(BEIRUT, LEBANON) – Lebanese pop star Elissa sparked controversy after posting a photograph of herself online in a bikini on Monday.
The photo, which she published on her Instagram account, read: “Relaxing day #lebanon #fakra #elissa I need it.”
The post was met with mixed reactions by fans. Some asked Elissa to “please delete it.”
Others were pleased with the post, calling her “sexy and fit.”
The photograph, which has more than 21,000 likes was taken in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — United States Republican Congressman Darrell Issa held meetings with top Lebanese officials Monday and Tuesday, in a brief visit to discuss U.S. support for the Lebanese state and Army, a U.S. embassy statement said.
Along with the U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale, Issa met with former President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
Following his meeting with Prime Minister Salam, Congressman Issa highlighted that the United States was “dedicated to ensuring that the Lebanese Armed Forces has all the tools it needs in order to preserve the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon.”
He affirmed continued U.S. support for Lebanon’s security institutions, and coordination with regional allies to meet the training and equipment needs of Lebanon’s security services.
The National News Agency had reported Tuesday that Issa also met with March 14 officials at the group’s headquarters in Beirut’s Ashrafieh neighborhood.
NNA said the talks focused on political and security developments in Lebanon and the region. In addition to Issa and Ambassador Hale, the agency stated that March 14’s General Secretariat Fares Soueid, MP Marwan Hamade and MP Nadim Gemayel attended the meetings.
Issa chairs the powerful U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government. The congressman, who is of Lebanese descent, has been active in Middle Eastern affairs and arrived in Lebanon after a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo Sunday.
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Dots Addresses is a free and collective service that has been made available in Lebanon, to enable every citizen to finally possess a fixed
geographic address.
Thanks to its network of virtual addresses and structured system of postcodes, Dots Addresses is a mobile app that will help all Lebanese to better share their addresses and locations.
Once registered to Dots Addresses, the app will give each user a 7 digit postcode that has to be completed with a personalized address. The user will then be able to add other addresses that can be easily shared with friends. A live step-by-step navigation service is also provided to simply guide the users to their final destinations.
The app is free and is now available for download in the iTunes App Store for iPhone users, and in Google Play store for Android users.
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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Walid Jumblatt was surrounded by some of the world’s most beautiful women on Sunday, when the head of the Progressive Socialist Party hosted contestants from the World Next Top Model 2014 competition.
Jumblatt received 40 competitors vying for the title of the world’s top model.
The event is scheduled to take place on Aug. 24, with 40 international models competing in Lebanon. The organizers have taken the participants sightseeing across the country, including a tour of the Chouf.
According to media reports, some of the models sipped on Turkish coffee and had brief conversations with a smiling Jumblatt, while the others played with his dog, Oscar.
View photos below:
(OSLO, NORWAY) — The wife of Casey Kasem plans to bury the late radio personality in Norway — contrary to Kasem’s desire to be interred in Los Angeles and against the wishes of his adult children, a publicist for Kasem’s daughter said Friday.
The children were working with a private investigator but have few legal options to prevent the overseas burial, publicist Danny Deraney told The Associated Press
Teruyuki Olsen, a lawyer for Jean Kasem, did not return an email seeking comment. As the spouse of the radio personality, she is conservator of his body, said Deraney, who works for Kerri Kasem.
It was unclear when the burial might occur and why Jean Kasem selected Norway.
Kasem, the host of “American Top 40,” died on June 15 at a hospital in Gig Harbor, Washington. He was 82 and suffering from dementia. His death followed a lengthy battle over his care between Jean Kasem and his three adult children from his first marriage.
Deraney said burial outside the United States would be contrary to what Casey Kasem had wanted.
“He publicly made it clear to his friends, his kids, that he wanted to be buried in Forest Lawn in Glendale, in Los Angeles,” the publicist said.
The Norwegian newspaper VG reported that Kasem will be buried in Oslo.
“It’s been arranged, he’s going to Oslo,” Wenche Madsen Eriksson, the head of the funeral service administration in Oslo, told the newspaper.
She declined to say why Oslo was chosen, explaining that the family wants to keep that information confidential.
(SHELBY TOWNSHIP, MI) — The American Syrian Arab Cultural Association hosted a joint picnic with the National Arab American Medical Association at Stoney Creek Metropark in Shelby Township.
Photos courtesy of Nafeh Abunab – Elite Photography.
(ARSAL, LEBANON) — Islamist militants who captured more than 30 members of Lebanese security forces handed over two policemen to Lebanese officials on Sunday, according to security sources.
Sunni clerics from the Committee of Muslim Scholars mediated a truce between militants and the Lebanese Army and handed the policemen to the Internal Security Forces, according to the source.
The released policemen, Medyan Hasan and Kamal Misilmani, were transferred to the Baalbek region before being transported to the Ablah army barracks near Zahle, according to an Army statement.
