”

Elissa, whose real name is Elissar Zakaria Khoury, is a popular Lebanese recording artist, and the first Lebanese singer to receive the World Music Award for Best Selling Middle Eastern Artist in 2006.

She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

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 Business

Study reveals average residential prices in Beirut

The average starting cost for apartments under construction in Beirut vary from $2,000 to $8,500 per square meter, according to a new study conducted by a Beirut-based real estate advisory firm.

The firm RAMCO studied apartment asking prices in 67 Beirut neighborhoods, including popular downtown districts such as Saifi Village and Manara.

According to the study, between 2016 and 2017, prices have dropped in 34 out of the 67 Beirut neighborhoods, especially in central neighborhoods between Bachoura and Kaskas.

But researchers say there has not been a significant drop in apartment prices in the highest tier of the market. The most expensive neighborhoods, Manara and Saifi Village, have the same asking price as last year.

SEE MAP OF BEIRUT’S MOST EXPENSIVE NEIGHBORHOODS:

Beirut_Prices_Neighbourhood_2017_EN

Other neighborhoods, classified by the study as “mid-market” areas, have seen their average prices increase. Areas such as Sioufi, Beddawi and Sakiet el Janzir, along with 23 other neighborhoods, posted  a price hike over the last year.

Price hikes, the study says, are due to the introduction of new residential projects, which pull prices upward.

PRICES DROPPED

  • Central neighborhoods between Bachoura and Kaskas
  • Most neighborhoods on the eastern edge of Achrafieh

PRICES INCREASED

  • Mid-market neighborhoods
  • Sioufi, Beddawi and Sakiet el Janzir

PRICES REMAIN THE SAME

  • Neighborhoods in good demand
  • Sursock, Saifi Village, Monnot, Kobayat, Kantari, Manara

Researchers say the study looked specifically at asking prices posted by developers, and excluded any margin of negotiation or potential discounts offered during the purchasing process.

According to its website, RAMCO is a Beirut-based full line real estate advisory company, providing agency, marketing, and consultancy services.

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 News

Trump budget slashes aid to Lebanon by 80 percent

The Trump administration is seeking to slash military aid to Lebanon by 82 percent next year, according to the State Department’s 2018 budget plan.

Last year, the U.S. provided $103 million in military aid – weapons, equipment and training – to Beirut. The 2018 budget projects about $19 million in anticipated aid.

According to the State Department, the cuts would include the cessation of the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, which amounted to about $86 million in 2016.

The move signals a potentially stronger stance by the Trump administration against Lebanon, and a change of direction in the unofficial U.S-Lebanon partnership against ISIS.

The Lebanese military has been a key force against ISIS in northeastern Lebanon, and an ally to the U.S. in the fight against militants.

Lebanese Army officials are positioned strategically to closely monitor ISIS movements in the remote mountains of Arsal, where an estimated 500 militants are masked between the Lebanon-Syria border.

Much of Lebanon’s ability to confront ISIS, analysts say, is owed to the support of foreign countries, including the United States. Since 2005, the U.S. has provided more than $1.4 billion in military aid to the country.

But the assistance could soon be slashed, according to the Trump administration’s latest budget plan. Some Middle East analysts believe the Lebanese Army’s ties to Hezbollah may have played a role in 2018 funding plans.

President Trump has pledged to get tough on Iran and its proxies throughout the region.

Tony Badran, a researcher at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, told the Christian Science Monitor that the U.S. has good reason “to worry about the army’s ties to Hezbollah.”

“There are still some people out there who buy the argument of Lebanon as a good partner – especially at [the Pentagon] – and some are still convinced by the obsolete notion of the Lebanese standing up to [Syrian President Bashar] Assad,” he told CS Monitor.

Besides military cuts, the Trump administration is also proposing about 23 percent of cuts to economic and developmental aid to Lebanon.

Last year, Lebanon received $110 million in economic assistance. The 2018 budget projects about $85 million.

The budget cuts would also hit several other vulnerable countries, including Tunisia, Iraq, Morocco and Yemen.

