By ANNE BARNARD BEIRUT, Lebanon — Five Czechs and their Lebanese taxi driver disappeared in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley on Saturday in an episode that the authorities said they were investigating as a possible kidnapping. The Czechs’ car was found in Kefraya, a relatively secure area that is popular with foreign tourists and Lebanese alike for […]
It was mid-afternoon and already the crowd had given itself over to wild abandon. Standing on picnic tables, skinny girls in hot pants and crop-tops gyrated to thumping beats, upending bottles of vodka into the mouths of the bare-chested men dancing beside them.
Having worked out obsessively – though even in the gym they keep their make-up immaculate, their nails painted, and their hair perfectly straightened – the ladies revelled in showing off their figures, in the unlikely setting of a hen party in the Lebanese mountains.
by Ed West,
Ed West is the deputy editor of the Catholic Herald
Syria may be the most dangerous place in the world to be a priest today. But even that war-battered nation occasionally produces good news.
On Monday media reported that Fr Dhiya Azziz, an Iraqi cleric seized by jihadists earlier this month, had been released unharmed.The Franciscan order, to which Fr Azziz belonged, thanked those who had prayed for the priest’s liberation but urged well-wishers not to forget other clerics missing in Syria.
Fr Azziz’s release brings the number of captive clergy in Syria to six. But there is an ever-present danger that that number will increase. The going rate for a kidnapped cleric is said to be $200,000. After four years of the war, the Syrian flock has been scattered far and wide.
Recently called “the Silicon Valley of the Middle East” by CNN, and “the Middle East’s Tech Hub” by TechCrunch, Beirut’s tech scene is the darling of international media of late. (Though Techonomy first wrote about it over two years ago.) The tech scene here has turned a corner, going from fledgling to now officially on the map. Among the reasons: the launch of various funds that will bring over $100 million in investments to Lebanon’s startup economy over the next five years, and the ongoing efforts of Lebanon’s Central Bank to decrease the risk of investing in startups.
But now three new companies that specifically aim to foster tech startups are setting up. Two of them are accelerators, and one will invest and nurture slightly more mature companies. In a city of 2.2 million, some are wondering, is this a bubble? And if so, when will it burst?
Al Jazeera,
The deadly stabbing of a man in broad daylight in one of Beirut’s busiest streets and in front of dozens of bystanders has shaken Lebanese society and raised questions about the perceived culture of impunity in the country.
Scores of people took to the streets on Friday evening to protest against the killing of George al-Reef two days earlier by an enraged man following a feud over a car collision.
About 200 people marched in Beirut’s Gemmayzeh Street, a commercial area packed with restaurants and pubs, where Wednesday’s incident – filmed by a number of bystanders – took place.
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Abdel-Latif Derian launched a scathing attack against the Free Patriotic Movement and its allies Friday, accusing them of obstructing the work of vital government institutions.
“We are totally convinced that those disrupting [state] institutions are the oppressors, not the oppressed, and they are losers in front of God and the future,” Derian said in a veiled reference to the FPM and other March 8 parties which have stood with it during the recent Cabinet crisis.
Natasha Bertrand and Michael B Kelley
President Obama’s signature foreign policy achievement — a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran — was finalized this week after more than a decade of coercive diplomacy and 20 months of grueling negotiations.
During talks it became clear that the Obama administration’s determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran most likely informed its decision to refrain from intervening in the Syrian civil war.
And as Aaron David Miller points out in Foreign Policy, that deference to Iran in Syria is unlikely to change even "if the mullahs continue to sponsor terrorism and pour new money into propping up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad."
"… The administration’s overriding logic is that this deal is too big and important to fail. And such a deal requires a certain amount of mullah-coddling."
http://www.lebaneseexaminer.com/
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Beirut-based real estate advisory firm RAMCO revealed the average sales prices of apartments under construction in Beirut vary between USD 2,088 and USD 7,000 per square meter.
The BCD, the seafront stretch, and some neighborhoods in Ashrafieh are still the most expensive in Beirut. The central residential neighborhoods – from Bachoura to the North down towards Hamad and Rweiss in the South – are the least expensive in the capital.
The RAMCO research department produced a map of average asking prices of apartments in 346 buildings among 71 Beirut neighborhoods.
Shibley Telhami, The Brookings Institution
The immediate reaction of Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu regarding the announced Iran nuclear deal was to continue his total rejection of the agreement, calling it a historic mistake.
This, despite the near consensus that, at this point, Congress is unlikely to be able to stop its implementation.
Given that the agreement was long in the making and expected, it’s hard to believe that Netanyahu’s reaction was not well rehearsed. Yet, it’s hard to understand what this posture can gain him strategically. What are Bibi’s options?
First, he could try to quickly shift gears to other aspects of Iranian behavior beyond the nuclear issue.
The problem is that the most troubling aspects for Israel (and ones that could draw American and international attention) have to do with Iranian support for Hamas and Hezbollah, which are not currently hot issues; Hezbollah is deeply entangled in Syria and on guard in Lebanon, and Hamas is still licking its wounds from last year’s brutal war.
Reuters, Beirut
The Iranian nuclear deal could help Lebanon overcome the obstacles that have for more than a year prevented the election of a president, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said on Wednesday. The presidency has been vacant since Michel Suleiman’s term expired in May 2014. Filling it requires a deal between rival politicians who are aligned with competing regional powers, Iran and Saudi Arabia.“This agreement could help create the climate that would help remove the complications facing the election of a president of the republic,” Berri, an ally of Iran, was quoted as saying in a statement circulated by his office.
Population Movements to Keserwan - The Khazens and The Maans
ما جاء عن الثورة في المقاطعة الكسروانية
ثورة أهالي كسروان على المشايخ الخوازنة وأسبابها
Origins of the "Prince of Maronite" Title
Growing diversity: the Khazin sheiks and the clergy in the first decades of the 18th century
Historical Members:
Barbar Beik El Khazen [English]
Patriach Toubia Kaiss El Khazen(Biography & Life Part1 Part2) (Arabic)
Patriach Youssef Dargham El Khazen (Cont'd)
Cheikh Bishara Jafal El Khazen
Patriarch Youssef Raji El Khazen
The Martyrs Cheikh Philippe & Cheikh Farid El Khazen
Cheikh Nawfal El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Hossun El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Abou-Nawfal El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Francis Abee Nader & his son Yousef
Cheikh Abou-Kanso El Khazen (Consul De France)
Cheikh Abou Nader El Khazen
Cheikh Chafic El Khazen
Cheikh Keserwan El Khazen
Cheikh Serhal El Khazen [English]
Cheikh Rafiq El Khazen [English]
Cheikh Hanna El Khazen
Cheikha Arzi El Khazen
Marie El Khazen