The Council of Maronite bishops welcomed on Friday the dialogue among the country’s different factions, hoping that it would lead to the election of a new president, and urged the Lebanese to back the state at this critical stage. The bishops hoped in a statement following their monthly meeting in Bkirki that “talks among […]

  BEIRUT: Ten people were injured when a passenger van collided with a car in the north Lebanon district of Akkar Saturday morning, the National News Agency reported. The NNA said a Hyundai van collided with a Renault at the entrance of Qobeiyat, northeast of Tripoli. The report did not specify the severity of injuries. […]

  BEIRUT: Snowstorm Windy died down overnight Saturday, but schools and nurseries remained closed as icy mountain roads and fear of mudslides persisted. Sunshine brought a welcomed change to two days of heavy blizzards that buried villages across the country over Thursday and Friday. But roads in high altitude regions remained blocked, and others were […]

(Reuters) – More than 1,500 children are living or working on Lebanon’s streets, nearly three-quarters of them Syrian and most scraping a living by begging or roadside vending, a study published on Monday showed.

The number of children begging in Lebanese cities is one of the most visible signs of the country’s refugee crisis. Lebanon hosts more than 1.5 million Syrians from the civil war next door, the highest refugee population in the world per capita.

A total of 1,510 children were found to be living or working on the streets according to the study from the International Labour Organisation, the U.N. Children’s Fund UNICEF and charity Save the Children International.

These children earned an average of less than $12 per day and more than half of them were aged between 10 and 14 years old, it said.

  Bkirki spokesman Walid Ghayad stressed on Friday that the Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi informed a French diplomat, who is following up the presidential deadlock, that the crisis is not only linked to the Christians. Ghayad said that al-Rahi stressed during a recent meeting with Jean-François Girault, Director of the Department of the Middle East […]

  BEIRUT: Snow continued to fall on mountainous areas across Lebanon Friday, blocking roads, closing schools and leaving thousands stranded in their homes. Dozens of villages in the eastern, northern and southern parts of the country were cut off by the blizzard. Schools across Lebanon abided by Education Minister Elias Bou Saab’s decision to shut […]

  TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Bus drivers blocked all roads to Tripoli Friday to protest a government decision to ban them from parking their vehicles inside the northern port city. The drivers, who have been spotted parking illegally in Tripoli streets, were told to park in locations reserved for bus parking. (Link)

by Antonio Socci

THE POPE SHOULD HAVE THE 300 CHRISTIANS AND THEIR BISHOP IN TRIPOLI EVACUATED TO SAVE THEM FROM BEING SLAUGHTERED

We need to look at those 21 young Christians in the face. Rather than deny Christ they underwent martyrdom in Libya and before having their throat cut by ISIS – in reading their lips (which was done) – they were continuously pronouncing the name of Jesus. Like the martyrs of old

THE NAME OF JESUS

Their Bishop says: “That name whispered at the last instant was akin to the sealing of their martyrdom.” Coptic Christians are strong people, tempered by 1400 centuries of Islamic persecutions. They are heirs to that St. Athanasius of Alessandria, who saved the true Catholic Faith from the Arian heresy, held by most of the bishops [at that time]. They are tough Christians, not like the spineless, tepid-Catholics we are here in the West.

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By Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. (CNA)

The Egyptian military took action against the Libyan government. Last month, Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, announced that what had happened in Paris was an attack on Parisian shops. He misspoke. In fact, it was a pogrom on Parisian Jews. This week, instead of the White House accurately describing the massacre in Libya as an attack on Coptic Christians, it diluted the language once again.  Imagine the reverse situation. Had twenty-one Muslims been executed by Christians, would the White House have called the victims citizens?

Reluctance to Define Words
Is there reluctance at the White House for saying the word Christian? The White House has a handpicked, educated staff, presumably canny, articulate, and capable of parsing words. Every word is carefully weighed before it is announced publicly.

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi revealed Thursday that the Vatican is exerting major efforts to end the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, as he hailed the recent rapprochement between Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. “The Vatican spares no chance or effort with all countries for the sake of […]