By Tom Perry , BEKAA VALLEY, Lebanon (Reuters) – For a poor Lebanese farmer, the cannabis plant sprouting from the fertile ground of the Bekaa Valley is a blessing from God.For his country, it symbolises the dwindling authority of a state weakened by factional conflict.Surveying a field of the spindly leafed plants, he explained how the government usually sends tractors to destroy the valuable but illegal crop. But this year, they never came, allowing him to reap his first harvest in years.
"Praise God — he wanted to compensate us," he said, declining to give his name. "It’s been 12 years — farmers have been going backwards, debts have been mounting up."With Lebanon’s government paralysed by political conflict and its army bogged down in a war with militants, farmers have made the most of a security vacuum to grow what locals describe as one of their best cannabis crops since the 1975-1990 civil war.In the chaos of war in the 1980s, Lebanon emerged as the Middle East’s main source of narcotics, producing up to 1,000 tonnes of cannabis resin annually and 30 to 50 tonnes of opium, from which heroin is made, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
A bitterly divided Lebanese parliament adjourned Tuesday without officially beginning the process of selecting a new president.Two-thirds of members must attend before an official session can be held. The next session has been scheduled for October 23.Members of parliament arrived in armored convoys, traveling under the protection of security details. The downtown area was sealed off as concrete barriers diverted the normal flow of traffic.
One MP, Ghinwa Jalloul, waved a Lebanese flag from her car and held up a picture of former prime minister and MP Rafiq Hariri whose assassination in February 2005 lies at the root of the current crisis."Long live Lebanon," she shouted to reporters before entering the building.The perimetre around the imposing structure was off-limits to normal traffic after elite troops and tanks deployed in the area. Checkpoints were also set up throughout the city creating traffic jams, and many businesses were shut.Ali Bazzi, an MP with the opposition Amal movement, reiterated that his camp would only take part in Tuesday’s session if the feuding political parties agreed on a consensus candidate.
Khazen.org offers its deepest condoleances to the families of Antoine Ghanem, Nuhad Gharib, Tony Daou, Charles Chikhani, Sonia Baroudi.
BEIRUT, Lebanon Sin el Fil — Lebanese parliamentarian Antoine Ghanem was killed in a massive bombing in Beirut on Wednesday, according to Lebanese Broadcasting Corp., quoting a member of Ghanem’s Phalange Party. At least 4 other people were killed in the explosion, according to a high-ranking government official.
Israeli warplanes have flown at low altitude over southern Lebanon in defiance of a United Nations resolution, reports from Beirut say. The fighter jets allegedly caused sonic booms as they flew over the cities of Sidon and Tyre, as well as the towns of Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun. Israel has so far made no comment on the Lebanese claims. 
19 September 2007 BEIRUT: In its latest report for the fourth quarter of 2007, London-based Business Monitor International (BMI) maintained its 2007 real GDP growth forecast for Lebanon at 2 percent. However, the agency, which conducts credit rating and country risk research, believes that this growth is propelled by postwar reconstruction activity rather than a vibrant overall economic situation.
BEIRUT Daily Star: Speaker Nabih Berri declared Thursday that no Parliament session can take place without him, and warned that while the Lebanese Army would remain united during a widely feared domestic political crisis, the Internal Security Forces (ISF) might split. Appearing on the country’s most influential political talk show, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation’s "Kalam al-Naas," Berri warned that despite what some in the March 14 camp might think, Parliament cannot convene to elect a new president without him. 
