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 News

Christian-Muslim summit hosted in Beirut

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — A joint Christian-Muslim Summit was held in Beirut at Dar al-Fatwa to discuss the dangers facing Lebanon, including the persecution of Middle Eastern Christians in the face of threats by the Islamic State.

The meeting comes after the election of Lebanese Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian who stressed on the importance of safeguarding Lebanon from any religious strife.

Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani said that Christians and Muslims have nothing to fear from each other.

“We in Lebanon today, Muslims and Christians together, pledge to safeguard each other,” Qabbani said in his opening speech. He urged people of different religious groups to avoid conflict and “overwhelm their nation with unity.”

Attending the summit were also deputy head of the higher Shia council Sheikh Abdel Amir Kabalan, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, Druze leader Sheikh Naim Hasan and many other representatives of various religious sects.

In a statement, the summit members declared they would form a joint committee that will meet with Arab heads of state and religious leaders to tackle the various challenges especially the displacement and persecution of Christians in the Arab world.

“Lebanon needs a president who has the ability to lead the Lebanese toward common values,” the head of the dialogue committee, Mohammad al-Sammak, said.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri hailed a Lebanese Christian-Muslim summit which convened Thursday, particularly its call for a swift end to the presidential vacuum.

“I particularly praise the call released by the attendees to elect new president,” Hariri said in a statement.

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 News

United States donates $45M to Lebanon education system

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The United States Agency for International Development has added $45 million in funding over the next four years for education programs in Lebanon.

The new funding, announced at UNICEF, includes $145 million from the EU. USAID is making a $45 million investment in education over the next four years in Lebanon and up to $45 million by 2019 to improve teaching and learning processes nationwide in public schools in Jordan.

As part of the No Lost Generation initiative, the funding aims to strengthen the school systems between Syrian refugees and the Lebanese system.

“While the devastating crisis in Syria has robbed children of their homes, and in some cases their families, it doesn’t also have to rob them of their future,” USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah said at an event in New York Wednesday.

Already into the Lebanese school year, there are fewer Syrian refugee children in school than there were at this time last year. Lebanon’s education minister, Elias Bou Saab, said that he could get 200,000 children into school immediately if the donor community provided the necessary funds.

According to a statement from the agency, the new project will work on improving reading outcomes for primary-level public school student, strengthen Lebanese institutions to better monitor education and expand access to safe education for all children, including Syrian refugees.

With this latest donation, USAID will have contributed with $170 million in projects to the Lebanese public education sector, all in coordination with the Education Ministry and American educational institutions, according to the statement.

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 Lifestyle

Microsoft hires Lebanese as region general manager

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Microsoft Corporation hired Leila Serhan Salem as the new Regional General Manager for North Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Pakistan on Tuesday, replacing former regional GM Sayed Hashish.

Salem was previously the General Manager of Microsoft Lebanon and Emerging Marekets.

“I am very excited” said Serhan. “It is a place where you can bring Lebanese talent to the forefront.”

Serhan who lives and works in Lebanon, said that the “Lebanese have big ideas.”

“We have a reservoir of creativity in Lebanon but the country still requires more investment,” she said. “Microsoft can bring this combination of investment and talent.”

Serhan graduated from the American University of Beirut in 1996 with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. She went on to work six years with Libancell, where she headed the Financial Planning and Budgeting unit, and was one of the youngest managers in the company.

She joined Microsoft in September 2002 as the financial controller for the Eastern Mediterranean subsidiary. In 2003, she moved to the marketing department, holding the Marketing manager position for three years, where she was responsible for the marketing strategy and the product marketing strategy for the Eastern Mediterranean and Pakistan region.

In 2006, she was promoted to become the Small and Medium enterprises and Solution Partners Manager for Microsoft Eastern Mediterranean and Pakistan.

Serhan received membership in the Platinum Club of the Circle of Excellenence Awards at Microsoft, one of the highest achievement awards in the company.

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 City Beat, Los Angeles, News

Gebran Bassil meets with Armenians in CA, NV

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(LOS ANGELES, CA) — The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Western US Central Committee led a delegation, headed by its chairman Dr. Viken Hovsepian, to welcome Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil who was visiting Los Angeles over the weekend.

