(ANSAmed) – BEIRUT, JANUARY 9 – The number of people who attempted last year to reach Europe from Lebanon irregularly increased by 176%, according to figures just released by the Beirut office of the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR. UNHCR spokesperson Lisa Abou Khaled was quoted as saying by French-language Lebanese daily L’Orient-Le Jour that from […]

by arabnews.com — NIRMAL NARAYANAN — RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is set to overtake India as the fastest-growing major economy in 2023, driven by gains from energy prices. According to official data released by India’s Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation, Saudi Arabia is expected to outpace India with 7.6 percent gross domestic product growth as the rising revenues from higher energy prices continue to bolster the Kingdom’s economy. This puts India in the second position with an expected GDP growth rate of 7 percent in the fiscal year ending March, as weakening demand has hampered the growth prospects of Asia’s third-largest economy. “The growth in real GDP during 2022-23 is estimated at 7 percent, compared to 8.7 percent in 2021-22,” said the Indian ministry in a statement.

The Indian government is using this estimate to decide its spending priorities in the upcoming union budget that will be presented on Feb.1, 2023, which will also be the last full-year expenditure plan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government before elections in 2024. Even though India started the ongoing fiscal year on a good note, monetary policies adopted by the Reserve Bank of India to combat inflation have apparently tampered with the growth curve of the nation. India’s central bank, which has raised its benchmark rate by 225 basis points so far this fiscal year, is expected to announce further hike after its policy review meeting scheduled between Feb. 6 to 8.

By Ruiqi Chen, Editor at LinkedIn News — OpenAI’s expected $29 billion valuation is only the latest signal of the artificial intelligence craze even as the tech industry faces layoffs and tough economic conditions. Investors funneled more money into generative AI companies in 2022 than in the previous five years combined, reaching a total of […]

Lebanese judges are set to end their five-month strike after an agreement on financial assistance was reached. Judicial work should resume progressively on Monday, The National has been told. The deal struck with the judges’ mutual fund for financial assistance aims to improve judges’ purchasing power after their salaries were slashed by more than 95 per cent amid a sharp currency depreciation. Lebanon’s unprecedented economic crisis, described by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern history, has taken a huge toll on judicial staff — and all the public sector’s professions. Judges started a strike in mid-August to protest against the decline of their salaries and the deterioration of their work conditions. As judges join strike for better pay and conditions ordinary Lebanese suffer This led to paralysis of the judicial system, with some of the nation’s top courts completely halting their activities, including for urgent judiciary matters.

Last week, the general assembly of judges agreed on new financial support, “ranging between $500 and $1200 per month, which will be financed by the Ministry of Finance, through the judges’ mutual fund”, a judicial source told The National. This is a type of monthly bonus, and not a salary increase, because “this would have implied a revaluation of the end-of-service indemnities”, the person said, who was not involved in the negotiations. Following the decision, the Supreme Judicial Council called “judges to return to the exercise of their duties, in a way that secures the continuity of the judicial public service”, in a statement published on Thursday. It is not known how the cash-strapped country will finance this new financial support in dollars, as details remain sparse. A Ministry of Finance representative said they did not have information on the mechanism and The National could not reach the Ministry of Justice for comment.

By Saundra Latham, Editor at LinkedIn News — Mercedes-Benz aims to build a North American network of 2,500 high-powered EV chargers by 2027, putting it in direct competition with Tesla and its extensive network of Superchargers. The plan, announced Thursday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, will see the chargers spread among some […]

by naharnet — Lebanon has charged seven people for participating in an attack against United Nations peacekeepers that killed one Irish soldier in mid-December, a judicial official told AFP on Thursday. Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others were injured on December 14 when their U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the village of al-Aqbiyeh in the south of the country, a stronghold of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah. UNIFIL urged Beirut to ensure a swift investigation, the first violent death of one of its peacekeepers in nearly eight years. Seven bullets pierced the U.N. vehicle, one hitting the driver in the head, judicial sources said. Only one of the seven charged is in custody, Mohammed Ayyad, who was handed over to the army by Hezbollah last month. On Wednesday, Ayyad was charged “with killing the Irish soldier and attempting to kill his three comrades by shooting them with a machine gun,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity as they did not have permission to speak to the media. The judge also charged six fugitives “for uttering threats with an illegal weapon, destroying the UNIFIL vehicle and intimidating its passengers,” the official added.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is seeking to raise $750 million in a new round of funding that values the rocket maker and satellite internet company at $137 billion, CNBC reports, citing correspondence. The funding round will likely be led by venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, which also participated in Musk’s $44 billion […]

vaticannews.va — By Andrea Tornielli — Benedict XVI died emeritus but was buried as pontiff. An ocean of prayers accompanied the funeral rite presided over by Pope Francis on the parvis of St. Peter’s Basilica. Prayers of gratitude rose up from all over the world, in the certainty that Joseph Ratzinger can finally enjoy the face of the Lord he loved and followed all his life, and to whom he addressed his last words before his final hours: “Lord, I love you!”

