by arabnews — RIYADH: Lebanese-based super app Toters raised $15 million in a series B funding round from International Finance Corporation, March Holding, and B&Y Ventures. The company began as a food delivery platform before transforming into a super app that offers several services including payment and financial transactions. Toters will use its newly acquired funds to strengthen its presence in current markets as well as expand its operations in Iraq, according to Wamda.

by restofworld — Amim Khalfa co-founded Toters in 2017. The Beirut-based delivery startup delivers groceries, food, and convenience products for more than 2,000 partner stores, including restaurants, pharmacies, and electronic stores in Lebanon and Iraq. The Syrian-born, Saudi-raised Canadian entrepreneur and former Nortel and Ericsson systems engineer shifted to management consulting in 2011, where he met his co-founder Nael Halwani. This week, Toters raised more than $15 million in series B funding from International Finance Corp. (IFC), March Holding, and BY Venture Partners. It had previously raised over $5 million in two previous rounds.

What made Lebanon the right environment to launch Toters? Why expand to Iraq? We started with Lebanon because it is the leading food and beverage center in the Middle East. Eventually, in Iraq, we also had to cater for and solve for things like cash on delivery, a lack of road infrastructure in some places, also intermittent connectivity, and hyperinflation, in the case of Lebanon. Investors in the past have had risk aversion towards countries that have a challenging macroeconomic and political profile. Eventually, every VC that would look at Toters would be like, “You know what? You guys have world-class economics.”

By alaraby — The parliamentary election on 15 May in Tripoli was very open. In that huge port city with its 80% Sunni Muslim population and its Greek Orthodox, Maronite and Alawite minorities, three major figures who have dominated the political horizon since the end of the nineties were no longer in the running. Saad Hariri, former Prime Minister whose party had taken most seats in the last election (2018), decided to withdraw from politics. Najib Mikati, the current Prime Minister chose not to seek re-election and backed a party which managed to elect only one candidate.

Another local heavyweight, Mohammad Safadi, also threw in the towel. While parliament had appointed him Prime Minister in the wake of the protest movement which had rocked the country at the end of 2019, angry crowds had forced him to turn the office down. “In that huge port city with its 80% Sunni Muslim population and its Greek Orthodox, Maronite and Alawite minorities, three major figures who have dominated the political horizon since the end of the nineties were no longer in the running”

The defeat of the Karami “heir apparent”

As for Faisal Karami, sole survivor of one of Tripoli’s oldest political families, he lost his seat in this election. Yet one of his campaign arguments was his family’s rich history on the Lebanese political scene since the nineteen-twenties. His grandfather, Abdel Hamid Karami, was an early leader of the local resistance to the French mandate. Allied with the Syrian nationalists, he was an architect of the country’s independence and became Prime Minister in 1945. His uncle Rachid was elected to that office ten times before his assassination in 1987. Faisal’s father, Omar, who took up the torch, was long considered “a puppet of the Syrians” as was Faisal himself, elected to parliament in 2018.

Rome Newsroom – By Courtney Mares — / (CNA). Two Catholic priests martyred under the Ottoman Empire were beatified in Lebanon over the weekend. Father Leonard Melki and Father Thomas Saleh were Capuchin friars and missionaries in what is now Turkey who were arrested, tortured, and martyred by the forces of the Ottoman Empire in 1915 and 1917 respectively. Melki was given a choice: convert to Islam and be freed, or die as a Christian. Refusing to apostatize, the Lebanese priest was forced to march with more than 400 Christian prisoners into the desert, where he was killed “in hatred of the faith” on June 11, 1915. Saleh was arrested and sentenced to death after giving shelter to an Armenian priest during the Armenian genocide. Before his death, he said, “I have full trust in God, I am not afraid of death,” according to the Capuchin Order in Lebanon.

Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, presided over the outdoor beatification Mass on the evening of June 4 at the Convent of the Cross in Jal el Dib, outside of Lebanon’s capital, Beirut. “Humanly, they are victims,” Semeraro said. “They are victims of a wave of hatred that on several occasions swept through the late Ottoman Empire and was intertwined with the tragic events of the persecution against the entire Armenian people and the Christian faith.” “If humanly, I said, they were victims, in the perspective of the Christian faith they were victors,” he added.

