BEIRUT: The Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) plans to file a lawsuit against the government for failing to protect local industry against unfair foreign competition, the head of the group said on Monday. "We have had enough. The government must understand that local industry can no longer stay in business if the free trade agreements are not respected by Arab countries," Fadi Abboud told The Daily Star.Lebanese industrialists argue that most Arab states that have signed free trade agreements with Lebanon subsidize the cost of energy, which is essential for the manufacturing sector.

In addition, the industrialists say that the government is not overly keen to press Arab states to remove the subsidies on manufactured goods that are exported to Lebanon. Abboud said that the association is very serious about the lawsuit, after having exhausted all means to solve the issues of unfair competition."Our lawyers will send these charges to the Shura Council, which in turn will issue a final verdict on this matter," Abboud told The Daily Star.

Economy and Trade Minister Sami Haddad could not be reached for comment. Several Lebanese factories which rely heavily on fuel oil and gas have been forced to close their business and relocate to other countries, while others laid off most of their staff and reduced production. The Lebanese industrial sector, which employs a large number of people, incurred heavy losses after Lebanon inked free trade agreements with Syria, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries which provide full support to their local industries.

CAIRO (AFP)–U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the deployment of a U.S. warship off the coast of Lebanon, saying it was designed to show Washington’s readiness to defend its allies’ interests."As to the American military presence, the U.S. exercise a military presence in the region and it has for a very long time," Rice told reporters in Cairo at a news conference with her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit. "It is simply to make very clear that the U.S. is capable and willing of defending its interests and the interests of its allies. That is really all that is happening there," she said.

Rice was responding to a question on the deployment of the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to waters off Lebanon, amid concern over regional stability and Lebanon’s protracted political crisis. She said the United States defended the right of the Lebanese to elect their own president. "They have lived too long under the shadow of foreign intimidation and foreign presence," she said. Lebanon has been without a president since last November.

The MP majority accuses Syria of blocking efforts to elect a new president in Lebanon. The opposition last week slammed the presence of USS Cole as military interference, while the government said it didn’t ask for the warship to be sent.

"المبادرة باتت كأنها لإدارة الازمة فيما المطلوب ايجاد حل" الخازن: لا امكان لإيجاد حل سريع لكن لا نية للتصعيــد رأى عضو كتلة التغيير والاصلاح النائب فريد الخازن ان لا امكان لإيجاد حل سريع للازمة الا ان لا نية عند اي طرف لإحداث اي تصعيد. واسف لكون المبادرة العربية باتت راهنا وكأنها تساعد على ادارة الازمة فيما […]

 

    النائب نعمة الله أبي نصر 

 الـى أيـن يأخذنـا السياسيـون ؟ سؤالٌ يتردد على لسان كل مواطن يشعر أن أوضاع البلاد تتردَّى يوماً بعد يوم سياسياً واقتصادِياً ومَعيشياً ، كما يشعر أن الأمنَ مهدَّدٌ بالخطب الناريَّة والشَّحنِ الطائفيّ والمذهبيّ ، وأنه مهددٌ بالإرهابِ الذي يَضربُ بين الحينِ والآخر فيَنجوَ منه الناس بالصدفة على بركة الله .

         إن أسوأ ما وصلنا إليه اليوم ، هو تسليم اللبنانيين وعلى رأسهم السياسيين بمقولة أنّ حل الأزمة اللبنانية لم يعد بيد اللبنانيين ، بل بيد الدول الأخرى ويدلّ على ذلك ما قاله الأمين العام للجامعة العربية عمرو موسى من أن زعماء لبنان قدَّموا آخرَ ما يمكن أن يُقدموه ، وأنَّ مفاتيح حل الأزمة اللبنانية أصبحت خارج لبنان وأنه لا تزال هناك ابواب لا بدّ من فتحها وأهمها العربية والإقليمية .

         إنّها شهادة مؤلمة من أمين عام الجامعة العربية ؛ فهي من جهة تحمّل الخلافات العربية والتدخل الإقليمي مسؤولية ما يجري في لبنان ، ولكنها من جهة ثانية تفضح عجز اللبنانيين عن إدارة شؤونهم وقلّة إيمانهم بقدرتهم على بناء دولةٍ مُستقلةٍ ذات قرار حر . إنَّها الفضيحة الكبرى منذ انسحاب السوريين الذين يقولون اليوم للعالم؛ أنظروا الى اللبنانيين العاجزين عن انتخاب رئيسٍ لهم لأنهم لم يبلغوا بَعد سِنَّ الرشد والنُضج السياسي !!!

         نحن نعلم أن سوريا تتدخل وكذلك إيران والسعودية وأمريكا وأوروبا وغيرها من الدول .

