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"Lebanon was once home to a thriving Jewish community, but its estimated that there are now fewer than a hundred Jews left in the country. So it came as a surprise when the tiny Jewish community announced the rebuilding of one of Beirut's historic synagogues.read complete article : BBC News - New synagogue opens religious debate in LebanonNatalia Antelava reports . " – see Video
Joshua Hersh writes from Beirut: "Emotions have run hot in the aftermath of the Ethiopian Airlines crash, and this has resulted in some visceral exchanges between Ethiopians and Lebanese. If it wasn’t already evident, this episode has made clear that there is a great deal of anger on both sides, but especially on behalf of Ethiopians, who feel deeply mistreated and abused by the Lebanese.read complete article : Racism in Lebanon? Commenters Respond to Ethiopian Airline 409 Tragedy | Lebanon and Syria
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from "http://fr.akelhawa.com"
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"CNN reports a day in the #1 city in the world of partying and nightlife-Beirut-from luxury hotels and resorts to beach partying in the day or at night..or if u are a bit bored with that, then go to a concert that keeps on shakin' you till dawn! "
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"Since the assassination of prime minister Rafiq Hariri Lebanon faced many obstacles from economic to political and we've been through two wars. Summer 2008 the world's economy collapses and the once most powerful cities and countries are now having major economic problems. The price of Real estates went down, in Lebanon it became more expensive here are the reasons given to us by Violette Balaa an Economist "
"What does the Lebanese identity mean to you?
Are you proud to be Lebanese?
Do the Lebanese people know their national anthem? "
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"BEIRUT: The Fraser Institute’s annual Index of Economic Freedom in the Arab World ranked Lebanon in second place in 2009 among 15 Arab countries included in the survey, up from fifth place in 2008 and fourth place in 2007, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. The index measures the degree of economic freedom in each country on the basis of 18 variables divided into five broad factors of economic freedom."read complete article : The Daily Star - Business Articles - Lebanon ranks second in Arab world in economic freedom
Labels: finance, lebanon, middle east
"BEIRUT: Figures released by the central bank of Lebanon show that the number of credit and debit cards issued in Lebanon reached 1.61 million cards at the end of September 2009, constituting a 1.3 percent decrease from end-June 2009, a 2.7 percent rise in the first 9 months of the year and a 4.2 percent rise on a yearly basis, as reported by Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. Resident cardholders accounted for 97.2 percent of total cards issued in Lebanon."read complete article : The Daily Star - Business Articles - Number of credit, debit cards reach 1.6 million in Lebanon
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AnnaharTV: "Nowadays, all you can hear around you is that youngsters want to leave Lebanon, they want to quit their Lebanese lifestyle and divorce the problems that they're facing here... All we're asking for is, think twice before you let Lebanon down...! "
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"BEIRUT: Figures released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicate that Lebanon exported $6.95 billion in Information Technology (IT) and Information Communication Technology (ICT)-enabled services in 2007, making it one of the largest exporters of such services among developing economies."read complete article : The Daily Star - Business Articles - Lebanon second-biggest player in Arab world in IT, ICT services
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AnnaharTV: The way a young Lebanese tends to think, what he cares about and how he lives
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AnnaharTV: The new souk of Beirut is opening its doors, as the pictures from the past come in to share their memories...
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read complete article : The Daily Star - Business Articles - Lebanon aims for Guinness records as part of bid to lay claim to hummus, taboulehExtract from a Daily Star article:
"In the summer of 2008, [Fadi Abboud, the president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists] drew attention to the issue of food copyright, noting that millions of dollars were being lost each year in the lucrative hummus market.
"I first noticed this piracy during the many international food exhibitions that we attended: Lebanese producers would find out that most of our specialties, such as hummus, falafel and baba ghannouj, were marketed as Israeli,"Abboud said. '"Our cuisine is being dishonestly used and Israel is appropriating our dishes."'
Abboud noted that the popularity of the chickpea dip has spread. "Today, the fame of hummus has reached around the globe. Upscale restaurants in New York and London are serving gourmet versions of hummus and falafel as traditional Jewish dishes," he said.
"We are talking about colossal losses as the hummus market is a robust one worth over $1 billion with the 500,000 tubs eaten a day in the United Kingdom alone," he added. "If we win this fight, there is huge potential for Lebanon.
