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Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and Lebanese bankers dismissed claims that Gulf nationals are withdrawing their deposits from Lebanon in a sign of solidarity with Saudi Arabia.
Salameh said he has not been contacted by anyone in the Gulf asking to withdraw their deposits over the recent diplomatic row between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
“Neither Saudi Arabia nor any other Gulf states contacted me regarding their deposits in the Central Bank,” Salameh told Reuters, accusing the media of “exaggerating” the issue of Riyadh possibly pulling its deposits from Lebanon.
.- The U.S. must not ignore the Islamic State’s genocide of Christians. That is the position of a petition drive and television campaign seeking to persuade Secretary of State John Kerry.
“Christians in Iraq and Syria have suffered injustice after injustice by being kidnapped, killed, having their homes and churches confiscated or destroyed, and being forced to flee for their lives,” Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, said Feb. 25. “Because of hit squads, they fear to enter U.N. refugee camps and, as a result, are then often excluded from immigration to the West.”
He said that these Christians “deserve to have the U.S. State Department call what has happened to them by its rightful name: genocide.”
It was only a matter of time before the latent tensions brewing between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon boiled over, given the current rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran and the rising influence of the Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon.
But it seems Saudi Arabia is truly acting in an erratic manner that, instead of bringing Lebanon back into its sphere of influence, is likely going to create more of a rift in an already-strained relationship.
Arab News
JEDDAH: It appears that the recession the Lebanese have experienced over the last two decades will resurface as Gulf states are warning their citizens not to travel to Lebanon.
Lebanese Tourism Minister Michel Pharaon admitted that the absence of Gulf and Saudi tourists will have a negative effect on Lebanese tourism. He said he hoped that the crisis in Saudi-Lebanese relations would pass quickly, and that Gulf and Saudi tourists would return to Lebanon next summer.
He praised Saudi Arabia’s stance toward Lebanon and its support for the Lebanese people over the past years and the deep relations between the two countries.
Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer
Beirut: Lebanon boasts the highest rate of reading among Arab states and ranks an impressive 37th globally. But, despite its 95 per cent literacy rate, many believe that the pursuit of knowledge remains an elitist privilege in the country as many Lebanese cannot afford to buy books.
This is why public libraries have always been and continue to be an important resource for Lebanese.
Before the civil war (1975-1990), Lebanon boasted dozens of public libraries even in remote villages, which would each summer draw an influx of residents eager to benefit from such facilities.
During the period of reconstruction that followed the war, the priority was a clean-up campaign given the scale of destruction and the country’s intellectual needs took a backseat.
Professor Amitai Etzioni is straightforward. He does not sugarcoat his language or his intention as he shares his thoughts in his now-infamous op-ed for Haaretz, "Should Israel Flatten Beirut to Destroy Hezbollah’s Missiles?"
The newspaper changed the title twice, as reported by Salon. But regardless of the words in the title, the intention is clear: how to justify Israel’s policy and military tactics during armed conflicts.
A reader unfamiliar with the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict might be impressed with the intentions behind the article. The problem that is identified is that "most of Hezbollah’s 100,000 missile arsenal are hidden in civilian areas." And the point of the op-ed is allegedly to push Israel to "examine now the ethical and logistical consequences of its first use of extreme conventional weapons against them."
By
Three female entrepreneurs have kickstarted a sexual harassment tracker in Beirut in the hope of combating crimes against women in the Lebanese capital.
A beta version of Harass Tracker—launched on Monday—will provide a three-month trial in the city after which, if successful, it will be expanded across the entire country.
The platform is essentially an online reporting tool where people who have witnessed or experienced sexual harassment can mark the location on a map of the city and provide information regarding the type of sexual harassment that they encountered, alongside a description of the event.
by Arab News
JEDDAH: Lebanese expats working in the Gulf remit around $5 billion annually, with Saudi Arabia leading the list of these countries, an official of that country has said.
“The Lebanese economy will adversely affected once the number of expats working in the Gulf begins to decrease,” Mohammad Shaheen, chairman of the Lebanese Council for Work and Investments in the Gulf, said.
Most of the Lebanese working in these countries occupy prestigious jobs and positions, such as doctors, managers and engineers, he was quoted as saying by local media on Thursday.
“More than 300,000 Lebanese expatriates send remittances to about 600,000 beneficiaries in Lebanon who are bound to experience hardships if immediate steps are not taken by that country to mend its ways,” he said.
Dozens of Lebanese employees have been fired from their jobs in Saudi Arabia, media reports said on Thursday, amid an unprecedented rift in the Saudi-Lebanese relations.
“Around 90 Lebanese citizens have been informed by their employers in Saudi Arabia that they have been laid off,” MTV reported in the afternoon.
The head of the Lebanese-Saudi Business Development Commission, Elie Rizk, confirmed the news to LBCI television.
“Nearly 90 Lebanese from all affiliations and sects have been sacked,” he said.
Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) also reported that around 90 Lebanese have been fired while noting that no decision has been taken to "deport" the laid off employees.
by Caline Malek
ABU DHABI // Emirati and Lebanese citizens in the UAE said they were saddened that conditions in the Levantine country had worsened to the point the UAE was compelled to impose a ban on travel to Lebanon. A previous travel warning was upgraded to a ban after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation announced it had cut the number of its diplomatic staff in Beirut.
Nevertheless, there were no disruptions on Wednesday to Beirut-bound flights from the UAE, according to FlyDubai, Etihad Airways and Emirates airline. “The travel advisory has been issued regarding travel to Lebanon for UAE nationals only,” said a FlyDubai spokesman. Passengers with existing bookings and scheduled to travel soon were urged by the airline to contact it.
Sara Al Nuaimi, a 33-year-old Emirati from Sharjah, said the ban would be difficult for people with Lebanese family members.