During a reception on Saturday at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel, hosted by the Lebanese Consulate General to Los Angeles, members of the delegation had the opportunity to welcome Bassil.

FullSizeRender

Pictured from left: Ghazaros Ghazarossian, Harry Nadjarian, Maya Ibrahim and Consul General Johnny Ibrahim, Chantal Aoun-Bassil, Toros Kechejian, Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, Harout Madenlian, ARF Western US Central Committee chairman Chair Dr Viken Hovsepian, Karo Khanjian, Varouj Ourfalian, Hovig Bedevian. Photo courtesy Asbarez Armenian Daily News.

Bassil also visited the Saint Garabed Armenian Apostolic Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. See photos below:

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 Business

Bank Audi increases capital by $300M

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Bank Audi announced Tuesday that it has completed a $300 million capital increase by offering $240 million in common shares initially to existing shareholders (including GDR holders) of the bank and a $60 million subscription of common shares by International Finance Corporation (“IFC”), a member of the World Bank Group. The IFC now controls 20 percent of the new shares and became a minor shareholder of the total outstanding shares of the bank.

With the new capital increase, Bank Audi’s shareholders equity is now $3 billon.

According to the statement of the bank, the subscription price per common share was $6, and eligible subscribers were allocated three warrants per common share subscribed entitling to purchase one common share of the bank’s Turkish subsidiary, Odea Bank, for each warrant.

Over $25 million of Bank Audi shares were traded on the Beirut bourse Monday as part of efforts to raise the capital of the bank.

Bank Audi’s statement said $50 million in common shares were issued in the capital increase, as well as 149,528,847 warrants, representing approximately 10.0 percent of Odea Bank’s common shares.

“There was an initial take-up of 87.1 percent of the rights issue by existing shareholders (including a take-up of 94 percent by holders of the Bank’s Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), with the balance taken up in full through residual subscriptions by existing shareholders),” the statement added.

It said the proceeds of the capital increase would be used to extend the bank’s financial flexibility, strengthen its regulatory capital and support its business development within and mostly outside Lebanon.

Samir Hanna, Group CEO of Bank Audi, commented: “We are very satisfied with the success of this transaction, which was conducted in difficult regional conditions and showed the confidence of existing and new shareholders, including IFC, in the bank’s performance and direction. The partnership with IFC will further assist the bank in expanding our access to underserved segments, such as small and medium enterprises and support our planned expansion to new jurisdictions, in particular where IFC has significant in-country knowledge and experience.”

Bank Audi, the largest Lebanese bank in terms of assets and deposits, operates in 13 countries. As of June 30, 2014, Bank Audi’s consolidated assets stood at some $39.3 billion, private customers’ deposits were $34 billion and shareholders’ equity was $2.7 billion (pre-capital increase). Bank Audi recorded a net profit of $190 million in the first half of 2014, slightly higher than the same period of last year.

Freddie C. Baz, General Manager-Group Chief Financial Officer of Bank Audi, told The Daily Star earlier Audi hopes its subsidiaries and branches abroad will increase their share of the bank’s total profits.

At present, nearly 70 percent of Bank Audi’s profits come from Lebanon operations.

Source: The Daily Star

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 Entertainment

Ramzi Alamuddin “couldn’t seem more delighted” with marriage

clooney-alamuddin

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The 53-year-old actor will tie the knot with the human rights lawyer in Venice, Italy, later this month and her dad Ramzi is thrilled with his daughter’s choice of husband.

A source told People magazine: “Ramzi couldn’t seem more delighted. He finds Clooney very sympathetic, intelligent, cool, easygoing and crazy in love with Amal!”

The 77-year-old lecturer has been help planning the couple’s wedding but has refused to spill any of the details to his friends.

The source said: “He is extremely calm. He’s not saying a thing about the wedding. He’s a card player and he’s not giving away anything away!”

Despite George’s $180 million fortune, it was recently reported Amal’s parents were insisted on sticking to tradition and paying for the wedding.

