by Naharnet Press Office February 26, 2022, 1:27 p.m. Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil suggested on Saturday that the Lebanese elect their president in a popular vote as part of ideas he has proposed to reform the political system. “We are allowed here to think seriously about electing the president of the republic directly …

EUROPE/ITALY – “Mediterranean border of peace”. Bishops and mayors gathered in Florence, in the name of Giorgio La Pira Florence (Fid Agency of prophetic intuitions cultivated during the Cold War years by the great Florentine mayor Giorgio La Pira. The meeting begins this afternoon with an introduction by Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti and will end on …

Beirut, Lebanon – The audience burst into laughter – and nearly burst into tears – as 18 youth and young adults from across Lebanon shared their life stories and struggles against identity, bigotry, racism and social marginalization. It was the story of a young Druze man who was bullied for being poor, a Syrian-Lebanese woman …

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri stressed on Sunday that “Cairo has never stopped helping us”, noting that “487 tonnes of Egyptian aid arrived in Lebanon a few days ago, including 265 tonnes of medicine”. . Berri hailed Egyptian President Abdel-Fatah Al-Sissi’s remarkable achievements in advancing his country, especially in construction and urban development. His words …

LONDON: The Lebanese health system is in a precarious state following successive waves of political and economic crisis. As the country reels from shortages of medical supplies, increases in COVID-19 cases and an exodus of skilled medical professionals, the urgency of the sector’s need for external assistance is no longer a subject of debate. In …

Decades after the bloody Hama massacre, Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad has managed to cling to power, like his father, under the distracted gaze of world powers. The Syrian war was a calamity from every point of view. From a brutal crackdown that sparked an insurgency to the entry of two world powers, two regional …

The Qatari official spoke about Iran’s ties to the GCC and the rights of Afghan women. Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani has called for the need to address Lebanon’s political divide to resolve its decades-long crises. It came during an interview with Newsweek’s podcast, The Diplomat, recorded when Sheikh Mohammed was in …

Western powers have realized that removing Syrian Bashar al-Assad from his throne is more costly than assumed when the peaceful uprising began in 2011. After half a million deaths, the vast majority is in the hands of forces loyal to the Assad Regime, tens of thousands of authentic photos documenting the industrial-scale torture in Assad’s …

zenith: The escape attempt at al-Hasaka prison, where many ISIS prisoners are held, was the biggest attack since the end of the caliphate. What exact circumstances allowed this to happen? Fabrice Balanche: IS was able to infiltrate the Arab quarter of al-Hasaka – thanks to a kind of Omerta. ISIS could rent rooms and move …

Editor’s note: The United States has long struggled to separate Baghdad from Tehran, trying to orient Iraq more towards moderate states in the Arab world. Katherine Harvey, the author of “A self-fulfilling prophecy: the Saudi struggle for Iraqasserts that US efforts have failed in part because of Saudi Arabia’s counterproductive policies. Riyadh, she argues, has …

The United Arab Emirates, a small and ambitious country in the Persian Gulf, faces various security threats. Its geographical location places it at the center of instability, sectarianism and regional rivalries in the Middle East, which has led the country to pay particular attention to its security. In recent years, Arab countries in the Persian …

“Where is the investigation?” I, like Monika, Lokman’s sister Rasha al Ameer and her mother Salma Merchak, get asked the same question over and over. “Where is the investigation?” I navigated my response both friendly and frankly, depending on which side of the bed I wake up on. Citizens cannot do justice. It is not …

LONDON: Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people is a study of the mechanisms and policies through which apartheid systems operate and reproduce oppression, according to a new report by Amnesty International.In its report, released on Tuesday, the human rights watchdog says there is a growing body of evidence to suggest that these legal, technical and …

Lebanon will be “another failed state dominated by Iran and riddled with corruption” if critical steps are not taken soon to end government corruption in the country, address the economic challenges it faces and resolve the “crippling” problem of Hezbollah violence. That’s the conclusion of a report released Tuesday by two leading Washington-based Middle East …

Lebanese officials hold talks over border dispute amid anger over port blast BEIRUT: Lebanese officials began internal talks on Thursday in preparation for a response to US envoy Amos Hochstein, who urged them to settle a maritime border dispute with Israel. Hochstein passed on ideas to move forward the negotiations, which have been stalled for …

