David Ignatius, The Washington Post

An internal political storm is roiling Saudi Arabia, as the crown prince and his deputy jockey for power under an aging King Salman — while some other members of the royal family agitate on behalf of a third senior prince who they claim would have wider family support. For the secretive oil kingdom, whose internal debates are usually opaque to outsiders, the recent strife has been unusually open.

The tension between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and his deputy, Mohammed bin Salman (the king’s son), is gossiped about across the Arab world.

Brett LoGiurato

She looked experienced. Like the Hillary Clinton of debates past. Like Beyoncé, even.

Clinton, the Democratic front-runner for president, was the near-universal pick of media and pundits declaring her the winner. 

"Hillary Clinton was Beyonce. She was flawless," CNN Democratic political commentator Van Jones said on the network afterward.

By many accounts, Tuesday night’s performance was the best day of her campaign — at least in a long time. Many Clinton skeptics came out reassured, saying she looked like the Democrat who they’d want debating the Republican nominee next fall.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman received at Al-Yamamah palace here today, the Leader of Lebanon’s Progressive Socialist Party and Member of House of Representative Walid Jumblatt. During the meeting, the latest developments on the Lebanese arena were discussed. The audience was attended by Minister of State and Cabinet’s Member Dr. Musaed […]

Valerie Abou Chacra (L) reacts after being announced as Miss Lebanon 2015 in Beirut October 12, 2015. Jocelyne Mosleh (C) and Cynthia Samuel (R) were both crowned as first runners-up. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Former Miss Lebanon Sally Greige (R) fixes the necklace of newly crowned Miss Lebanon Valerie Abou Chacra after being crowned Miss Lebanon 2015 in Beirut October 12, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Valerie Abou Chacra (L) Jocelyne Mosleh (C) and Cynthia Samuel (R) were both crowned as first runners-up. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

To view pictures and article of Miss Lebanon 2016 – 2017 Sandy Tabet – Please click here

Valerie Abou Chacra was crowned Miss Lebanon 2015 at the end of the beauty pageant held on October 12, 2015. She succeeds Miss Lebanon 2014 Saly Greige. Valerie will have a few months to prepare for Miss Universe 2015, where she hopes to be crowned by the reigning Miss Universe Paulina Vega from Colombia.

The Miss Universe pageant will take place on 20 December 2015 in Las Vegas. Usually the winner of Miss Lebanon goes to Miss World and Miss Universe but this year both pageants will be held at the same time (December 19th in China for Miss World 2015 and and December 20th in Vegas for Miss Universe 2015).

Valerie About Chacra, 23, is a student at the Lebanese American University (LAU). She competed against 13 women for the crown.

Lima (AFP) – The Middle East needs grants, not loans, to deal with the millions of refugees who have fled conflicts in the region, a senior Lebanese official said Sunday.

Speaking a day after the UN and World Bank announced plans to increase lending to help the region deal with the catastrophic spillover of conflicts in Syria and beyond, the director general of the Lebanese finance ministry, Alain Bifani, said the aid should instead be interest-free.

"The support has to be through grants. It cannot be loans," Bifani told AFP on the sidelines of the World Bank and IMF annual meetings in Lima, Peru.

"As long as we can, we will turn down loans" for dealing with the refugee crisis, he said.

Although much recent attention has focused on Europe’s struggles to deal with the influx of uprooted Syrians, the war-torn country’s neighbors have taken in the bulk of the more than four million people who have fled the nearly five-year conflict, straining their economies.

By Melanie Gallant – huffingtonpost.ca

I have a lot to be thankful for. Good health, a loving family, a home and a gratifying job. But like many, I often take these blessings for granted. This year, however, is different.

Today I am thankful for having shared a cup of coffee with Syrian women refugees in Suwere, a small town in Lebanon’s Bekaa valley.

The small refugee settlement where I met these courageous women is nestled between the fertile mountains of Eastern Lebanon, not far from one of the countries world famous wineries. It only has 13 households, and most of the refugee families are from the Syrian City of Homs who were forced to flee to safety when the Syrian military conducted a crackdown against anti-government protesters.

Lebanese Examiner

(BEIRUT) — Former Lebanese MP Elias Joseph Skaff died in a Beirut hospital on Saturday after a long battle with an illness. He was 66.

The former Zahle minister was first elected in 1992 as head of the Popular Bloc following the death of his father Joseph Skaff. He was later re-elected in 1996, 2000 and 2005.

Skaff was appointed minister of industry in 2003 in the government of Rafik Hariri, and served as the minister of agriculture in 2004 and 2005 in the Omar Karami government.

He also participated in the sessions of National Dialogue as head of the parliamentary Popular Bloc in 2006. In July 2008, Skaff was appointed agriculture minister to the cabinet of then prime minister Fouad Siniora.