BEIRUT: Former President Michel Sleiman was honored Monday with a Papal Order of Knighthood during a ceremony at the Vatican. Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin decorated Sleiman with the Order of Pius IX, which is the highest Order that the Vatican currently grants, and the third-highest among all papal Orders. Its name […]
BEIRUT: The Internal Security Forces arrested Sunday a Lebanese man who raped an Ethiopian woman after kidnapping her from the area of Dawra near Beirut, a statement said Monday. The suspect, 31, identified by his initials M.A., abducted the Ethiopian woman Sunday after impersonating a security official. (Link)
By Leone Grotti
More than two thousand evacuated Christians in the North of Nigeria rallied together the other day to protest against the government, in Jos, the capital of the State of Plateau. Gathered in front of the “Church of the Brothers”, they accused the government of not doing anything to stop Boko Haram, which is devastating the north of the country.
“11 THOUSAND CHRISTIANS KILLED”. Daniel Kadzai, president of the youth sector for the Christian Association of Nigeria, stated “ We have lost confidence in the federal government.” According to the daily newspaper Daily Post: “We have information that Boko Haram has already killed 11,213 Christians. And that information doesn’t include the attacks in Mubi, Maiha, Kong and Gombi.”
"POGROM”. As of today: “1.56 million people have been evacuated because of the terrorists. We have been let down by the international community – Kadzai continues – since it has refused to deal with the pogrom of the Christians. Their attention is focused only in Iraq, Gaza and Afghanistan, as if the dead of Nigeria were not human-beings.”
ISLAMIC CALIPHATE. Boko Haram has already captured more than 10 important towns in the northern States of Borno and Adamawa, setting up an Islamic Caliphate and surrounding Maiduguri. In the last few weeks they had also taken the towns of Mubi and Chibok, where 276 girls were kidnapped in April. In the last few days the Nigerian Army, together with a group of “vigilantes” were able to take control again of the two urban centers, but the population does not trust the soldiers and so far have refused to return to their homes.
The head of the Beirut Bar Association slammed the continued paralysis in the presidential seat Saturday, demanding politicians rise to the occasion and elect a new head of state, during a mass rally outside Baabda Palace to mark the 71 anniversary of Independence Day. “Our main concern is not to fill the vacant seat but […]
U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated the Lebanese people on Friday on the occasion of Lebanon’s 71st Independence Day, lamenting on the anniversary the current vacuum in the presidency. He said in a message to Lebanon: “As a friend of the Lebanese people, the United States regrets this anniversary day passes without an elected president of […]
Happy Lebanese day for Lack of Independence in pictures
#LebanonLackOfIndependence #LebaneseIndependence
Lebanese government cancels Independence Day celebrations for the first time since the civil war
Joseph A. KechichianSenior Writer, gulfnews.com
Beirut: While the Lebanese Government cancelled its annual military parade to celebrate the country’s 71st Independence Day anniversary, Google—where several Lebanese-American techies have build solid reputations for themselves and their company—answered with a homepage doodle that featured dancers performing the traditional folk dance called dabké.Divided at every imaginable level, the Lebanese government canceled Independence Day celebrations for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war both because of the country’s presidential vacuum and, equally important, because at least 27 Lebanese soldiers and members of the internal security forces are still held by Deash and Jabhat Al Nusra.
Military parades are annual November 22 fixtures in Lebanon although the 2013 version was also mired in utter confusion with a head-of-state presiding alongside the speaker and two prime ministers—the outgoing as well as unconfirmed incoming office holder. On Friday, senior government officials laid wreath of flowers on various memorials erected to the men who fought and secured independence from France in 1943, remembering their sacrifices to liberate the country from the French Mandate. Saturday’s cancellation was the first since the end of the civil war in 1990.
Since the day is usually marked with a speech to the nation delivered by the president, this year marked a stark void, which Google answered in a brilliant move. The message seemed to be: while local politicians bickered, the Lebanese continued to enjoy life, oblivious to perpetual machinations that pretended to govern, protected and promoted sectarian influences, and ensured economic stability at a time of significant regional upheavals.
Outgoing artillery shook St Elias church as the priest reached the end of the Lord’s Prayer.
The small congregation kept their eyes on the pulpit, kneeling when required and trying to ignore the regular thuds that rattled the stained glass windows above them.
Home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, the Syrian agricultural town of Izraa has stood the comings and goings of many empires over the centuries.
But as the country’s civil war creeps closer, it is threatening to force the town’s Christians into permanent exile: never to return, they fear.
"I have been coming to this church since I was born," said Afaf Azam, 52. "But now the situation is very bad. Everyone is afraid. Jihadists control villages around us."
khazen.org pays tribute to the Gemayel family & remember today the seventh commemoration of the minister’s assassination the Martyr Cheikh Pierre Gemayel. We demand the international community and Lebanese Justice to find as quick as possible the murderers and bring them to Justice.
Cheikh Pierre you are greatly missed!
Below details of his assasination that was posted by khazen.org in 2006
http://www.khazen.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1326&catid=1&Itemid=216
TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Northern Lebanese coastal towns witnessed rare snowfall Friday as the country braces for a new weekend storm. Snow first fell in the northern region of Chekka with residents remaining in their vehicles and gathering inside a tunnel waiting for the storm to subside. In Nakhla, a north Lebanon village, snow blanketed the […]
U.S. President Barack Obama congratulated the Lebanese people on Friday on the occasion of Lebanon’s 71st Independence Day, lamenting on the anniversary the current vacuum in the presidency. He said in a message to Lebanon: “As a friend of the Lebanese people, the United States regrets this anniversary day passes without an elected president […]