The privatization of public sectors would boost economic output and public access to services, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman said Saturday. …

  President Michel Suleiman thanked on Monday Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, for Doha’s role in the release in Syria …

Washington D.C., Mar 7, 2014 / 03:13 pm (CNA).- A Catholic bishop and a Baptist pastor urged members of the U.S. Senate to address the “dire situation” facing Christians in the Middle East, proposing a special religious freedom envoy to the region. mIncreased “religious hostilities” around the world, “but particularly in the Middle East” leads Bishop Richard E. Pates and Dr. Russell D. Moore to “believe that a Special Envoy is needed to focus on the dire situation affecting religious minorities.”

Among the minority groups, Christians are “most targeted for harassment and attacks in the largest number of countries,” the authors said in a March 4 letter to Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Mike Lee of Utah. Bishop Pates, of Des Moines, Iowa, is the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace, and Moore serves as the president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.

The religious figures encouraged Sens. Coburn and Lee to hold a vote on a senate bill to create a Special Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia. The senators have placed a hold on the bill, citing concerns over creating a new office when a religious freedom diplomatic position already exists that has remained vacant. The position of ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom has remained unfilled since Suzan Cook resigned from the position in Oct. 2013.

  Maaloula is a Syrian town located 50Km North of Damascus. It is situated at an altitude of more than 1500 meters …