Khazen – Page 912

adminJune 18, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

Despite deep economic and political crises, Lebanon is facing an unprecedented property boom, spurred by the appetite of developers, expatriates and Gulf Arabs.The boom started last year despite dramatic events that shook the country, and which turned on the assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri, with property prices soaring an average of 50 per cent.

Beirut has witnessed a major face-lift with the new construction boom, mostly in the once war-ravaged downtown area being rebuilt by the private company Solidere, which runs properties valued at about $5 billion.Brand new residential high-rises financed by Lebanese and Gulf investors now tower over the marina near the seafront road where Hariri was killed in a massive car bombing in February 2005.

"Very often, when the first picks strike the ground at the construction sites, between 75 and 80pc of these projects are already sold to rich Lebanese or Arab nationals," Raja Makarem, manager of Ramco realty, said.Victor Najarian, director general of CARE realty, said "we are managing about 15 projects worth a total value of $1 billion and we hope to double that amount within a year."

Lebanon tackles electoral reform

adminJune 15, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

by Henri Bou-Saab in Beirut for scoop.co.nz, It is coming up to mid-summer in Lebanon. The coastal cities of Tripoli, Beirut and Sidon are very hot during the daytime and everyone looks forward to the evenings to enjoy social gatherings and their families without the pressure of the heat. For those interested in the development of our democracy and building a stronger society, there is plenty to talk about around the dinner table in the evening breeze.

One is what to do next about our antiquated electoral law. No one can say that citizens have been short-changed in their choice of candidates and political parties in the 79 years since our first parliamentary elections, back in 1927.One is what to do next about our antiquated electoral law. No one can say that citizens have been short-changed in their choice of candidates and political parties in the 79 years since our first parliamentary elections, back in 1927.

We have the oldest secret ballot parliamentary system in the Middle East and one of the common jokes here is that there are 130 parties in the 128-member parliament. Unlike the State of Israel, which forbids most of its people who are Moslem or Christian from voting or even living in their own country and instead leaves them stranded in refugee camps in neighbouring countries, the Republic of Lebanon

Cardinal is hope for future of Lebanese Christians

adminJune 10, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

Catholic News Service, By Doreen Abi Raad, BEIRUT, Lebanon

Lebanon ‘Mass Grave’ Said to Be a Cemetery

adminJune 7, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

The Associated Press , BEIRUT, Lebanon

تمثال ليوحنا بول

adminJune 5, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

مطر: فلنكف عن التصرّفات العبثية والفوقية

كتبت ماري كلير فغالي:

وقف البابا يوحنا بولس الثاني امس ببسمته الطيبة امام حشد من المصلين والرسميين الذين جاؤوا ليشاهدوا ازاحة الستار عن تمثاله البرونزي الجديد في حديقة كنيسة مار الياس- القنطاري. كان صدى كلمات ألقاها قبل 10 سنين تقريباً في المكان نفسه يتردد: "افهم قلة صبركم على الوضع اليومي الذي يبدو لكم انه لا يتغير(…). ان ما تتوقون اليه من تبدلات على ارضكم تلزمه اولا وقبل كل شيء تبدلات في القلوب. يعود اليكم ان تهدموا الحواجز التي امكنها ان ترتفع في اثناء حقبات تاريخ وطنكم الاليمة. ويعود اليكم بناء جسور بين الاشخاص والأُسر والجماعات. ان للشدة وقتا وللنور وقتا، وكل شيء يمكن ان يتغير (…)".

وحدها الوجوه تغيرت، تقريباً. ووحدها قلة الصبر استمرت رغم تبدلات ربما لم تأت بكثير من التغيير. فعاد بابا السلام الى لبنان تمثالاً بنظرات حنونة ومطمئنة، تأملها حشد المصلين الغفير تحت شمس القنطاري الحارقة. هؤلاء أحبوا البابا، فكان ان اتاهم مرة جديدة في أحد العنصرة، علّ ألسنة النار تفيض فتتبدل القلوب ويعاد ترميم الجسور التي انقطعت.