An insider previously explained: “(They are) old-fashioned when it comes to these things.”

The couple are expected to tie the knot on September 27 at a black-tie affair, and final preparations are already underway.

Actor Matt Damon and his wife, Luciana Barroso, and supermodel Cindy Crawford and her husband, Rande Gerber, who is expected to be George’s best man, will be among the small number of guests.

The insider added: “He wanted just 60 genuine friends and family.”

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 New York, News

Afghanistan’s new first lady is a Lebanese Christian

Rula Saade Ghani(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The election of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as Afghanistan’s new president makes the country’s new first lady, Rula Saade Ghani, a Lebanese Christian.

Ghani Ahmadzai made history after being elected president on Sunday, winning 55.7 percent of the vote.

Saade Ghani and Afghanistan’s president-elect met in Lebanon during the late 1970s, where they both attended the American University of Beirut. Ghani was a Muslim from a conservative Muslim country, and Saade’s was a Greek Orthodox Christians from a liberal Beirut.

Saade Ghani made her political debut after she spoke at an “International Women’s Day” event in March 2014, when she accompanied her western-educated husband to a political event.

The electoral campaign team said “during the event, women’s rights activists applauded her presence as a positive gesture and called upon other potential first ladies to follow her lead.”

The American-trained anthropologist reportedly helped her husband gather female support, with some women professing their backing because he is a Western-educated, former World Bank official.

Ghani Ahmadzai studied in the United States where he earned a doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from Columbia University in 1982. He worked outside of Afghanistan in academia for several years, before returning to Kabul in 2001.

The couple have two children together — Mariam and Tarek. Mariam is a writer and photographer who studied in New York. Tarek studied computer programming and worked for his father when he held the position of Minister of Finance.

According to the children, their mother did not convert to Islam upon her marriage and their father often accompanied the family to church when they lived in the United States.

[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqTJ6nJIEOw” width=”500″ height=”300″]

PHOTO: Rula Saade Ghani is Afghanistan's new Lebanese Christian first lady.
PHOTO: Rula Saade Ghani is Afghanistan’s new Lebanese Christian first lady.
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 City Beat, Los Angeles, News

Bassil encourages Lebanese-Americans to invest in Lebanon

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bassil(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — During a trip to Los Angeles, California, Gebran Bassil spoke to a group of Lebanese citizens and Americans of Lebanese descent, saying it was their duty to purchase investments and Lebanese goods.

“We encourage you to invest overseas but to also dedicate some profits to investing in Lebanon through the ‘We Invest to Stay’ project,” he said.

The project intends to financially support Lebanese expatriates who invest in their countries of residence, on the condition of moving 20 percent of their investment onto Lebanon’s economy.

He also called on them to encourage their families in Lebanon to insist on staying in their homeland, “so that we do not become all emigrants without any land.”

Underlining the importance of preserving cultural heritage, Bassil called on the expatriates to stick to their native language, and disclosed a plan to draft a “Lebanese expatriate school” model, in collaboration with the Education Ministry.

See photos of his Los Angeles visit below:

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 City Beat, Detroit, News

Agent: Farid Fata planned to buy $3M castle in Adma, Lebanon

(DETROIT, MI) — A 15-page FBI search and seizure warrant claims Lebanese-American Dr. Farid Fata performed medically unnecessary cancer treatments and directed his staff to lie to patients and insurance companies to justify spending.

On September 17, Fata pleaded guilty to 13 counts of health care fraud, two counts of money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks. He faces sentencing in February before U.S. District Judge Paul Borman.

The FBI believes emails to workers, drug companies, and financial advisors will prove how Dr. Fata committed health care fraud. The 19-page affidavit included several emails.

In one email from July 2012, Dr. Fata wrote to a drug manufacturer after they denied a grant to his charity, “Swan for Life.” The FBI says the drug manufacturer was told to donate $10,000 to the charity or Dr. Fata would stop ordering the drug.

He writes, in part:

PHOTO: Fata speaking at a "Swan for Life" fundraising event.
PHOTO: Fata speaking at a “Swan for Life” fundraising event.

