By Al Monitor – Members of the Lebanese delegation to the 2016 Olympic Games refused
to travel on the same bus as their Israeli counterparts in Rio on
Friday, according to a report from Israel , with some attempting to
block athletes from entering the vehicle, according to a report by an
Israeli trainer who claimed to have witnessed the scene.

“I kept on insisting that we board the bus and said that if the
Lebanese did not want to board as well they are welcome to leave,” Udi
Gal, the Israeli sailing team trainer, wrote in a Facebook post Friday.

“The bus driver opened the door, but this time the head of the
Lebanese delegation blocked the aisle and entrance. The organizers
wanted to avoid an international and physical incident and sent us away
to a different bus.” So far, no official response
on behalf of the delegations was given regarding the incident. The
Olympic organizing committee has not yet offered any statement about the
incident either, the report added.

By Amanda Bailly, for CNN

By David Choi

It’s becoming clear that ISIS is losing the battle on the home
front. In fact, it’s not only losing out on a huge source of
revenue from
oil smuggling, but major campaigns by coalition forces are
underway to root out its remaining bastions in Iraq and Syria.

Although this may be cause for celebration, US officials are
more concerned with what comes afterward. “At some point there is going to be a terrorist diaspora,”

said FBI Director James B. Comey at a cybersecurity
conference. “Not all of the Islamic State killers are going to
die on the battlefield.”

This supposed migration of militants lends itself to some
credence in light of a recent
report by Harry Sarfo, a detained Islamic State recruit. An ISIS official claimed “that they have loads of people living
in European countries and waiting for commands to attack the
European people,” Sarfo
said from a maximum-security prison in northern Germany. “And
that was before the Brussels attacks, before the Paris attacks.”

Ice cream lovers in Lebanon will soon have a new confectionary option, as Cold Stone Creamery has announced plans to open multiple locations throughout the country over the next few years, beginning with the capital city of Beirut.    Kahala Brands, the parent company of Cold Stone Creamery, has granted MNM Investments Lebanon SAL, part […]

By: english.aawsat.com

Beirut-The families of nine Lebanese soldiers taken captive by ISIS
have hinted that they would take escalatory measures and resume
protests, which have led to road closures in the past, if the Lebanese
government did not reveal any new information on the fate of their loved
ones. “It is prohibited for the state from now on to say we have nothing new” on the case, the families said Sunday.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam saluted the servicemen taken hostage by terrorist organizations on the occasion of Army Day. He stressed that the Lebanese state, with all its institutions, will
exert all efforts to end the tragedy, the same way it succeeded in
setting free the first batch of soldiers, who had been taken captive by
terrorists.The troops were held by ISIS in August 2, 2014 when the group and
al-Nusra Front launched an attack on the town of Arsal that lies on the
eastern border with Syria.

The summer festival – which has been headlined by Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Joan Baez and other music giants – has historically been hosted in the ancient Roman ruins in the Beqaa Valley, only 40 kilometres from the Syrian border. The conflict forced organisers to cancel the event for two years, and then temporarily relocate […]

By Sam Bourgi – .economiccalendar.com/

Sluggish economic conditions are expected to weigh on the Lebanese
economy for the foreseeable future, as political instability and
spillovers from the war in Syria drag on the fragile Mediterranean
country.

Lebanon’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 1% in 2015. Real GDP
growth has weakened in each of the past four years to only a fraction of
the post-2006 boom period, where growth averaged more than 9% annually.

The Lebanese economy faces a myriad of challenges that mostly stem
from political instability and the ongoing war in neighbouring Syria.
This uncertainty has become a drag on foreign direct investment and
tourism, two key pillars of the economy.

Business conditions deteriorated sharply at the end of the second
quarter, according to the Markit/BLOM Lebanon purchasing managers’ index
(PMI). A sluggish tourism sector was cited by businesses as one of the
main factors undermining the economic outlook.