News outlets this week speculated on the apparent conversion of a former American Muslim beauty queen to Christianity. Lebanese-born Rima Fakih came to fame after winning the national Miss USA pageant in 2010. She later had a short-lived stint as a WWE wrestler.

But now, the 30-year-old beauty queen also seems to have come to a new faith. UK-based magazine Christian Today reported that Fakih “gave her life to Christ last month,” as she prepares to marry Wassim Salibi, a wealthy music producer who is a Maronite Christian..

While Fakih was raised as a Shiite Muslim, she attended a Catholic school near the Lebanese capital Beirut. Her family later moved to New York to escape the devastation of the Lebanese Civil War.

The economic and social impact of the Syrian crisis — now entering its sixth year — is one of the most critical issues facing Lebanon. The total number of displaced Syrians who took refuge in Lebanon since the outbreak of the conflict in March 2011 stands at 1.5 million, equivalent to about a quarter of Lebanon's population. This has strained the public financial capacities and the provision of environmental services in Lebanon. The crisis is also expected to increase rampant poverty among the Lebanese and widen the income inequality gap.

In particular, estimates indicate that as a result of the Syrian crisis, about 200,000 Lebanese nationals fell into the clutches of poverty. It is also estimated that about 300,000 Lebanese citizens have become unemployed, and most of them are unskilled young people, which is without a doubt a result of the harmful effect of the low cost of Syrian workers.

Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer Beirut: Minister of Telecommunications Boutros Harb confronted several new challenges on Friday after the Financial Prosecutor, Judge Ali Ebrahim, indicted three high-level officials at the state-owned Ogero telecommunications company in the ongoing internet scandal, and after the MTV television chairman and CEO, Michel Gabriel Al Murr, accused him of lying.

Harb, who famously condemned General Prosecutor Judge Hatem Madi in 2013 and threatened to take him to court after the latter allegedly protected a presumed assassin (nothing happened on that front since that time), spent three hours on Thursday evening on the LBC Kalam Al NAS talk show with Marcel Ganem to display his dazzling perspectives. It was unclear whether he succeeded to salvage the ongoing Ogero scandal.

– A United Nations envoy for Lebanon reported to the Security Council today on how the current political paralysis, including the two-year presidential vacuum, is negatively impacting the country’s ability to make vital decisions.

“Undoubtedly, since the resolution was passed in September 2004, a lot has been achieved,” Terje Roed-Larsen said at a press stakeout following closed-door consultations with the Security Council, referring the 15-member body’s resolution 1559, which declared support for free and fair elections in Lebanon and called for the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country.

An example of such achievement included the withdrawal in 2005 of Syrian troops and military assets from Lebanon on the basis of the resolution. Mr. Roed-Larsen recalled that it was an agreement which he made on behalf of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan with Syrian President Bashar al Assad in Aleppo, highlighting that had been honoured by Syria’s Government “to the letter.”