News

Jordan, Lebanon sign 5-year tourism agreement

(AMMAN, JORDAN) — Lebanese and Jordanian officials signed a tourism executive agreement recently, which includes a partnership tourism program between the two countries until 2020.

The agreement was signed during the 7th session of the Joint Jordanian-Lebanese Higher Committee, which was recently held in Amman and presided over by Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and his Lebanese counterpart, Tammam Salam.

The two countries have hosted a tourism convention since 1964, according to Jordan’s ministry.

The restored program includes efforts to promote tourism in the two countries, in order to achieve common goals for developing international and regional tourism in both countries.

According to Jordan’s National News Agency, the agreement says both countries should take necessary measures to facilitate the flow of tourist traffic and call on travel agents to develop joint programs for groups at promotional prices.

The ministry stressed the importance of encouraging the establishing joint tourism projects through providing all legal facilities and privileges for tourist investments in the two countries, in addition to organize an annual meeting for investors from the private sector in both countries to get to know the investment advantages available.

Jordan’s National News Agency says a joint technical committee will be formed to follow up on its implementation.

Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Nayef Al Fayez and his Lebanese counterpart Michel Pharaon signed the program.

Examiner StaffAugust 16, 2015, 3:46 pmAugust 16, 2015 Comments Off 2667

News

LBC wins lawsuit against Saudi prince Al Waleed Bin Talal

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Officials at the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) announced the company recently won a legal dispute against Saudi prince Al Waleed Bin Talal.

According to a LBC statement, a French court ruled the company has “won back rights” to its brands in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Africa. The statement adds that Bin Talal will face “a bill for expenses.”

“The court’s decision stipulated that Bin Talal shall waiver his alleged right to the said channels and give them back to LBCI, but also be responsible for all fees and expenses of the lawsuit he lost,” officials at LBC said in a statement.

The dispute started in the early 2000’s when Bin Talal’s Rotana group, the Arab World’s largest entertainment company, took a stake in the Beirut-based broadcasting company.

LBC did not announce the details of the lawsuit, only revealing the dispute involved “production fees and company ownership.”

According to Al-Arabiya, LBC chief Pierre Daher and Bin Talal were once “allies,” with the Saudi prince investing in LBC in 2008. They fell out over “several issues” and Daher was sidelined as head of the corporation’s production arm, PAC.

PAC stands for LBC’s Production and Acquisition Company, which filed for liquidation in 2012 and resulted in the discharge of 400 employees.

The legal ruling stipulated that all LBCI trademarks and related branding will revert to the company founders.

LBCI went global in 1996 when it launched its satellite channel covering the Arab World, European Union, United States, Canada, Americas and Australia.

Examiner StaffAugust 16, 2015, 11:01 amAugust 16, 2015 Comments Off 1983

News

Ahmad al-Assir arrested at Beirut airport; wife demands release

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese authorities arrested Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir at the Rafik Hariri International Airport on Saturday while he attempted to flee to Nigeria.

Ahmad al-Assir was attempting to travel to Nigeria via Cairo with a fake Palestinian passport, according to officials at the airport’s General Security division.

A circulating photo appears to show al-Assir clean-shaven, although security officials have not verified the photo's accuracy. (Photo via Naharnet) — A circulating photo appears to show al-Assir clean-shaven, although security officials have not verified the photo’s accuracy. (Photo via Naharnet)

Airport officials said al-Assir was arrested shortly after boarding the plane with a valid Nigerian visa. Two other individuals were reportedly accompanying him using forged passports.

According to the Beirut-based newspaper The Daily Star, al-Assir changed his appearance by removing his beard and “doing a number of plastic surgeries.”

Al-Assir, widely known as an anti-Hezbollah cleric, was holding a passport in the name of Rami Abdul Rahman Taleb, according to the Lebanese National News Agency.

A white Mercedes which reportedly transported al-Assir to the airport has been seized, and its driver was arrested, according to officials.

Media reports speculated that al-Assir may have been hiding in the Ain al-Hilwe refugee camp near Sidon. Al-Assir has been on the run since June 2013 after his armed supporters clashed with the Lebanese army and killed 18 soldiers.

In 2014, a military court recommended prosecutors seek death sentences for al-Assir and 53 others, including former singer Fadel Shaker.

Since his arrest, the wife of al-Assir staged a protest in Sidon near the Bahaa Eddine mosque, calling on the release of her husband hours after his arrest.

“I will keep blocking the road until my husband is freed,” she said, according to Sawt Lebnan, VDL 100.5 radio.

