BEIRUT (AFP): A Lebanese parliamentary committee has forced a vote on
scrapping a controversial law that allows rapists to escape punishment
by marrying their victims, an NGO said Thursday. Parliament would
need to ratify the decision to change the law, but NGO Abaad said the
committee’s decision on Wednesday was a key first step. “We hope that
Parliament will move quickly to cancel this article and make the other
amendments” proposed by the committee, said Alia Awada, advocacy manager
for Abaad’s campaign to drop Article 522 of the penal code. The controversial article deals with rape — including against minors — assault, kidnapping and forced marriage. “If
a valid marriage contract exists between the perpetrator of one of
these crimes… and the abused, the prosecution is suspended,” the
article reads. “If a verdict has been issued, the implementation is
suspended.” A proposal to scrap the article was introduced last year
but the committee only approved it Wednesday, along with changes to
other sections of the penal code. The panel proposed raising the penalty for assaults against girls aged under 15 to a maximum of seven years.

By Pamela Engel – Business Insider The Defense Department is considering recommending the US send ground troops into Syria to fight the terrorist group ISIS, according to a source who spoke to CNN. “It’s possible that you may see conventional forces hit the ground in Syria for some period of time,” a defense official told CNN. […]

by Naharnet- Lebanon marks on Tuesday the twelfth anniversary of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was assassinated in a massive and shocking suicide bombing in 2005 that destabilized the country. In downtown Beirut, political leaders and ordinary citizens gathered to lay flowers at Hariri’s grave. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader and Prime Minister Saad Hariri […]

By  Henry Jeffreys

If you ever need a new nose for your 1983 Mercedes 230E, Chtaura in
the Bekaa Valley is the place to go. It’s full of workshops keeping
Lebanon’s extraordinary range of 1970s and ‘80s European and American
cars on the road. Yet, while this area looks like the last
place you’d expect to find a world-class winery, at the edge of town,
set back from the road, is a fine collection of 19th-century buildings
that make up Domaine des Tourelles.

At one point, this winery would have been somewhat isolated, but
gradually the suburbs of Chtaura have engulfed it. The surrounding
air is heavy with pollution and the roadside strewn with rubbish.
Noticing my attention on these unsightly piles, Michael Karam,
our Anglo-Lebanese guide — and probably the world expert on Lebanese
wine — mutters that “Lebanese people always talk about their country
being the most beautiful in the world, but they’ve ruined it.”

A Study in Contrast

From Domaine des Tourelles, we take the road south towards Kefraya,
where suddenly we’re among vineyards dominated by snow-capped mountains.
Chateau Kefraya, a fortress-like building dating back to the 1940s
that’s surrounded by pine and cedar trees, could easily pass for
Switzerland. It’s hard to believe the war in Syria is only 12 miles
away

Local Pride

The Lebanese – long time consumers of whisky, arak and French wine – are
“slowly waking up to pride in Lebanese wine,” says Ixsir’s Hady Kahale.
Internal tourism is growing too. Kefraya gets 50,000 visitors per year.
There’s clearly a lot of money around, as evidenced by state-of-the-art
winemaking equipment at Kefraya and Ixsir.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Demonstrators attacked the headquarters of a Lebanese television channel in Beirut on Tuesday night, protesting against a broadcast they said was insulting to Lebanese Shi’ite cleric Imam Musa al-Sadr. Around 300 people, some carrying flags of Lebanon’s Shi’ite Amal Movement, tried to storm the headquarters of Lebanese channel al-Jadeed, throwing fireworks, stones […]

Fellow country crooner Faith Hill LOS ANGELES: The music world’s hottest stars strutted their best stuff down the Grammys red carpet in Los Angeles on Sunday, and it was no surprise that one Arab designer stole the show with his spectacular couture gowns. Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad got plenty of attention as a number of […]

by AP BEIRUT –  Dozens of Iraqi Christians have marched outside the U.N. regional headquarters in Beirut, demanding the speeding up of their resettlement process. Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled the fighting in their country to seek refuge in religiously-mixed Lebanon. Many of them are waiting for resettlement in a third country. Some 200 […]

Egypt’s Grand Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed al-Tayeb (right)
receives Michel Aoun at his office in Cairo on February 13, 2017 ©KHALED
DESOUKI

Leader of Egypt’s Coptic Church, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria (left)
receives Michel Aounat St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in the
Abbassia District of Cairo on February 13, 2017 ©KHALED DESOUKI (AFP)

News compiled by AFP and Daily News Egypt –

by Daily Mail – The newly elected Lebanese
president Michel Aoun has arrived in Egypt on Monday afternoon for his
first official visit since his inauguration for the sake of fostering
relations with Egypt in all fields.Following
his arrival at Cairo International, Aoun met with President Abdel
Fattah Al-Sisi, and both held a press conference following their meeting
in the headquarters of the Egyptian Presidency in the Heliopolis
suburb During the press
conference, broadcasted through the official Egyptian state-run channel,
Al-Sisi asserted that Egypt will continue its support for Lebanon in
all fields and that he is confident that Aoun’s presidency will foster
the Lebanese cultural and political diversity that is based on
compatibility between different political entities. Al-Sisi
noted that Egypt is in full readiness to support the capabilities of
the Lebanese army and its different security apparatuses, and that
bilateral discussion touched the counterterrorism efforts, the Syrian
crisis, and the refugee crisis that Lebanon is currently suffering from.

“Egypt
always sought to keep Lebanon stable, and it communicated with
different Lebanese political entities to affirm that dialogue is the
solution to all disputes. Egypt was among the first countries that
welcomed the Lebanese people’s ability to reach political agreement that
has been made in Lebanon without interference from external entities,”
said Al-Sisi during his speech delivered in the press conference. Moreover,
he stressed that Egypt will do its best to keep Lebanon away from any
tribulations that drag it into any religious or doctrinal conflicts that
only aim to eliminate tolerance and diversity from the Arab world.

“We
also discussed the current ongoing preparations executed for launching
the upcoming Arab Summit that will take place in Jordan. I really
appreciate President Aoun’s invitation to visit Lebanon, and I will be
there soon,” Al-Sisi concluded in his speech. On
his turn, Lebanese president Michel Aoun noted during his speech that
Egypt and Lebanon are connected by strong historical relations since the
Arab renaissance, saying that all hopes are pinned on the role that
Egypt can play by launching Arab initiatives to execute common strategy
to counter terrorism. Egypt
is capable of finding political solutions to the urgent crises in the
Arab world, especially in Syria where the fire spread widely years ago
and left its effects on Lebanon that manifested in the increase of
Lebanon’s population by 50%,” Aoun added.

In
January, Minister of Industry and Trade Tarek Kabil said that Egyptian
exports to Lebanon increased by 65% during 2016 compared to 2015, adding
that a lot of different fields benefited from the increase. Construction
materials manufacturers benefitted most from the hike in exports, as
their exports increased by 225% to a record EGP 277m, Kabil said in a
statement issued during a meeting with Lebanese agriculture minister
Ghazi Zaiter, who was visiting Cairo. Both ministers discussed
increasing Egypt’s exports of potatoes to 60,000 tonnes compared to
57,000 tonnes in 2015 worth $57m