MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 adopted in 2006 calls for the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah. “The constant threats that are being expressed by Israeli government officials and in the media against Lebanon’s civilians and their legitimate institutions and infrastructure aim at covering up for Israel’s persistent violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1701, to which Lebanon is committed,” […]

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The UN Security Council Resolution 1701 adopted in 2006 calls for the cessation of hostilities between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah. “The constant threats that are being expressed by Israeli government officials and in the media against Lebanon’s civilians and their legitimate institutions and infrastructure aim at covering up for Israel’s persistent violation of UN Security Council Resolution No. 1701, to which Lebanon is committed,” […]

The daily star BEIRUT: Stavro Jabra, a famous cartoonist who had worked for The Daily Star and other newspapers in Lebanon and abroad, passed away Sunday as a result of a chronic illness, a source told The Daily Star. He was 70-years-old. “Stavro Jabra is a pen that stabs ignorance with liberty, may you rest […]

AlJazeera, Years of war and political instability have disrupted Lebanon’s ambitions to tap into its energy sector. Bidding for the right to develop oil and gas fields buried offshore is due to start later this year amid hopes the discoveries will help transform the country’s economy.  Lebanon, which has the highest debt as a share […]

by gulfnews 0 Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer – Beirut: It takes Mansour Khalife a good two hours to reach the
Lebanese capital from the city of Jounieh given the unprecedented
traffic chaos prevailing in the country. “I promise to light a
candle to Mar Charbel [the country’s venerated Maronite patron saint]
the day I reach my shop in an hour,” Khalife, a salesman who works in
downtown Beirut, told Gulf News. Khalife’s car is among the 1.6 million registered vehicles taking to Lebanon’s roads every day. That
figure does not include cars not registered in Lebanon, which has
swelled due to the massive number of Syrians who have filtered into the
country due to the civil war in their land. Chronic congestion and
lack of parking have always plagued the country, but a growing
population coupled with the influx of Syrians has made the situation
particularly intolerable.

Syrians
now make up a quarter of the population, bringing the total population
to around 6 million, up from 4 million. This figure does not take into
account the country’s one million Palestinian refugees and 750,000
foreign workers who are not counted in national census figures. Hundreds
of thousands of commuters who drive to Beirut every day complain that
they waste precious hours of their life behind the wheel. To
alleviate the growing burden on the roads, governor Ziad Chebib promised
to reveal a new plan to revamp the city’s public transport system
within weeks. However the promise has not excited Lebanese due to
many past pledges that have not materialised — a plan for a metro and
light-rail system have been floated. The absence of an effective public transit system has only made Lebanese more dependent on cars.

In
2015, the last year for which statistics are available, 39,361 new
passenger cars were sold in Lebanon, up by an annual 4.1 per cent, which
brought the state over $500 million (Dh1.83 billion) in excise taxes,
cars registration fees, and cars control fees. Few Lebanese take
public buses due the danger associated with navigating the country’s
haphazard roads combined with the reckless drivers to whom they would
perforce have to entrust their safety. Lebanon records more than 6
million automobile passenger trips each day, up from 2.8 million in
2007 and 1.7 million in 1995, according to statistics from the Ministry
of Public Works and Transport.

A 2012 American University of
Beirut study confirmed the existence of a “deep-rooted need for an
effective public transportation system as a competitive alternative to
automobile dependency”. The Council for Development and Reconstruction —
the supra-national body in charge of everything after the civil war —
failed to heed calls for urgent action, which is the primary reason why
traffic jams are now the norm.

by the961–  The new Lebanese Nationality Program website
was launched by the Lebanese government to help Lebanese people abroad
(who don’t have their citizenship) reclaim their Lebanese nationality. This is an initiative launched by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign
Affairs & Emigrants to initiate and facilitate the process for
people of Lebanese heritage. This service is completely free and the website is available in 4 languages: English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. There were several major waves of emigration from Lebanon to South
America starting in the late 1800’s due to the 1860 conflict in Lebanon. The ruling parties at the time intentionally passed laws to “punish”
these emigrants, denying them the automatic right of return to Lebanon –
making it near impossible to pass the nationality to their children.

Despite several generations in South America and the Lebanese
language not being passed on to the children, there still maintains a
strong Lebanese ethnic identity. Brazil alone is home to the most number of Lebanese people in the
world, including Lebanon. Estimates range from 7 million up to 12
million Lebanese. Hence why the website is available in Portuguese.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon’s state news agency says one Palestinian has been killed and others wounded during intense clashes that erupted in one of the capital’s crowded southern suburbs. The National News Agency says calm has been restored Friday to Burj al-Barajneh area in south Beirut after clashes that lasted hours. The agency says the […]

The Daily Star, BEIRUT: The re-opening of the Qleiaat airport in north Lebanon is a righteous demand, President Michel Aoun said Friday. “Reopening the Rene Mouawad airport in Qleiaat would achieve prosperity for north Lebanon and comes in line with the [plan] to rehabilitate [Lebanon’s] infrastructure,” Aoun told a delegation from the civil movement in […]