Khazen

‘Broken Wings’ carry Khalil Gibran home to Lebanon

 Image result for khalil gibran

by BEIRUT — Speaking about the new musical about the life of legendary Lebanese writer Khalil Gibran, Lebanese-British playwright Nadim Naaman told Al-Monitor, “Lebanon is extremely proud of him and extremely vocal about how he is one of their own. But what they aren’t so good at is looking at him in a new light.” In the musical he co-wrote, “Broken Wings,” Naaman wanted to show Middle Eastern audiences “this guy who was critiquing them massively 100 years ago.” The musical, adapted from Gibran’s novella of the same name, made its international debut at the Beiteddine Art Festival July 24-26. The poet, artist, writer and philosopher’s work preached love, challenged power and explored humanist themes at the turn of the century. Gibran is currently the third highest-selling poet of all time and a Lebanese national icon.

Read more
Eight months after Ghosn’s exit, Nissan stuck in a rut

jalopnik.com — Ma Jie, Bloomberg News — Nissan Motor Co.’s prospects are getting bleaker by the quarter, with the Japanese automaker forced to shed 12,500 jobs and reduce production capacity by 10% as its aging lineup weighs on profitability amid a global slump in car demand. In the 250 days since the arrest of former Chairman Carlos […]

Read more
Lebanese labor ministry’s strategy secures over 1,000 jobs

BEIRUT,  (Xinhua) — Lebanese Labor Minister Camille Abousleiman said his ministry was capable of securing 1,000 to 1,200 job opportunities for the Lebanese since July 10, Al Joumhouria local newspaper reported on Monday. “A lot of Lebanese companies announced that they have replaced their foreign workers with local ones and a big number of unemployed […]

Read more
Baptismal record for same-sex couples causes controversy in Colombia

Image result for baptism catholic

catholicherald.co.uk — The recent baptism of a child raised by a same-sex couple has caused a controversy in Colombia, after a parish pastor issued a baptismal certificate indicating that the child has two mothers. Manuela and Luisa Fernanda Gómez, who are civilly married under Colombian law, wanted to have their 17-month-old son Matías baptized in the city of Medellin. According to local media reports, the couple went to several parishes where they were told that their son could be baptized, but that a baptismal certificate would list only the same of his biological mother, and not that of her partner, since the Church does not recognize the marriage of persons of the same sex.

Manuela Gomez told reporters that eventually, they found a parish priest willing to perform the baptism and record them both as mothers on the baptismal registry, if the Archdiocese of Medellin would permit him. “He wrote to the (diocesan) curia, investigated, and he told us that he could (perform the baptism), in fact, because according to canon law, the sacrament must be documented with the same information that appears on the civil registry of the minor’s birth, which in this case had two lines: ‘Mother one’ and ‘Mother two,’” Manuela told the local media. The baptism was performed on July 13. In a statement issued on July 23, the Archdiocese of Medellin said that for several years “the sacrament of baptism has been administered to children of homosexual couples.” The statement said that through baptism, “the Church gives the grace of Christian life to the children.” Baptism in such cases is “not a recognition of the couples themselves,” the archdiocese added. The archdiocese also said that “for the registration of the baptism and the issuance of the certificate of the latter, the Church assumes the information that appears on the civil documents which must be presented before the administration of the sacrament, taking into account that on the certificate the names of those that are recorded on the civil registry as parents, in the same order in which they are written on that registry.”

Read more
‘Wedding Song’ Leaves 3 Dead in Lebanon

by aawsat.com —Three people were killed on Sunday after a brawl turned into an exchange of gunfire during a wedding near the eastern Lebanese city of Baalbek, the state-run National News Agency (NNA) said. The singer who performed during the wedding in the town of Younin was among those killed in the deadly brawl after […]

Read more
American tourist released from Syria after Lebanese intervention

By Doha Madani, Abigail Williams and Reuters An American tourist who has been held in Syria for two months has been freed after Lebanese officials negotiated his release, according to his family Friday. Sam Goodwin, 30, was reunited with his parents, Thomas and Ann Goodwin, after being held in the war-torn country since May when […]