Picutres from satirical political program “Bassmat Watan”

adminJune 3, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

Lebanese Hizbollah supporters burn tyres during a protest in Beirut June 1, 2006, over a local comedy television programme (‘Basmat Watan’) broadcast on Thursday in which a comedian mocked the character of Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah . REUTERS/Ali Lamaa (LEBANON) Pls click READ MORE to view all pictures of this unfortunate event

Reuters – Jun 01 3:40 PM,

Three hurt in Lebanon protests over TV Hizbullah

adminJune 3, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

Nayla Razzouk, AFP, June 2, 2006 BEIRUT — Three people were wounded during street protests overnight on Friday by followers of the Shia militant group Hizbullah after its chief Hassan Nasrallah was caricatured in a television satirical show. Dozens of young men briefly cut off the Beirut airport road by burning tires to block a highway located near Beirut’s southern suburbs – a stronghold of the Lebanese militant group, police said.

"God, Nasrallah and all of the southern suburbs," chanted the men, waving yellow Hizbullah flags. After the program ended late on Thursday, Hizbullah followers also staged nighttime protests in various parts of the capital, in several towns in southern Lebanon, and in the Bekaa Valley near the border with Syria. The protests only ended after Nasrallah personally made a plea for calm on television during the night in order "to protect the country’s security and stability".

He also called for the need to find ways to protect "political and moral values". "Three of us spent the night in hospital for treatment after we were beaten" by protestors in Beirut’s Christian neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh, said Sami Gemayel, son of former president and the supreme chief of the Christian party Kataeb, Amin Gemayel. Gemayel said that he suffered bruising to his back, and university students Gilbert Rizk and Bassam Samarani underwent surgery on their faces and noses. "We were awaiting the army to stop the protestors from entering Ashrafiyeh, and we did not want them to enter Monot street," which is lined with restaurants and nightclubs, he said.

Samir Kassir

adminJune 3, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

Reporters Without Borders today paid tribute to murdered Franco-Lebanese journalist Samir Kassir when 50 of its activists unfurled a giant Lebanese flag (150 sq. metres) bearing his portrait at Human Rights Plaza in Paris.

The worldwide press freedom organisation

Northeastern appoints Aoun as president

adminJune 1, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

June 1, 2006, BOSTON —Northeastern University on Thursday appointed Joseph Aoun, a dean at the University of Southern California, as its seventh president.Aoun, dean of USC’s College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, takes over Aug. 15 for Richard Freeland, who announced last summer that he would step down at the end of this academic year after 10 years as president.

Aoun, a native of Lebanon, earned his doctorate from the department of linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. He said he’s looking forward to working with faculty, administration, students and alumni."As president, my first priority will be working with all of these constituencies to build on the momentum the university has created to propel it to even greater levels of excellence," Aoun said in a statement.

Israel bombs militant targets in Lebanon

adminMay 28, 2006UncategorisedComments are off for this post

by Salim Yassine

BEIRUT (AFP) – Israeli fighter jets bombed Palestinian and Lebanese militant targets in Lebanon after guerrillas fired rockets into Israel in the fiercest cross-border violence seen this year. A fighter with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and a member of a Syrian-backed radical Palestinian group were killed in the Israeli raids, while attacks from Lebanon left two Israeli soldiers wounded.

Each side blamed the other for the tit-for-tat attacks on the border, which remains highly volatile six years after Israel ended its 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in May 2000. UN peacekeepers later said they had brokered a ceasefire, and calm appeared to have returned to the volatile area by early evening.

"Following intensive contacts with all parties throughout Sunday, UNIFIL has succeeded in obtaining a ceasefire which should take effect on the ground," Milos Strugel, spokesman for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, told AFP.

Residents of the northern Israeli towns of Kiryat Shmona and Nahariya were ordered into shelters for several hours amid the fierce shelling but were later given the all-clear.