"We have been researching and documenting data to prove that 25 traditional dishes hail from Lebanon and deserve the EU’s Protected Designated Origin status, meaning they can be marketed under their name only if they were made in the country," he said. "It is time that Lebanon registered its main food trademarks to avoid substantial losses like these. We are preparing to file an international lawsuit against Israel for claiming ownership of traditional dishes that are believed to be originally Lebanese. "
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"The Lebanese authorities on Saturday charged businessman Salah Ezzedine, dubbed the “Lebanese Madoff” in the local media, with embezzlement. Mr Ezzedine’s case involves hundreds of millions of dollars and has been called a Ponzi scheme by several officials."read complete article : FT.com / Middle East - Lebanon charges Ezzedine with embezzlement
A sealed door to one of Salah Ezzedine's insitutions in Beirut
"GAZA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - A number of Palestinians and Lebanese Shi'ites have been forced to leave the United Arab Emirates in recent months, Palestinian and Lebanese officials said on Friday
...
Hussam Ahmed, head of the Refugee Affairs Department in the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, said hundreds of Palestinians had been dismissed from their jobs in the UAE for security reasons.
...
In Beirut, a senior Lebanese political source said 45 Lebanese Shi'ites living in the UAE had either not been granted re-entry or had been asked to leave. No reason was given for the decisions.
"Some of them had been living in the country for 20 years. They were doctors and business owners," the source told Reuters."...
"An Interior Ministry spokesman in Abu Dhabi said he was not aware of the matter."
read complete article : Palestinians, Lebanese Shi'ites forced to leave UAE | Reuters
Labels: arab, lebanon, middle east
Many Lebanese people are eager to show off. Latest event is that one person bought a phone line with unique digits (70-555555) for a 110,000 dollars. Recently, thirty individuals (I can't call them as 'investors') rushed to bid on twenty five special mobile numbers. A 110,000 dollars is a lot of money in Lebanon, since Lebanon’s GDP per capital is $8,000 annually (basically average income generated around $800 a month) and the cost of a regular phone line is not more than a hundred dollars. You can actually get a phone line for as low as three dollars! The least two valuable numbers were 70-505000 and 70-470000 and were sold for 8,000 dollars each, still hundred times more than purchasing a regular cell phone line. The phone line with such digits would not have any preferential treatment than any other phone line. It might even frequently disconnect more frequently when others start SMSing and make "missed calls'" to this number. It's value is only for its straight fives. Note that the 70 is a standard area code for cell phone numbers, so the buyer had no choice but accept such fact. I wonder what this buyer would be willing to pay if the number being sold was 55-555555 instead. If every unique set of numbers will entice some individual to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for each number then I believe we will have much of Lebanon's economic crisis resolved when the country sells multiple numbers of those. Selling ten sets of each 111111's, 22222's, etc. then 1111222's and so on will get us millions of dollars. Start coming up with more numbers, add more digits, changing area codes as well if needed, and we'll be saving more to cover Lebanon's mounting debt until the hype ends when people notices their own stupidity for offering so much money for just a set of numbers. But I guess not. Possessing a cell phone with a non-tangible number that costs much more than the phone itself seems more valuable then anything else life except maybe a car license plate that has a similar hype with expensive digits The only problem is when to show off. Would this buyer walk on the streets with a banner on his shirt that says "call me. I own 70-555555 and it's much more expensive than you!" or "I offer 1 dollar to pay to the poor. Call me at my $110,000 number 70-555555' or maybe starting calling everyone to let the whole world know how much his phone number worth but maybe then he would have spent more doing that than paying for the phone.
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"A shroud of mystery surrounding the bankruptcy of a top Lebanese financier was growing on Friday as his list of alleged victims, mainly Muslim Shiites, also does.read complete article : AFP: Mystery shrouds Lebanon's 'Madoff' caseSalah Ezzedine, a Shiite from southern Lebanon in his 50s who has been dubbed the "Bernard Madoff" of his country, was arrested earlier this week when he filed for bankruptcy.
Reports surfaced that he had squandered more than 1.5 billion dollars (1.05 billion euros) of his clients' money."
As an iconic figure from Lebanon, Haifa Wehbe captured the imaginations of many if not all Arab generations.
Haifa today
Haifa before
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"From nudist beach parties and wild bashes hosted by the likes of Paris Hilton, to gay clubs, gambling and showgirls, Beirut is rapidly earning a reputation as the sin city of the Middle East." read article AFP: Sleepless in Beirut, sin city of the Middle East
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"Several Lebanese villagers talking about the economic situation in their village during Summer and Winter, expressing their fears and giving some information about their lifestyle." (Annahar webtv)
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"Lebanon's new beaches and resorts are not cheap at all.. you pay a minimum of 20$ just to swim and you get to meet snobbish people showing off their swimming suits, leaving their children with the maids, wearing make-up or heels... but afterall the view is beautiful and the water is neat!" Annahar WebTV
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YouTube: The lyrics in English and Arabic (thanks to Peter B.):
Oh, Love of Beirut (Ya Hawa Beirut يا هوا بيروت)
They closed the roads (put roadblocks), they dimmed the signs
They planted the canons and deserted the grounds (or areas)
Where are you my love? Still my love?
