(MENAFN – Trend News Agency) The new Lebanese government won on Friday the vote of confidence with 111 votes out of 128 after discussing the ministerial statement for four days during this past week, Trend reported citing Xinhua . Prior to the voting, Prime Minister Saad Hariri gave a speech while focusing on the need to conduct reforms in a bid to avoid the deterioration of the country on all levels. “We have agreed on the main points in the statement and we know very well that if we do not agree the country will collapse,” he said. He emphasized the need to implement important reforms and to find a final and complete solution for the electricity problem which costs the treasury around two billion U.S. dollars a year. Hariri also placed great importance on reforms needed to comply for the 11 billion U.S. dollars pledged at CEDRE conference. Hariri added that CEDRE program was not made by the international community with the intention of nationalizing Syrian refugees in Lebanon. “The program is 100 percent Lebanese even if it will employ some Syrians,” he said. “Who does not want a better business environment or a reduction in the budget deficit?” Hariri asked. Hariri said that Lebanon should take advantage of this historical opportunity. “All political parties will take part in our work plan. The council of ministers and the Parliament are responsible of translating this work plan into actions,” he said. Follow Trend on Telegram. 

by naharnet — MP Jamil al-Sayyed on Friday engaged in a verbal clash with Prime Minister Saad Hariri, MP Sami Fatfat and a number of Mustaqbal MPs and ministers, as the parliament resumed its debate of the new government’s Policy Statement. The heated exchange erupted when Fatfat hit back at remarks voiced by Sayyed on Tuesday. “An apology should be addressed to every young man arrested between the years 1992 and 2005,” Fatfat said, accusing Sayyed without naming him of “fabricating cases.” Sayyed hit back, blasting Fatfat as a “youngster” and a “chick.” Hariri intervened at this point, telling Sayyed: “It would be better if you don’t talk. Respect yourself!” “This is someone who doesn’t respect martyrs and you are letting him talk,” the PM added. Sayyed snapped back saying, “You respect yourself!” The MP had on Tuesday called on Hariri to “apologize” over “the four years that the four officers spent in jail,” referring to himself and three other former chiefs of security agencies who were jailed in connection with the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri before being cleared of any charges. MP Jihad al-Samad, a member of the Hizbullah-backed Consultative Gathering, had called on Hariri earlier in the session to “begin reform from the Internal Security Forces directorate and OGERO.” Al-Samad also criticized FPM ministers who have lodged signed resignations with their party’s leadership.

MP Alain Aoun meanwhile lauded MP Mohammed Raad’s apology over remarks voiced by MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi, describing it as “the epitome of national responsibility, patriotism and keenness on coexistence.” “Bashir Gemayel is one of Lebanon’s iconic martyrs and is an icon for large segments of the Lebanese and a former Lebanese president. Any attack against him that exceeds political criticism is an attack on national unity,” Aoun said.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia is lifting its longstanding warning against citizens traveling to Lebanon, its ambassador to Beirut said on Wednesday, marking a new warmth in a once-close relationship that has cooled in recent years. Riyadh was once a major supporter of both the Lebanese state and political allies in Beirut, but mindful of […]

By Reuters BEIRUT (Reuters) – Iran is waiting for Lebanon to show a desire to accept its military assistance, Iran’s foreign minister said on Sunday, reiterating an offer of support to the U.S.-backed Lebanese military. Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose government backs the powerful Lebanese Shi’ite group Hezbollah, was speaking at Beirut airport at the start […]

Agence France-Presse —  A Lebanese man died from severe burns Friday after setting himself on fire at his daughter’s school over a fee dispute with the management, state media said. George Zreik doused himself with petrol and set it ablaze Thursday at Our Lady of Kaftoun secondary school in the Koura district of north Lebanon, […]

by Natasha Turak | @NatashaTurak cnbc.com —— The cost of insuring Lebanese debt has hit its lowest level this year on the back of some reassuring news for investors: The country has finally formed its government after nine months of gridlock, and state officials revealed they are in talks over financial support for a floundering economy. Lebanon’s five-year credit default swaps, or the price of insuring the country’s debt against a default, fell to $694 this week from a high of $900 in January, levels not seen since November last year. But markets have yet to see the change that will unlock $11 billion in funds pledged by international donors to the small Levantine country at the Paris Cedre conference last April. The financial support rests on the condition of direly needed reform in the areas of corruption, subsidies and public-sector spending. The new government will “most certainly” introduce austerity measures to shore up international and bond market confidence, according to political risk consultancy Eurasia Group — and that will not be easy.