By Bassam Mroue — BEIRUT (AP) — The Lebanese government invited on Monday a U.S. envoy mediating between Lebanon and Israel over their disputed maritime border to return to Beirut as soon as possible to work out an agreement amid rising tensions along the border. The invitation for Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser for energy security at the U.S. State Department, came a day after Israel set up a gas rig at its designated location at the Karish field, which Israel says is part of its U.N.-recognized exclusive economic zone. Lebanon insists it is in a disputed area. The U.S.-mediated indirect talks between Lebanon and Israel have been stalled for months amid disagreement within Lebanon over how big the disputed area is.

Lebanon is home to the heavily armed militant Hezbollah group, which is backed by Iran and has fought several wars with Israel. Hezbollah has also warned it would use its weapons to protect Lebanon’s economic rights. On Sunday, Lebanon warned Israel not to start drilling in the Karish field and President Michel Aoun said maritime border negotiations have not ended, adding that any move by Israel will be considered “a provocation and hostile act.” Aoun’s office said Lebanon formally notified the United Nations in February that Karish is part of the disputed area and that the U.N. Security Council should prevent Israel from drilling there in order “to avoid steps that could form a threat to international peace and security.”

by aljazeera.com — Lebanon has warned Israel against any “aggressive action” in disputed waters where both states hope to develop offshore energy, after a ship arrived off the coast to produce gas for Israel. President Michel Aoun said any activity in the disputed area would amount to an act of aggression and a provocation, after the arrival of the natural gas storage and production ship operated by London-based Energean.

Israel says the field in question is within its exclusive economic zone, not in disputed waters. But in a statement on Sunday, the Lebanese presidency said Aoun discussed with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati the vessel’s entry “into the disputed maritime area with Israel, and asked the Army Command to provide him with accurate and official data to build upon the matter”. Aoun said negotiations to delineate the southern maritime border continued and “any action or activity in the disputed area represents a provocation and an aggressive action”.

by imlebanon.org

أقيم في الباحة الخارجية لدير الصليب – جل الديب – بقنايا، قداس احتفالي مهيب جرى خلاله الإعلان عن تطويب المكرمين الشهيدين الأبوين ليونار عويس ملكي وتوما صالح الكبوشيين من بلدة بعبدات المتنية، بحضور رئيس الجمهورية ممثلا بوزير السياحة في حكومة تصريف الاعمال وليد نصار، رئيس مجلس النواب نبيه بري ممثلا بالنائب هاغوب بقرادونيان ، رئيس حكومة تصريف الاعمال نجيب ميقاتي ممثلا بوزير الشباب والرياضة في حكومة تصريف الاعمال جورج كلاس.

واحتفل بالذبيحة الإلهية ممثل البابا فرنسيس رئيس مجمع دعاوى القديسين الكاردينال مارتشيلو سيميرارو، بمشاركة السفير البابوي المونسنيور جوزف سبيتيري، الرئيس العام للرهبنة الكبوشية في العالم روبرتو جنوين، النائب الرسولي لطائفة اللاتين المطران سيزار اسايان، الأمين العام لمجمع الأساقفة الكاردينال ماريو غريك، وبحضور البطريرك الماروني الكاردينال مار بشارة بطرس الراعي، بطريرك السريان الكاثوليك مار أغناطيوس يوسف الثالث يونان، وممثلين عن رؤساء الطوائف المسيحية، ولفيف من المطارنة والرؤساء العامين والرئيسات العامات للرهبانيات والكهنة والرهبان والراهبات، وحشد من المؤمنين من مختلف المناطق اللبنانية. وخدمت القداس جوقة سيدة اللويزة بقيادة الأب خليل رحمة.

وارتفعت في باحة دير الصليب وعلى الطرقات المؤدية إليه صور المكرمين والأعلام البابوية واللبنانية واللافتات التي حملت عبارات التهنئة والإيمان.

By Chloe Rabinowitz — broadwayworld.com — Tricycle Logic, a Los Angeles-based film production and distribution company, has announced the theatrical release of the critically acclaimed and award-winning film “1982” which is scheduled to open in theaters beginning Friday, June 10th in New York at THE QUAD Cinema (34 West 13th Street), and on June 24th in Los Angeles (at Laemmle Royal and other locations), with a national rollout to follow throughout the summer.

