Lebanon
Latest stories
Central Bank Governor: Lebanon to Abide by U.S. Anti-Hizbullah Law

Beirut will abide by a U.S. law that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do business with Hizbullah, Lebanon's central bank governor has said.

Riad Salameh told The Associated Press in an interview that bank officials are now studying regulations issued on Friday in Washington by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

W140 Full Story
No Deal Yet in Lebanese-Australian Child Custody Case

The Lebanese father of two children at the heart of a high-profile custody dispute has said he will not drop attempted kidnapping charges against his estranged Australian wife, who tried to take the children from him two weeks ago.

Sally Faulkner has been jailed in Lebanon along with prominent Australian TV journalist Tara Brown and Brown's three-person camera crew on charges relating to a botched attempt to seize Faulkner's two children on their way to school in Beirut. Another four suspects, two Britons and two Lebanese, have also been detained and charged.

W140 Full Story
No Injuries as Army Drone Crashes in Batroun

An army drone crashed on Monday in a garden in the region of Batroun, north of Beirut, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the drone crashed in the garden of the residence of Tony Moneim in the town of Ajdabra.

W140 Full Story
Trauma, Torture for Sex-Trafficked Syrians in Lebanon

The iron-gated doors and blacked-out windows keep the room dark at all hours of the day. Lingerie is splayed across the floor and a whip hangs over the bed.

This nightmarish setting north of the Lebanese capital is where Soha, a 26-year-old Syrian woman, was trapped for eight years with dozens of other Syrian victims of sex trafficking.

W140 Full Story
Presidential Elections Postponed again, New Session Set for May

The 38th session to elect a president was postponed on Monday following a renewed lack of quorum at parliament.

Speaker Nabih Berri scheduled the new electoral session for May 10.

W140 Full Story
Anti-Theft Bureau Arrests Man Wanted on 125 Warrants

Police arrested in the eastern Bekaa town of Brital a man wanted on 125 arrest warrants, the state-run National News Agency reported on Monday.

The Internal Security Forces International Anti-Thefts Bureau arrested on Monday at dawn Hussein Hassan Bou Mehsen after raiding his home in the town, NNA said.

W140 Full Story
Solution Looming on Horizon for State Security Crisis

The government is expected to agree on Monday on a solution to the controversial issue of the State Security agency, ministerial sources said.

The sources told An Nahar daily that the government will likely approve the allocation of funds to State Security, which tops the agenda of the cabinet session.

W140 Full Story
Report: Mediator Awaits Message on Fate of Abducted Soldiers

The fate of the Lebanese soldiers held captive by the Islamic State group could see a glimpse of light after reports that the kidnappers might accept a deal to open a channel of negotiations with the Lebanese state, al-Akhbar daily reported on Monday.

The mediator negotiating the file of the soldiers was informed that the military Emir of the IS in the Syrian al-Qalamoun region bordering Lebanon, Mwafaq Abu el-Sous, sent a message to the “capital of the caliphate in al-Reqqa” promising a positive outcome with regard to the fate of the soldiers, the daily said.

W140 Full Story
Jumblat Rushes to the Defense of Judicial Police

Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat has accused an adviser to Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq of leading a campaign against Judicial Police.

Jumblat told As Safir daily published on Monday that the advisor, a retired Internal Security Forces Brig. Gen., has been launching an “organized campaign against Judicial Police led by Brig. Gen. Naji al-Masri.”

W140 Full Story
Berri Leads ‘Battle against Corruption’

Speaker Nabih Berri has vowed to take action against alleged parties trying to cover up several scandals of corruption that have recently rocked the country.

“All those coming under pressure, whether judges or others, should inform me and leave the rest to me,” Berri said in remarks published in several local dailies on Monday.

W140 Full Story