By Hugh Grant — techbullion.com — Marwan Kheireddine has brought an immeasurable amount of wealth and growth to Lebanon. In 2001, he opened a Virgin Megastore in Lebanon and received some priceless advice from a fellow billionaire, Sir Richard Branson. “I saw how Richard runs his business. He runs a multibillion-dollar corporation, but he knows everything about every company every day because it’s a flat structure,” Marwan Kheireddine said. “So when I met him for the first time in his office, I was very surprised that he was in a large office with no windows, no walls — it was completely open.” Kheireddine found it intriguing that anyone could walk up to him and talk to him. “His assistant would sit next to him, and there were no walls, and no red tape,” Marwan Kheireddine said. “And I did exactly that. If you come to my office today, unfortunately, we have walls because that’s the way it is in banking. However, when I don’t have people in my office, my door is open. Anyone can come in from the lowest level analyst to the highest C-suite executive. They can come in. It’s an open-door policy.”

Marwan Kheireddine had a life-changing meeting with Richard Branson

When Marwan Kheireddine met with Branson at his London offices in 2000, he assured the British business tycoon the launch would have to unfold grandly. “I said, ‘Richard, if you want to launch Virgin in the Middle East, it cannot be done in a shy way,’” Marwan Kheireddine advised. “It needs to be done very professionally and with a huge impact.” The Virgin Megastore opened in Lebanon in 2001, and it quickly became a cultural hub in the heart of Beirut. Branson attended the opening perched on a black couch that had been loaded onto a red bulldozer’s forklift bearing Virgin’s iconic logo. An elaborate fireworks display followed. Lebanon’s late Prime Minister Rafic Hariri described the store as a testimony of Beirut’s revival, according to albawaba.com. And then, a Virgin Megastore opened in Saudi Arabia in 2008. “Again, Richard went there, and we launched Virgin in the Middle East, but we didn’t stop at Virgin Megastores,” Marwan Kheireddine said. “Virgin Megastores then had a radio station, and Virgin Radio opened up in Lebanon.”

من شِدّةِ محبّةِ المسؤولين اللبنانيّين شعبَهم، لم يَقبَلوا على أنفسِهم إلا أن يَرفعوا حياتَه إلى مستوى يسوعَ المسيح: جَعلوا شعبَ لبنان يَلجأُ إلى مغارةٍ، يُولدُ في مِذْودٍ، ينامُ على التِّبنِ، يَتدفّأ بـلُهاثِ الغنمِ والبقر، يَستنيرُ بالنجومِ والبرْقِ، يُحاكِمُه أعداؤه، ويَحكُمون عليه بالجَلدِ والصَلْب. لكنَّ المسؤولين عَكسوا المسارَ فجَلدوا الشعبَ وصَلبوه أوّلًا. وإذا يسوعُ اقتبَل هذا القَدَرَ فداءَ البَشر، فمن نَفتدي نحن بعَذاباتِنا؟ الفاسدين، الفاشلين، العُملاءَ، الخَونة، المنهزِمين، المساوِمين، الضالّين، المنحرِفين؟ أنَفتدي يَهوَذا وهِيرَوْدوس وبيلاطُس وقَيافا؟ أنَفتدي من أفْقرونا وجَوَّعونا وأذَلّونا وهَجَّرونا ودَنَّسوا سُمعتَنا وأنْكروا لبنانَ قبلَ صِياحِ الديكِ وأثناءَه وبعدَه؟

لن نَفتديَ أحدًا من هؤلاءِ، ولن نخافَ هِيرَوْدس مهما كانت أسماؤه الجديدةُ. وشعبُنا لن يأخذَ الصبيَّ ويَرحَلَ به إلى مِصرَ خَشيةَ أن يَقتلَه هِيرَوْدس. لسنا رُحَّلًا ولا شعبَ الرحيل، بل شعبُ الثباتِ والصمود. أطفالُنا شَبُّوا مقاوِمين ويُواجهون في سبيلِ لبنانَ الذي سيَنتصِرُ كما انتصرَ المسيح. لا نريدُ أن نَنتصرَ على أحدٍ في الوطنِ، فلسنا نرى في أحدٍ عدوًّا. لكنّنا نريدُ أن ننتصرَ من أجلِ الكرامةِ والإنسان، ولتَبقَ سائدةً كلمةُ يسوع: “أحِبّوا بعضكَم بعضًا كما أنا أحْببتُكم”.

