Khazen

Menu
Nasrallah emphasises dialogue for Lebanese
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

By Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer, Gulf News

Cheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah militia leader, emphasised the necessity for dialogue among rival Lebanese politicians during his latest television appearance to mark the end of the annual Ashura commemorations.

Inciting emotionally-laden crowds who repented their forefathers’ alleged failures to assist Hussain Bin Ali at the battle of Karbala in 680, Nasrallah fell back on irony to criticise Lebanese elites. “They have waited for the Iranian nuclear agreement to be finalised thinking that Iran would abandon us, and it did not,” he hammered. “They have waited for the fall of Syria, but Syria will not fall,” he said. “They shall not benefit from this opportunity,” he drove the point home, declaring: “In Lebanon we are the masters of our decisions.”

Read more
Forbidden no more
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

by

 

Lebanon was most likely a marginal topic on the sideline of nuclear discussions in Vienna, but the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group is expected to have direct implications on local Lebanese politics. Since the deadlock in Lebanon is largely a reflection of regional deadlock, it would be reasonable to expect a possible regional appeasement to contribute to unlocking the situation in Lebanon. The immediate post-Iran deal period is expected to be a period of hesitation and testing until the time is ripe for broad arrangements. While the overall regional balance is expected to tip in favor of the Iranians, in Lebanon, arrangements between Iranian-backed factions and Saudi-backed factions are inevitable, both at the political and business levels.

Read more
Synod declaration on the Middle East, Africa and Ukraine: full text
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

catholicherald.co.uk

Gathered around the Holy Father Francis, we the Synod Fathers, along with the fraternal Delegates and Auditors participating in the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, turn our thoughts to all the families of the Middle East.

For years now, due to bloody conflicts, they have been victims of unspeakable atrocities. Their conditions of life have been further aggravated in recent months and weeks.

The use of weapons of mass destruction, indiscriminate killings, beheadings, kidnapping of human beings, trafficking in women, the enrolment of children into militias, persecution on the basis of religious belief or ethnicity, the destruction of cultural heritage and countless other atrocities have forced thousands of families to flee their homes in search of refuge elsewhere, often in conditions of extreme precariousness. Currently they are prevented from returning and from exercising the right to live in dignity and safety on their own soil, contributing to the reconstruction and the material and spiritual well-being of their respective countries.

Read more
McDonald’s Hamburger University can be harder to get into than Harvard and is even cooler than you’d imagine
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

 

McDonald’s Hamburger University is no joke.

With a selection rate of 1% at its Shanghai campus, the intense, week-long training program is more exclusive than Harvard, reports Bloomberg.

Students at the American campus can earn up to 23 credits toward their Hamburgerology degree, according to CNN, or toward an associate’s or bachelor’s degree at 1,600 US colleges and universities, the American Council on Education reports. 

The program currently has seven campuses worldwide in Oak Brook, Illinois, Tokyo, London, Sydney, Munich, São Paulo, and Shanghai, with an eighth campus opening scheduled for Moscow later this year. 

Founded in 1961, Hamburger University now has more than 275,000 graduates and will celebrate its 55th anniversary next year. Here’s a look at how it started and how it’s evolved.

Vivian Giang contributed to a previous version of this article. 

Read more
Lebanon’s banking sector becomes a beacon of stability
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

worldfinance.com

Despite its location in a region of economic and political instability, Lebanon’s banking sector is a beacon of excellence and compliance. By offering a wide range of banking services and staying abreast of technological and regulatory changes within the international financial sphere, banking in Lebanon is among the world’s finest.

One financial institution that epitomises this reputation in particular is the Middle East & Africa Bank (MEAB) of Lebanon. Since it was established in 1991, MEAB has maintained strong growth and continues to demonstrate an impressive level of resilience in the face of domestic and external shocks. With a strong commitment to customer satisfaction and unrelenting adherence to banking standards, MEAB continues to go from strength to strength, expanding its network both in Lebanon and beyond. World Finance spoke to Ali Hejeij, Chairman of the Board at MEAB about the country’s robust banking industry and how it achieves growth in spite of regional challenges.

Read more
ISIS attacks are on the rise
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

IHS Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre issued a report on October 22nd stating that ISIS attacks rose in the 3rd quarter of 2015 compared to the previous three-month period, both in terms of the number of non-militant casualties and the frequency of attacks.

Jane’s reported 1,086 separate attacks between July 1 and September 30 of this year, or a daily average of 11.8 daily. That’s up from 8.3 last quarter, representing an increase of 42%. 

The attacks killed 2,978 non-militants, a 65% increase from the previous quarter.

Jane’s concludes that the true number of attacks was likely "far higher," as the agency relies on open-source intelligence and only reports what can be confirmed definitively by governments, or attacks claimed by the ISIS militants themselves. 

Read more
Bold, brash, brazen Beirut’s flair for design
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

While Dubai may be making a valiant play for the title, it is Beirut that has so far served as the region’s de facto design capital.

To understand Beirut’s creative prowess, one needs to look at its history, says Rana Salam, who has been tasked with curating an exhibition entitled Brilliant Beirut for Dubai Design Week, as part of the Iconic City series. The exhibition, which will be shown in Dubai Design District’s building 7 from October 26 to 31, charts the evolution of design in Beirut from the 1950s until the present day, pinpointing the pivotal moments, designers and achievements that have helped build the city’s reputation for progressive design.

Read more
Marine remembers 1983 Beirut bombings
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

Retired Marine Col. Charles A. Dallachie

For Marines, great victories, great defeats and great sacrifices are never forgotten, but are remembered with battle streamers attached to unit colors. Unfortunately, there are no battle streamers to remember the ultimate sacrifice made in 1983 by Marines, sailors and soldiers in Beirut, Lebanon.

In the very early morning of Oct. 23, a building serving as the command post for 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, was hit by a suicide bomber driving a stake-bed truck loaded with compressed gas-enhanced explosives. The explosion and collapse of the building killed 241 Marines, sailors, and soldiers. Bomb experts who examined the blast site said the explosives, equivalent to 12,000 pounds of TNT, constituted the largest non-nuclear bomb in history. For the Marines it was the biggest loss of life in a single day since the Corps fought the Japanese on Iwo Jima in World War II.

Read more
Lebanese army captures top Daesh commander
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

dailystar.com.lb

General Security forces in its battle against terrorism, announcing Thursday the arrest of a prominent ISIS leader and other suspected militants who confessed to plotting bombings and assassinations in the country.

The statement said that General Security, in a surprise operation, arrested Palestinians Z.K., J.K. and A. Kh. over suspicion that they belonged to a terrorist group and were plotting attacks inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV identified J.K., as Jihad Fadl Kaawash.

Upon interrogation, J.K. confessed to being the “legitimate leader” of ISIS in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh.

Read more
Lebanese navy stops second migrant boat in a week
adminUncategorisedComments are off for this post

Reuters Lebanon’s navy stopped a boat carrying 35 Palestinian refugees to Turkey on Friday, the second time this week it has moved in to stop people apparently trying to travel on to Europe. The boat, built for just 10 passengers, held 14 Palestinian refugees from Damascus, 21 from camps in Lebanon and a Lebanese citizen, […]

Read more

Theme: Illdy.