President Trump and Prime Minister Saad Hariri are expected to discuss these proposed cuts during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday.

READ: Department of State Budget Plan.

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 News

Donald Trump to host Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri

President Donald Trump will host Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Washington on Tuesday, the White House announced.

The leaders are expected to discuss the fight against terrorism, Lebanon’s national economy and the refugee crisis, according to a White House statement.

Analysts also believe the pair will discuss U.S. aid to the Lebanese military, which is expected to be slashed by more than 80 percent in the State Department’s 2018 fiscal budget.

“President Donald J. Trump will host Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri at the White House on July 25. The two leaders will discuss issues of mutual concern, including the fight against terrorism, the economy, and refugees. This meeting will serve as an important opportunity to strengthen the bilateral relationship and will encourage other international and regional partners to support Lebanon as it faces a wide range of challenges.”

RELATED: Hariri meets with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in DC (2015)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks with former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri at a meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on April 22, 2015. (State Department Photo/Public Domain)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks with former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri at a meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on April 22, 2015. (State Department Photo/Public Domain)

 

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 Entertainment

WATCH: Egyptian friends add oriental beats to ‘Despacito’

Road trips are probably a blast with Egyptian duo Adel Nabil and Peter Gabra.

The friends posted a Facebook video of themselves rocking out to the Puerto Rican single “Despacito,” and the Internet is loving it!

The video has nearly 2 million views and counting.

Nabil posted the video with caption, “Because we have a different Flavor! ? #Despacito.”

“Despacito,” which means slowly in Spanish, has already broke records as the most streamed track of all time with more than 4.6 billion streams, according to Universal Music Latin Entertainment.

WATCH: Egyptian friends add oriental beats to ‘Despacito’

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 Lifestyle

Rare newsreel video shows Lebanon in 1969

Rare footage from British Pathé, a producer of newsreels and documentaries, shows Lebanon in 1969.

British Pathé was at the forefront of cinematic journalism, blending information with entertainment to popular effect.

Over the course of a century, it documented everything from major armed conflicts and seismic political crises to the curious hobbies and eccentric lives of ordinary people. If it happened, British Pathé filmed it.

Beirut, the thriving beautiful capital city of Lebanon.

But even here, in the biblical land of milk and honey, the honey is not so sweet.

These are refugees — some of the many who have lost their homes in Middle East strife.

Lebanon has seen its share of troubles through the centuries. Romans, Arabs, the Crusaders, Turks, the French, and the allied forces all have passed this way.

But Lebanon has survived, and has merged as a prosperous and democratic state, composed equally of Christians and Muslims.

The president, Charles Helou, is a Christian. The prime minister, by agreement, is always a Muslim. The set up appears to work well.

In spite of its geographic position of strategy in the current Middle East situation, the financial comparison of Lebanon to Switzerland and its role as the trading house of the Middle East is a fair one.

Free enterprise flourishes. Modern roads cover the country. Luxury buildings and hotels have sprung up.

One of the main objects of both is tourism. About 30 percent of the national income is derived from visitors, including Jewish people. Even now Lebanon is still a tourist attraction.

This is traditional and universal in appeal.

So is this…

In this small land, bordered by Israel and Syria, the east and the west fuse smoothly. Ancient and modern, Christian and Muslim.

It’s a land of contrast. Sunny lowlands, snowy mountains.

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 News

AUB professor denied entry into U.S. because of “extreme vetting”

An engineering professor at the American University of Beirut says he was wrongfully denied entry into the U.S. because of new “extreme vetting” measures.

George Saad, 35, an associate professor at the Beirut campus, was traveling to the U.S. for the Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference in San Diego.

He says the Department of Homeland Security turned him away at Los Angeles International Airport without explanation, and he missed his conference as a result.

According to The New York Post, Homeland Security officials detained him and interrogated him for four hours. He says his phone was confiscated, his laptop was seized and officials photographed him and took fingerprints.

security-lax-airport-george-saad

“I belong to the American University of Beirut — the leading academic institution in Lebanon and the Middle East, chartered in New York and considered an American territory in Lebanon,” Saad told The Post. “I felt so small, so unappreciated and consider being treated in demeaning and humiliating ways.”

