Prime Minister Saad Hariri declared all public administration offices will be closed Monday and Tuesday for Eid al-Fitr, the state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday. The office of the late senior Shiite scholar Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah announced that Sunday would be the celebration to mark the end of Ramadan. ... Read More »
Syrian Bishop Joseph Absi Wednesday was elected the new patriarch of the Melkite-Greek Catholic Church. “It’s great, he’s an educated man, an administrative man, a man of reconciliation and an open man,” President of the Melkite-Greek Catholic League Maroun Bou Rjeily told The Daily Star. The election of Absi comes ... Read More »
Top political party leaders represented in the Cabinet will meet Thursday at the invitation of President Michel Aoun with talks expected to center around means to streamline the work of both the executive and legislative bodies over the coming months. Thursday’s meeting comes after Wednesday’s Cabinet session decided to refer ... Read More »
Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was promoted to crown prince on Wednesday, replacing his cousin in a sudden announcement that confirms King Salman’s 31-year-old son as next ruler of the kingdom. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has been relieved of his post and replaced by Mohammed ... Read More »
French Defense Minister Sylvie Goulard unexpectedly quit her job on Tuesday , saying she did not want to stay on because of an investigation overshadowing her MoDem party’s affairs in the European Parliament. That followed an announcement late Monday that Richard Ferrand, an aide to President Emmanuel Macron and minister ... Read More »
Cabinet is set to meet Wednesday to discuss a long-waited electricity reform plan, including controversial proposals to rent two additional power barges that will be top of the 67-item agenda. Energy Minister Cesar Abi Khalil confirmed that the electricity reform plan would be discussed during the Cabinet session chaired by ... Read More »
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier after his lengthy detention in North Korea was a “total disgrace,” and said if the college student had been returned home to the U.S. earlier, “I think the result would have been a lot different.” Trump said he ... Read More »
Lightning strikes have killed at least 22 people in Bangladesh in the last 48 hours, authorities said Tuesday, a week after monsoon rains triggered a series of deadly landslides in the country. The deaths came as storms swept the country Sunday and Monday, the head of the disaster management department ... Read More »
Relatives of a Lebanese family missing and feared dead after the Grenfell Tower fire in London met Tuesday with Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, according to a Foreign Ministry statement. The meeting was attended by Bassem Choucair’s parents and cousin, Mounir Choucair, as well as Haytham Jomaa, director-general for the Lebanese ... Read More »
Prime Minister Saad Hariri Tuesday called for the creation of a national committee to lead the implementation of the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in Lebanon. At a ceremony to mark the initiation of a project entitled “SDGs in Lebanon: Analyzing Gaps and Reporting Progress,” Hariri highlighted the importance ... Read More »
Lebanese Ministry of Information