By Najia Houssari — BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi has called on Lebanese politicians to help play their part in the election of a new president following 10 failed attempts. He appealed to politicians to stop impeding the process and to help create a situation in which the state’s institutions can resume work to help address the country’s economic crisis. MPs have held 10 failed sessions to elect a president, with Hezbollah and its allies casting blank votes and repeatedly withdrawing from the second round of voting, resulting in a loss of quorum. Al-Rahi said: “Arrogance is stopping the politicians from holding a dialogue to overcome the presidential election crisis, while the wailing of the hungry and grieving people does not reach the ears of their heart and conscience.” Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rahi says he wants an international conference to help resolve the problems in Lebanon, under the auspices of the UN and friendly countries. Al-Rahi, who added that some politicians seemed unconcerned about citizens’ suffering, was speaking at Sunday Mass in Bkirki.

His appeal came as Christmas was observed with midnight Masses and Sunday morning services amid strict security measures undertaken by the military and security forces. Al-Rahi asked in his sermon: “How could they forget the face of mercy revealed to us at Christmas?” The presidential deadlock was also referenced by other religious figures. Armenian Catholic Patriarch Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian said: “We have spent the money of our parents and children and we have left them in a deep hole.” While delivering his own speech, Al-Rahi was moved to the point of crying when stressing the plight of Lebanon’s people. He said the value of the country’s currency was plummeting, and yet no one batted an eyelid. He added that the investigation into the Beirut port blast awaited the judiciary, and the judiciary was awaiting the end of political and sectarian conflicts. He added: “In Lebanese prisons, there are unsentenced prisoners from all religious sects, and in courts there are cases that have been accumulating for two years. The judiciary is on strike and the politicians are not concerned.”

Will 2023 be the year we finally break free from the 9-to-5 workday? Signs point to yes. Nonlinear workdays are gaining steam among tech startups, and the results are promising: London School of Economics professor Laura Giurge says asynchronous work “helps us move away from focusing on inputs as a measure of performance to focusing […]

Florida was the fastest-growing state in 2022, United States Census Bureau data reveals. The Sunshine State’s population rose 1.9%, to 22.2 million, outpacing second-place Idaho (1.8%) and third-place South Carolina (1.7%). Florida topped the list for the first time since 1957. Since 1946, the population in Florida has grown more than nine times. As impressive […]

By BBC News — A leading human rights activist in Iran has written from prison to give the BBC details of how women detained in recent anti-government protests are being sexually and physically abused. Narges Mohammadi said such assaults had become more common in recent protests. She is serving a lengthy sentence in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. The protests were triggered by the death in custody in September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating strict dress codes. She was detained by morality police in mid-September for allegedly wearing her hijab, or headscarf, “improperly”. More than 500 protesters, including 69 children, have been killed, while thousands of others have been arrested, human rights activists say. Dozens of Iranian security personnel are also reported to have been killed. Many of those arrested have allegedly been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in custody.

Identifying those killed in Iran’s protests Ms Mohammadi is deputy head of Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi’s Defenders of Human Rights Center. She has received several jail sentences since 2011 and is currently in prison for “spreading propaganda”. This year she was also included in the BBC’s 100 Women – a high profile list of 100 inspiring and influential women from around the world.

By Najia Houssari — arabnews.com — BEIRUT: The Lebanese are getting ready to welcome the holidays, but their joy is only as deep as their pockets. Some commercial streets in Beirut and major coastal cities such as Jounieh, Jbeil and Batroun were decorated with Christmas lights, powered either by solar panels or private electricity generators, in an attempt to lighten up the holidays in cities that had plunged into darkness months ago. Malls are packed with shoppers, between whom the social differences are clearly visible. One toy store owner told Arab News: “Some shoppers buy expensive toys without even asking about the price first, while others go around the shop comparing prices and settle for the cheapest ones.” The differences are even starker in clothing shops. Purchases are very limited in luxury stores, while the cheaper outlet stores, which have become more popular in recent years, are filled with shoppers.

Mourners chant slogans as they march with the body of one of the victims who drowned in the shipwreck of a migrant boat that sank off the Syrian coast. (AFP) However, supermarkets and grocery stores attract the most shoppers, who face the struggle of choosing between high-priced items and local, cheaper ones of lower quality. Temporary Christmas markets were held in public squares to create an atmosphere of joy, especially for children. One visitor told Arab News: “Such activities really make us feel the holiday spirit. It’s nice to see so many people out. The circumstances are difficult but we are trying to overcome them.” Claudine, a bank employee, told Arab News: “Everyone is preparing to celebrate the holidays in their own way.