Saad says his visa was revoked and he was sent back to Beirut without an opportunity to contact an attorney or his family.

According to The Post, Saad has traveled to the U.S. about 15 times without any issue. In 2015 and 2015, he attended similar engineering conferences in California.

Saad graduated from John Hopkins University, and holds his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He says his family is Christian, and he has no criminal record.

The alleged incident happened amid President Trump’s push to enhance screening measures at American points of entry. Although the courts have blocked the president’s travel ban, his administration has been pushing for stepped up questioning of visa applicants and more intense vetting.

Saad says he already filed a complaint with Homeland Security’s Traveler Redress Inquiry Program, but he still lost about $2,500 in travel costs.

george-saad-american-university-of-beirut

Officials at the American University of Beirut say they stand by their professor.

“While we understand and respect security measures, we are surprised and concerned at the treatment our faculty member received, including his long interrogation followed by denial of his entry into the US,” the university said in a statement to The Post.

Homeland Security and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to requests for comment.

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 News

4 things you didn’t know about Beirut-born NBA coach Steve Kerr

Legendary NBA coach Steve Kerr has not had an easy life. He’ll be the first to tell you.

The Beirut-born six-time NBA champion spent most of his childhood in Lebanon until his father was shot and killed in 1984. He was devastated.

As millions watch Game 4 of the NBA finals, most fans will be thinking of Steve Kerr as the former professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. Little do they know, Kerr’s life story starts in Beirut.

He spent much of his childhood in Lebanon.

steve-kerr-dorm-room-lebanon

Steve was born in Beirut “Stephen Douglas Kerr” to proud parents Dr. Malcolm and Ann Kerr. His father — also Beirut-born — was an American academic who specialized in the Middle East.

Steve attended Cairo American College in Egypt, the American Community School in Beirut and Palisades High School in Los Angeles.

His father was the former president of AUB.

malcolm-kerr-beirut-lebanon

Dr. Malcolm Kerr spent much of his childhood in Lebanon, on and near the campus of the American University of Beirut, where his parents taught for over 40 years.

Following his doctorate work at John Hopkins University in Washington D.C., Dr. Kerr returned to Beirut to teach at the American University of Beirut’s Department of Political Science.

He became president of the university in 1982. He served as president for 17 months.

His grandfather volunteered with the Near East Relief.

stanley-kerr

Steve’s grandfather, Stanley Kerr, was a well-respected American humanitarian, who spent many years volunteering with the Near East Relief after the Armenian Genocide.

Stanley and his wife Elsa Reckman Kerr met while rescuing women and orphans in Marash.

They later joined the staff of a Near East Relief orphanage in Nahr Ibrahim, Lebanon.

Stanley earned his doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, and returned to Beirut where he became chairman of the Department of Biochemistry at the American University of Beirut.

His father was killed in 1984.

malcolm-kerr-and-family-in-beirut-lebanon

Steve’s father was shot and killed on January 18, 1984 by two gunmen outside of Beirut office. He was 52.

A possible motive regarding his assassin are still unclear, although The New York Times reports a male caller telephoned the Beirut office of Agence France-Presse shortly after his murder and said the slaying was the work of Islamic Holy War.

At the time, former President Ronald Reagan issued a statement saying in part, “Dr. Kerr’s untimely and tragic death at the hands of these despicable assassins must strengthen our resolve not to give in to the acts of terrorists. Terrorism must not be allowed to take control of the lives, actions, or future of ourselves and our friends.”

steve-kerr-born-in-beirut-lebanon

Steve said his father’s unlikely assassination left him speechless. The Kerr family later sued the Iranian government under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

While warming up for a game at Arizona State in 1988, Kerr had to deal with a number of fans in the crowd chanting “PLO” and “your father’s history.”

Kerr said his difficult life has made him a stronger person, and a stronger coach.

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