We became the screaming love, we became the distances
We miss those happy days
The days when we stayed up late in the streets
Crowded roads and long drives
and we met in the old restaurant
Oh love of Beirut, Oh love of the days
Come back Beirut, and those days will be back
The next summer came, the moon is still broken
Do you think you will forget me, my sad love?
I came back home, I couldn't find my house
It was in smoke, with no flowers and no fence
They are disappearing
Lost under the night's sky
Where do you think the friends will be?
Where will the tears and the tenderness be?
"Tourism isn’t the only industry that flourishes in the Lebanese summer. From mid-May until early September, it’s wedding season here, as droves of emigrants return to Lebanon to attend nuptials or to have their own."Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon -My big fat Lebanese wedding
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"Seventeen out of Lebanon's 30 or so beach clubs do not allow migrant guest workers from Asia and Africa in their swimming pools, and some even deny them entrance outright, Human Rights Watch researcher Nadim Houry told Maysam Ali of the news website Now Lebanon last week."LEBANON: Clubs ban African, Asian maids from swimming pools | Babylon & Beyond | Los Angeles Times
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"WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - Lebanon's economic growth is likely to reach 4 percent in 2009, half the pace of last year, as the economy remains relatively unaffected by the global financial crisis, the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday."Lebanon to grow 4 pct, avoids worst of crisis-IMF | Markets | Markets News | Reuters
"If you think Lebanon is a complicated place, the state of Lebanese women's political participation should be no surprise. Lebanese women won the right to vote and to participate in national elections in 1952, 19 years before women in Switzerland. Yet, today, political participation by Lebanese women remains dismal at the national level."
Listen to Sawtelshaab online (for Lebanese friends) http://www.sawtashaab.com/
Great online radio for Fairuz music. Thank you Suhel! Listen Now.
from Annahar WebTV
""Chiyyéh" has encountered sad changes since the war days...
Music by Anouar Brahem "Badhra" and "Hijaz Pechref" "
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Lebanese Shawarma by Annahar WebTV
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Lebanese Mankoushi by Annahar WebTV
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Lebanese Falafel by Annahar WebTV
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iLoubnan.info writes
The World Bank’s World Development Report 2009 ranked Lebanon in 28th place among 212 countries worldwide and 5th among 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of its urban population as a percentage of total population for 2005. Lebanon also ranked in 6th place among the 33 Upper Middle Income Countries (UMICs) included in the report. Globally, Lebanon had higher urbanization rates than New Zealand, Djibouti and Denmark and lower urbanization rates than the United Kingdom, Australia and Chile. Regionally, it had urbanization rates higher than Libya, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and lower than Bahrain, Kuwait and Israel. Lebanon had a higher urbanization rate than Brazil, Gabon and Dominica, but lower than Venezuela, Argentina and Chile among UMICs.
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Produced by:
Tulane University
05/02/2008Description:
Kenneth W. Harl, professor of history at Tulane University, Paul A. Rahe, professor of history at Hillsdale College, and Fred S. Naiden, history professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, narrow in on the history of Middle Eastern coinage and currency, particularly the contributions of Lebanon, to determine the impact money has had on the region.Speaker(s):
Kenneth W. Harl, Tulane University
Fred S. Naiden, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Paul A. Rahe, Hillsdale College
Download this video —
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"Lebanon 'moves right way' on ID
Details on ID cards were used in the past as a way of discriminating
A recent decree by the Lebanese government has allowed its citizens to remove their religious affiliation from the identity cards. The BBC's Natalia Antelava, in Beirut, considers how the move will affect a divided country."
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"The current economic recession is a moment that cries out for an Arab leader who can speak truthfully to his people on the issues of the day that really matter - including how many abandoned cars may be parked at the airport, says Rami G. Khouri."