Unpopular, yet urgent, reforms “The issue of cost cutting will prove challenging, though some cuts are also likely,” said Ayham Kamel, Eurasia’s practice head for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). “On balance, these positive reforms will not be overly ambitious and could slow over the long term.” Many of the reforms are also unlikely to sit well with the Lebanese population. “If it’s taken nine months to form a government, it will be extremely difficult to agree on the details of an aggressive (and unpopular) fiscal tightening. The only other plausible option to deal with the public finances would be debt restructuring,” research consultancy Capital Economics said in a weekly report Thursday. One key area of reform is the electricity sector — Lebanon suffers daily power outages while the state power company, Electricite Du Liban, is awash in subsidies. Reforming this sector would cover a huge part of the fiscal consolidation promised to donors in April, but Kamel notes that this has thus far been prevented due to “vested interests.” Overhauling the electricity sector, and the infrastructure upgrades that would come with that, is one of the new government’s first priorities, a top advisor to the Lebanese prime minister told media in an interview earlier this week.

By Associated Press– BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Prime Minister has called on Italian companies to invest in his country as it seeks to address deepening economic challenges. Saad Hariri met with his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, in Beirut on Thursday and said that “the coming period in Lebanon is a period of work … with many […]

sputniknews.com — A particular part of a nearby sea shelf, called Block 9, has been a source of tension between Israel and Lebanon since the 2000s, as both states claim that the area falls within their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri has accused Israel of violating Lebanon’s sovereignty by licencing […]

BEIRUT, (Xinhua) — The Lebanese army on Wednesday closed numerous illegal crossings along with border with Syria in North Bekaa in a bid to stop smuggling between the two countries, TV Channel LBCI reported. According to LBCI, smuggling between the two countries costs Lebanon about 600 million U.S. dollars every year. This is not the […]

by cnbc.com —Tom Popomaronis, Contributor — When it comes to job interviews, we all want to give answers that make us stand out from the rest of the candidates. That means knowing how to answer each question, including the tricky ones designed to stump you. But what if you don’t know the answer to a question? That’s a problem Google CEO Sundar Pichai faced in 2004, when he first interviewed at the company for the VP of product management position. In a 2017 chat with students at his alma mater, Indian Institute of technology, Pichai shared details about his interview experience at one of the world’s largest tech companies. In the first few rounds, Pichai said the interviewers asked him what he thought of Gmail.

There was just one problem: Google had just announced the email service that very same day, on April 1st. “I thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke,” Pichai said. He responded by saying he couldn’t answer the question because he hadn’t been able to use the product. “It was only in the fourth interview when someone asked, ‘Have you seen Gmail?’ I said no. So he actually showed it to me. And then the fifth interviewer asked, ‘What do you think of Gmail?’ And I was able to start answering it then,” Pichai said at the talk. Most candidates would have attempted to make something up before trying to move on to the next question. Pichai did the exact opposite and ended up impressing his interviewers (after all, he got the job).

Here’s why his response was so brilliant:

1. He displayed “intellectual humility” More often than not, telling an interviewer you don’t know the answer to something will dock off a few points, but it’s better than coming up with something that may be completely false. “Successful, bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don’t learn how to learn from that failure.” -Laszlo Bock, Former senior VP of people operations at Google Science agrees, too. Research has shown that people with “intellectual humility” – or, as they say, the willingness to admit what you don’t know – are better learners. Laszlo Bock, Google’s former senior VP of people operations, calls it one of the top qualities he looks for in a candidate.

by catholicherald.co.uk –The Pope was welcomed by Emirati Prime Minister Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum — The sun had set long before Pope Francis arrived in Abu Dhabi on February 3, but Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince, and Egyptian Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, still went to the […]