         وكلُّ دولة تبحث عن مصالحها ولا تتردّد في إستخدام لبنان ساحةً لتحقيق المكاسب أو تصفية الحسابات ، ولكن أين مسوؤليتنا نحن كلبنانيين ؟ وما هي حساباتنا ومصالحنا ؟ ولأن الإستحقاق المطروح هو رئاسة الجمهورية المخصصة حصراً للموارنة من حقِّنا أن نَسأل أين نحن كمسيحيين وكموارنة بصورَة خاصة ولماذا نتفرّج على وطنٍ ينزلق أمام أعيُننا الى الخراب بعدما دفع آباؤنا وأجدادُنا على مدى أجيالٍ وأجيال ، دماً وتعباً وفكراً لتكوينه وبنائه ؟

         هل كان أسلافنا سيصدقون أن يوماً سيأتي نَنحدر فيه كطائِفةٍ وسياسيين ومجتمعاً الى هذا الدرك ؟!!

         لقد صار ماضينا المشرِّف ، يخجل من حاضرنا ، ومستقبلنا المجهول ، يخاف ممّن يتولون المسؤولية .

by Sylvie Briand, Mariam Saidi spends her days creating clay busts of her beloved son who vanished without a trace 26 years ago, aged only 16, in the midst of the savage civil war which tore through Lebanon. Sitting in her little apartment on the outskirts of Beirut, the mother of five clutches a faded photograph of Maher Kassir and recalls how he disappeared after becoming embroiled in the sectarian violence which blighted the country.

Maher is only one of an estimated 17,000 people who vanished during the brutal 1975-1990 conflict which claimed the lives of more than 150,000 at the hands of Lebanese militias or the Syrian and Israeli armies.For this 59-year-old Shiite, the civil war has still not truly ended and all she can do now is sit in her home in the popular Sfeir district and pray that one day she will discover what happened to her boy. Maher had joined the fight against Israeli forces who entered Lebanon and on June 17, 1982, he was barricaded in a science university building alongside other communist party fighters. The building, also in the Sfeir district, was attacked by Israeli troops, backed by Lebanese Christian militants and her son was captured, Saidi said.

The head of the Arab League has failed to break a deadlock between Lebanese political factions on the distribution of cabinet posts, which is holding back the election of a new president. Amr Moussa met Saad Hariri of the majority March 14 camp, his ally Amin Gemayel and Michel Aoun, from the opposition, for a second day in Beirut. "It is a given that the opposition will have 10 ministers in the new government, but the question is how to split the remaining 20 portfolios," Moussa said on Monday before leaving the Lebanese capital. The opposition wants enough seats in the new government to give it veto power over cabinet decisions, a plan rejected by the March 14 bloc. He said that both sides shared broad agreement on the need for changes to the country’s electoral law. Lebanese deputies were due to hold a session on Tuesday to elect a new president. But the parliamentary speaker announced on Monday that the vote had been postponed – for the 15th time – to March 11.

The lengthy meeting did not result in a breakthrough, but certain conditions were set between the rival parties for consideration ahead of Monday’s meeting. According to Ghattas Khoury, a close aide of Hariri, "there are still no positive signs." Khoury did not, however, rule out that the ongoing talks "are constructive in a way to remove some obstacles."  The so-called quartet talks are taking place at the Lebanese parliament in downtown Beirut, amid tight security. Mussa also held talks with Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, Hariri and Prime Minister Fouad Seniora on Sunday.  Mussa’s latest attempt at mediation in Lebanon focusses on efforts the implementation of a three-point Arab plan to solve the deepening political crisis.

Daily star, BEIRUT: Property consultants Cushman & Wakefield ranked Beirut as the 37th most expensive office location worldwide and the third most expensive among four cities in the Middle East and Africa region included in the rankings. The survey, which was carried by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group, covered 58 cities around the world. Beirut was the 35th most expensive city globally and the second most expensive in the region in the 2007 survey. The study evaluates 203 key office locations in 58 countries. The location with the most expensive occupancy cost in each country is then included in its annual rankings .

On a global basis, Beirut ranked immediately behind Budapest, Bucharest, Istanbul and Lisbon and was considered more expensive than Prague, Bratislava in Slovania and Calgary in Canada. The cost of office space in Beirut was 342 euros ($500) per square meter per year in 2007, close to the global average of 345 euros but markedly higher than the regional average of 245 euros. The rates reflect rent in addition to municipal tax, service charges and value-added tax. According to Cushman & Wakefield, Beirut’s drop in the rankings from last year was due to a lack of growth in the office sector. It said there was little change in the market during 2007 and a certain amount of stagnation due to the ongoing political problems.

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