There is a distinctive trait that unites Benedict XVI to his successor, and we can find it in the words that the Pope Emeritus spoke in his first Urbi et Orbi message, on the morning the day after his election: “In undertaking his ministry, the new Pope knows that his task is to bring the light of Christ to shine before the men and women of today: not his own light but that of Christ”. Not his own light, his own protagonism, his own ideas, his own tastes, but the light of Christ. Because, as Benedict XVI said, the Church is not our Church but His Church, the Church of God. The servant must account for how he has managed the good that has been entrusted to him. We do not bind people to us; we do not seek power, prestige or esteem for ourselves. It is interesting to note that already as a cardinal, for years, Joseph Ratzinger had warned the Church against a pathology that afflicted it and still afflicts it: that of relying on structures, on the organisation. That of wanting to ‘count’ on the world stage in order to be ‘relevant’.

In May 2010 in Fatima, Benedict XVI told the Portuguese bishops: “When, in the feeling of many, the Catholic faith is no longer the common patrimony of society and is often seen as a seed undermined and obfuscated by ‘divinities’ and lords of this world, it is very difficult for it to touch hearts through simple speeches or moral appeals, and even less through generic reminders of Christian values”. Because “the mere utterance of the message does not reach deep into the heart of the person, does not touch his freedom, does not change his life. What fascinates above all is the encounter with believing people who, through their faith, draw people towards the grace of Christ, bearing witness to Him’. It is not speeches, grand reasoning or vibrant reminders of moral values that touch the hearts of today’s women and men. Religious and proselytising marketing strategies are not needed for the mission. Nor can today’s Church think of living in nostalgia for the relevance and power it had in the past. Quite the contrary: both Benedict XVI and his successor Francis have preached and witnessed to the importance of returning to the essential, to a Church rich only in the light it freely receives from its Lord.

سجعان قزي

@AzziSejean

يَترُك لبنانُ، الذي لم يَعُد يَجدُ حلًّا لأيِّ مشكلةٍ صغيرةٍ أو كبيرة، انطباعًا أنَّ حلَّ قضيَّتِه هو بـــــ”حَلِّ البلد”، أو بانتصارِ فريقٍ على فريقٍ آخَر. لكن هذا الأمرَ مُستَهجَنٌ ميثاقــيًّا حتّى لو توفَّرت ظروفُه سياسيًّا وعسكريًّا مع تطوّرِ موازينِ القِوى وانقلابٍ في المحاورِ الإقليميّةِ والدُوَليّة. غيرَ أنَّ مفاعيلَ انتصارِ أيِّ فريقٍ في لبنان لا يَعني تطبيقَ مشروعِ المنتصِر، ولا يُلزِمُ طويلًا الفريقَ الآخَر المنهزِمَ لأنَّ الانتصاراتِ بين أبناءِ الوطنِ تتلاشى تدريجًا بفعلِ سوءِ التطبيقِ (اتّفاقُ الطائف مثلًا) والأحداثِ اليوميّةِ والاستحقاقاتِ الدستوريّة، ولأنَّ كلَّ فريقٍ في لبنان هو مُكوِّنٌ لبنانيٌّ أصيلٌ لا تليقُ الشراكةُ الوطنيّةُ معه في ظلِّ معادلاتِ الانتصارِ والهزيمة. لكنْ، ومنذ استعادةِ دولةِ لبنانَ الكبير، غالبًا ما حَصل غَالِبٌ ومغلوبٌ ومنتصِرٌ ومهزومٌ في معظمِ المنعطفاتِ الأساسيّة:

إعلانُ دولةِ لبنانَ الكبير 1920. انتزاعُ الاستقلالِ 1943. “ثورةُ” 1958. انتهاءُ حربِ السنتين 1976. حربُ المئةِ يوم 1978. تحطيمُ الآلةِ العسكريّة الفِلسطينيّةِ واليساريّةِ، وانتصارُ المقاومةِ اللبنانيّةِ بقيادة بشير الجميّل 1982. التراجعُ عن اتفاقِ 17 أيار مع إسرائيل، وانتصارُ الحزبِ الجنبلاطيِّ وحلفائِه في حربِ الشوف 1983. سقوطُ بيروت الغربيّةِ والضاحيةِ الجنوبيّةِ 1984. تَشبّثُ الجنرالِ ميشال عون بالسلطةِ، وانعقادُ “اتفاقِ الطائف” وسْطَ معارضةٍ مسيحيّةٍ شعبيّةٍ واسعةٍ 1989. انتصارُ سوريا مع حلفائها اللبنانيّين عسكريًّا على الحكومةِ الدستوريّةِ في بعبدا 1990. قيامُ مجلسٍ نيابيٍّ جديدٍ رغمَ مقاطعةِ المسيحيّين شبهِ الشاملةِ، وبَدءُ تغييرِ وجهِ لبنان وهُويّتِه ونظامِه وديمغرافيّتِه 1992. انتصارُ حزبِ الله وحلفائِه على إسرائيل 2000. اغتيالُ الرئيسِ رفيق الحريري وسائرِ شخصيّاتِ تَجمُّعِ 14 آذار بين 2005 و 2006. صمودُ حزبِ الله في وجهِ إسرائيل وتدميرُ لبنان 2006. اجتياحُ قِوى 08 آذار وَسَطَ العاصمةِ بيروت وإغلاقُ المجلسِ النيابيِّ 2007. انعقادُ مؤتمرِ الدَوّحة في قطر وجاءت نتائجُه لمصلحةِ قِوى 08 آذار عمومًا 2008. خُضوع أكثريّةِ قِوى 14 آذار لشروطِ الثنائيِّ حزبِ الله/التيّارِ الوطنيِّ الحرِّ وانتخابُ ميشال عون رئيسًا للجُمهوريّةِ تحت ستارِ تسويةٍ متخاذِلةٍ 2016. فشلُ انتفاضةِ 17 تشرين الأول 2019، إلخ…

طَوال المئةِ سنةٍ الماضيةِ تَداولت الأطرافُ اللبنانيّةُ جميعًا على الانتصارِ والهزيمة. وقلّما كانت هذه الأطرافُ تَنتصِرُ أو تَنهزمُ بفضلِ قوَّتِها الذاتيّة، بل بحُكمِ تحالفاتٍ أو تبعيّاتٍ خارجيّةٍ عربيّةٍ أو إقليميّةٍ أو دُوَليّة. والغريبُ أنَّ غالِبيّةَ “الحلفاءِ” الخارجيّين، لاسيّما سوريا وإسرائيل، كانوا مع طرفٍ لبنانيٍّ ومع خصمِه في آن معًا. وحدَها إيران ظَلّت صادقةً في علاقتِها مع حزبِ الله.

by thenationalnews.com — A major Beirut hotel, owned by the UAE-based Al Habtoor Group, has reopened. It closed after suffering severe damage in Beirut’s port blast that killed more than 215 people on August 4, 2020. Group chairman Khalaf Al Habtoor, a prominent UAE businessman, said he was hopeful that the nearby Le Mall Sin El Fil in Beirut could also reopen soon, after closing in March 2020 amid Lebanon’s economic downturn. The five-star Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace welcomed visitors back on December 30 in the Beirut suburb of Sin El Fil. Writing on Twitter, Mr Al Habtoor said he loved Lebanon and was “very disturbed by the deteriorating economic conditions”. He added that part of his desire to get the hotel running again was to support hundreds of families.

Al Habtoor Group also owns the adjacent Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand, which only briefly closed after the 2020 explosion. Le Mall Sin El Fil, part of a wider chain in the country, had closed in the months after Lebanon’s economic collapse had first become apparent. The building was owned by Al Habtoor, but leased and operated by Acres Development, itself a subsidiary of retail group Azadea. Acres Devlopment still operates two Le Mall branches in Dbayeh, just north of Beirut, and in the southern city of Saida. “The decision comes amid deteriorating economic conditions in Lebanon which have negatively impacted household spending in a wide range of sectors, coupled with a difficulty importing from abroad, in light of the financial crisis, and a lack of bank facilitations,” Acres had said in 2020 when it announced the closures.