“1982” is a life-affirming coming-of-age tale set at an idyllic school in Lebanon’s mountains on the eve of a looming invasion. It unfolds over a single day and follows an 11-year-old boy’s relentless quest to profess his love to a girl in his class. As the invasion encroaches on Beirut, it upends the day, threatening the entire country and its cohesion. Within the microcosm of the school, the film draws a harrowing portrait of a society torn between its desire for love and peace and the ideological schisms unraveling its seams. In his debut feature, director Oualid Mouaness delivers an ode to innocence in which he revisits one of the most cataclysmic moments in Lebanon’s history through the lens of a child and his vibrant imagination. The film demonstrates the complexities of love and war, and the resilience of the human spirit.

BEIRUT,  (Reuters) – Lebanon’s central bank governor and his brother are suing the state over what they say were “grave mistakes” made by a public prosecutor in his investigation of whether they had embezzled public funds, according to a copy of the lawsuit. Their claim has led to concerns that the public probe into the two brothers could stall, after similar lawsuits paralysed an investigation into the devastating 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port. Public prosecutor Jean Tannous has been investigating allegations of embezzlement and other misconduct at the central bank involving $300 million in gains made by a company owned by Raja Salameh, brother of Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh.

The brothers have denied the accusations. This week, they filed a suit against the Lebanese state accusing Tannous of committing “grave mistakes” through the course of his probe, according to a copy of the lawsuit seen by Reuters on Friday. Tannous declined a Reuters request for comment while Riad Salameh did not immediately respond to a similar request. The document alleges that Tannous is biased and lacks the legal authority to access bank information, arguing that only the central bank’s special investigation commission has that prerogative.

by microsoft.com — Microsoft successfully detected and disabled attack activity abusing OneDrive by a previously undocumented Lebanon-based activity group Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) tracks as POLONIUM. The associated indicators and tactics were used by the OneDrive team to improve detection of attack activity and disable offending actor accounts. To further address this abuse, Microsoft has suspended more than 20 malicious OneDrive applications created by POLONIUM actors, notified affected organizations, and deployed a series of security intelligence updates that will quarantine tools developed by POLONIUM operators. Our goal with this blog is to help deter future activity by exposing and sharing the POLONIUM tactics with the community at large.

MSTIC assesses with high confidence that POLONIUM represents an operational group based in Lebanon. We also assess with moderate confidence that the observed activity was coordinated with other actors affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), based primarily on victim overlap and commonality of tools and techniques. Such collaboration or direction from Tehran would align with a string of revelations since late 2020 that the Government of Iran is using third parties to carry out cyber operations on their behalf, likely to enhance Iran’s plausible deniability.

By Matt Unicomb in Sydney — middleeasteye.net — In some of Sydney’s suburbs, streets are lined with Arab grocery stores, halal butchers and kebab shops, run mostly by Lebanese immigrants and their descendants. The thriving community, which is one of the most deep-rooted in the country, gives a distinctively Lebanese flavour, reminding locals of back home. Many among Australia’s Lebanese community trace their families’ arrival back to the 1960s and 1970s, when the number of Lebanese-born residents tripled to 33,424. By 2016, the year of Australia’s most recent census, there were 76,450 Lebanese-born people in Australia.

Lebanon’s civil war, which began in 1975, prompted the Australian authorities to loosen visa requirements for the family members of the Lebanese community already in Australia, which led to the third and largest wave of Lebanese immigration. Today, more than 230,880 people in the country identify as Lebanese Australians, a cohort that includes some of Australia’s best-known authors, artists, athletes, politicians and scientists. “We are so different, and our experiences are so different,” says Michael Mohammed Ahmad, a writer, who lives in Sydney. “But there’s still a sense of familiarity when we talk to one another.”

A diverse community

The range of religions represented is as diverse as in Lebanon itself, with both Sunni and Shia Muslims making up around 40 percent of the community, and Christian denominations like Protestants, Greek Orthodox, Maronites and Melkites accounting for around 48 percent. Compared to other prominent minorities, such as Afghan or Sudanese, Australia’s Lebanese community is well established. The 2016 census showed that 83 percent of Lebanese-born people in Australia arrived before 2007, significantly higher than the 61 percent of the population born overseas. Around 70 percent of the Lebanese community lives in New South Wales, Australia’s most populated state.