Was there a specific incident that led you to cancel the first Beirut Cinema Week festival?    After the several bomb explosions in Beirut, the organization we work with, Fondation Liban Cinéma, has decided to postpone because we could not keep the safety of our 12 guests from abroad. We discussed with our partners […]

The U.S. Saturday renewed its travel warning for Lebanon, voicing concern over the recent spate of car bombings in the country.   “As the warning states, the Department [of State] is concerned about recent security-related incidents in the country and reiterates its long-standing advice that U.S. citizens avoid all travel to Lebanon, and carefully consider […]

  President Michel Suleiman expressed his satisfaction with the general proceedings linked to the efforts to form a new government, reported the Saudi al-Sharq newspaper on Wednesday. He told the daily: “Starting Wednesday or Thursday we must start with placing the mechanism for the formation.”   He explained that this entails proposing names of potential ministers […]

  Une enquête sur les salaires des enseignants dans les universités publiques au Moyen-Orient et en Afrique du Nord, menée par al-Fanar Media – une publication indépendante dédiée à la couverture de l’enseignement supérieur dans la région arabe –, révèle que « dans de nombreux pays du monde arabe, les professeurs dans les universités publiques […]

  The Mar Lichaa Church served as a Monastery and Patriarchal seat during the rule of Patriarch Youhanna Al Lahfadi (1151-1154). In recent history, the sons of Cheikh Rameh el Khazen renovated the church and dedicated it to honor Mar Lichaa. Moreover, they assigned priests and held regular masses in it and one of its […]

  In the early 19th century, Cheikh Farjan Abboud el Khazen, from the house of Cheikh Abou Nawfal el Khazen from Ajaltoun, inaugurated the Mar Mikhail Church in Saki-Rechmayya. After both him and his wife passed away, the church was put under the supervision of Cheikh Haidar and Cheikh Rameh Hend el Khazen, who are […]

  During the Hamade rule in the regions of Jbeil and Batroun, the  economic and social conditions deteriorated. However when Prince Youssef el Chehabi took over, he worked hard on reviving these two provinces by boosting the economy and rebuilding the impoverished towns. During the year 1771, Prince Youssef appointed Cheikh Rameh Haydar el Khazen, from the house of […]

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged on Sunday the need for political powers to end their tense rhetoric and instead place national interests above all else. He called during his Sunday sermon for “the formation of a government capable of rising up to challenges, especially staging the presidential elections on time.” The government should also help restore […]

  A Lebanon-based Sunni militant with reported links to Al-Qaeda pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria in an audio recording released late Saturday, urging the radical Syrian rebel group to "reactivate its cells" in the country.   “We pledge allegiance to [ISIS chief] Abu Bakr al-Husseini al-Qurshi al-Baghdadi to listen […]

  NAAMEH, Lebanon – Climbing the quiet, winding road up the first slopes of the Aley mountains from the town of Naameh, 20km south of Beirut, the air is distinctly less fresh than one would expect from a sparsely populated, densely forested expanse. “The smell isn’t too bad at the moment, the wind’s coming from […]