…In a land of superlatives and seemingly endless hyper-growth, the scale of the stories circulating about the number of abandoned cars at the airport is equally gigantic. In the past few weeks in Beirut, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, I have heard friends and acquaintances report authoritatively that, variously, 15,000 or 10,000 or 6,000 cars have been parked and abandoned at the airport by their foreign owners. These people lost their jobs, did not have enough money to complete their car payments, and found the easiest way out was to park their car at the airport and leave town for good…
Labels: arab, finance, lebanon, middle east
""Although Palestinian refugees cannot legally contribute much to the Lebanese economy through employment, the sheer amount of them living in the country (more than 400,000) means they count for 10 per cent ($352 million) of all private consumption in Lebanon. Food, healthcare and rent constitute their top spending priorities.The report also found that despite a 60-year presence in Lebanon and extreme vulnerability as a group, Palestinian refugees "do not appear to have constituted a burden on the safety net system provided by the Lebanese welfare system." The report stated UNRWA, NGOs and faith-based organizations represented the primary safety net for the Palestinian refugee community. "
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"31% of the Lebanese are poor and 3% are obscenely rich, says this UN report (Arabic article)
in 2 parts"
Today's Outlook Magazine :: Lebanese Abroad
Gibran Khalil Gibran - Poet and Philosopher
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you cando for your country." Many of us know this as a quotation from a speech made by U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961. It is less well known that this quote appeared thirty six years earlier in Gibran's essay "The New Frontier".
Almost 70 years after his death, Gibran is still held in high regard as the most important writer to mark the transition from classic to modern Arabic literature.Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah - Inventor
Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah was a technological innovator whose inventions in electricity had a great impact on the development of 20th century technology. In August 1921, Sabbah traveled to the U.S. to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for one year. In 1922, he enrolled at the University of Illinois, where he earned a master's degree in engineering sciences in 1923. He was hired by the engineering laboratory of the General Electric Company (GE) at Schenectady, N.Y. in1923. It was not long before his research efforts resulted in a number of patents. However, Sabbah had signed a contract with GE whereby all his inventions became the property of the company, and so he received a reward of one dollar for each of his patented inventions. Between 1927 and 1935, Sabbah invented 52 different applications.
Salma Hayek - Actress
Born in 1968 of a Lebanese father and a Spanish-Mexican mother in the State of Veracruz in Mexico, Hayek’s initial career plans were a far cry from her place in the sun in Hollywood. At the age of 20, she went to Mexico City to study international relations, in the hope that this would give her the chance to “hang out and see the world.” Instead of joining the diplomatic corps, however, Hayek decided to go on stage. Today, flirtatious, sensual and gorgeous are the adjectives that most often flow in tribute to Salma Hayek. But this Hollywood star has much more to offer than sex appeal, as she shows in her movie Frida, a film about Mexican painter and 20th-century icon Frida Kahlo. Hayek is a serious, extremely gifted actress who has taken the world by storm.
Shakira Mebarak - Singer
Shakira Mebarak, known simply as Shakira, was born in the city of Barranquilla to a Colombian mother and a Lebanese father. Shakira started in the music business at the age of 10, when she won a children’s talent contest as a guitarist. She signed with Sony at the age of 14, writing her own songs, which were surprisingly mature for a teenager and by the age of 23 she had already conquered the world. She made the cover of Time magazine (international edition), sold millions of records worldwide and won several music awards. Shakira was even designated as an official goodwill ambassador by the Colombian government and in May 1997, she met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, where she asked him to intervene to end Colombia’s 36-year civil war.
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"Tell us something we don’t know, America. The New York Times has confirmed what we all knew already, voting Beirut the number-one place to visit in 2009. The people of Lebanon and fans of the city will graciously accept the compliments, which praise Beirut’s excellent culinary scene and glamorous hotels. But while the plaudits are deserved, we who live here know that there is so much more that nourishes Beirut’s dynamic soul.
Come, then, on a 24-hour meander through Beirut. A day in the life of this city can showcase a little of what makes it – peace willing – the most fabulous, frenetic and eccentric place to visit and live in 2009 and beyond."
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Near the old civil-war front line in the centre of Beirut stands a large digital clock with blood-red numbers. It has almost reached the neat, round figure of 1,500 and represents the days since Rafiq Hariri was murdered. You still hear people in Lebanon asking for "haqiqa" – "the truth"; my driver Abed even has a slim, black sticker tied to the mirror of our car with the word in Arabic script. The trouble is that as that figure on the digital clock goes on climbing, a lot of Lebanese are beginning to doubt they will ever know who murdered the billionaire and former prime minister – along with 21 others – on the Beirut Corniche on 14 February 2005.
There was a sense in Jidejian's talk of interminable conflict. "Cannonballs of the British bombardment could be picked up about the town as late as 1912," she said. "And then in 1912 the Italians bombarded Beirut." She also quoted from a lament in the "History" of Agathias, the first-century Greek poet and historian: "Do ye who pass me by/ Bewail my fate and shed a tear/ In honor of Berytus that is no more." (Berytus was the city's Roman name.)
