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 Business

Milan expo to showcase Lebanese cuisine

BEIRUT: Lebanese government officials and the Italian Embassy called Tuesday for food industry experts to participate in the 2015 World Expo in Milan, where Lebanon will highlight its local food.

“We have the pleasure to officially launch a common Lebanese-Italian economic event that will provide Lebanon with a historical opportunity to bolster its entry to new European markets,” Economy and Trade Minister Alain Hakim announced Tuesday during a news conference at the Grand Serail.

Hakim said a group of experts from the Economy Ministry were working to assure a positive outcome for Lebanese food and drink products represented at the huge expo.

“The Economy Ministry will dedicate each week of the exhibition to a specific Lebanese food industry including wine and olive oil and its derivatives,” he said.

“Accordingly, we call upon the Syndicate of Food Industries to join its efforts and coordinate with the ministry in order to specify the nature of its participation in the expo and the activities that will be used to showcase its products,” Hakim added.

He said a committee comprising public and private institutions would be formed in order to secure Lebanon’s successful participation in the event and ensure the companies’ full use of the available opportunities and resources.

He also added that Lebanon’s involvement in the expo would include artistic performances aimed at attracting visitors to the Lebanese booth and increasing the visibility of its products.

The minister has praised the Italian government for providing Lebanon with logistics and customs incentives to facilitate its participation in the event.

Expo Milano opens May 1, 2015, and will continue for six months under a theme of sustainable food production. The focus on food is fitting for Italy, a country revered for its pasta, pizza, gelato and Nutella.

Lebanon’s contribution will likewise center on food, and will be presented under the slogan “Cuisine, the Lebanese Art and Soul.”

“Taste is knowledge,” Simon Jabbour, Lebanon’s commissioner-general in the Economy and Trade Ministry told The Daily Star, explaining that cuisine may well be the best window into Lebanon’s culture, a country whose social and culinary heritage are closely connected.

Lebanon will have a 125-square-meter exhibition space in the Bio-Med Cluster, a pavilion at Expo Milano devoted to countries from around the Mediterranean. Nearby stands will host Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, as well as Croatia, Serbia, Albania and Montenegro.

Participation at the expo is free, Jabbour said, adding: “Those who are interested will be invited to cooperate on creating a concept of presence that will serve them as well as the Lebanese image. This is a call to all the syndicates and chambers to take part.”

The space dedicated to Lebanese cuisine will offer an interactive experience, where visitors can learn about and taste typical handmade food and beverages.

Lebanon’s participation in the expo comes at a desperate time, as the country’s food and hospitality industries struggle to draw tourists in the face of concerns over security.

Expo Milano is expected to draw millions of visitors to the northern Italian city over six months, and it is hoped that Lebanon’s presence will offer an essential platform for promoting local culture and tourism.

“The cuisine of this antique land is rich and is part of the history; it is easy to find Oriental and Western influences. Even if Lebanon is not a big country, it succeeded in contributing very much to modern Middle Eastern cuisine,” Jabbour said in a statement.

“We will explain how, in terms of art, literature, history and sociology, the cuisine could be a way to present our traditions and our culture and how they are related to our style of living.”

Lebanese and Italian food traditions both emphasize local, in-season ingredients like olives and olive oil, citrus, tomatoes, eggplant and other fresh produce.

The placement of food and family at the center of social life in both countries makes them natural partners, Giuseppe Morabito, Italy’s ambassador to Lebanon, told The Daily Star.

Marabito had hinted about the culinary and cultural links between Italy and Lebanon during the HORECA food and beverage trade show, which took place in Beirut earlier this month.

“Food is, how can I say, something in common,” he said. “Food is part of the family. It’s a dialogue.”

Source: The Daily Star

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 Middle East

Saudi replaces veteran intel chief Prince Bandar

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has replaced intelligence chief Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the kingdom’s pointman on the Syrian conflict, “at his own request”, official news agency SPA announced Tuesday.

In a royal decree, the powerful official was “exempted… from his position at his own request” and replaced by his deputy, Yousef al-Idrissi.

Bandar, a former ambassador to the United States, is widely regarded as among the most influential powerbrokers in the Middle East.

