Tuesday 9th February, 2010
Search for More Plane Crash Victims Continues as US Rescue Ship Hunts for 2nd Black Box
NaharnetLebanese army divers on Tuesday resumed search for more victims of the ill-fated Ethiopian plane while the rescue ship USNS Grapple continued hunt for the second black box, a statement released by the...
Struger: The Situation is Calm, All Sides Cooperating with UNIFIL
NaharnetStruger made the comment during a briefing to reporters at the Tyre Rest House during which he announced that UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane will be replaced by Miraj Singh.
Jumblat Expresses Regret at 'Offensive Words' against Syrian People, Leadership
NaharnetProgressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has denied that he had told Washington Post columnist David Ignatius in a telephone interview in 2006 that the U.S. went to Iraq and "can do the same t...
Hariri Convinced with Syrian Clarifications on Assad's Remarks
NaharnetPrime Minister Saad Hariri said he was convinced with the clarifications of political sources on Syrian President Bashar Assad's controversial statement to The New Yorker.
Army Arrests Majzoub's Uncle
NaharnetThe Lebanese army intelligence in the Bekaa arrested the maternal uncle of debt-ridden Sheikh Mohammed al-Majzoub who has staged his own kidnapping allegedly in a desperate bid to secure a ransom and ...
US Congressman Involved in Deployment of US Marines in Beirut Dies
NaharnetU.S. congressman John Murtha, who died Monday of complications from gallbladder surgery at age 77, was a fierce critic of the Iraq war despite being a staunchly pro-military former marine.
Beirut and Brad: 2 Separate Masses on St. Maroun Day
NaharnetLebanon's Maronites celebrate the 1600th anniversary of St. Maroun's death on Tuesday in two separate masses that will be held in Beirut's Saint George church and in Brad in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
Murr Kicks of Talks with U.S. Officials
NaharnetDefense Minister Elias Murr is scheduled to meet with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman on Tuesday ahead of talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Th...
Lebanese president reiterates implementation of Resolution 1701
People's DailyLebanese President Michel Suleiman on Monday reiterated to Spanish King Juan Carlos his country's commitment to the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 as well as Lebanon's full supp...
Lebanese president: Israel has no valid pretext to attack
People's DailyLebanese President Michel Suleiman said Monday that no one in Lebanon is planning to wage any aggression on Israel and Israel does not own any valid pretext to launch any attack, the country's state-r...
Orascom Telecom renews its management contract of Alfa
AME InfoIn a step that would promote and boost the mobile sector in Lebanon, both the Lebanese Ministry of Telecommunications and Orascom Telecom Holding signed up the extension of the management contract of ...
World's tallest tower lookout suddenly shuttered
The Daily StarDUBAI, United Arab Emirates: The Burj Khalifa’s owner said Monday the observation deck of the world’s tallest tower has been unexpectedly shut down, disappointing visitors and marring the ...
Mashnouq denies he was assaulted during row in Ain al-Mreisseh
The Daily StarBEIRUT: Future Movement MP Nouhad Mashnouq dismissed on Monday media reports that he had been assaulted in the Ain al-Mreisseh neighborhood in Beirut as he attempted to resolve a dispute between fishe...
Sfeir: We are a nation of 'civilized minorities'
The Daily StarBKIRKI: The Maronite Patriarch said Monday the Lebanese National Pact was a covenant among the country’s religious minorities rather than a bilateral compromise between Christians and Muslims.
Lebanese president urges Spain to enforce implementation of UNSCR 1701
The Daily StarBEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman called on Spain King Juan Carlos I to enforce the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 as he slammed Israel for hindering any progress on the Mideast ...
Sleiman: World can 'no longer' take Israel's threats lightly
The Daily StarBEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman Monday voiced concern over the latest Israeli warnings to Lebanon’s Hizbullah movement and its backer Syria, saying he could “no longer take them lightly.&...
Iran tells UN of enrichment plan as new sanctions loom
The Daily StarTEHRAN: Iran said Monday it has formally told the UN nuclear watchdog of its plan to produce higher enriched uranium, sparking fresh warnings by world powers of new sanctions against the Islamic Repub...
Yanukovich presses Ukraine rival to concede defeat
The Daily StarKIEV: Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich on Monday pressed rival Yulia Tymoshenko to concede defeat after his slender victory in a presidential election that could tilt the ex-Soviet state ...
Taliban defiant as Afghans flee ahead of major assault
The Daily StarKANDAHAR, Afghanistan: NATO commanders called on the Taliban to surrender as troops dug in Monday for a major assault on one of the last insurgent strongholds in southern Afghanistan, sending thousand...
