by aawsat.com — Lebanese lawmakers expressed on Saturday their conviction that a new government will not be formed any time soon given current obstacles. Strong Republic bloc MP Ziad al-Hawwat said that speeding up the formation of the cabinet was “more than necessary.” He stated that it was key to restarting work in Lebanon, adding […]

thenationonlineng.net — Wearing a helmet, elbow and knee pads, his yellow security jacket reflecting the sun that has come out after a rainy afternoon, Ibrahim rides his e-bike through the chaos of traffic in Beirut. The young man might be dressed like a delivery boy, but he has nothing to deliver – rather, he collects. […]

by en.annahar.com — BEIRUT: Middle East Airlines launched its first direct flight to Madrid on Saturday from Beirut’sRafiq Hariri International Airport. A number of Lebanese officials were on board Flight #24, including caretaker Ministers Nouhad al-Mashnouq, Jamal al-Jarrah, Youssef Fenianos and Melhem Riachi, as well as Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Ministry Director-General Hani Shmeitili, Tourism […]

BEIRUT (Xinhua) — Lebanon’s trade deficit narrowed by 6.1 percent to 5.3 billion U.S. dollars in the first four months of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017. Lebanon’s Byblos Bank, which released the figures from the Higher Customs Council, attributed the drop in deficit to the year-on-year decrease of 240 million dollars in […]

by Rabih K. — lebaneseexaminer.com —Casino du Liban president Roland Khoury projected the net profits for the establishment to be over $10 million for the fiscal year of 2018. In 2017, the casino rebounded after Khoury took over with a $3 million profit after years of experiencing losses, the Daily Star reports. The casino is […]

BEIRUT (REUTERS) – THE international community is “dismayed by repeated false accusations” that it is working to settle Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Germany’s ambassador in Beirut said on Thursday. As Syria’s army and allied forces retake more territory, officials have stepped up calls for some of the more than a million refugees registered in Lebanon […]

by AFP — Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held talks Wednesday at the Kremlin with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The one-hour meeting tackled the various developments in Lebanon and the region and the ties between the two countries,” Hariri’s office said. The meeting was also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Putin, for his part, […]

BEIRUT, June 13 (Xinhua) — The United States has delivered the last four A-29 Super Tucano aircraft to the Lebanese army, the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon said Wednesday. The delivery took place during a ceremony on Tuesday at Hamat Air Base in Lebanon’s northern city of Batroun, in the presence of Lebanese army chief Joseph […]

BEIRUT, (Xinhua) — Tourism activity is low in Lebanese capital Beirut due to the absence of Gulf visitors, said Pierre Ashkar, president of the Syndicate of Hotel Owners in Lebanon Tuesday. Ashkar added that only 10 percent increase from the prior year is witnessed in hotel reservations for the coming three-day holiday Eid al-Fitr, marking […]

by David Choi — Business insider — After years of diplomatic wrangling, months of preparation, and weeks of uncertainty, President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in a landmark summit in Singapore on Tuesday. Moments after shaking Kim’s hand, Trump said “we will have a terrific relationship.” “I feel really great,” Trump said alongside Kim. “We’re going to have a great discussion.” Kim apparently echoed the sentiment: “It was not easy to get here … the old prejudices and practices worked as obstacles on our way forward, but we overcame all of them and we are here today,” Kim said through his interpreter.

Hours before meeting Kim, Trump railed against naysayers who criticized his decision to entertain Kim on an international stage. Kim’s regime has been condemned by human-rights groups and security experts for numerous violations over the years. “The fact that I am having a meeting is a major loss for the U.S., say the haters & losers,” Trump said in a tweet. “We have our hostages, testing, research and all missile launches have stopped, and these pundits, who have called me wrong from the beginning, have nothing else they can say! We will be fine!” Despite the talks marking the first time a sitting US president met with a North Korean leader, some foreign-policy experts denounced the US-North Korean meeting and theorized it would give Kim and his regime the global diplomatic legitimacy it has long craved. The US, as part of a longstanding posture of isolating the North, has previously rejected the notion of meeting with that country’s leader. Former US officials have also thrown cold water on the summit, which they say was hastily arranged. Summits typically are not held until after extensive backchannel negotiations between lower level officials. Trump’s approach, however, has turned the typical diplomatic norms upside down, rankling policy experts. “This is what happens when you jump too early to a summit,” Victor Cha, the former director for Asian affairs for the National Security Council and the former nominee for US ambassador of South Korea, said to The Washington Post in May. “If this breakdown means North Korea is no longer beholden to their missile-testing moratorium, that takes us to a very bad place.”