Jidejian's message, however, was largely optimistic. She suggested that Beirut's regular status as a battleground is due to its geographical position as "the crossroads of the Middle East." Yet, despite being a victim of this geographical accident, Jidejian emphasized how Beirut has risen above the endless conflicts to become a multi-denominational capital city.
"Despite all its disasters and obstacles, Beirut is a city in which 18 religious communities live side-by-side," Jidejian said. "This is no small achievement."
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BEIRUT: The Global Property Guide's annual report on real estate investment trends around the world indicated that Lebanon ranked in 60th place globally, up from 62nd place in 2007, and 4th among 10 markets in the Middle East & North Africa in terms of "roundtrip transaction costs" (RTCs) which reflects all costs of buying and reselling a residential property, expressed as a percentage of the property value. The report was carried by Byblos Bank's Lebanon This Week.
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Migrant domestic workers experience harsh working conditions and consistent workplace abuse, and currently many migrant domestic workers can be found sleeping under cars or on the ground surrounding their respective countries’ embassies in Lebanon, searching for assistance for their situations. Nadim Houry is the senior researcher at Human Rights Watch covering Lebanon and Lillian Boctor from Tadamon spoke with Houry about the situation."
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A team of biologists at Lebanese American University estimates that 1 in 17 persons around the Mediterranean carries genetic markers distinctive to the ancient Phoenician people who resided in what is now Lebanon. The Phoenicians spread out in a trade diaspora two millennia ago, establishing colonies from Spain to Cyprus. The team also found that one third of Lebanese have the markers for Phoenician descent, and that these are spread evenly through the population, among both Christians and Muslims. In fact, all Lebanese have broadly similar sets of genetic markers. The lead researcher commented, 'Whether you take a Christian village in the north of Lebanon or a Muslim village in the south, the DNA make-up of its residents is likely to be identical . . .'"read full article
Labels: lebanon, middle east, religion
The Jeita Grotto, in a river valley near the capital Beirut, is currently ranked 24th out of 77 on the list of nominations compiled by contest organisers "New 7 Wonders of Nature".
Other sites in the Middle East include Wadi Rum in Jordan, Israel's Ein Gedi oasis and the Mesopotamian Marshes in Iraq.
"The Jeita cave is considered one of the largest and most beautiful caves in the world, with an impressive diversity of rock shapes and colours," said Nabil Haddad, a German-trained engineer who is the cave's general manager.
"This is a historic chance for Lebanon to show this truly unique secret to the world."
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14 clubs and a big group of AUB students took the initiative to launch a campaign to bring attention to what has been going on in Gaza strip because of the siege upon it. The Gaza strip, south of Palestine, has been under the most brutal Israeli siege for months now. Electricity has been cut out for weeks, food and medicine have not been allowed in Gaza for a long time, and finally hospitals, schools and even bakeries are closing down because Israel has blocked fuel and basic life necessities from entering Gaza. The campaign will host a week of events from Monday, December 15th, to Friday, December 19th. Please spread the word and join us to stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza against the inhumane siege.
- Monday 15: Silent sit in at Main Gate (12:30 p.m.)
- Tuesday 16: Movie screening "Occupation 101" West Hall –
Auditorium "B" (5:00 p.m.)
- Wednesday 17: 2 Movie Screenings "Death In Gaza" and
"Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land"
West Hall – Auditorium "A" (5:00 p.m.)
- Thursday 18: Candle-light Vigil, meeting point at Main gate (6:00 p.m.)
- Friday 19: Solidarity Cultural night at West Hall (5:00 p.m.)
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Get news on the go with the Mobile News Network. Visit http://www.apnews.com to learn how to get it for your phone.
Regards,
Tarek Hoteit
http://tarek.hoteit.org
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powerful, I remembered the works of the late Naji Al-Ali, the late Palestinian cartoonist and the creator of the icon Handala. Naji Al-Ali was shot by unknown persons in London on 22 July 1987 and died five weeks later. However, his 40,000 cartoons where many included an icon of a boy, Handala, with his face against the viewer as a symbol of rejection and disappointment after the forced migration of the Palestinian people from their land, remain to this day as a reminder to us Arabs that we should be ashamed of ourselves. The wealth of our oil, smartness of our political minds, and the innovations from our intellectual thinking can't get our own people back to their homeland and develop as a whole unified nation.Labels: arab, lebanon, middle east
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entertaining ad by Ziad Rahbani for Banker insurance. Click here to view it.Labels: lebanon, middle east