Chinese, UN envoys go to North Korea to push for return to nuclear talks
The Daily StarSEOUL: A senior Chinese official was in North Korea on Monday and a top UN political envoy was slated to arrive a day later in a new push to have the reclusive state return to stalled nuclear disarmam...
Saudi rights commission seeks divorce for child bride
The Daily StarJEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia’s human rights commission has hired a lawyer to help a 12-year-old girl divorce her 80-year-old husband, the lawyer said, a move activists hope will lead to a ...
Shelling kills at least 9 in Somalia, wounds 14
The Daily StarMOGADISHU: An exchange of mortar shells between Somali government forces and rebels killed at least nine civilians and wounded 14 others, a human-rights group said Monday. The clashes started late on ...
UAE hospital offers medical treatment that's for the birds
The Daily StarThese falcons are just a few of the 5,000 treated each year at the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital (ADFH), which is located just a few kilometers outside the United Arab Emirates’ capital city.
Rights group: Bahrain has resumed torturing detainees
The Daily StarDUBAI: The Gulf kingdom of Bahrain resumed torturing detainees in 2007 after about a decade of not engaging in the “scourge,” US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Mo...
Turk accused of burying daughter alive faces life
The Daily StarANKARA: Prosecutors in Turkey are seeking life in jail for the father and grandfather of a girl who was buried alive for befriending boys, local judicial sources said Monday. The pair were arrested af...
Iran reformist leaders deny links to foreigners
The Daily StarTEHRAN: Iran’s top reformist leaders on Monday rejected the authorities’ accusation that the opposition movement had links to foreigners and urged people to attend rallies on Thursday mark...
Iraq poll row to be resolved before campaign starts: PM
The Daily StarBAGHDAD: Premier Nouri al-Maliki said on Monday he has received assurances that judges will resolve a simmering row over who can stand in Iraq’s general election before official campaigning star...
Ethiopian Airliner's flight recorders sent to France
The Daily StarBEIRUT: The flight recorders from the Ethiopian Airlines plane which crashed off the coast of Beirut were transported Monday to France, where investigators hope to unlock the secret of what caused the...
Al-Qaeda in Yemen calls for attacks on US 'everywhere'
The Daily StarDUBAI: Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based group that claimed a botched Christmas Day attack on a US airliner, on Monday called for US interests to be targeted “everywhere....
Israeli police raid East Jerusalem refugee camp
The Daily StarOCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli security forces on Monday raided a Palestinian refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, arresting 11 people in an operation police said was aimed at putting “some ord...
Filipina domestic worker stabs employer's sister to death
The Daily StarBEIRUT: A Filipina domestic worker killed her employer’s sister and injured the woman’s seven-year-old daughter with a kitchen knife in the town of Ain Saadeh, the state-run National News ...
Hamas leader holds talks on Palestinian unity in Moscow
The Daily StarThe leader of Palestinian Islamist group Hamas met in Moscow Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks on efforts to reunify the two main Palestinian independence movements. “...
Sidon prepares to launch its first medical waste treatment center
The Daily StarSIDON: Sidon Municipality is preparing to lay the foundation stone for its first ever medical waste treatment center this week. The project, sponsored by the Spanish Embassy and funded by the Spanish ...
Egypt arrests 3 top Muslim Brotherhood leaders
The Daily StarCAIRO: The Number two leader of Egypt’s opposition Muslim Brotherhood and two other top figures have been arrested by police Monday in a dawn sweep targeting members of the nation’s most p...
Spain helps beekeeping project get buzzing in Akkar
The Daily StarBEIRUT: Spanish and Lebanese officials celebrated on Saturday the launching of an apiculture (beekeeping) project in Akkar. The center in Deir Dalloum, Akkar, was opened in the presence of Spanish Amb...
Palestinians want peace talks to focus on borders
The Daily StarOCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Palestinian officials demanded on Monday that any US-backed peace talks with Israel focus on border issues and be given a deadline of up to four months. Washington has proposed cir...
STL president lectures at USJ about international justice
The Daily StarBEIRUT: During his first visit in Lebanon as president of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), Antonio Cassese made the most of the opportunity to highlight the major issues concerning internationa...
Expect only modest US gains from thaw with Syria: analysts
The Daily StarLachlan Carmichael Agence France Presse WASHINGTON: The Obama team may get modest benefits from ending a five-year chill with Damascus but will find it hard, if not impossible to peel Syria way from...
Court sets extradition hearing for 'Paris bomber'
The Daily StarOTTAWA: A Canadian court on Monday set a tentative June extradition hearing for Canadian-Lebanese national Hassan Diab, arrested 15 months ago for his alleged role in a 1980 Paris bombing that killed ...