نَبطُلُ، نحن المسيحيّين، أن نكونَ أتباعَ يسوع، إذا حَقَدْنا وكَرِهْنا واسْتعدَينا. ونَبْطُلُ كذلك أن نَكون أتباعَ من قال “لا تخافوا أنا معكم” إذا جَـبُـنّا ولم نُدافع عن وجودِنا وهويّتِنا وحضارتِنا وكِيانِنا. ومشروعُ “لبنان الكبير” هو أصلًا مشروعُ محبّةٍ في عمقِه وبُعدِه وتَعدُّديّتِه وحدودِه لأنّه احْتضَن الجميعَ رغمَ أنَّ الجميعَ لم يَحتَضِنوه. ولـمّا تراءى لهم أنّهم احتَضَنوه خَنقُوه، وأنّهم أحَبّوه خانوه، وأنّهم حكمُوه احْتكروه، وأنّهم والَوه اسْتَولَوا عليه، وأنّهم حَرّروه اخْتَطفوه. عانى لبنانُ من فائضَين: فائضِ الإيمانِ به وفائضِ التشكيكِ به. وقاسى من نَقصين: نقصٍ في حُسنِ الحوكمةِ ونَقصٍ في المواطنيّة. وتَكبَّدَ تُخمتَين: تُخمةَ فشلِ المنظومةِ السياسيّةِ وتُخمةَ فسادٍ متنوِّعٍ وطنيٍّ وأخلاقيٍّ وماليّ. وذاقَ حَرْقتَين: حَرْقةِ الّذين استُشهدوا في سبيلِه وحَرْقةِ الّذين هاجروا بسببِ أزَماتِه.

BEIRUT, (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Lebanon’s financial collapse was caused by “something similar to a Ponzi scheme”, according to a video of comments he made while visiting Beirut this week. Lebanon is in the third year of an economic meltdown that began in 2019 when the financial system collapsed under the weight of huge state debt – the result of decades of corruption and mismanagement and the unsustainable way it was financed. Report ad Critics of the Lebanese authorities have compared the financial system to a Ponzi scheme, depending on fresh borrowing to pay back existing debt. The central bank has denied this. “As far as I understand what has happened in Lebanon is that Lebanon was using something similar to a Ponzi scheme…, which means that together with of course corruption and other, probably, forms of stealing, the financial system has collapsed,” Guterres said in the video circulated on social media.

The crash has caused the Lebanese pound to lose more than 90% of its value and savers to be frozen out of their deposits in the paralysed banking system. Mike Azar, an expert on the Lebanese financial system, said Guterres had expressed similar views at another closed-door gathering between the U.N. chief and members of Lebanese civil society on Tuesday. Asked by Reuters about the remarks, a U.N. spokesperson said the secretary-general’s views on the financial crisis were “more fully expressed” at a news conference at the end of his visit.

بصرف النظر عن دقة المعلومات المنشورة عن تفاصيل الصفقة وعن مهندسيها وعن الذين وافقوا عليها او رفضوها او صمتوا بانتظار مفاعيلها، فقد ادى الموقف الشجاع لرئيس الحكومة نجيب ميقاتي الى تفادي غرق البلاد في آخر مرحلة من مراحل الانهيار الشامل. نأمل ان يتوقف مسلسل الانهيارات بخطوة جريئة تجمع المنادين بالمصلحة الوطنية قبل اي

مصلحة اخرى حول مطلب واحد وهو بسط سيادة الدولة وتحقيق استقلالية المؤسسات وانتظام عملها وانهاء اي مظهر من مظاهر الدويلة

By Najia Houssari  — BEIRUT: The Lebanese Constitutional Council was unable to take a decision on Tuesday regarding the appeal submitted by President Michel Aoun’s team against the amendments introduced by Parliament to the electoral law, because it “failed to secure a majority of seven members,” according to spokesman Judge Tannous Meshleb. The amended electoral law is thus effective, and the parliamentary elections shall be held in accordance with the law after it is published in the Official Gazette. Meshleb denied “any political deal being proposed to the Constitutional Council in return for accepting the appeal.” Following the council meeting, he stressed: “The discussion was legal, and after seven sessions, we were unable to reach a unanimous decision. There was no sectarian division, but members had different opinions regarding expatriate voting. I regret not being able to reach a decision, but there wasn’t much else we could do. This is a failure on the Constitutional Council’s part. I don’t know if any of my colleagues interfered, but I don’t doubt anyone.”

Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) had objected to the amendments made to the electoral law in terms of changing the expatriate voting formula by canceling the six allocated seats and allowing expatriates to vote for the electoral lists, as well as canceling mega voting centers. Baabda Palace sources described was happened in the Constitutional Council as a “fail,” accusing “certain forces of disrupting the judiciary, the Constitutional Council, the procedural authority and the criminal auditing.” On Monday, the Lebanese heard rumors about a barter deal between Hezbollah, the FPM and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri; the Constitutional Council would approve Aoun’s appeal in exchange for stopping Tarek Bitar, the judge leading the probe into the Beirut port explosion, from questioning the politicians he accused of being involved in the crime. The deal also includes making new judicial appointments and appointing a new Central Bank governor.

في عصر العولمة وتطور تقنيات الاتصال وتكنولوجيا المعلومات من المعيب تخصيص محافظة للمنتشرين لاسيما ان عددهم يرتفع بإضطراد وتأثيرهم على العملية الانتخابية يتصاعد. كان من الافضل رد الطعن باجماع الاعضاء ولكن كحل المجلس الدستوري ( عدم التوصل الى قرار ) احسن من العمى ( قبول الطعن ) عندما فشل المحلس الدستوري عام ٢٠١٣ في التوصل […]

by news.un.org — The extent of the devastation has drawn comparisons within Lebanon, to the horrors endured by the residents of Hiroshima in 1945, after one of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War Two, raised the Japanese city to the ground, killing tens of thousands. Locals refer to the infamous day on August 4, 2020, as “Beirut-shima”. UN News is travelling with UN chief António Guterres, and in a tweet during a hectic day of meetings and ​events, he paid tribute to the victims of last year’s Beirut Port blast, stressing that “an impartial and transparent investigation into this tragic event is crucial to ensure justice.” For him, “the Lebanese people deserve the truth.” According to seismologists, the pressure of the explosion was equivalent to an earthquake measuring 3.3 on the Richter scale.

The first explosion occurred at 6:08 pm local time, after a fire broke out in a storage area containing a large amount of ammonium, followed by another massive explosion that caused great damage to the port, and large areas of the city. The explosions killed some 217 people, injured more than 6,000, and displaced around 300,000 families, with losses estimated in the billions of dollars. In his remarks in the Lebanese capital to journalists, including UN News, the Secretary-General spoke about his visit to the Harbor, saying it was a very emotional moment. “The suffering of the people, first of all, those that perished, their families, the wounded, the dramatic impact in the lives of so many people is something that of course generates very deep solidarity”. On the other hand, he noted that he had been receiving messages from many victims demanding “the need for truth to be established, for the need for an independent investigation, that is able to produce that truth.” He said he fully understands their concerns and hoped that the country’s institutions will be able to guarantee that the truth will come to light.

لقاء تعارف ودي مع السيدة يمنى بشير الجميل حضرت خلاله الاوضاع العامة في البلاد وشخصية الرئيس الشهيد الاستثنائية ومواقفه الشجاعة. وقد جرى التشديد على تثبيت اسس اعلان بعبدا لاستعادة ثقة المجتمع الدولي بالدولة تمهيداً لاطلاق عجلة النمو وانتشال الشعب من الحالة المذرية التي اصبح فيها. هذا وقد تم التوافق على ضرورة رفع الصوت من اطراف […]

(Reuters) – Lebanon could reach a preliminary agreement for financial support with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) between January and February, the local Al Jadeed TV said in a tweet on Sunday, citing the deputy prime minister. Saadeh al-Shami was quoted by the broadcaster as saying a ministerial committee had agreed with the central bank […]

by AFP — “I have come with a simple message: the UN stands in solidarity with the people of Lebanon,” Guterres told a press conference with Lebanese President Michel Aoun. “Seeing the suffering of the people of Lebanon, Lebanese political leaders do not have the right to be divided and paralyse the country,” he added. He said the objective of his meetings would be “to discuss how we can best support the Lebanese people to overcome the current economic and financial crisis and to promote peace, stability and sustainable development”. Lebanon is in the throes of an economic meltdown dubbed by the World Bank as among the planet’s worst since the 1850s.

It is widely blamed on nepotism and corruption among the country’s ruling class. Around 80 percent of Lebanon’s population is now estimated to be living under the poverty line. “Lebanese people also expect their political leaders to restore the economy, provide the functioning government and state institutions,” Guterres said. Cabinet has failed to meet since mid-October because of infighting, in particular over the judge charged with investigating the catastrophic August 2020 explosion at Beirut’s port that killed at least 215 people, injured thousands and devastated swathes of the capital. The UN chief urged politicians to work together to resolve the crisis and called on the international community “to strengthen its support to Lebanon”.