By The Daily Star.

Lebanon’s Minister
of State for Administrative Development Inaya Ezzeddine Sunday called
on state officials to invest in material infrastructure and human
resources to benefit from the recently discovered oil in the country,
state media said. “We hope that state and energy ministry officials deal
with this fortune … with extreme transparency, wisdom, and proper investment,” the minister was quoted as saying by the National News Agency.

Ezzeddine
demanded the renovation of ports, hospitals and infrastructure
necessary for facilitating oil exploration off the Lebanese coast. “The
state must start preparing youth to enter the new labor market with
high-quality expertise in line with global standards,” Ezzeddine then
added.

She also called for a comprehensive evaluation and
improvement of technical and vocational institutes graduating
technicians in the oil field. “The maximum number possible of Lebanese youth must be enabled to work in the new labor market,” she said.

The Daily Star BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the Lebanese should be grateful for the stable security situation in the country. Berri spoke highly of the efforts exerted by the Lebanese Army and security forces, as they “managed to spare Lebanon the harm of terror and the tragedies caused by it.” The speaker […]

By Lydia Ramsey

If you’re trying to prioritize dieting in 2017, keep in mind that not all diets are created equal. Often, the ones that garner the most attention aren’t even among the best. For its annual list, US News & World Report ranked 38 eating plans, considering different criteria including how easy the diet is to follow, its effects on weight loss (both short and long term), how nutritional and safe the diet is, and how well it helps prevent diabetes and heart disease. The ranking drew on the expertise of a panel of dietitians and nutritionists, but didn’t account for any costs associated with the diet plans or how exercise fit into the programs.
Here’s which diets ranked above the rest to make the top 10.

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani

khazen.org compiled articles from AP and retuers, click read more to access AP articles with full overview of president Akbar Rafsanjani bio

DUBAI (Reuters) – Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi
Rafsanjani died in hospital in Tehran where he was taken after
suffering a heart attack on Sunday, state media reported. State-run Press TV said Rafsanjani, 82, died despite efforts by
doctors to save him. Residents said a crowd gathered outside the hospital where
Rafsanjani was taken in the Tajrish neighborhood in northern
Tehran.

Rafsanjani was an influential figure in Iran, and headed the
Expediency Council, a body which is intended to resolve disputes
between the parliament and the Guardian Council. He was also a
member of the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that selects
the supreme leader, Iran’s most powerful figure. Rafsanjani has been described as “a pillar of the Islamic
revolution.” His pragmatic policies – economic liberalization,
better relations with the West and empowering Iran’s elected
bodies – appealed to many Iranians but was
despised by hardliners.

His death is a big blow to moderates and reformists, depriving
them of their most influential supporter in the Islamic
establishment. Since 2009 he and his family have faced criticism over their
support for the opposition movement which lost that year’s
disputed election to former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A Palestinian rammed his truck
into a group of Israeli soldiers on a popular promenade in
Jerusalem on Sunday, killing four people and
injuring about 15 others in a deliberate attack, police and
emergency services said. Police identified the driver as a Palestinian from
Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and said he was shot
dead. A dozen bullet holes pockmarked the windscreen.

It was the deadliest Palestinian attack in Jerusalem
in months and targeted officer cadets who were disembarking from
a bus that brought them to the Armon Hanatziv promenade, a
stone-laden and grass-lined walkway with a panoramic view of the
walled Old City. “It is a terrorist attack, a ramming attack,” a police
spokeswoman said.

Police said the dead, three women and one man, were all in their
twenties, without identifying them further. Soldiers’ deaths are
announced in Israel only after families are notified. Roni Alsheich, the national police chief, told reporters he could
not rule out that the Palestinian was motivated by a truck
ramming attack in a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people
last month.

MP Hani Qobeisi

The Daily Star – BEIRUT:
Amal Movement officials Sunday anticipated an extension of the current
parliamentary term and echoed previous stances in favor of a
proportional voting system, the National News Agency said – “A
technical extension (of parliamentary terms) is possible,” MP Anwar
Khalil was quoted by the NNA as saying during a visit to the south
Lebanon border town of Deir Mimas. Parliamentary elections were postponed twice in 2013 and 2014 over security concerns. The coming June 2017 elections might be further delayed for technical reasons.

by albawaba

The hashtag “turn off your phone line” has been
trending in Lebanon this morning as a nationwide boycott of the
country’s two phone operators begins. The campaign aims to target the local Alfa and MTC Touch networks in protest against their high fees for customers.
Activists have called for Lebanese mobile users to turn on “airplane
mode” on Sunday to suspend calls, messages and internet use and
therefore deny profits to the providers. “Our
aim is to cancel the mandatory monthly recharge requirement and to
reduce the cost of internal and international calls…that is it,” a
post on the movement’s Facebook page, “I Will Turn Off My Line,” read.

Lebanese mobile customers are required to top-up at the end of each month, or face their simcards being suspended. The companies targeted in the boycott enjoy a telecoms monopoly in
Lebanon, providing the second-largest source of state revenue after
taxation. This has caused some protesters to claim that the expensive
mobile rates are a symptom of government corruption.

catholicculture.org – In an address to judges of ecclesiastical courts, the head of the Maronite Catholic Church deplored the conversion of Lebanese Maronites to other Christian communities or to Islam in order to obtain a divorce. In Lebanon, divorce is primarily a matter of religious rather than civil law. Lamenting the breaking of the sacred […]