Read more
Lebanese police to probe rock band for ‘insulting religion’: lawyer

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese police will investigate a complaint against the rock band Mashrou’ Leila for insulting religion, a lawyer in the case said on Wednesday. The lawyer, Christine Nakhoul, said she had submitted the complaint against the band to the prosecutor’s office, which was directing it to the police. The Lebanese group has an […]

Read more
Lebanese police to probe rock band for ‘insulting religion’: lawyer

  BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese police will investigate a complaint against the rock band Mashrou’ Leila for insulting religion, a lawyer in the case said on Wednesday. The lawyer, Christine Nakhoul, said she had submitted the complaint against the band to the prosecutor’s office, which was directing it to the police. The Lebanese group has […]

Read more
Boris Johnson: What the US makes of new British leader

Image result for boris johnson

by bbc.com — What’s an American to make of Boris Johnson?

Not the person-on-the-street American, who may look at a photograph of the new British conservative leader and think they’re being asked to identify an aging 1970s glam rocker. I’m talking about the US media analysts and commentators who get paid to think about politics and, occasionally, cast their eyes across the oceans to see what the rest of the world is up to. At this point in US history, it’s hard for Americans to view any major political event outside the context of the rise and rule of Donald Trump – the crashing cacophony that drowns out all other thought. Emmanuel Macron is elected president of France? A rebuke of Trumpism! The Liberal/National right-leaning coalition prevails in Australia? Trumpism triumphs! Such is the case with the Mr Johnson. The comparisons between the two Anglophone leaders have come fast and furious – some facile and others more nuanced. Even Mr Trump himself got in on the game, in a speech in Washington on Tuesday afternoon. “He’s tough and he’s smart,” Mr Trump said of Mr Johnson. “They call him ‘Britain Trump’, and it’s people saying that’s a good thing. They like me over there. That’s what they wanted. That’s what they need.”

There are plenty of other opinions, of course – that Mr Johnson is either the second coming of Donald Trump in a good way or in a bad way; a British original or a knock-off nationalist. “The front-runner to become Britain’s next prime minister is a portly white man with unkempt blond hair, an adoring base of supporters, disdain for Europe, a dodgy private life and a loose relationship with truth and principle,” the New York Times editorial board wrote last month. “There are also differences between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, but the similarities have been much noted in some European circles, with no small misgivings.” The hair is where the comparisons always start – although the Associated Press’s Gregory Katz and Natasha Livingstone note that while both pay careful attention to their trademark coifs, they do so in differing ways. “President Donald Trump’s hair is very carefully styled before he appears in public, while Johnson’s precisely the opposite,” they write (in fact, Johnson is known to ruffle his hair before he goes on camera). “From the start of his political career Johnson has sported what could only be called the ‘slept-on’ look, declining to style his locks in any way so they have a natural, spontaneous, even unpredictable quality.”

Beyond appearances, American observers note that both Mr Trump and Mr Johnson were born in New York City, and both have elite college pedigrees – the former at the Ivy League University of Pennsylvania and the latter at Oxford. The more discerning will note that Mr Johnson qualified through an academic scholarship, while Mr Trump admission reportedly required some familial arm-twisting. Mr Johnson also occasionally betrays his ivory tower pedigree with allusions to classical history or the arts, while Mr Trump… does not. Both men also have taken unusual paths to power – the American through his real estate and reality television celebrity, and the Brit by being a sharp-tongued journalist. “Johnson’s rise is akin to Trump’s: People in the political class don’t like, or even trust, him,” writes Kyle Smith of the conservative National Review. “Yet he found a path around them.”

Read more
Tourism chiefs salute fashion designer for holding son’s wedding in Lebanon

by arabnews.com — BEIRUT: Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab has been hailed by tourism chiefs for staging his son’s lavish wedding reception on home turf. The influential Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants, Cafés, Night-Clubs and Pastries in Lebanon saluted Saab “for holding the wedding party of his son, Elie Jr., and the Lebanese bride, Christina […]

Read more