But the veteran intelligence supremo went abroad for several months for health reasons, with diplomats saying he had been sidelined in Saudi efforts to support rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

They said the file has been transferred to the interior minister, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who cracked down on Al-Qaeda following a wave of deadly attacks in the Gulf state between 2003 and 2006.

Bandar’s management of the Syria file had triggered American criticism, diplomats said.

The prince himself reproached Washington for its decision not to intervene militarily in Syria, and for preventing its allies from providing rebels with much-needed weapons, according to diplomats.

Media run by the Syrian regime and its allies in Lebanon have repeatedly lashed out at Bandar, accusing him of supporting Sunni Islamist radicals in Syria.

 

Source: AFP

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 Entertainment

Haifa Wehbe’s sexuality in the film Halawet Rouh unnerves Qatari society

Qatari filmgoers were furious at the screening of Haifa Wehbe’s latest film Halawet Rouh (Beauty of the Soul), due to the indecent nature of the film.

As a result, there was a social media outrage due to the x-rated content of the film, which was deemed inappropriate to the norms of the conservative Arab culture.

The hashtag #banbeautyofthesouldmovie was trending on Twitter in support of banning the film from screening in Qatari cinemas.

They claim the film was banned in some of Qatar’s neighbouring countries for its brazen display of “nudity,” and the sexual undertones.

Concerned Qatari citizens said: “How could they have approved such a movie, we need new regulations to ensure that such unconventional movies are kept out of our islamic society.”

 

Source: Al-Bawaba

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 News

Halal industry to be worth $2.5 trillion by 2018

Halal food and lifestyle, products manufactured or produced as per the Islamic laws, sectors are expected to grow phenomenally as Muslim population continues to grow and the companies hoping to tap into the lucrative market.

As per the latest State of Global Islamic Economy Report, published by Thomson Reuters in partnership with DinarStandard, consumer expenditure in 2012 for the fast-growing global halal food and lifestyle sectors was $1.62 trillion and is expected to be valued at $2.47 trillion by 2018.

“Global brands such as Nestle, Carrefour, Marriot, Pfizer, as well as regional investment firms and thousands of SME’s grapple with serving this fast growing, global, and complex market,” said Rafi-uddin Shikoh, Managing Director & CEO of DinarStandard, in a statement released yesterday.

The report defines halal as:

“Food permitted per Islamic dietary guidelines from the Qu’ran. Muslim followers cannot consume: pork or pork by products, animals that were dead prior to slaughtering, animals not slaughtered properly or not slaughtered in the name of God, blood and blood by products, alcohol, carnivorous animals, birds of prey.”

GCC halal food imports are set to jump from $25.8 billion in 2010 to $53.1 billion by 2020, and the UAE’s annual halal food imports is expected to reach $8.4 billion by the end of the decade – according to the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The UAE is all geared to position itself as the gateway of this growing industry segment. The UAE government has recently announced setting up of ‘Halal Cluster,’ a 6.7 million square feet land in Dubai Industrial City, for firms dealing in halal food, cosmetics, and personal care items, according to the CEO of Dubai Industrial City, Abdullah Belhoul.

“This industry itself, we know it is growing. So we think there is a lot of opportunity… and we need to capitalize on this,” said the CEO.

The report mentions that the global Muslim consumers spent about $1,088 billion in food and beverage consumption in 2012, accounting for 16.6% of global expenditure. “This expenditure is expected to grow to $1,626 billion market by 2018. This represents the Halal food potential market world-wide within its core Muslim consumer market,” according to the report.

 

Source: Al-Bawaba

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 Sports

Late Salameh strike keeps Safa on title track

BEIRUT: Two-time defending champions Safa moved to within a point of league leaders Nejmeh after a 2-1 win over Ansar Monday in matchday 18 of the Lebanese Football League.

Safa appeared to have squandered another pair of valuable points when Eddy Prince’s 81st minute strike canceled out Hamzeh Salameh’s opener, but the Safa forward was on target again two minutes from time to hand the holders a crucial win in one of the most fiercely contested seasons in recent memory.

The win moves Safa to second place in the standings on 35 points, one behind front-runners Nejmeh, while third-placed Racing (34) remain a point ahead of Ahed.

