Here’s a nice video by L’Orient-Le Jour commemorating the international women’s day. [YouTube]   En cette journée de la femme, L’Orient-Le Jour a décidé de donner la parole aux hommes, aux Libanais en l’occurrence, et leur a demandé ce qu’il faudrait faire, selon eux, pour améliorer la condition de la femme au Liban, un pays […]

  Patriarch Rai has continued his opening to all political parties after contacting Mustaqbal movement chief MP Fouad Saniora to congratulate him on their new political document and discuss it. Patriarch Rai expressed his satisfaction in the name of the Maronite Church and said that he supports the foundations this document sets between various Lebanese […]

  The Maronite bishops council condemned on Wednesday the ongoing dispute over the new official history book that is being prepared to be taught at schools, saying that it should serve the country’s interests and recount events objectively.It said in a statement after its monthly meeting: “The new history book should include the whole of […]

  The Beirut accusatory body acquitted on Wednesday the owners of the Fassouh building that collapsed on January 15. The body had approved Beirut Examining Magistrate Ghassan Owaidat’s decision to acquit Claude and Michel Saadeh of the charges against them. The two owners have however been released on a LL40 million and 75 million bail. [Naharnet]   […]

  The implementation of the smoke-free law has started today and all politicians are now banned from smoking inside the Lebanese parliament. The fine for the person smoking will be 135,000 LL.

Reuters) – Violence and bloodshed is turning the "Arab Spring" into winter, the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Church said, threatening Christians and Muslims alike across the Middle East. Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, whose Maronite Church also has a strong presence in Syria, said change could not be brought to the Arab world by force and that Christians feared the turmoil was helping extremist Muslim groups.

"We are with the Arab Spring but we are not with this spring of violence, war, destruction and killing. This is turning to winter," Rai told Reuters in Bkirki, seat of the Maronite church in hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea north of Beirut.

"We say that we cannot implement reforms by force and arms. No one can guess the scale of the great losses and damage which could result," said Rai, speaking this week in an ornately decorated reception room in the patriarchate in Bkirki.

  President Michel Suleiman held talks on Tuesday with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the sidelines of his visit to the emirate to attend the Arab Connect Summit 2012. The talks focused on bilateral relations and ways to improve them, as well as the latest regional and Arab developments. [Naharnet]

    A tripartite meeting was held on Sunday at the Baabda Palace between President Michel Suleiman, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.   The meeting “tackled the issues of administrative appointments and (the 2013 parliamentary) elections,” sources told Al-Manar, revealing that the talks took place following efforts exerted […]

President Sleiman visited the head of Romania’s Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel in  Bucharest with whom he discussed the Lebanese-Romanian relations, issues of  relevance to the Orthodox community and the issue of minorities in the region. President Sleiman: “ The visit was fruitful and important as a whole, and it  establishes new and active relations with […]