BEIRUT: Lebanon’s health minister shut down three food shops and sent warnings to 14 others in the southern Beirut suburb of Ouzai Thursday for violating food safety standards. A statement by the ministry said inspectors ordered the closure of the Ahmad Shamas Roastery, Abu Hamza Butchery and Harkous Chicken. (Link)

  Fierce winter storm “Windy” tightened its grip Thursday on Lebanon, causing a significant drop in temperatures and heavy rains on the coast as snow blanketed mountains and reached areas only 500 meters above sea level. The vehement weather prompted Education Minister Elias Bou Saab to order a closure of private and public schools on […]

  BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri postponed a parliamentary session to elect a new president of the republic to March 11, after the 19th attempt to break the nine-month-long presidential deadlock failed Wednesday. Like previous attempts, the 19th session to elect a head of state was doomed to fail over a lack of quorum, owing to […]

  The joint security force detained on Wednesday 11 Syrian nationals as it continued its crackdown on outlaws in the Bekaa Valley. The state-run National News Agency reported that the residencies of the 11 Syrians, who are residing in the Bekaa town of Taybeh, have expired. The force also seized seven violating cars and pickup […]

  BEIRUT: Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi traveled to Riyadh overnight to take part in a military gathering of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, a source at Beirut airport told The Daily Star. Kahwagi will participate in the Wednesday-Thursday meeting in Riyadh that groups military commanders and chiefs of staff from the 22 countries […]

  Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin praised dialogue among the Lebanese parties, considering it a necessity to combat the challenges and risks that the country is passing through. “Foreign countries support the dialogue, in particular because it is touching on local and regional issues, in the first place the battle against terrorism and extremism,” […]

  BAALBEK, Lebanon: A crackdown on fugitives in the Bekaa Valley in east Lebanon spread early Tuesday to the region’s main city of Baalbek. Policemen from the Internal Security Forces fanned out in the Baalbek neighborhood of Hay al-Sharawneh at dawn while others manned checkpoints on side roads and entrances to the residential quarter. Many […]

  An Israeli military unit on Tuesday crossed the technical fence off al-Wazzani in southern Lebanon and inspected the eastern bank of the river, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA said the troops used sniffer dogs and Merkava tanks monitored them closely. An Israeli drone also flew over the area of al-Wazzani and Abbasiyeh […]

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – Quoting an Iranian diplomat, the Journal said that the Iranian cleric had written to Obama in recent weeks in response to a presidential letter sent in October.Obama’s letter suggested the possibility of U.S.-Iranian cooperation in fighting Islamic State if a nuclear deal is reached, the Journal said, quoting the diplomat.

According to the diplomat, Khamenei’s letter was said to be "respectful" but noncommittal. Both the White House and the Iranian mission at the United Nations have declined all comment."The letters of the American president have a history of some years, and in some instances, there have been responses to these letters," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, in November, said. Shamkhani added that there were "contradictions" between policies laid out in the letters and U.S. actions.

These Christian men were beheaded precisely because they were Christians. They can be seen calling on the true God and His Son Jesus Christ, as their evil executioners commit this act of savagery.These Christians are true martyrs. Unlike the evil, deluded Jihadists who commit acts of homicide against innocents in the name of their – god – and then claim to be martyrs.  One of the murderers declared – All crusaders: safety for you will be only wishes, especially if you are fighting us all together. Therefore we will fight you all together.The sea you have hidden Sheikh Osama bin Laden’s body in, we swear to Allah we will mix it with your blood. We will conquer Rome, by Allah’s permission.- I hope the President of the United States heard those words from Palm Springs, California, where he is on a golfing weekend