In a one-sided first half, Ansar were in danger of being entirely blown away as Hussein Sayed’s calamitous error gifted Salameh the easiest of goals after 10 minutes.

All signs pointed to Safa extending their lead shortly thereafter as first; Hasan Hazimeh cracked the post on 26 minutes before Mahmoud Kojok could only find the side netting with his effort 13 minutes later.

Ansar finally engineered an opportunity in the opening period when Brazilian Ramos’ free kick glanced Ziad al-Samad’s post.

Safa’s wastefulness looked to have cost them all three points after Prince’s 81st minute slalom run was capped by a cool finish from the African forward.

But in the dying stages, Salameh managed to rescue Safa and keep their title bid alive, sweeping home from Tamer Hajj Mohammad’s pinpoint center.

Source: The Daily Star

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 Middle East

Jordanian envoy kidnappers demand release of Libyan prisoner

TRIPOLI: The kidnappers of Jordan’s ambassador in Tripoli on Tuesday demanded the release of a Libyan who is serving a life prison sentence in Jordan, a security source said.

Essam Baitelmel, a member of the Libyan team investigating the abduction, said they had demanded the release of Mohamed Dersi and said the diplomat was not harmed and in good health.

Baitelmel said they still do not know the identity of the kidnappers, who had called on the ambassador’s phone, which he had left in his car.

Source: Reuters

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 News

Reports: Gemayel, Saniora agree on March 14 coordination to choose single presidential candidate

Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel and the head of al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc Fouad Saniora agreed on the importance of coordination between the March 14 alliance’s members before backing any presidential candidate, sources said Tuesday.

Saniora visited Gemayel on Monday after talks with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Riyadh.

MTV reported on Tuesday that Hariri had telephoned the Kataeb chief on to discuss the latest developments.

A terse statement issued by the Kataeb chief’s press office on Monday said discussions with Saniora focused on the presidential elections and the need to hold them on time.

But sources told several local dailies that Gemayel and Saniora stressed the unity of March 14, the importance of coordination to have a single candidate, and coming up with a mechanism to choose the person who is most capable to garner the support of MPs from outside the alliance, mainly centrists.

The vote of lawmakers from the coalition is not enough to guarantee the election of a March 14 figure, they said.

After his talks with Gemayel, Saniora met with the March 14 camp’s independent figures and briefed them on the results of his discussions with Hariri in Riyadh.

The adviser of the Mustaqbal movement chief, Nader Hariri, who was in Riyadh with Saniora, met with Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, a centrist, at his residence in Clemenceau.

Also Monday, Gemayel held talks with President Michel Suleiman’s adviser, former Minister Khalil Hrawi.

Sources said that Gemayel was coming under pressure by party members and his allies in March 14 to officially announce his candidacy for the presidency.

Suleiman’s six-year term ends in May but the Constitutional deadline for the election of a new head of state started on March 25.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea was the first to announce he was running for the presidency, leaving his March 14 allies in confusion.

Other presidential hopefuls are Gemayel, MPs Butros Harb and Robert Ghanem, who are like Geagea members of March 14.

Potential candidates from the March 8 alliance are Hizbullah allies Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh.

Lebanese presidents are always chosen from the Maronite sect in accordance with the 1943 National Pact.

 

Source: Naharnet

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 News

Hundreds bid farewell to slain Al-Manar reporter

SHAATH, Lebanon: Hundreds of men and women, dressed in black and carrying Hezbollah flags, took part Tuesday in the funeral procession of Al-Manar journalist who was killed in Syria the day before.

Weeping and distraught, Hamzeh Hajj Hassan’s mother was surrounded by consoling relatives as she lead the women’s procession in the Bekaa Valley village of Shaath.

Hassan, 26, was among three Al-Manar staffers who were covering the Syrian army’s takeover of the Christian town of Maaloula in Syria when their vehicle came under heavy fire.

Technician Halim Allaw and cameraman Mohammad Mantash were also killed in the attack, the local television said, which was carried out by “takfiri terrorists.”

The shooting came hours after Al-Manar announced regime forces seized Maaloula and two other villages in the Qalamoun region, a mountainous area where the Syrian army backed by Hezbollah fighters have launched an offensive to root out rebels.

