by dailystar.com.lb

Standard Chartered expects modest GDP
growth in Lebanon in 2017 compared to 2016, thanks to the positive
political environment following the election of a president.  “We
expect GDP growth to pick up marginally to 1.5 percent in 2017, from an
estimated 1.0 percent in 2016, as private-sector confidence improves
due to political progress at end-2016. The latest survey data supports
this view,” Standard Chartered said in its latest report on Lebanon.

It
also noted a minor improvement in Lebanon’s PMI. “Following the
election of President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s rapid
formation of a coalition cabinet, the PMI rose to 47.7 in January from
an all-time low of 43.8 in October 2016 (at the end of the 29-month
presidential vacuum). Construction permits also recovered in Q4, growing
6 percent year-on-year after a 22 percent contraction in Q3,” the
investment bank said. However,
Standard Chartered does not see further improvement in business
sentiment due to the fact that the current government will resign once
parliamentary elections are held this year.

“Beyond
improved confidence and business sentiment, we do not expect
game-changing structural reforms or economic improvements, particularly
given that the current government is temporary. The political road map
is not yet complete, and we think the policy focus will be on amending
the electoral law to allow scheduled parliamentary elections in May.
This should lead to the formation of another cabinet,” it explained. The
bank released its report prior to recent political developments that
will almost certainly see the election schedule delayed.

By Monica Showalter – With
the pathetically humiliating failure of North Korea’s missile launch in
the wake of a very big puffy buildup, the shark tank must be working
overtime over in Pyongyang. You wouldn’t want to be one of the North
Korean minions who worked on that wretched fizzle-out that has
humiliated the vicious little dictator on the world stage. He gets mean
when the world is laughing. And what a coincidence, it happened as Vice President Pence makes his way to South Korea.  And
more interesting still, an intriguing leak of sorts has come to light:
That the U.S. hacked the launch, ensuring its failure. It comes from
former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind, who served under Prime
Minister John Major, speaking with the BBC in a buried lede if there ever was one. 

“It
could have failed because the system is not competent enough to make it
work, but there is a very strong belief that the US – through cyber
methods – has been successful on several occasions in interrupting these
sorts of tests and making them fail,” he told the BBC.

Riftkind
qualified himself by saying that there have been other successful
launches. But the hacking possibility took precedence in the popular
press. The infomation was mined out by The Sun and front-paged on the Drudge Report, both of which have far greater reach and are sure to reach Kim Jong Un’s ears, if the BBC report doesn’t.

by Cadie Thompson

The United Airlines incident has sparked outrage about the practice of overbooking in the airline industry. On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie even sent a letter to the Trump administration asking for the regulations to change so airlines could no longer oversell tickets for a flight. But normally, overbooking is actually beneficial to customers, industry experts told Business Insider. “By overbooking it actually does help keep the fares down because the
airlines are able to maximize the amount of revenue they are able to
collect and generate as much profit as they can,” said Henry Harteveldt,
president and travel industry analyst for Atmosphere Research Group,
told Business Insider. “But if they didn’t overbook it’s possibly they may have to charge more,” he said. Overbooking is also beneficial to consumers because it allows the
more flexibility in their travel plans, Vinay Bhaskara, Airways senior
business analyst, told to Business Insider.

“Frequently, the people who benefit the most from overbooking are the
last few people to buy, The ones who are not able to make plans in
advance,” Bhaskara said. “Often times those seats are available at the
last minute are only available because that flight can be overbooked.
The airline knows some people are going to be missing the flight.” Ultimately, though, overbooking is done because airlines want to
ensure that they are making the most money on every seat. So they use
historical data to help them predict how many people will likely miss a
flight on a certain route. And most of the time it works.

In fact, in 2016, some 51,000 passengers were involuntary denied
boarding (that doesn’t include those who volunteered) on US airlines.
While that may seem like a big number, it’s actually a tiny fraction
(about .0062%) of the 823 million passengers who flew with US airlines
last year. “They take a look at the history, how many people are booked, how
many people showed up, and how many empty seats did the plane leave
with. It’s game theory, if you will. What they are trying to do is make
sure that that plane leaves with every seat filled without the need to
inconvenience everybody and it works most of the time,” Harteveldt said.

SourceNaharnet Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged the political authority in Lebanon to stop obstructing the political process in the country for their own personal gains, as he assured that the Christian community does not stand in a weak position. “The political authority can’t keep on dividing (state) posts and obstructing everything under the pretext of […]

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri meets with a US Congress delegation at the Grand Serail on Wednesday. (Dalati & Nohra)

by  english.aawsat.com Beirut – A delegation from the US Congress visited Beirut on
Wednesday and discussed with Lebanese officials US aid to the country. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri met with the delegation at the Grand
Serail, where talks focused on several issues, including US aid to the
Lebanese security apparatuses. Headed by US Republican Congressman Harold Rogers, the delegation comprised six congressmen.