Security officials also arrested al-Assir supporter Ahmed Abdul Majid, a Palestinian living in Sidon.

Examiner StaffAugust 15, 2015, 2:35 pmAugust 15, 2015 Comments Off 2811

News

Garbage crisis proves Lebanese politics stinks

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — As if 14 months without a president wasn’t enough, Lebanon has turned into a giant trash mound since July 17, after political quarrels have halted trash collection.

The Lebanese cabinet has failed to agree on a solution for the country’s growing garbage crisis, postponing discussion until next week as trash continues to pile up on the streets.

Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk estimated the amount of trash to be at 22,000 tons — and growing.

“It’s like a domino,” Lucien Bourjeily, a social activist, told The National. “It’s one more thing on top of everything else in this country: No electricity, no water, no proper internet, no roads, corruption and…there’s no president and then you have the garbage.”

Sukleen, the main company in charge of collecting trash, stopped its work last week amid a dispute over the country’s largest trash dump.

The government is searching for alternatives to the Naame landfill south of Beirut, which was closed down on July 17. Naame residents have protested the landfill since it opened in 1997.

Earlier this year, the government agreed that the landfill would be shut down in July. But they never agreed on an alternative plan to handle the massive amounts of garbage produced by Beirut and surrounding areas.

The mountains of garbage have overtaken sidewalks and empty lots, causing traffic delays and strong odors in Beirut-area neighborhoods.

Protestors took to the streets of Downtown Beirut on Saturday, holding signs that read, “Clean up the trash in the parliament.”

“In Beirut, it’s only been four or five days of garbage and people already can’t take it. We have been dealing with Lebanon’s trash for the last 17 years,” said Youssef Halabi, a resident of Aramoun village near the landfill.

“We can’t open our windows because of the gases coming off the dump,” the 28-year-old told the AFP news agency. “I’ve invited ministers to come to my place and see if they can tolerate it.”

Instead of extending meetings until a decision is made, Lebanese officials decided to postpone any decision until next week, allowing for several more tons of trash to pile on Beirut’s streets.

Examiner StaffJuly 25, 2015, 12:18 pmJuly 25, 2015 Comments Off 2576

News

Human Rights Watch: Death penalty not the answer in Yateem case

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The Human Rights Watch has issued a statement condemning the recent attack on George al-Reef, adding that the death penalty should not be considered in the case against Tarek Yateem.

The case began when al-Reef, a father of four was stabbed to death in Beirut in an apparent road rage incident near Gemmayzeh.

According to reports, al-Reef and his wife got into a right of way dispute with Yateem and Lina Haidar, who attempted to get in front of Al Reef.

Haidar, who was driving, forcefully hit Al Reef’s car and kept going. That’s when Al Reef and his wife followed the car to reportedly get its license plate number.

The chase led to a secluded Beirut street, where Yateem got out of the car and began attacking Al Reef, repeatedly stabbing him with a knife.

“While the public’s frustration with the flawed Lebanese justice system is understandable, executions aren’t the solution,” the Human Rights Watch statement read.

According to HRW, a local Lebanese journalist wrote that the Lebanese people no longer trust the state and the judiciary.

“Executions are not the answer,” the statement continued. “Between the barbaric execution of Lebanese soldiers by extremist groups, violent attacks on Alawite, Sunni, and Shiite neighborhoods, the last thing Lebanon needs is more killing, even state-sanctioned.”

Officials at Human Rights Watch have long advocated against the death penalty, calling it “inherently cruel punishment.”

“(Death penalty) cannot be reversed even when miscarriages of justice are found to take place. Furthermore, study after study suggests that capital punishment does not deter crime more than other sanctions,” the statement continued.

Human Rights Watch encouraged government officials to “strengthen the rule of law” and protect the justice system from “political interference.”

What do you think? Do you agree with the Human Rights Watch? Sound off on Facebook.

Examiner StaffJuly 25, 2015, 12:04 amJuly 25, 2015 Comments Off 1573

News

Man killed in apparent road rage incident; wife watches helplessly

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — A father of four was stabbed to death in Beirut on Wednesday in an apparent road rage incident near Gemmayzeh.

According to reports, Georges Al Reef and his wife got into a right of way dispute with Tarek Yateem and Lina Haidar, who attempted to get in front of Al Reef.

Haidar, who was driving, forcefully hit Al Reef’s car and kept going. That’s when Al Reef and his wife followed the car to reportedly get its license plate number.

Al Reef’s wife called the Internal Security Forces for help, but police said there were no personnel nearby.

The chase led to Gemmayzeh, where Yateem got out of the car and began attacking Al Reef, repeatedly stabbing him with a knife.