Meanwhile, The Lebanese Army arrested 12 Syrians who were allegedly trying to enter Arsal illegally through an eastern border crossing on the village’s outskirts.
A five-day battle with the army which started on August 2 was one of the worst spillovers of Syria’s civil war into Lebanon. Security sources say dozens of militants, many of them rebels from Syria, and 19 soldiers were killed.
The fighting ended when the insurgents accepted mediation by Lebanese Sunni clerics, after which they withdrew, taking captured police and soldiers with them. 19 soldiers and 14 police are still held by the militants.
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — As many of you read on LebaneseExaminer.com, students at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) were facing a drastic tuition raise of more than 21 percent.
The new policy would increase the price of one credit by $60, which calculates to a 21% overall tuition increase. Students would be expected to pay an extra $2,000 per year.
In support of university students during the ongoing economic crisis in Lebanon, the team at Lebanese Examiner decided to create an online petition on Change.org to demand a reversal of the tuition increase.
“As a student, parent, or supporter of USEK Kaslik, you are signing this petition to encourage the administration of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), to reverse their decision to increase tuition rates this year,” the petition read.
Every time someone signs our petition, an email is automatically sent to University President Fr. Hady Mahfouz and Financial Administrator Fr. Georges Azzi demanding action.
To stand up with Lebanese students and demand a reversal of the tuition increase, click here to sign the petition.
(AMMAN, JORDAN) — Jordanian police announced that it has discovered the body of Lebanese journalist Mazen Diab at his house in the capital Amman on Friday.
“Security forces found the body of Diab tied with ropes inside his apartment,” Jordanian news agency ZAD said, noting that his house is located on Mecca Street in Amman. “Security bodies have launched an investigation in this matter and are listening to the testimonies of the slain journalist’s neighbors.”
The neighbors confirmed that Diab was stabbed repeatedly, according to the same source.
“Investigation is ongoing to uncover all circumstances surrounding his death,” a security source told al-Ghad.
The body of Diab was referred to a forensic doctor to determine the causes of death, noted ZAD.
Jordanian authorities said Saturday that they had arrested four people who confessed to killing Diab.
In a statement, Jordan’s General Security said the coronary’s report indicated that the cause of Diab’s death was an internal bleeding after the victim was hit with a sharp object.
The Lebanese citizen’s death was discovered after a friend visited his house and repeatedly knocked on the door and called him, but failed to reach him.
“He then took off the door of the house with force and discovered Diab’s body,” the informed source told al-Ghad.
Diab, 31, presented a program on Jordan’s Sawt al-Ghad radio station before his death. He suffered from lung cancer and had underwent an operation to remove a part of his lungs a year ago.
He graduated from Studio al-Fan talent show in 2002 when he applied to become a TV journalist, and earned a graduate degree from the Beirut Arab University.
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned that Islamic State jihadists fighting in Syria and Iraq pose an existential threat to Lebanon and argued that his party’s military campaign in Syria was protecting the country.
“The [Islamic State] wants to destroy everything; they are a danger to everyone,” he said in a televised address delivered on the occasion of the eight anniversary of the end of the 2006 July War.
“I call on all Lebanese people to realize that your country and your society is facing an existential danger.”
However, the Hezbollah chief rejected calling on the international community for assistance as IS fighters continue to press their military campaign in Syria and Iraq, where they have routed government forces and taken over large swathes of the country.
“Christians of Lebanon: If any of you think that any of you mean anything to the US or the West, you are wrong. Are you really waiting for the US and the international community?”
Nasrallah warned that Western states don’t “care about Christians, Kurds, Yazidis or Arabs,” adding that the US started its airstrikes against the IS in Iraq only after the jihadist group’s fighters reached the outskirts of the Kurdish city of Arbil.
Instead, the Hezbollah chief called for the Lebanese people to support their country’s army, which fought a five-day campaign against Islamist jihadists in the border town of Arsal earlier in July.
“Put all political preferences aside, look for all elements of force and gather them. Those elements are the LAF and security forces.”
Nasrallah added that his party was not responsible for securing Lebanon from jihadist threats, saying the responsibility belongs to the state and the army and security forces.
However, he argued that his party’s military campaign on behalf of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria was serving to protect Lebanon.
“If Hezbollah withdraws from Syria, do you really think that IS will not want to come to Lebanon?”
Nasrallah questioned if a Hezbollah withdrawal from Syria border regions “would benefit Lebanon.”
Shiite-populated areas in Lebanon have been the target of a series of terror attacks since Nasrallah announced in May 2013 that his Shiite party was fighting on behalf of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.
Lebanese Armed Forces and other security forces have since attempted to uncover terror networks in Lebanon, and have been able to dismantle a number of explosives-rigged cars coming from Syria.
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