Kuwait’s Zain (formerly MTC) expects to bid in the upcoming auction for the two Lebanese mobile phone networks, the Arabic language al-Rai …

by Rouba Kabbara, BEIRUT (AFP) - Fires raged on Wednesday for the second time this month across hectares (acres) of forest in Lebanon, threatening the natural wealth of a country once known as the Switzerland of the Middle East. Emergency crews backed by army helicopters struggled to extinguish blazes which broke out on Tuesday in the mountainous northern regions of Qobayat, Ayto and Karm Saddeh, a civil defence official told AFP.

But police and civil defence authorities had no reports of casualties."The fires have been raging in all three regions since yesterday," the official added."Civil defence workers and army helicopters have been struggling to put them out, especially the one in Ayto because there are no roads leading to the area," he said.Fires also spread across forests of pine and oak trees as well as valleys and woods around Bisri, Sfaray and Mashmusheh in southern Lebanon, another civil defence official added. The fires are still raging and we are trying to prevent them from reaching homes," he said.

By Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, BEIRUT — Lebanese politics are notoriously cumbersome and convoluted. On Monday, squabbling politicians again …