Lebanese Christian majority leader MP Michel Aoun left for Tehran Sunday on his first official visit to Iran, local Ad-Diyar daily reported …

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman on Monday urged Saudi entrepreneurs to invest in his country during his first visit to oil-rich Saudi Arabia since his election in May. Addressing business leaders at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Sleiman urged them to "boost their investments" in Lebanon, which offers "guarantees and facilities" for investors, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. Lebanon has formed a committee to assess the losses incurred by Saudi investors during the political crisis his country went through in the past few years, Sleiman said, thanking Saudi Arabia for what he described as its constant support for Lebanon.  Sleiman, a former commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, was elected president in May after Lebanon's rival political factions struck an Arab-brokered deal in the Qatari capital, Doha, to end an 18-month political crisis that had brought the country to the brink of civil war.

The president of the Saudi-Lebanese Business Council, Abdel-Mohsen al-Hakir, was quoted by SPA as saying that "many Saudi investments will start flowing back to the Lebanese market."  Saudi investments in Lebanon are estimated at nearly 5 billion riyals ($1.3 billion) and are expected to increase, Hakir said.  Sleiman told the businessmen that the end of terrorism in the Arab and Islamic worlds was not far away.  The president also described media attacks against Saudi Arabia as a blow to Arabism.  "Any Lebanese individual who attacks any of his Arab brothers in the media, particularly Saudi Arabia, is moving away from his Arabism," he said.  Before heading to Tehran on Sunday, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Saturday that some Lebanese Christians were being swayed by Saudi petrodollars.

Saudi Arabia is a main financial backer of Lebanon, and Saudi King Abdullah reportedly told Sleiman that it was not true that the kingdom supports only one camp in this country.  "I hear that we are accused of being with some people and against others ... We are with all sides, and we do not pursue any private interests" in Lebanon, Abdullah told Sleiman, according to a Lebanese official.  The official, who requested anonymity, said the Saudi monarch made his remarks when he met Sleiman Sunday after the Lebanese leader arrived in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.  "Lebanon must be respected; all countries must respect Lebanon," Abdullah said, stressing that Saudi Arabia was prepared to "help Lebanon in whatever it demands," according to the official.

Pope Benedict XVI condemned on Sunday violence perpetrated against Christians in India and Iraq. "I invite you to pray for peace and …

BEIRUT (Reuters Life!) – Lebanese food makers aim to prove that dishes including hummus originated in their country in a campaign to …