Noted French Economist, legislator, and writer Claude Frederic Bastiat is famous for saying, "If goods don’t cross borders, armies will." Nowhere does this appear more true than in the war-torn Middle East, where Israel and its Arab neighbors have been at each other’s throats for over 60 years.  Here’s an example: In 2012, Egypt, […]

  BEIRUT: With Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai’s election as president Sunday, Afghanistan’s first lady is officially a Lebanese-American. Rula Saade Ghani and Afghanistan’s President-elect met in Lebanon, where they both attended the American University of Beirut. The couple have two children together. (Link)

  If identity crisis is among the most common pathologies suffered by Lebanese, Nayla Romanos Iliya has found the remedy, or at least the one for her. After living abroad for more than 20 years, Romanos Iliya rekindled an appreciation of her Lebanese heritage by creating sculptures based on the Phoenician alphabet.Born and raised in […]

Business Insider: Armin Rosen

Over 120 people were reportedly killed during fighting in a Middle Eastern capital on Friday, but it wasn’t Baghdad or Damascus. With a Shi’ite rebel movement marching on Sa’ana, Yemen now seems like it’s primed to be the next country in the region to stare down the prospect of violent collapse.

  Warnings that ISIS may be plotting to attack Pope Francis during his visit to mostly Muslim Albania Sunday have been shrugged off by the Vatican. Despite warnings from Iraq’s ambassador to the Holy See that the 77-year-old could be in danger — and reports in the Italian media of new ISIS recruits returning from the […]

  Four assailants in a vehicle bearing the flag of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) drove past the Maronite Our Lady of Lebanon Church in Sydney, shouting death threats to church-goers, media reports said on Thursday. “Four youth in an unknown car and waving the flag of ISIL drove by the church […]

  BEIRUT: Tucked away off of Hamra’s Jeanne d’Arc Street sits a room full of books maybe the size of a generous walk-in closet. Shelves are stocked from floor to ceiling, with rows of spines that guide the eye through colorful patterns and designs. To the passersby, the space is lit with a warm glow. […]

  As President Obama works to outline a strategy against the growing ISIS threat in the Middle East, he’s come to Tampa to talk with top military leaders from the United States and around the world. The president spent the morning at MacDill Air Force Base, home to United States Central Command. He received a […]

  United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed regret over the deep political rift in Lebanon as party leaders so far failed to elect a new head of state and overcome their “individual interests.” He stressed as he spoke to journalists at the world body’s New York Headquarters, days ahead of opening the high-level segment of […]

  Dramatic footage obtained by CNN shows Christians in the southeastern Chinese city of Wenzhou barricading themselves into their church to keep hundreds of riot police at bay and save their church cross from confiscation. Since the beginning of the year, Communist Party officials have been demolishing churches in surrounding Zhejiang province, and removing crosses […]