“I expect further support form AMAG, Please proceed ASAP. I will be happy to talk to Dr. XXXXXX to reconsider IF ANYBODY DESERVES SUPPORT IT IS US! i.e. SFLCF Please advise, Dr. Fata.”

Reports also say Fata was looking at investment opportunities in Lebanon, particularly in luxury properties in the Jounieh coastal area.

FBI Special Agent Bryan Drake focused on an August 2010 email exchange between Fata and his financial advisor. The subject line read “URGENT!!!!!”

Dr. Fata wrote:

“I need a favor from you. My dad has a great deal on a castle all furnished in Adma/Lebanon! … Can you pls get in contact with my dad and go see the house! It is for $3,000000…Let me know if you can see the house. What is the economic benefit and the housing market in Adma? Is there an economical value in investing in such house?”

Fata asked if he could tap one of his numerous trusts to pay for the castle.

PHOTO: Emails released by the FBI say Fata wanted to use money from the foundation he used to donate to church, to buy a $3M property in Lebanon.
PHOTO: Emails released by the FBI says Fata wanted to use money from the foundation he used to donate to church, to buy a $3M property in Lebanon.

“Can this be funded from the Fata Foundation?” he wrote, according to the search warrant.

The “Fata Family Foundation” was also used to make contributions to a Melkite Catholic church in Warren, according to public 990 forms.

It is unclear if Fata ever invested in the castle.

PHOTO: Dr. Farid Fata's wife has fled to Lebanon with her three children.
PHOTO: Sources say Fata’s wife has left to Lebanon with her three children. (Hour Detroit)

Meanwhile, Samar Fata, the wife of Dr. Farid Fata and the CFO of Michigan Hematology Oncology, P.C., has left the country to Lebanon with the couple’s three children, sources said.

Federal investigators alleged that from August 2007 to July 2013 Fata’s health maintenance organization practice billed Medicare for around $225 million, of which $109 million was for chemotherapy or other cancer treatments.

Of the approximately $225 million, Medicare paid more than $91 million to Fata’s medical practice. Many of the treatments, government attorneys charge, were administered to patients who did not even have cancer.

The FBI wanted to search the doctor’s Hotmail account to trace tens of millions of dollars that flowed through various Fata-related entities, according to the search warrant.

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 City Beat, Detroit

National American Arab Nurses Association to host third “Angel of Mercy” awards banquet

naana-portfolio

(DEARBORN, MI) — The National American Arab Nurses Association (NAANA) will hold its third “Angel of Mercy” Awards Banquet at Byblos Banquets in Dearborn on Thursday, October 2. Afaf I. Meleis, PhD, DrPS (hon), FAAN, Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing and Professor of Nursing and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, will keynote the event.

Rose Khalifa, founder and president of NAANA, said, “The contributions of nurses often go without public acknowledgement. We know that there are several nurses who positively impact the health and well-being of the Arab American community daily, whether they are Arab American themselves or unselfishly serve the community’s needs for care.”

The keynote presenter will be Dr. Afaf Meleis, a world renowned nurse and scientist. Her scholarship is focused on global health, immigrant and women’s health, transitions and health and the structure and organization of nursing knowledge.

In addition to serving as Dean and Professor, Dr. Meleis is Director of the School’s WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery Leadership.

In an effort to recognize the contribution of Arab American nurses or nurses whose work has had a major positive impact on the Arab American community, NAANA has created the Angel of Mercy Award. The Arabic phrase for nurse translates to “angel of mercy.” NAANA will honor the following three members of the nursing field for their commitment to their profession:

Hiba Wehbe-Alamah, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, CTN-A, TCN Scholar, Associate Professor, University of Michigan-Flint

Kamal Eldeirawi, PhD, RN, BSN, MSN, Affiliate Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago, Assistant Professor, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Faculty Scholar 2013-2016

Dena Essa, RN, Operating Room Nurse, Oakwood Healthcare System

Tickets and sponsorships are available by contacting Suehaila Amen at 313-615-1515, by e-mailing events@n-aana.org or by visiting www.n-aana.org.

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