The United States is reportedly reconsidering a decision to invite Israel to a conference expected to be held in Washington next …

  BEIRUT: The situation along the Lebanon-Israel border is “under control” after the recent tit-for-tat attacks between Hezbollah and Israel, U.N. spokesman …

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is running its own Shariah court in the northeastern Lebanese border town of Arsal, Lebanon’s The Daily Star reported Saturday. It cited the case of Rawad Ezzedine, 21, who was reportedly kidnapped and beaten by dozens of militants and was later tried in the Shariah court after he used God’s name in vain during a verbal exchange with a Syrian adolescent.
Ezzedine’s trial was held on Jan. 30 in a bungalow-turned courthouse in the outskirts of the town that borders Syria, the daily said.

The environment makes all the difference, writes Tommy Weir, founder of the Emerging Markets Leadership Center.

For all practical purposes, Lebanon is still struggling from the effects of civil war that ended over two decades ago. Yet, today the country is without a president, shackled by continued corruption, weakening job prospects, and on-going strikes that are the only way for the working class voice to be heard. Roadblocks and tires burning in the streets are everyday forms of protest.

While it may not technically be a failed state, it certainly is a fragile state. It’s in a political stalemate, where opposing parties simply boycott votes they disagree with rather than represent the people who voted them into office.