US State Department officials warned in a briefing with reporters on Monday that restoring the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action may be “impossible” due to Iran’s nuclear advances. The senior State Department official also said it was “difficult to imagine” restoring the JCPOA agreement without Iran also releasing four Americans held hostage by Iranian forces. …

Lebanon’s Hezbollah resistance movement said it expected the Mediterranean country’s parliamentary elections to be held on time in May, days after former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said he would would not stand for election. “Everything indicates that the legislative elections will take place on time,” Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy secretary general of Hezbollah, said …

All bets off for Lebanon after Hariri’s withdrawal Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, on his way to the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Kuwait, said: “I am not going there to hand over the weapons of Hezbollah. If he was going to deliver only flowery language and empty words, it was better that …

The first-ever peace attempt launched by the Gulf neighbors for Lebanon, which is plagued by economic collapse, social unrest and remains determined to establish a viable government bent on rooting out corruption while withdrawing from the old Prime Minister. Gulf Arab states are seeking to mend a stalemate with Lebanon, Kuwait’s foreign minister said during …

This does not mean that the Church has always followed the same line when it comes to Lebanese politics. He sometimes opposed Lebanese Maronite presidents who threatened his agenda. When President Chamoun sought to extend his term in 1958, the Church did not support him. Yet the Church has been consistent on one thing: it …

👋 Balm* Welcome Tuesday, where NATO and US troops are on high alert amid tensions in Ukraine, there is a new Boris Johnson party scandal and Beatles memorabilia will be sold as NFT. Worldcrunch telecommuter Carl-Johan Karlsson is also touring countries thinking about a real legal right to work from home. [*Latin] ​✅ SIGN UP …

the United Arab Emirates (WATER) (69) and Qatar (63) are perhaps the best performing countries in the region, but both have weathered major transnational scandals. The Pandora Papers investigations revealed the use of offshore accounts by the Emir of Qatar and the country’s former prime minister, alongside the vice president and prime minister of the …

In a televised address on Monday afternoon, Hariri, three-time prime minister and the country’s most prominent Sunni politician, announced that he was retiring from political life. He called on all members of his Future Movement party, which is the largest Sunni parliamentary bloc in the country, to do the same. Hariri said neither he nor …

Lebanese leader Saad al-Hariri said yesterday he was retiring from political life and would not stand in parliamentary elections, reversing Lebanon’s sectarian politics as the country grapples with a financial crisis.Three-time prime minister Hariri also called on his party not to field any candidates in the May vote, saying several factors were behind his decision, …

In the Armenian-Catholic Cathedral of St. Elijah and St. Gregory the Illuminator in the Lebanese capital, the Cilicia Patriarch of Armenian Catholics, Raphael Bedros xxi Minassian, invites everyone to overcome differences by turning to Christ the Redeemer and the mystery of the Eucharist. Opening the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in Beirut, Lebanon, Cilician …

So why is this the case? Although there are probably myriad reasons, it is very important to focus on the separation of economic development and political dysfunction in Northern Ireland as well as the role of foreign powers in its politics. Peace and stability in Northern Ireland did not necessarily come from the political settlement …

In the past month, there has again been an upsurge in political violence in Iraq. But, instead of the American bases or convoys that are often attacked, there were less usual targets. Last week, grenades were thrown at offices belonging to Sunni Muslim and Iraqi Kurdish political parties in Baghdad. On January 16, grenades were …

In the Armenian-Catholic Cathedral of Saint Elijah and Saint Gregory the Illuminator in the Lebanese capital, the Patriarch of Cilicia of Armenian Catholics, Raphael Bedros XXI Minassian, invites everyone to overcome differences by turning to Christ the Redeemer and the mystery of the Eucharist. By Tiziana Campisi Opening the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity …

Six years after denouncing the Iran nuclear deal, Arab Gulf states are encouraging their regional rival to return to the deal and are embarking on a separate diplomatic campaign to pressure Tehran to drop both its nuclear pursuit and its interference in the Arab States. Indeed, the Gulf states believe they have the most to …