The attack took place roughly 40 meters from the home of Energy Minister Arthur Nazarian, who watched from his balcony.

According to The Daily Star, Yateem was the bodyguard of prominent businessman Antoun Sehnaoui, the chairman of Société Générale de Banque au Liban.

Relatives and officials urged for the death penalty for Yateem on Friday at the funeral service for Al Reef.

Hospital officials say Al Reef was stabbed about 15 times in the chest. He died at Haddad Hospital in Achrafieh on Thursday.

Surveillance video shows several witnesses who watched the attack, but no one helped. His wife is seen begging Yateem to stop.

Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea called for a “maximum” punishment for Yateem, who was previously involved in a 2010 shooting at the White House restaurant in Sodeco.

“The Lebanese judiciary should give the maximum penalty for the perpetrator of this heinous crime, to be a clear lesson to all who would do a similar act,” Geagea wrote on Twitter.

Yateem is currently in police custody. He had several arrest warrants issued against him for previous assaults.

WATCH the attack, via LBCI News:

Examiner StaffJuly 17, 2015, 1:35 pmJuly 17, 2015 Comments Off 4652

Business, News

Real estate group reveals average apartment prices in Beirut

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Beirut-based real estate advisory firm RAMCO revealed the average sales prices of apartments under construction in Beirut vary between USD 2,088 and USD 7,000 per square meter.

The BCD, the seafront stretch, and some neighborhoods in Ashrafieh are still the most expensive in Beirut. The central residential neighborhoods – from Bachoura to the North down towards Hamad and Rweiss in the South – are the least expensive in the capital.

The RAMCO research department produced a map of average asking prices of apartments in 346 buildings among 71 Beirut neighborhoods.

The map of the prices of new apartments, by neighborhood, reveals several indicators of the real estate market of Beirut:

Logically, the seafront neighborhoods of the capital post the highest prices. From Ain el Mreisseh to Ramlet el Baida, averages vary between USD 4,583 and 6,925 per SQM. These prices, however, are not only for projects located on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea but also for projects under construction on secondary streets, where certain apartments do not offer open sea views.

The Beirut Central District (BCD) has been divided into five geographical sectors. Averages on the first floor vary between USD 6,000 and USD 7,000 per SQM. Overall, prices have dropped over the past 12 months. As there are no projects currently under construction around the Bay of St. Georges, averages have dropped compared to last year. The highest averages are located in the area of Foch-Allenby, which enjoys views of the Port of Beirut.

Not a single neighborhood in the capital posts prices below the symbolic bar of USD 2,000 per SQM. The lowest prices are found in the central neighborhoods of Beirut, between Bachoura and Tarik el Jdideh, and vary between USD 2,088 and USD 2,400 per SQM.

Examiner StaffJuly 16, 2015, 12:33 amJuly 16, 2015 Comments Off 8540

News

Lebanese officials react to Iran nuclear deal

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese Prime Minister Tammam Salam and other Lebanese officials praised the deal reached between Iran and world powers Tuesday and expressed hope that the agreement would usher a new era of peace to Lebanon and the Middle East.

“We hope that this development will have positive repercussions on the situation in the Middle East, in a way that helps reduce tensions and spreads peace and stability,” Salam said in a statement.

Before the agreement was reached, Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Sunday that an Iranian nuclear deal could help pave the way to ending the presidential vacuum in Lebanon.

Other leaders from opposing parties also expressed their delight, including Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, Marada Movement chief Sleiman Frangieh, and former President Michel Sleiman.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblatt were the only officials in Lebanon who spoke against the deal on Tuesday.

“Some have hopes about the nuclear deal but I disagree,” Geagea told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

He said the deal is only a “mere agreement” and that it can potentially “aggravate” the situation in the Middle East.

Jumblatt said the deal “excludes Arabs…with total disregard for the Palestinian cause” and provided a “boost” to the “murderous” regime of Bashar Assad.

Under the deal, sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations will be lifted, in return for Iran’s acceptance of long-term curbs on its nuclear program, which the West had claimed was aimed at creating a nuclear weapon.

The lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen assets in the United States will provide Iran with billions of dollars.

The former Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, Mohammad Sadegh Kharazi, was quoted as saying by The Guardian that the deal ended the “Cold War” between Iran and the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the agreement as a “historic mistake” and said he would do what he could to block Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

“Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons. Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted,” Netanyahu said at the start of a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders in Jerusalem.

“Iran will get a jackpot, a cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars, which will enable it to continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region and in the world. This is a bad mistake of historic proportions.”