As soon as Hassan’s body arrived in an ambulance to the funeral, gunshots were fired in the air as the crowd chanted a popular slogan coined by Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nassrallah: “Humiliation is far from us.”

Women tossed flowers and rice on the coffin, which was covered with a yellow Hezbollah flag and carried on the shoulders of Hezbollah members dressed in uniform to the burial site.

Hassan along with other Al-Manar reporters have provided extensive coverage of the Qalamoun battles, accompanying soldiers and interviewing Syrian army officers.

Source: The Daily Star

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 Business

Wage hike can spark inflation, experts warn

BEIRUT: Enacting a wage hike for public sector employees would spur inflation if paid in full rather than in installments, economists told The Daily Star Monday.

“The increase in wages would surely lead to a hike in demand on commodities which, in turn, would result in an upward change in prices and cause inflation,” Economist Ghazi Wazneh warned.

But Wazneh said the level of inflation could be minimized if the salary scale was paid in installments over four years. “I [would advise] the government to pay the salary scale in installments over four years because a cash injection of LL2,765 billion ($1.843 billion) would certainly lead to great inflation,” he added.

“We will not be able to eliminate inflation but we can try to minimize it this way,” he said.

In the past couple of weeks Lebanon has witnessed a wave of protests by civil servants and teachers in public and private schools represented by the Union Coordination Committee aimed at putting pressure on lawmakers to approve a wage hike draft law.

The salary scale bill was approved last week by Parliament’s Joint Committees following a series of marathon sessions.

However, MPs failed to reach an agreement on when the wage hikes should come into effect, whether they should be calculated on a retroactive basis and if they should be paid in installments.

Lawmakers also remained divided over the extent of the increase in the value-added tax and on details of the raises for teachers, prompting Speaker Nabih Berri to postpone the debate and voting on the draft law until Tuesday.

The failure to reach a final agreement on the salary scale has also prompted the UCC to call upon all public sector employees to participate in the strike on the same day.

Head of the UCC Hanna Gharib said that the strike was designed to protect the salary scale and ward off attempts to pay it in installments.

But economists insist paying the wage hike in installments is necessary because it could help curb inflation.

“If the salary scale is paid in installments we would reach an inflation rate of 2 percent instead of 4 percent,” Wazneh said. “It is way too much to inject this great sum of money into the market since it constitutes around 3.5 percent of the GDP.”

Former Finance Minister Jihad Azour shared Wazneh’s views, saying the approval of the salary scale would cause an increase in prices in addition to triggering certain adjustments in the education fees, medical costs and rents for instance.

Azour explained that average public sector salaries became much higher than average private sector salaries for equivalent jobs. “This will put upward pressure on the salary scale in the private sector,” he said, adding that introducing other adjustments in the private sector salaries would push the economy into a vicious circle of increasing salaries and prices that would create stagflation.

“Our economy is already witnessing slow growth so if you add inflation to it, you will trigger stagflation,” he added.

Stagflation occurs when the economy isn’t growing but prices are.

However, Louis Hobeika, an Economics and Finance professor at Notre Dame University, argued that the approval of the wage hike will not spur inflation provided that Lebanese industries that are operating below capacity increase production to meet the forecast increase in demand.

He said Lebanese industries are producing below their potential due to the economic slowdown and could increase the supply of goods to balance any increase in demand and keep prices stable.

Hobeika added that the wage hike would finance itself since an increase in consumption would increase the state’s revenues from VAT.

He added that the approval of the salary scale should go in parallel with fighting corruption and improving the collection of taxes.

“We should not increase taxes but we should improve its collection,” he added.

Source: The Daily Star

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 News

Twins who share everything — including their boyfriend

Growing up, twins Victoria and Amanda Hepperle were raised to share everything – toys, clothes and their deepest secrets.

“What’s mine is hers,” has been the guiding principle all their lives, to the delight of their proud parents.

Until now. For the 27-year-old sisters have taken the divvying up to shocking extremes – by sharing the bed of the same boyfriend.

Their exhausted joint lover, Ian Diaz, admits that he feels like “the luckiest man alive”, but adds: “Some men might think sleeping with twins is a dream come true, but it’s not always an easy ride.”

But his two girlfriends can’t ­understand what all the fuss is about.

