Al Jazeera

File Photo – September 14 2008

Beirut – As Lebanon braces itself for another round of popular protests this week by civil society activists, the country’s politicians are scrambling to achieve an agreement on pressing political issues that have so far kept the government in a political deadlock for months.

On Wednesday, a new round of dialogue is expected to take place following a call by parliament speaker Nabih Berri on August 30 to address a number of issues including: the vacant presidency, the parliament and government agenda, as well as the electoral draft law.

A sandstorm shrouds the capital city of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. The unseasonal sandstorm hit Lebanon and Syria, reducing visibility and sending dozens to hospitals with breathing difficulties because of the fine dust. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla

Lebanese walk on the Ramlet al-Baida seaside corniche as a sandstorm shrouds the coastal capital of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. The unseasonal sandstorm hit Lebanon and Syria, reducing visibility and sending dozens to hospitals with breathing difficulties because of the fine dust. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Lebanese anglers cast fishing poles from a rocky coastal area along the Beirut coastline during a sandstorm in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. The unseasonal sandstorm hit Lebanon and Syria, reducing visibility and sending dozens to hospitals with breathing difficulties because of the fine dust. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Al Jazeera

An unseasonable sandstorm has hit Lebanon and Syria, leaving two people dead and sending hundreds to hospitals for breathing difficulties.

Tuesday’s deaths occurred in Lebanon where at least 750 others were hospitalised for asphyxiation or shortness of breath, the health ministry said.

The meteorological department at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport described the storm as being "unprecedented" in Lebanon’s modern history.

Visibility was significantly reduced and Beirut’s Traffic Management Centre advised drivers to be cautious in order to avoid accidents.

Raghida Dergham, Al Arabiya

Major world powers’ disregard for Lebanese affairs has allowed regional powers influential in Lebanon to neglect the state, constitution, people and independence. The youth movement that began with the slogan You Stink has sought to rouse the international community from its slumber to force the ruling political class to change, and stop ignoring the constitution and ordinary people’s rights, from having a president to collecting waste.

The youthful civil movement’s call for international intervention is aimed at putting international pressure on regional countries influential in Lebanon to reach accords on many levels, starting with the garbage and electricity crises, as well as the presidential vacuum.

BBC

"Denmark has decided to tighten the regulations concerning refugees in a number of areas," the advert begins.

It warns that Denmark has recently passed legislation cutting benefits by up to 50% for newly arrived refugees.

The governing Venstre (Liberal) party won power in June after running on an anti-immigration platform.

emirates247.com

Lebanese Christian couples take part in a mass wedding at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke on September 6, 2015. Thirty seven couples got married during the event organized by the Maronite league. (AFP)

Lebanese Maronite Christian Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros al-Rahi (C) poses among couples who took part in a mass wedding at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke on September 6, 2015. Thirty-seven couples got married during the event organised by the Maronite league.  (AFP)

Lebanese Maronite Christian couples take part in a mass wedding at the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkerke on September 6, 2015. Thirty seven couples got married during the event organised by the Maronite league.  (AFP)

Makram Rabah

Following the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri in 2005, politicians and activists were debating how to brand the opposition movement to demand the immediate withdrawal of the Syrian regime from Lebanon, which was accused of killing Hariri. Many people at the time were eager to pronounce it a revolution, something which the Western media jumped on and coined as “the Cedar Revolution”.

However, Samir Kassir, a prominent columnist and intellectual, later to be assassinated, warned that it was perhaps more appropriate  to describe it as an uprising rather than a revolution. Kassir’s reasoning was plain and simple: the Lebanese had neither the stamina nor the vison to wage a revolution. What was needed was a swift political protest movement with a limited agenda, capable of achieving short-term gains.

Lebanese protestors take part in a gathering in Tyre organised by "You Stink", the non-partisan group that has organised a series of protests against Lebanon’s political class and corruption, September 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jihad Siqlawi)

Beirut (AFP) – Only a small number of people turned out Saturday at demonstrations around Lebanon called by the "You Stink" group to protest what they call a corrupt and inept political class.

The collective had called Friday for demonstrations in the coastal city of Tyre and in Zrariyeh, both in southern Lebanon.

On Saturday around 300 people turned out in Tyre, an AFP correspondent said.

"We elected them MPs, and they have become wolves who are never satisfied," banners read.

"Thieves, thieves," people chanted.

Alex Thomson’s View

Dear old UK. Looked at from Beirut you just have to laugh at the British going on about a refugee “crisis”. It seems like parochial angst, leaves on the railway lines or any other such Terribly British Concern. The chattering anxieties of island races with nothing much to worry about.
Not just the UK but the EU generally, talking of a refugee “crisis”. Here in Lebanon they shrug or laugh at this stuff.Why? Because officially Lebanon now has a little over 1.2 million Syrians living here according to the UNHCR. Most Lebanese insist the real figure is two million or more.  All that in a country of around five million.

It is as if Britain absorbed the populations of Birmingham, Greater Manchester, Tyneside, Bristol, the entire central belt of Scotland and many, many more. And all of that in one of the less stable, more politically fractured and long-time president-less countries of the world.

Photos of Russian jets and drones reportedly flying over Syria.l

The Telegraph

Russia is providing “serious” training and logistical support to the Syrian army, Vladimir Putin has said, in the first public confirmation of the depth of Russia’s involvement in Syria’s civil war.

Commenting on reports that Russian combat troops have been deployed to Syria, the Russian president said discussion of direct military intervention is “so far premature,” but did not rule out that such a step could be taken in future.

“To say we’re ready to do this today – so far it’s premature to talk about this.

But we are already giving Syria quite serious help with equipment and training soldiers, with our weapons,” the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency quoted Mr Putin as saying when asked about Russian intervention in Syria during an economic forum in Vladivostok."We really want to create some kind of an international coalition to fight terrorism and extremism," Mr Putin said.

culinarybackstreets

An iconic Middle Eastern dessert, knefeh is to Lebanon what waffles are to Belgium. There are no records of its origins, but according to local legend the cheese-filled pastry comes from the Palestinian town of Nablus, and now it exists in different variations around the region, including in Lebanon. (In Turkey, it is known as künefe.)

When you walk into any local confectionery, you will find trays of Arab pastries, but the one with the fresh-baked, rich copper-brown cake steals the spotlight. Knefeh consists of a soft cheese baked in a semolina crust, topped with pistachios and doused with orange blossom syrup. While usually enjoyed for dessert, the cake also has a place at the Lebanese breakfast table, especially when it is sandwiched between the sesame seed bread known as kaak. It’s the kind of breakfast that you can take straight through dinner