Pope Benedict XVI receives Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri next to his wife Lara Azm, his sons Hussam (L), Rafik Junior (2nd R) and his daughter Lulwa (R) for an audience in his private apartment at the Vatican February 20, 2010. REUTERS/Pool/Christophe Simon (VATICAN – Tags: POLITICS RELIGION)

Vatican City – Pope Benedict XVI in a meeting Saturday with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, praised the peaceful coexistence in Lebanon between various religious communities, including Druze, Christians and and Muslims. Hope was expressed "that the country (Lebanon), through the exemplary coexistence of the various religious communities … may continue to be a ‘message’ for the region of the Middle East and for the whole world," the Vatican said in a statement issued after the morning talks. In a newspaper interview hours before the meeting, Hariri, a Sunni Muslim, said he shares the pontiff’s concern for the Middle East’s dwindling Christian communities, in particular those in Iraq where many continue to flee abroad and are often targets of Islamist militant attacks. Benedict received Hariri at the Vatican Apostolic Palace where, "in an atmosphere of great cordiality," their talks focused on Lebanon and the broader situation in the Middle East, the Vatican statement said. "Having then highlighted the need to find a just and global solution to the conflicts affecting that region, reference was made to the importance of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue for the promotion of peace and justice," the statement added. The two leaders also recalled "the importance of the presence and activities of Christians in the country."(For picturesplease click read more)

BBC News Magazine

The expression "it’s like Beirut" is a much-used comparison for everything from violent riots to a teenager’s bedroom. Why do we still insist on associating Beirut with chaos?

When North East Lincolnshire Council announced this week it would be demolishing a notorious crime-ridden street in Grimsby, one resident said it would no longer be "worse than Beirut".

It’s not the first time the comparison has been used and probably not the last. From Joe Public to world leaders, the phrase "like Beirut" is shorthand for chaos and decay.

Since 1990, the year after the Lebanese civil war ended, there have been more than 50 recorded usages of the phrase, according to Robert Groves, editor of Collins Dictionaries. It began with a reference to a Chicago slum on American National Public Radio.

Lebanese blogger Jad Aoun records usage of the phrase and mails the culprit a "looks like Beirut" certificate.

The Maronite community held today events to honour Saint Maroun, father of the Maronite Church, who died 1,600 years ago.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and top government officials commemorated the event in Saint George’s Church, in Beirut. President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Saad Hariri and several cabinet ministers, MPs and politicians, including Lebanese forces’ leader Samir Geagea.

“Our visit today bears a historic importance since it sets a new track to revive true Eastern Christian culture because the Christian church originated from here," Aoun said.

The neighborhood Wadi Abu Jamil in downtown Beirut is empty and quiet these days. But back in the old days it used to be a bustling place known as Beirut’s Jewish neighborhood. 

It is where the Jewish physician Dr. Shams was said to treat patients who suffered economically for free and where, at night, people from the neighborhood gathered at the house of one of the Jewish families to watch television because they were the only ones in the area who had one at the time.

But after multiple Arab-Israeli wars, Israeli invasions and Lebanese Hezbollah’s 2006 war with the Jewish state, Dr. Shams and most of the other Jewish families from "The Valley of the Jews," as the neighborhood also was called, are long gone.