Victoria says: “We are a threesome now and we don’t find it weird at all, although I wish the same could be said for our parents and friends.

“We have a healthy sex life, even if we have to decide between ourselves who has Ian on any given night.

“Ian knows the closeness of our bond. He understands us and just gets us. I think any guy would want double the attention. People come up to him and say, ‘Wow! You’re so lucky’.”

Victoria and Amanda with Ian

 

Delivery boss Ian, 27, started out as Victoria’s sweetheart, and for four years they had a perfectly normal relationship. But in 2012 Amanda suffered a painful break-up with her then boyfriend which left her devastated.

Seeing her sister alone and unhappy, Victoria hatched a bizarre plan – Ian would become boyfriend to them BOTH. All she had to do was persuade him.

She says: “Ian and I had an undeniable physical attraction and a strong bond. We have a solid relationship built on trust and understanding.

“Ian knows that my relationship with Amanda has always been a huge part of my life and that I would do anything for her. So when she broke up with her boyfriend just over two years ago, I shared her pain and her heartbreak.

“It was devastating to see her so unhappy. It hurt me almost as much as it hurt her. It seemed to me almost natural to invite her to join us in our loving ­relationship.

“Ian was unsure at first, particularly as he knew that his parents wouldn’t be very happy, but now we’re all ­blissfully in love.

“He loves us equally– albeit in quite different ways. He considers me his rock. I am always there to cater for his emotional needs.

“Sometimes I get jealous of the ­relationship he has with Amanda, but I know that he loves me.

“We have spoken about marriage and I’m looking forward to the day when we wed, but if Amanda and Ian get married ­afterwards then that’s fine. The ­important thing is we’re all together, and all happy.”

 

Victoria and Amanda
 

Ian has his own flat in Guttenberg, New Jersey, and the girls, non-identical twins born just 30 minutes apart, live just a few streets away with their appalled parents.

He admits that juggling his ­relationships with the twins can be quite a challenge – but insists that it’s worth all the effort.

“I’m in love with them both the same, although I expect Vicky and I will get married first,” Ian says.

“Victoria and I have a much more traditional relationship. It’s very loving and quite harmonious. I tend to be the dominant one with her.

“But with Amanda, there is no ­question that she wears the trousers. She is ­incredibly feisty and rules the roost.

“In bed it is very sensual with Victoria while with Amanda it’s wanton. They wear me out.

“There are times when I just want to have a few days’ peace. That said, it’s a little like being a multi-millionaire,” he concedes. “Do I ever really have a bad day?”

Well, maybe – when he has to face the parents. Both sides of the family are deeply unhappy about the three-sided arrangement.

 

Victoria and Amanda
 

The twins’ father, David, who raised his girls in the Catholic faith, describes the relationship as being like “a pair of two-year-old shoes still not broken in yet”.

David, along with wife Ingrid, hope that their girls “will see sense” one day and that Amanda will quit the ­relationship leaving Ian and Victoria to have a ­conventional marriage.

But the twins just don’t see that there’s a problem. They admit they argue constantly but insist that the one thing they agree on is their love for Ian.

Amanda says: “One day, I hope that I might find a man of my own but at the moment this is working well for us all.” Right from the start, when Victoria suggested it, Amanda thought it was a great idea.

“I was devastated after my previous relationship ended,” she says. “My self-esteem was on the floor.

“So when Vicky invited me to join her in her relationship with Ian, I felt grateful – and excited.

“My sister and I traditionally have different tastes in men, but I’ve always found Ian attractive, and it was easy falling in love with him. Me and Vicky shared everything growing up. Now we share the same soulmate.”

 

Victoria and Amanda with Ian
 

But Amanda readily agrees that each twin brings something very different to the ­arrangement.

“Vicky and Ian are very much more lovey-dovey together than I am with him.

“My relationship with Ian is a lot more fiery. It’s much more physical and we enjoy each other sexually with great passion.

“Although one of the ground rules is that the three of us never make love at the same time, that’s just not my thing.

“I want to share my life with someone who gives me everything and although Ian is shared with my twin, I feel he gives me that.

“We’re living every day blissfully, and that’s what counts.

“Our relationship might be unusual, but it works for us.”

 

Source: The Daily Mirror

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