by telegraph.co.uk — The United Arab Emirates had asked an Israeli spyware company it had contracted to surveil dissidents to tap the phone calls of the prime minister of Lebanon and other Arab officials, it emerged Friday. The Emirati government reportedly asked the NSO Group how best to hack the phones of various politicians, with […]

by news.com.au — JUST when you thought you were stalking your mate’s Amalfi Coast or party pictures in Vegas, upon closer inspection, you realise they’ve actually checked into Beirut, Lebanon. While Bali, Italy and the United States remain some of the most popular holiday destinations, new research by finder.com.au has revealed that locations such as […]

by naharnet — The Cabinet formation process has witnessed no positive developments and the current complications are threatening to delay the creation of the new government until early 2019, media reports said. “New hurdles are surfacing everyday and the parties concerned are not announcing their true stances,” al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Wednesday. “Any of the parties […]

by arabianbusiness.com — In recent years, Lebanon has faced an undeniable economic slowdown, and yet, average real estate property prices seem to have been sustained. This may be good news for the economy, but the current level of prices continue to remain out of reach of those in the middle-income strata. Over a nine year […]

by Dailystar.com.lb — The Economist Intelligence Unit predicts Lebanon’s GDP growth to slow to 1.7 percent in 2018 due to political instability, potential military conflict and tax changes. “Lebanon’s investor sentiment (especially toward tourism and construction) and private consumption growth will be held back by political instability, potential military conflict and tax changes, including increases to […]

 Sightseeing in Beirut: Swiss President Alain Berset (left with blue tie) is shown around by Schmutz Kirgöz (right with beige skirt). by swissinfo.ch — Lebanon is often compared with Switzerland. swissinfo.ch asked the current Swiss ambassador in Beirut to explain why that is and why the Alpine nation is so popular in Lebanon. Switzerland and […]

Finance professionals who took the final level of the Chartered Financial Analyst exam in June found out on Tuesday how they did in the grueling test of financial know-how. The exam, which asks candidates questions on everything from financial modeling to the ethics of business, is considered one of the most grueling tests in the […]

by swissinfo.ch — Alain Berset began a two-day visit to Lebanon on Monday by meeting with political representatives and calling for patience when it comes to the return of the 1.3 million Syrian refugees currently in the state. “The situation has evolved; but I don’t know if we can say that the war in Syria […]

by france24.com — Lebanese people outside Beirut spend 18 hours a day without electricity. To solve the energy crisis, the government hires Turkish fuel-burning barges at a heavy environmental cost. Lebanon’s government has moored a second power-generating barge at the coastal town of Zouk Mikael, sparking outrage among residents already concerned about high pollution levels from the local power plant. “When there is a wind, we cannot work. We cannot walk. We cannot breathe,” local doctor Michel Aziz, who serves on the municipality’s Health and Environment Committee, told FRANCE 24. “It’s very, very, very dangerous. Even more than before.” The fuel-burning barge provides electricity to supplement that created by Zouk Mikael’s power plant, installed in the 1960s. Due to a longstanding monopoly, only the government-owned Electricité du Liban is licensed to produce power in the country. But since the end of the Lebanese civil war almost thirty years ago, it hasn’t been able to keep up.

30 years of electricity shortage The barges are supposed to tackle Lebanon’s resulting chronic power shortages, which see residents outside the capital Beirut face outages of up to 18 hours a day. The situation worsens in the summer, exacerbated by the use of fans and air conditioners. For those who want to keep the lights on, the only option is extremely costly generators, run by local gangs. Zouk Mikael already hosts one Turkish power barge, the Fatmagul Sultan, which arrived in 2013 and boosted government-supplied power from six to between 14 and 18 hours daily. The arrival of the Esra Sultan, which has now been up and running for four weeks, is intended to provide round-the-clock power for Zouk and the surrounding areas. Along with two others already in place along the coast, the barges now account for a quarter of the country’s power generation capacity.

The barges are supplied by Turkish company Karadeniz and are known as power ships. The Lebanese government supplies heavy fuel oil and diesel and pays the company at a per kilowatt hour rate for the conversion into electricity. “We accepted it here because they told us it will give us 24-hour power,” says Zouk Mikael Mayor Elias Baino. “It’s been successful, but with more pollution.” Residents are delighted at the power increase, but furious that the government ignored their long-standing complaints about the environmental damage from the existing plant and barge, and installed another. Some locals say they haven’t even seen the benefits from the second barge, thanks to zoning. “I live 2.5km from [the barge] and I barely have power,” says Marcos Brundy who lives in the neighbouring district of Zouk Mosbeh. “You know how frustrating this is, that I’m getting all the toxic air and not getting anything in return?” ‘It’s hard to breathe when you reach the Zouk area’

by cnn.com — Analysis by Stephen Collinson — John McCain and President Donald Trump are not done with one another yet.

Days of mourning for the Arizona senator, including a lying-in-state in the Capitol Rotunda and the pomp of a service in Washington’s National Cathedral, are certain to become about more than simply honoring a singular political leader and national hero. In Washington, even death is political — a fact McCain well understood as a sought-after eulogizer himself, and by planning his funeral rites to exclude the President, he will be making an unmistakable posthumous statement directed at the White House. Tributes for McCain and the lauding of his courage, honor, decency, character, and readiness to reexamine his own mistakes will unfold at a time when Trump is facing an unflattering public debate about his own personality and behavior. The guilty plea by the President’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and conviction of former campaign chairman Paul Manafort last week deepened the political and legal storm raging around the White House — but still did not push most Republican leaders to criticize Trump. In that context, the ceremonies marking McCain’s passing seem sure to become more than a lament for a departed political giant. They are likely to become a debate about political morality and the comportment and principles expected of public figures in an already polarized political age that has been further roiled by Trump’s disruptive influence. After two losing presidential campaigns, McCain never made it to the Oval Office — yet he is getting an emotional sendoff and assessment that might befit one of the men who did become President.

CNN has reported that McCain chose Barack Obama and George W. Bush — the two men who kept him from the White House — to eulogize him and didn’t want the President to attend his funeral. If those plans hold, McCain will be sending a clear final message to Trump, after making clear when he was alive that he saw the President’s demeanor, populist style and global outlook as antithetical to America’s founding values and global role. The antipathy between the Arizona senator and the President has not been stilled by his death on Saturday from brain cancer.

What the President says and doesn’t say

In normal circumstances, a President could be expected to issue a fulsome written statement to mark the passing of such an important political figure. Trump simply wrote a tweet, and while members of his immediate family praised McCain’s character and contribution, he did not. The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Trump decided against issuing a statement praising McCain’s Senate career and military service as a Vietnam prisoner of war. The paper said that press secretary Sarah Sanders and White House chief of staff John Kelly advocated calling the Arizona senator a “hero.” “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” Trump wrote on Twitter.