By Bassem Mroue, AP

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria’s conflict
has caused hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee to Lebanon, putting
a huge strain on the Lebanese economy and its already-crumbling
infrastructure. But the five-year Syrian civil war has been a boon for at least one economic sector: the tobacco industry. At Lebanon’s main tobacco factory, located southeast of the capital,
Beirut, employees work round-the-clock but can barely cover the high
demand for locally-made cigarettes.

“We are lucky that there are
Syrians in Lebanon,” said George Hobeika, a senior official with the
state-owned factory, adding that consumption of some local brands in
Lebanon has more than tripled in five years. Lebanon is hosting
over a million registered Syrian refugees. Unofficially, the number of
Syrians who have fled to Lebanon is estimated to be closer to two
million. Many of them are unable to find work, and spend much of their
day smoking in tented encampments or makeshift accommodation around the
country.

In the months following the outbreak of war in March
2011, many of Syria’s cigarette factories closed down. Others were not
able to cover market demand after imports of tobacco stopped, leading to
a sharp rise in demand for Lebanese cigarettes – particularly Cedars, a
brand that is similar to Syria’s widely-smoked Hamra cigarettes.
Lebanon’s state-owned cigarette company sales peaked at US$1 billion in
2012.

by J.D. Durkin Eight television anchors in Egypt have been suspended by their network until they lose weight, an incident that has sparked wild controversy in the nation and the role of the state-run media outlet. The state broadcaster Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) have given the women involved one month to pursue an […]

By Al Bawaba

Lebanon
and the Arab world have not forgotten about that famous feud between
Emirati singer Ahlam and Lebanese TV host Adel Karam. The flamboyant singer boiled Lebanese people’s blood when
she referred to them as “nothing more than falafel vendors
and beggars,” while instructing them to “deal with their ongoing trash
problem instead of talking about their “Queen Ahlam.” Yep, this actualy happened!

Since
then, the two haven’t seen eye to eye (shocker) and several trending
hashtags on Twitter urged Lebanon not to allow Ahlam on its soil. However, looks like their numerous attempts to keep the “Queen” out of Lebanon have gone down the drain. 

Miss
Controversy is set to return to Beirut in the near future to resume
filming the singing talent competition Arab Idol, where she sits (not
quietly of course) on the judging panel next to Lebanese stars Nancy
Ajram and Wael Kfoury, and Egyptian music producer Hassan el Shafei.

Archaeologists believe they have identified a new way of putting
accurate dates to great events of prehistory. Rare and spectacular storms on the sun appear to have left their
mark in forests and fields around the planet over the past 5,000
years.

Michael Dee, of Oxford University’s research laboratory for
archaeology and the history of art, thinks evidence of such solar
storms could help put precise years to some of the great
uncertainties of history: the construction of Egypt’s Great
Pyramid of Giza, the collapse of the ancient Mayan civilization
in Central America, and perhaps even the arrival of the Vikings
in the Americas.

Every tree maintains its own almanac in the form of annual growth
rings. For decades dendrochronologists have been using tree-ring
evidence and radiocarbon dating to build a timetable of events
that confirm historical accounts, even those predating the first
written chronicles.

By Wajdi Al Aridi – Al Sharq Al awsat

Beirut- Tourists coming from Gulf Arab countries were absent from the
cities and villages of Mount Lebanon this summer, as one of the
repercussions to the current crisis between Lebanon and Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) countries.

For the first time since the end of the Lebanese Civil War, tourists
coming from Gulf States were absent from the towns and villages of Aley,
Bhamdoun al-Mhatta, Sawfar and Broumana in Mount Lebanon, despite the
fact that several Gulf nationals already own houses there.

The tourist boycott also reflected on the real estate sector, head of
the Lebanese-Saudi Business Development Commission Elie Rizk said. “The probability of GCC nationals who are selling their belongings in
Lebanon has reached 70 percent in the mountainous areas and 34 percent
in Downtown Beirut,” Rizk said.

BEIRUT –  Egypt’s foreign minister says he is visiting Lebanon to help rival Lebanese political groups find common ground. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 and parliament has been unable to elect a head of state because of deep disagreements. After meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Tuesday, Sameh Shoukry tells reporters that […]

By Denisse Moreno, Epoch Times

It was April 2009 and Lebanese-Nigerian Billionaire Gilbert Chagoury
had an urgent request. He needed to talk to someone at the State
Department. While such a meeting might normally take days—if not weeks
or months—to set up, if at all, Chagoury knew the right people.

Aides of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received an email on April 25, 2009, without a subject line. In the email,
Doug Band, a top official with the Clinton Foundation, asked Clinton
aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills to connect billionaire Chagoury to
“the substance person re Lebanon.” Just over four hours later, Abedin responded:

“It’s Jeff Feltman.
I’m sure he knows him.
I’ll talk to Jeff.”

Feltman was serving as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern
Affairs at the time, after having served as U.S. ambassador to Lebanon
for 4 years. Impressing on Abedin the urgency of the matter he emailed her back 15 minutes later saying:

“Better if you call him.
Now preferable.
This is very important.
He’s awake I’m sure.”

Band had served in different positions in the White House while Bill
Clinton was president. In 1999, President Clinton appointed him as
“Special Assistant to the President.” Band continued to serve as
Clinton’s chief adviser from 2002 to 2012. According to the Wall Street Journal,
Band played a crucial role in negotiations with Barack Obama’s team in
2008 in convincing them to appoint Hillary Clinton as secretary of
state.

by Michael Karam Twenty years ago, I was the editor-in-chief of Visitor, a
quarterly magazine published on behalf of the Lebanese ministry of
tourism. I can’t remember how I got the job, but I recall the previous
editor was leaving and he suggested my name to a rather desperate owner
(affectionately known as “the chief”), who had won the government
contract after decades of doing business in West Africa. The idea was he
would create the content and print the magazine and make money from
advertising sales.

It
seemed like a good idea. The chief presumed the ministry’s backing
would convince advertisers to place full-page ads, espe­cially given
that it had been hinted the magazine would be placed on Middle East
Airlines, whose in-flight magazine – the perennially poor Cedarwings –
charged top dollar for a full-page advertisement. Hotels, car hire
companies, shops and the like were also in his cross hairs.

The
first reality check was when Cedarwings pulled some serious strings to
ensure Visitor never saw the inside of an Airbus. We didn’t really take
it too seriously and the feeling was this was just a misunderstanding
that would eventually be resolved. To soften the blow, the chief was
awarded another contract, for a business magazine that promoted Lebanon
as a financial hub with mouthwatering investment opportunities, and the
chief was assured all the top banks would advertise.