With their country often an arena for more powerful neighbours to play out their politics, often violently, the people of Lebanon are used to being up to their necks in alligators. A crocodile, however, has succeeded in enthralling them. Workers spotted the 1.5-metre reptile in the Beirut River two weeks ago, and since then police, […]

LAST spring, at a public square in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, about 1,000 revelers attended a rock festival sponsored by 961 Beer, a very rare Middle East microbrewery. Acts included the Wanton Bishops, a band that would have been at home in Austin, Tex. In the front row were stylish women in sundresses beside men who […]

21 US embassies and consulates were shut in the Middle East and North Africa on Sunday after a warning about a possible Al Qaeda terror attack. The UK has closed its embassy in Yemen for two days and the Foreign Office is urging Britons to leave Yemen. The French and German embassies are also shut. There […]

  BEIRUT: Praise continued to be heaped on President Michel Sleiman Sunday after his Army Day speech calling for support of the military and control of Hezbollah’s weapons. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly said Sleiman should be a role model for other Lebanese leaders. The ambassador, whose mission in Lebanon is set to end […]

On Tuesday afternoon in muggy Washington, D.C., U.S. President Barack Obama’s nominee to the ambassadorship in Lebanon, David Hale, came out strong. The career diplomat delivered his prepared remarks to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which is tasked with confirming him to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon. The career diplomat’s remarks […]

President Michel Suleiman’s speech marking Lebanon’s 68th Army Day didn’t highlight any new stance and will only press foreign countries to neutralize the country from the ongoing turmoil in the region, Baabda Palace sources said on Friday. “They are the same old stances that he has reiterated on different occasions,” sources close to him said […]

  An alleged Christian Syrian armed group announced that it was joining the rebels in their struggle against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. In a video broadcast on YouTube on Wednesday, a masked gunman is shown announcing that “the Brigade of the Supporters of God, from Christian confessions, are joining the military forces under […]

If you ignore the dust and cobwebs, it is hard to believe that Halim El-Hajj (1915-1990) last worked in his studio over 20 years ago. The sculptor, who grew up in the village of Bejjé (16km above Byblos,) left many things behind in the studio: medallions, busts of well-known Lebanese and foreign (mostly French) personalities, […]

DIMAN, Lebanon: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai called Tuesday on Levant Christians to safeguard their existence through building a diverse society with Muslims. Rai made the comments while receiving a delegation of expat youths of Lebanese origin at his summer residence in Diman. The teenagers are in the country on a two-week trip arranged by the […]