Court orders Hyundai boss pay $60 million
The Daily StarSEOUL: A South Korean court Monday ordered Hyundai Motor chairman Chung Mong-Koo to pay almost $60 million in damages to his company for loss-making deals. The Seoul central district court, ruling on ...
China disrupts hacker training business
The Daily StarBEIJING: Police in central China have shut down a hacker training operation that openly recruited thousands of members online and provided them with cyber attack lessons and malicious software, state ...
Jumblatt: Don't let public staff run for office
The Daily StarBEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said on Monday that allowing the employees of public institutions to run for office in the municipal elections might lead to the politiciza...
Facing Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb threat
The Daily StarThey know it in Paris, Rome and Madrid. There is a big security hole to the south of Europe, the existence of which is confirmed by ongoing hostage crises involving citizens from France, Italy and Spa...
UNIFIL official: All parties want to avoid war
The Daily StarBEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force for Lebanon (UNIFIL) Director of Political and Civil Affairs Milos Strugar stressed Monday that all parties did not seek war and were committed to a halt of vi...
Harb calls for full restructuring of NSSF
The Daily StarBEIRUT: Labor Minister Botrous Harb said Monday that the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) should distance itself from political wrangling in order to turn this fund into an efficient entity that p...
Avatar' will show how shallow is America's national mythology
The Daily StarLater, as Sully starts to become sympathetic toward those whom he has been sent to betray, he tells the bureaucrats: “If people are sitting on something you want, you call them the enemy.”...
Lebanese commercial banks' assets reach $115 billion at end of 2009
The Daily StarBEIRUT: The consolidated balance sheet of commercial banks operating in Lebanon shows that total assets reached $115.2 billion at the end of 2009, up 22.3 percent from the end of 2008, as reported by ...
ISF arrests man wanted for drug dealing, robberies
The Daily StarBEIRUT: The Internal Security Forces arrested on Monday on the Zouk Mosbeh highway, east of Beirut, an individual charged with several arrest warrants for drug dealing and armed robberies. A statement...
Hariri to inaugurate annual gathering for newspapers, news publishers
The Daily StarBEIRUT: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri will inaugurate the 63rd World Newspaper Congress, World Editors Forum and Info Services Expo 2010, in early June, organizers said on Monday. The events, or...
A Gallup poll tells us what Americans think of Muslims
The Daily StarThe American people and their openness to Muslim communities will in many ways determine the success of US President Barack Obama’s global engagement initiative, which he launched on his inaugur...
Nahas calls for turning Beirut into Arab broadcasters' center
The Daily StarBEIRUT: Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahas pledged on Monday to provide all the facilities required to make Lebanon and especially Beirut a city center for all broadcasters’ studios which...
Too much ado about a handshake
The Daily StarThere are handshakes, and then there are handshakes. One type of handshake took place recently in Europe, at a security conference in Munich, between Saudi Prince Turki al-Faisal and Israeli official ...
Suleiman to Spain's King: Lebanon, UNIFIL Facing Dangerous Israeli Threats
NaharnetLebanon and UNIFIL are facing dangerous Israeli threats and the international community has to stop Israel's threats and to force it to implement U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, President Miche...
Saudi Government Urges International Response to Israeli Threats Against Lebanon, Syria
NaharnetThe Saudi government on Monday urged the international community "for taking a firm stance on the issue of Israeli threats against Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians."
Phalange Party: Assad's Remarks 'a Second Message' after Abu Moussa's
NaharnetPhalange Party on Monday condemned "the content of Syrian President Bashar Assad's interview with Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker and the subsequent clarifications 'all together.'"
Quarrel at Manara Fishermen Port: Mashnouq Denies Being Beaten, Aridi Declines to Comment
NaharnetAs Mustaqbal bloc MPs Mohammed Qabbani, Ghazi Youssef, and Nuhad al-Mashnouq were inspecting the project under execution by the Public Works Ministry in Manara, fishermen from the neighborhood obstruc...
RYMCO-Saadeh Abou Nassif Scholarship Fund Established
Al BawabaRasamny-Younis Motor Co. SAL (RYMCO) has announced that it will establish the RYMCO-Saadeh Abou Nassif Scholarship Fund to support needy students studying business at AUB, in honor of Saadeh Abou Nas...
Suleiman Satisfied with Cabinet Performance not Productivity
NaharnetIn remarks to a visiting delegation from the Editors Syndicate headed by Melhem Karam, Suleiman hoped appointments in state institutions would be made from within the administrative corps.
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