I did not decorate my Christmas tree this year. Decorations are too expensive. A Christmas tree costs 4,000,000 LBP to 15,000,000 LBP; that’s more than my salary. A pack of six ornaments is at least 500,000 LBP.” The owner of a decoration shop in Furn El-Chebbak said: “The cost of Christmas tree decorations has reached 25,000,000 LBP ($545 based on the black market rate of 45,800 LBP/USD). “It all depends on the person’s salary and purchasing power. For instance, private-sector employees now receive parts of their salaries in dollars, which allows them to spend more than others.”

by nypost.com — Victor Nava — Donald Trump’s son-in-law and former top adviser Jared Kushner has shown no interest in helping the former president navigate a series of storms that threaten to sink his 2024 campaign, according to a new report Friday. Per New York magazine, since the 76-year-old Trump’s Nov. 22 dinner with anti-semitic rapper Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago became public, Kushner has ignored requests for “help … for public support, even looking for a response” from his father-in-law’s nascent election operation. Meanwhile, the report added, the 41-year-old Kushner has taken to handing out Trump’s phone number for supplicants to call directly rather than act as a go-between. “He was like, ‘Look, I’m out. I’m really out,’” the outlet quoted a source as saying.

Prior to Trump announcing his third consecutive presidential campaign on Nov. 15, Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, did not hide their lack of interest in taking part. “They both feel they got burned in Washington and don’t want to go back and expose themselves and their children to another bitter campaign,” an insider explained to The Post at the time.

Kushner attended the campaign kickoff at Mar-a-Lago, but Ivanka did not — raising eyebrows by swiftly putting out a statement saying in part that “I am choosing to prioritize my young children and the private life we are creating as a family. I do not plan to be involved in politics.” New York mag’s source acknowledged that Kushner had sent a “mixed message” by showing up for Trump’s announcement, calling it “a combination of having respect for a family member and drawing clear lines for your life.”

By AFP — French President Emmanuel Macron called on Lebanon Friday to “get rid” of its political leadership who have for months blocked reforms vital to save its stricken economy. “The problem with Lebanon is that we must solve people’s problems and get rid of those who cannot do it,” Macron said, referring to the country’s entrenched political class — widely blamed for the country’s financial collapse since late 2019. “Lebanon must change its leadership,” he said in an interview with three media outlets including Lebanon’s Annahar newspaper. Macron has taken the lead in international efforts to bail out the Lebanese economy after a collapse in the value of the Lebanese pound plunged most of the population into poverty.

International lenders have demanded that Lebanon adopt a programme of painful economic reforms in return for releasing billions of dollars in bailout loans. But deadlock between opposing alliances of the confessional political parties that have dominated Lebanon since the 1975 to 1991 civil war have left the country with only a caretaker government since an inconclusive May election and a vacant presidency since last month. “The question is: this caste that lives off Lebanon, does it have the courage to change?” Macron asked, adding that he was dismayed to see the mass emigration of young Lebanese who had taken to the streets at the start of the crisis in late 2019 to demand political and economic reform. “My answer is to try to help bring a political alternative to life… and to be intractable with political forces. “I care about Lebanese men and women, not those living off their backs,” he said.

Story by insider@insider.com (Alex Katsomitros) — Since its 2020 debut, the Netflix show “Emily in Paris” has prompted many Americans to fantasize about moving to Paris, pushing an age-old image of the city as the most romantic place on earth. Its plot plays on stereotypes, as Emily, a bubbly, hopelessly naive Chicagoan, wins over the rude but charming Parisians at her office and in her personal life. The show, whose third season premiered Wednesday, is meant to be “a lighthearted romantic comedy,” its creator, Darren Star, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, poking fun at “clichés that everyone has experienced at one time or another, both from the American point of view and the French point of view.” But even with the acknowledgment that life isn’t a rom-com, many young American women who’ve moved to Paris have discovered that the real McCoy — or macaron — is much more complicated than it looks on Netflix. “Real life is taking the metro and seeing rats at night.

