BEIRUT: A draft National Action Plan for Human Rights was launched in Parliament Monday, on the occasion of the U.N. Human Rights Day, and covers a comprehensive raft of legislation, from judicial reform to the rights of women and children. The action plan – a 195 page document – was drafted by the Parliament’s Human […]

  A Lebanese man living in Bulgaria was taken by members of the Shiite group Hezbollah while on a visit to his home country, according to his wife.  Talal Mohammad Khalil arrived in Beirut on November 15, 2012 and has not been in touch with his family for the past 10 days, according to his […]

  In the Old City district of Damascus, the Greek Orthodox Church of Syria held a funeral on Monday for Ignatius IV Hazim, patriarch of Antioch and All the East. The ceremony was attended by a large number of religious leaders of several faiths, including Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham, as well as government officials. Hazim was […]

  Syrian authorities are not likely to hand over several bodies of Lebanese men slain in Tall Kalakh to Lebanon’s General Security on Saturday after Prime Minister Najib Miqati urged Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to receive them in a single round. Informed sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Syria froze its decision to hand over the bodies […]

  BEIRUT: On the second day of his visit to Athens, President Michel Sleiman made a plea for the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state, calling it the only way to cement democracy in the Arab world. “Democracy in the Arab world can take root and become stable when Palestinians are given the right to self-determination […]

  The cost of taxing the rich has become the central debate in the "fiscal cliff" talks. But the costs of not getting a deal might be even worse for the country – including the wealthy, according to a new study. The population of millionaires in the United States would fall by 315,000, or 6 […]

  BEIRUT: Prospects of substantial gas and oil reserves offshore, onshore and near the coast in Lebanon are quite high, said experts speaking at the Lebanon International Oil and Gas Summit 2012 as ongoing seismic surveys reveal even more promising geological structures. Neil Hodgson, new ventures manager at Spectrum, a British company which in October completed […]