A statement by the US embassy in Beirut said: “Representative Harold
Rogers (R-KY) led a delegation of six Congressmen including
Representatives David Price (D-NC), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Chuck
Fleischmann (R-TN), David Joyce (R-OH), and Evan Jenkins (R-WV) to visit
Lebanon on April 12.” “The delegation met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Lebanese
Armed Forces Commander Joseph Aoun during their visit and discussed the
close relationship and security cooperation between the United States
and Lebanon,” the statement added. The statement also said that the delegation’s visit underscored
Washington’s support for Lebanon, the Lebanese Armed Forces, and
Lebanon’s legitimate security institutions. Hariri met the delegation in the presence of the US Ambassador to
Lebanon Elizabeth Richard, the premier’s media office said in a
statement. 

The
aftermath of an explosion that took place at a Coptic church on
Sunday in Tanta, Egypt, April 9, 2017.
REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

by  Reuters and Rebecca Harrington

TANTA, Egypt/CAIRO (Reuters) – At least 44 people were killed in
bomb attacks on two Egyptian Coptic churches on Palm Sunday that
included the seat of the Coptic Pope, the latest assault on a
religious minority increasingly targeted by Islamist militants. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, which
also injured more than 100 people and occurred a week before
Coptic Easter, with Pope Francis scheduled to visit Egypt later
this month. The first bombing, in Tanta, a Nile Delta city about 60 miles
north of Cairo, tore through the inside of St. George Church
during its Palm Sunday service, killing at least 27 people and
injuring at least 78, the Ministry of Health said. The second, carried out a few hours later by a suicide bomber in
Alexandria, hit Saint Mark’s Cathedral, the historic seat of the
Coptic Pope, killing 16 people, including three police officers,
and injuring 41, the ministry added. Coptic Pope Tawadros, who had attended mass at Saint Mark’s
Cathedral, was still in the building at the time of the explosion
but was not harmed, the Interior Ministry said. “These acts will not harm the unity and cohesion of the people,”
Tawadros said later, according to state media.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi condemned the attacks and summoned
the National Defence Council to an urgent session. Deflecting Western criticism that he has suppressed political
opposition and human rights activists since he won election in
2014, Sisi has sought to present himself as an indispensable
bulwark against terrorism in the Middle East, and he identifies
militant Islam as an existential threat. “The attack … will only harden the determination (of the
Egyptian people) to move forward on their trajectory to realize
security, stability and comprehensive development,” Sisi said in
a statement. US President Donald Trump expressed his condolences via Twitter
on Sunday morning. He and Sisi met at the White House on Monday,
April 3. “So sad to hear of the terrorist attack in Egypt,” he
tweeted. “US strongly condemns. I have great confidence
that President Al Sisi will handle situation properly.”

by dailystar.com.lb

Financial inflows to Lebanon in 2017 could jump by 20 percent thanks
to the positive political and economic conditions, Bank Audi said
Wednesday. “The improvement in Lebanon’s politico-economic
conditions could generate no less than a 20 percent rise in financial
inflows in 2017, following the noticeable double-digit growth that was
reported in 2016 and that was driven by the financial engineering
operations of the Central Bank. A net surplus in the balance of payments
would be realized for the second year in a row after the five-year
cumulative deficits that were realized between 2010 and 2015,” Bank said
in a report on the performance of the fixed income market in Lebanon. Lebanon counts heavily on capital and financial inflows to inject new
cash into the market as well as achieve a surplus in the balance of
payments. Most of these inflows are in the form remittances from
Lebanese expatriates in Arab Gulf states and Africa. The report also projected a growth in the money supply in 2017. “In parallel, we project a 7 percent growth in Money Supply for the
year, driven both by domestic money creation and the positive change in
net foreign assets. This moderate money supply growth is likely to yield
a deposit growth of close to $10 billion in 2017 (15 percent more than
the average of the past three years), with total banking sector deposits
exceeding the threshold of $170 billion,” Audi said. This expected rise in both financial inflows and would also increase loans to the private sector, according to the report.

“At the uses level, bank loans to the private sector are likely to
benefit from rising financing needs in a faster growth economy. We
forecast a circa $4 billion growth in bank lending to the private sector
(25 percent more than the average of the past 3 years), driven by
growing lending opportunities to finance new projects, corporate
expansion and working capital,” Audi said. It stressed that the expected rise in deposit growth and liquidity may provide some support for the eurobond market in Lebanon. “The
current year started with a sound reflection of an improving domestic
financial environment. Bank deposits grew by $1.4 billion over the first
two months of 2017 (against a net decline over the same period of
2016).

by middleeasteye.net The toll in two days of clashes in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon rose to five on Sunday, medics said, as local factions worked to implement a security plan. Clashes erupted in the camp late Friday as Palestinian factions participating in a joint security force began deploying throughout the area in […]