The implementation of the smoke-free law has started today and all politicians are now banned from smoking inside the Lebanese parliament. The fine for the person smoking will be 135,000 LL.

Reuters) – Violence and bloodshed is turning the "Arab Spring" into winter, the head of Lebanon’s Maronite Church said, threatening Christians and Muslims alike across the Middle East. Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, whose Maronite Church also has a strong presence in Syria, said change could not be brought to the Arab world by force and that Christians feared the turmoil was helping extremist Muslim groups.

"We are with the Arab Spring but we are not with this spring of violence, war, destruction and killing. This is turning to winter," Rai told Reuters in Bkirki, seat of the Maronite church in hills overlooking the Mediterranean Sea north of Beirut.

"We say that we cannot implement reforms by force and arms. No one can guess the scale of the great losses and damage which could result," said Rai, speaking this week in an ornately decorated reception room in the patriarchate in Bkirki.

  President Michel Suleiman held talks on Tuesday with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on the sidelines of his visit to the emirate to attend the Arab Connect Summit 2012. The talks focused on bilateral relations and ways to improve them, as well as the latest regional and Arab developments. [Naharnet]

    A tripartite meeting was held on Sunday at the Baabda Palace between President Michel Suleiman, Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.   The meeting “tackled the issues of administrative appointments and (the 2013 parliamentary) elections,” sources told Al-Manar, revealing that the talks took place following efforts exerted […]

President Sleiman visited the head of Romania’s Orthodox Church Patriarch Daniel in  Bucharest with whom he discussed the Lebanese-Romanian relations, issues of  relevance to the Orthodox community and the issue of minorities in the region. President Sleiman: “ The visit was fruitful and important as a whole, and it  establishes new and active relations with […]

  استقبل البطريرك الماروني مار بشارة بطرس الراعي، قبل ظهر اليوم في الصرح البطريركي في بكركي، وفدا من مجلس نقابة الصحافة برئاسة النقيب محمد البعلبكي الذي ألقى كلمة قال فيها: "ان البطريرك مار بشارة بطرس الراعي هو ضمانة للبنان، وكان لي حظ كبير بأن تكون لدي علاقة وطيدة مع غبطته قبل توليه السدة البطريركية، وخصوصا […]

  Lebanon made history yesterday by qualifying to the final round of the World Cup 2014 despite its loss to the UAE. Thousands of Lebanese fans flew to Dubai to watch their national team make it through for the first time in their history. Lebanon now has a real chance of qualifying for the first […]

   President Michel Sleiman arrived on Wednesday to the Czech Republic’s capital, Prague, the National News Agency reported.   The report added that Sleiman headed a meeting attended by his accompanying delegation in which he discussed the schedule of the visit.   He reiterated the importance of the Taif Accord and said that “some gaps […]

  For the first ever festival of Irish film in Lebanon, Lebanese NGO Nahwa Al Muwatiniya, in association with Metropolis, will screen a series of nine feature length films and twelve short films at the Metropolis Empire Sofil Theatre from February 29 to March 4. Read more about it [Here].