By Gulf news- Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: The fate of nine Lebanese Army soldiers, allegedly taken
hostage on August 2, 2014 by either Daesh or Fateh Al Sham (former Al
Qaida-affiliated Al Nusra Front), gained attention this week after
several remains were found near Arsal near the Syrian border

On
Tuesday, authorities requested family members to give DNA samples,
ostensibly to verify whether they matched with any of those missing. On
Friday, local news channels reported that the Lebanese Armed Forces
(LAF) would first share the results of various tests conducted over the
course of the past 24 hours with family members, before revealing
details to the public.

It was unclear, however, when anxious
families — some of whom have held a two-and-a-half-year vigil at Riad El
Solh Square — would be briefed. Staff members overseeing the matter
were mum, however, with Hussain Yousuf, the father of captured soldier
Mohammad Youssuf, claiming that he would only trust head of the General
Security Major-General Abbas Ebrahim.

Lebanon has acquired a new 30-minister government led by Saad Hariri, bringing together the entire political spectrum except for the Kataeb party that rejected the portfolio it was offered. The new cabinet, which was announced on state television on Sunday evening, will keep Gebran Bassil as foreign minister, Ali Hassan Khalil as finance minister and […]

By Paul Astih – english.aawsat.com

Beirut- Hopes on the formation of the Lebanese government before
Christmas and the New Year began fading after the emergence of a series
of new obstacles. According to informed sources, several problems, which are hard to
overcome, emerged in the past few days, bringing Prime
Minister-designate Saad Hariri’s efforts to form the cabinet into a
standstill.

Among those obstacles is the insistence of the two main Shi’ite
parties – Hezbollah and Amal Movement – on the formation of a 30-member
cabinet. Such a request would bring back consultations to square one
because they will require a new distribution of portfolios on the
different political parties, said the sources.

Other obstacles include the rejection of some political parties to be
allocated minister of state posts, they told Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.

Such problems led to concerns at the Center House (Hariri’s residence
in downtown Beirut) that the March 8 alliance and their ally President
Michel Aoun would try to impose a deal on an electoral draft-law based
on full proportional representation in return for facilitating the
formation of the government.

By Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Beirut: The deputy head of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council, Shaikh
Abdul Amir Qabalan, urged politicians to produce a new electoral law
that fulfils just representation, which means “the adoption of a
proportional representation law considering Lebanon as a single
electoral district, which allows a Muslim Lebanese to elect his
Christian brother and a Christian can elect his Muslim brother in order
to make Lebanon a country of true partnership without partiality to any
of its components”.

Several versions of a new electoral law are
under discussion in Lebanon, topped by proportionality — albeit in
different versions — gaining the most traction. Proponents believe that
such a law would gradually eliminate reliance on sectarianism while
opponents insist that Lebanon’s socio-political make-up would make the
country ungovernable because so many parties compete for their share of
power. They argue that no clear majority can be elected since doing so
would automatically eliminate the smaller but vital components of
Lebanese society.

While the National News Agency reported
Qabalan’s Friday prayer declarations — a position that was favoured by
Hezbollah but rejected by the Future Movement — the head of the Phalange
Party, Sami Gemayel, voiced his support for an electoral law that would
create smaller constituencies, saying this would best guarantee proper
representation.

AP ISLAMABAD – Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Abdul Rauf Alam has asked the business community to explore untapped trade potential of Lebanese market. While speaking to Ambassador of Lebanon to Pakistan Mona El Tannir, he said additional steps were needed to promote economic cooperation to bring masses of the […]

By Eugene Kim

Amazon is building an app that matches truck drivers with shippers, a
new service that would deepen its presence in the massive $800 billion
trucking industry, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told
Business Insider.

The app, scheduled to launch in summer 2017, is designed to make it
easier for truck drivers to find shippers that need goods moved, much
like the way Uber connects cab drivers with riders. It would also
eliminate the need for a third-party broker, who typically charges a
~15% commission for doing the middleman work.

The app will offer real-time pricing and driving directions, as well
as personalized features, such as truck stop recommendations and a
suggested “tour” of loads to pick up and drop off. It could also have
tracking and payment options in order to speed up the entire shipping
process.

This is the latest in Amazon’s rumored plan
to become a full-scale logistics company that controls the entire
delivery cycle. Over the past year, Amazon has purchased thousands of
trailer trucks and dozens of cargo planes, while launching new “last
mile” services like Amazon Flex that take packages straight to the end
consumer.

By Alex Heath

Facebook is going to start fact checking, labeling, and burying
fake news and hoaxes in the News Feed, the company announced on
Thursday. The decision comes after Facebook received heated criticism for
its role in spreading a deluge of political misinformation during the
U.S. presidential election, like one story that falsely said the Pope
had endorsed Donald Trump.

To combat fake news, Facebook has partnered with a shortlist of media
organizations, including Snopes and ABC News, that are part of an
international fact-checking network led by Poynter, a nonprofit school
for journalism located in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Starting as a test with a small percentage of its users in the United
States, Facebook will make it easier to report news stories that are
fake or misleading. Once third-party fact checkers have confirmed that
the story is fake, it will be labeled as such and demoted in the News
Feed.

A company spokesperson told Business Insider that the social network
will also use other signals, like algorithms that detect whether a story
that appears fake is going viral, to determine if it should label the
story as fake and bury it in peoples’ feeds.

By catholicherald.co.uk

Three archbishops from Iraq and Syria were refused entry into the UK
despite being invited by the country’s Syriac Orthodox Church. Archbishop Nicodemus Daoud Sharaf of Mosul, Archbishop of St
Matthew’s Timothius Mousa Shamani and Archbishop Selwanos Boutros
Alnemeh of Homs and Hama, were all refused UK visas which would have
enabled them to attend the consecration of the UK’s first Syriac
Orthodox Cathedral, last month.

Prince Charles, who has long championed the cause of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, was a guest of honour at the event at St Thomas Cathedral and a personal letter was read from the Queen. The bishops were told that they were refused entry because they did
not have sufficient funds to support themselves and because they might
not leave the UK.

Lord Alton of Liverpool, said he was incredulous when he heard the
news. He said: “When the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch told me that these
two bishops had been refused visas to come to the UK for the
consecration of the new Syrian Orthodox cathedral I greeted it with
incredulity and disbelief. Its a decision that brings shame on our
country.

“These amazingly courageous bishops come from the Mosul region of
Iraq – where Christians have been beheaded, crucified, raped and either
forcibly converted or forced to flee as their possessions have been
seized by radical Islamists. It adds insult to injury that the UK would
refuse admission to men who pose no threat and whose community has
suffered so much – especially when we still fail to bring to justice
Jihadists who have committed genocide.”

In an editorial, the Daily Express condemned the decision, saying:
“While we appreciate the necessity of efficient border controls, surely
it can’t be beyond the wit of a Home Office pencil-pusher to realise
that these men of the cloth were a special case?

“Last week we learned that 650,000 immigrants made their way to
Britain, the highest level yet. And yet somehow, while letting all these
in, officials contrived to ban these three wise men who have risked
their lives for the Christian faith.