BEIRUT: Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and the National Iranian Drilling Corporation are among the 52 international energy companies submitting applications to participate in Lebanon’s first offshore gas licensing round, the energy minister said Thursday after the prequalification deadline.   Despite the political deadlock, caretaker Minister Gebran Bassil said the Petroleum Administration would announce the names […]

  Following the resignation of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s Cabinet, parliamentary and political sources told The Daily Star how the change is likely to affect Lebanon’s political forces. Michel Aoun and the Change and Reform Bloc Aoun and his allies may have lost the most with Mikati’s resignation. They will not be able to […]

  President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday called on the Arab states to “share the burden” of hosting the Syrian refugees and urged them to seek the release of nine Lebanese pilgrims abducted by an armed group in the Syrian town of Aazaz.  “The number of Syrian refugees has surged and it is now equivalent to […]

  Rome, Italy, Mar 26, 2013 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A Syrian Christian who fled the fighting in his country believes that the Good Friday Stations of the Cross at the Coliseum will help raise promote Christian unity and awareness of the growing turmoil in the Middle East. “This will raise more awareness because […]

    Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called on officials on Sunday to resume the national dialogue and form a government capable of holding the parliamentary elections on time and maintaining the country’s security. “Officials should realized the critical conditions the country is passing through after the cabinet resigned ,” al-Rahi said during a Palm Sunday mass […]

    BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman requested Saturday Prime Minister Najib Mikati stay on as caretaker prime minister after accepting the government’s resignation, as the European Union voiced concern over the deteriorating situation in the country, particularly after Mikati stepped down. Meanwhile, sources close to Baabda Palace said Sleiman would set a date next week […]

    Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Saturday described Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s resignation as “a correct and brave decision,” stressing the need to resume national dialogue sessions. “We are going through a very difficult period. Either we enter a tunnel that is darker and more difficult than the previous, or we benefit from Miqati’s […]