Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on Tuesday his rejection of the proposed extension of parliament’s term, noting that it would violate the constitution and the will of the people. He said upon his return from Rome: “I told Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri that he would be violating the constitution by seeking the […]

 Foreign Affairs Minister Gebran Bassil on Monday met with the International Compound for Proximity of Islamic Sects Ayatollah Sheikh Mohsen Araki in the presence of Ambassador of Iran, Mohammad Fathali.  Sheikh Araki said Lebanon is an exemplary model of peaceful conviviality between different religions. Bassil also met with Vice President of the Subcommittee of the […]

  BEIRUT: Just 1 percent of Lebanon’s Sunni population has a positive opinion of ISIS, according to new poll commissioned by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Still, that means there are probably “a few thousand” ISIS sympathizers in Lebanon, according to David Pollock, the director of the Washington Institute’s Fikra Forum, who designed […]

  The Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front released Monday a video in which Lebanese soldier Omar Khaled Shamtiyeh announces his defection from the army. Shamtiyeh accused the military of being “subordinate to” Hizbullah and of “killing the Sunni youths” in the North without any valid justification. “I announce my defection from this tyrant army and joining the […]

  BEIRUT: Members of the Hujeiri family blocked Taalbaya’s road Monday to demand the release of two relatives abducted from their home Saturday. While the kidnappers have yet to be identified, relatives of Mustapha Hujeiri, 32, and Khaled Hujeiri, 23, have accused the Hamieh family of being behind the crime. (Link)

  BEIRUT: Despite the volatile security situation, Lebanon remains one of the top destinations for people seeking medical care in the eastern world, Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon said Sunday. “Lebanon has been the hospital of the East, starting from the 1970s and up until today, because it still enjoys some advances in medicine,” Pharaon said […]

  BEIRUT: Despite the volatile security situation, Lebanon remains one of the top destinations for people seeking medical care in the eastern world, Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon said Sunday. “Lebanon has been the hospital of the East, starting from the 1970s and up until today, because it still enjoys some advances in medicine,” Pharaon said […]

  BEIRUT: Despite the volatile security situation, Lebanon remains one of the top destinations for people seeking medical care in the eastern world, Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon said Sunday. “Lebanon has been the hospital of the East, starting from the 1970s and up until today, because it still enjoys some advances in medicine,” Pharaon said […]

On our series analysing how France has suffered as a result of the reckless economic strategies, we meet small business owners in Toulouse who are crippled by payroll taxes that stifle growth and still fail to pay for the lavish benefits system

‘I’ve had enough,” says Charline Petit, the young co-owner of the bagel café on Place St-Aubin in central Toulouse. “I’ve been at this for three years, but I haven’t been able to pay myself since January. I can’t carry on like this, so I’m closing down.

“Everything is taxed. You can’t move without being taxed. Even when you are not making any money, you are taxed. I had to lie about my income to rent an apartment. So then the tax authorities said I had not been declaring enough. I was taxed again. If I stopped working, I would get all kinds of benefits, but as a business person, I get nothing. You are better off unemployed.”

To say “nothing” is possibly a bit of an exaggeration. In return for all those taxes, the French state funds a widely admired universal health service – better on many measures than our own National Health Service – and some of the most generous pension arrangements anywhere in the world.

On our series analysing how France has suffered as a result of the reckless economic strategies, we meet small business owners in Toulouse who are crippled by payroll taxes that stifle growth and still fail to pay for the lavish benefits system

‘I’ve had enough,” says Charline Petit, the young co-owner of the bagel café on Place St-Aubin in central Toulouse. “I’ve been at this for three years, but I haven’t been able to pay myself since January. I can’t carry on like this, so I’m closing down.

“Everything is taxed. You can’t move without being taxed. Even when you are not making any money, you are taxed. I had to lie about my income to rent an apartment. So then the tax authorities said I had not been declaring enough. I was taxed again. If I stopped working, I would get all kinds of benefits, but as a business person, I get nothing. You are better off unemployed.”

To say “nothing” is possibly a bit of an exaggeration. In return for all those taxes, the French state funds a widely admired universal health service – better on many measures than our own National Health Service – and some of the most generous pension arrangements anywhere in the world.