It’s harder than TV,” says Kiana Tiese, 29, a New Yorker who’s been living in Paris since 2017. In her TikTok videos, Tiese shows her followers how actual life in the City of Light compares with Emily’s escapades. “Being an expat is about how much you grow as a person. Emily doesn’t jump into French culture,” Tiese says. “Many Americans expect people to adapt to them. Once you are an expat and not just a visitor, it’s different.”

Work-life balance in France is better, expats say — but Emily’s social-media savvy isn’t unique

By AFP — Private Sean Rooney, 23, was killed and three others injured on December 14 when their UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) vehicle was attacked near the village of Al-Aqbiya in Lebanon’s south. The area is a stronghold of powerful Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah. One of the injured was medevaced home to Ireland on Wednesday for further treatment. “The investigation has been able to identify suspects but so far none has been arrested and the security services are still looking for them,” said the judicial official who could not be further identified. The UN patrol “was the target of gunfire from at least two people” when it arrived in Al-Aqbiya, according to the same source. Citing preliminary findings, the source said the incident “was premeditated and the patrol was surveilled and followed by a car carrying armed men”.

UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Lebanon and Israel, neighbours which remain technically at war. The force operates near the southern border. Wafic Safa, Hezbollah’s security chief, has said the killing was “unintentional”. Witnesses said villagers in the Al-Aqbiya area blocked Rooney’s vehicle after it took a road along the Mediterranean coast not normally used by UNIFIL. Al-Aqbiya is just outside UNIFIL’s area of operations, the force said.

By MICHAEL YOUNG thenationalnews.com — — Lebanon has been without a president since the end of October, when Michel Aoun’s term ended. Since then, the political forces in the country have failed to reach a consensus on a successor. This is necessary, since parliament elects presidents in Lebanon, and what emerged from the elections in May is effectively a hung parliament. Broadly speaking, there are two major parliamentary alignments. One is led by Hezbollah, and includes the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), led by Gebran Bassil, Mr Aoun’s son-in-law, and speaker of parliament Nabih Berri’s bloc. The other alignment, which tends to oppose Hezbollah, despite notable exceptions, that includes the mainly Christian Lebanese Forces Party, the Kataeb Party, the bloc led by Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, and a number of Sunni parliamentarians close to former prime minister Saad Hariri. A much more amorphous bloc of independents fluctuates between the two. Parliament has held almost a dozen electoral sessions since October, to no avail, as the search for a successor to Mr Aoun seems frozen. Yet that assessment may not be so accurate. Behind the scenes a search is going on for a new president, one who would benefit from a consensus inside Lebanon, but who would also build trust regionally and internationally.

One of the countries engaged in this effort, according to analysts and diplomats in Beirut, is Qatar, which, with France, has been trying to build Arab backing for a candidate. The Qataris have reportedly told their interlocutors that their preference is for the election of the army commander, Joseph Aoun. Proof of Qatari interest came recently, when they invited Mr Aoun to Doha, before hosting another presidential hopeful, Mr Bassil. While the commander discussed military issues with the Qataris, there was little doubt that his visit was tied to the presidency. Mr Bassil’s trip, in turn, could have been aimed at facilitating his approval of a Joseph Aoun presidency, although at this stage much remains unclear. There are several hoops Aoun will have to go through before there is a concurrence of views around his candidacy Qatar’s role is hardly fortuitous. In 2008, the Qataris were instrumental in negotiating a compromise among Lebanese political factions after armed clashes in and around Beirut. At the time, this compromise, known as the Doha Agreement, involved paving the way for the election of then army commander Michel Suleiman as president and giving Hezbollah and its allies veto power in the cabinet, which they had demanded. That explains why Qatar has maintained the trust of Hezbollah, and why the party will take seriously any deal on the presidency proposed by the Qataris. At the same time, Qatar is seen as instrumental in persuading the Saudis of any agreement reached in Lebanon.

This led one Arab diplomat, cited by a Lebanese newspaper, to speak about Joseph Aoun’s invitation to the emirate: “This invitation, with this timing, is undoubtedly a political message that aims to say that General Aoun’s candidacy for the presidency benefits from Qatar’s support, but also that of France, the United States, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia.” However, those remarks may be slightly ahead of the curve. If we assume the initiative to promote the army commander is serious, and all the signs are that it is, there are several hoops he will have to go through before there is a concurrence of views around his candidacy. And for the time being, nothing indicates we have reached that stage yet.