VATICAN CITY — The joint canonization of Popes John Paul II and John XXIII on Sunday is a convergence of coincidences, personalities and legacies.   Not only is the elevation of two popes to sainthood at the same time unprecedented, but the men sitting in the audience will also represent a first for the […]

  The summons by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon of al-Jadeed TV and al-Akhbar newspaper’s journalists on charges of “contempt and obstruction of justice” are “void” and could be refuted.   Lawyer Antoine Korkmaz, who is suspect Mustafa Badreddine’s lead defense counsel, told As Safir newspaper on Saturday that the case “is legally invalid.” According to […]

  I recently returned from the Middle East, where I captured stories for a film project about Christians living their faith in the face of crippling persecution. In Beirut, Lebanon, I spoke with two Lebanese Christians, Georges Maalouly — a 48-year old, Orthodox father of three — and his friend Father Joseph — a priest […]

  For the first time in its history, Israel’s army is getting ready to send voluntary military enlistment notices to Christian Arab citizens when they turn eighteen. The unlikely impetus behind the move is none other than the Arab Spring, the popular rebellion revolutionizing the Arab world and in the process recalibrating the relationship between Christian […]

  Lebanese banks intend to expand their services in Iraq and open more branches across the country, the president of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, Francois Bassil, said Friday. Speaking to the participants at a Lebanese-Iraqi banking conference that began Friday at the Movenpick in Beirut, Bassil said the Lebanese banks operating in Iraq were […]

  Mediation led by the United States to resolve a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) has reached a deadlock after a top U.S. official described it as “excellent” earlier this month.   U.S. Department of State Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Diplomacy Amos Hochstein, who is mediating the talks […]

  (Reuters) – Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan offered what the government said were unprecedented condolences on Wednesday to the grandchildren of Armenians killed in World War One by Ottoman soldiers. In a statement issued on the eve of the 99th anniversary of the deeply contested deaths, Erdogan unexpectedly described the events of 1915 as "inhumane", […]

    BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese parliamentarians failed to elect a new president in a first round of voting on Wednesday, with leading candidate Samir Geagea falling well short of the required two-thirds majority. Geagea’s shortfall had been widely expected and is likely to open up the race to other candidates in a process which […]

  بالأمس إحتفل مسيحيو لبنان بأحد القيامة في بلداتهم وقراهم. حتى في عاصمة الشمال طرابلس، الخارجة من جولة قتال دامية، أقيمت الزياحات والإحتفالات بالعيد، من دون أن يخرج الى العلن صوت تحريضي واحد ضد المسيحيين.   غير أن هذه البهجة بالعيد لم يشعر فيها مسيحيو بريح الذين لم يعودوا حتى اليوم الى بلدتهم التي هجروا […]

by: Andreane Williams

Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, was once the centre-point of the country’s civil war. But it has since shed its deadly past to become one of the Middle East’s most hip and fashionable party destinations.

Lebanon’s capital, Beirut, was once the centre-point of the country’s civil war. But it has since shed its deadly past to become one of the Middle East’s most hip and fashionable party destinations. And that’s often quite a surprise for foreign visitors. It’s 10.30pm on Saturday in Beirut and the streets are packed with bar-hoppers. For two decades, Lebanon was a dangerous war zone in the middle of a bitter civil war. But despite its dark past, Beirut has gained a reputation for being one of the best party cities in the Middle East. Every year, nightclubs in Beirut attract tens of thousands of partygoers from around the world

O1ne is one of Beirut’s biggest nightclubs. Its owner – businessman Cheikh Chafic El Khazen – owns several other famous nightclubs in the capital.

He has invested millions of dollars in this enormous new venue, which can host up to 1,500 people. He said: "Initially, the investment was way less and through the process of the development, I was dragged into something that I was dreaming of for quite a while, and I ended up investing millions of dollars. "If it’s a bit more to the extreme in Lebanon, it’s definitely because we definitely don’t know what’s gonna to happen the next day."