Examiner StaffJuly 14, 2015, 5:00 pmJuly 16, 2015 Comments Off 1917

News

Lebanese-American wins GOP primary for Illinois congressional seat

(PEORIA, IL) — Lebanese-American State Senator Darin LaHood won the GOP nomination in the race to replace disgraced ex-U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock.

LaHood heads into the Sept. 10 special general election as the favorite to succeed Schock, who resigned in March amid intensifying questions about his use of campaign and taxpayer funds.

During the primary race, LaHood portrayed himself as far more conservative than his father, former congressman and U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

He received early backing from the state GOP, raised more than the other candidates and picked up key endorsements, including from the National Rifle Association.

But opponent Michael Flynn, who was closely aligned with the late commentator Andrew Breitbart, rallied against the GOP “establishment,” saying seats in Congress weren’t meant to be handed down.

LaHood said he spent more time on the campaign trail talking about his record as a state senator and former prosecutor than his father.

“People feel there’s a disconnect with what goes on in Washington, D.C.,” he told The Associated Press in a phone interview before he addressed supporters at a party in Peoria. “They don’t want someone who is going to make the same mistakes as the previous congressman.”

Turnout was low for the special primary scheduled in peak summer vacation season, with many counties reporting well below 10 percent.

Associated Press

Examiner StaffJuly 13, 2015, 9:45 amJuly 13, 2015 Comments Off 1288

Lifestyle, News

Malala Yousafzai visits Lebanon; opens school for Syrian refugees

(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Malala Yousafzai, the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, celebrated her 18th birthday in Lebanon on Sunday by opening a school for Syrian refugee girls and called on world leaders to invest in “books not bullets”.

Malala became a symbol of defiance after she was shot on a school bus in Pakistan 2012 by the Taliban for advocating girls’ rights to education. She continued campaigning and won the Nobel in 2014.

“I decided to be in Lebanon because I believe that the voices of the Syrian refugees need to be heard and they have been ignored for so long,” Malala told Reuters in a schoolroom decorated with drawings of butterflies.

The Malala Fund, a non-profit organization that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. It can welcome up to 200 girls aged 14 to 18.

“Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world’s children, I demand of leaders we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Malala said in a speech.

Lebanon is home to 1.2 million of the 4 million refugees that have fled Syria’s war to neighboring countries. There are about 500,000 Syrian school-age children in Lebanon, but only a fifth are in formal education.

Malala Yousafzai, center, poses with girls for a picture at a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on July 12. The Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. (Jamal Saidi/Reuters) — Malala Yousafzai, center, poses with girls for a picture at a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on July 12. The Malala Fund, a non-profit organisation that supports local education projects, paid for the school in the Bekaa Valley, close to the Syrian border. (Jamal Saidi/Reuters)

Lebanon, which allows informal settlements on land rented by refugees, says it can no longer cope with the influx from Syria’s four-year conflict. One in four living in Lebanon is a refugee.

The U.N. says the number of Syrian refugees in neighboring countries is expected to reach 4.27 million by the end of the year.

“In Lebanon as well as in Jordan, an increasing number of refugees are being turned back at the border,” Malala said. “This is inhuman and this is shameful.”

Her father Ziauddin said he was proud she was carrying on her activism into adulthood.

“This is the mission we have taken for the last 8-9 years. A small moment for the education of girls in Swat Valley: it is spreading now all over the world,” he said.

Malala was feted with songs and a birthday cake. Moved to tears by the girls, she was modest when asked for advice.

“They are amazing, I don’t think they need any message, I don’t think they need any other advice because they know that education is very important for them.”

Reuters

Examiner StaffJuly 13, 2015, 9:34 amJuly 13, 2015 Comments Off 4878

Jordan, Lebanon sign 5-year tourism agreement

LBC wins lawsuit against Saudi prince Al Waleed Bin Talal

Ahmad al-Assir arrested at Beirut airport; wife demands release

Garbage crisis proves Lebanese politics stinks

Human Rights Watch: Death penalty not the answer in Yateem case

Man killed in apparent road rage incident; wife watches helplessly

Real estate group reveals average apartment prices in Beirut

Lebanese officials react to Iran nuclear deal

Lebanese-American wins GOP primary for Illinois congressional seat

Malala Yousafzai visits Lebanon; opens school for Syrian refugees

Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary: Lebanese heritage influenced my career

Lebanese porn star Mia Khalifa sparks controversy in Lebanon

See incredible photos inside the Mikati family mega-yacht

Lebanese family become billionaires by opening Zara stores

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