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BLOM Bank supports youth education and entrepreneurship

30-10-2018

The chairman of BLOM Bank, Saad Azhari, said on Tuesday that the bank has adopted the fourth SDG goal ‘Quality Education’ to become in the core of its activities in the social responsibility area. Azhari was speaking during the opening of the 8th Annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Lebanon Forum held in Beirut under the title, ‘SDGs and Millennials: Leaders of Sustainability’. Azhari mentioned four pioneering programs combining the millennial generation and quality education. These are: Blom Shabeb program, which directs and guides students to university disciplines and matching jobs (320,000 beneficiaries); Protect Ed program, mentors school students on how to live in a society free of violence, drugs, racisms and abuse (100,000 beneficiaries from 167 schools); Hult Prize, sponsors innovation competition for social profit projects among college students. The winner receives USD 250,000 for starting up his enterprise; the fourth pioneering program is Virtual Stock Exchange which includes virtual competitions among students of business and economics from 8 universities in Lebanon on maximizing the returns on stock and bond markets. (Al Akhbar, October 30, 2018)

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Apple growers protest official neglect, US support Bsharri producers

30-10-2018

The US Ambassador to Beirut, Elizabeth Richard, inaugurated a new apple sorting and packaging facility in the Northern town of Beit Munzer, in the caza of Besharri. A statement by the embassy said the ‘Cedrine’ facility, first of its kind in the country, was completed with funding from USAID through the Lebanon Industry Value Chain Development (LIVCD) project, and in partnership with the local private sector company, Shabash, specialized in processing and storing fruits. As a marketing center for apple farmers in the area, ‘Cedrine’ will sort and pack the produce of some 200 apple growers this season, and is expected to support around 1000 farmers over the next five years, producing 17,000 tons of apples every year. On the same front, Al Diyar newspaper wrote that despite the meagre government compensation to farmers for the 2017 harvest and which did not exceed the cost of production, the weather and temperature fluctuations wreaked havoc on a substantial part of the apple trees. A number of farmers who spoke to the newspaper criticized the unfair compensation, saying it would be better to leave the fruits to rot on the trees. They also complained that, the current high prices of fertilizers and pesticides, coupled with the fierce competition of US apples, climate change, and the absence of State’s support, farmers opt for alternative crops. Meanwhile, the minister of economy in the caretaker government, Raed Khoury, met yesterday with a delegation of the Dairy Farmers Association and promised to protect the domestic dairy industry, especially milk producers suffering from poor marketing of their products. Khoury also discussed with wheat farmers in North Beqaa and Akkar the repercussions on the 2018 production, stressing the payment of compensation to farmers after the delivery of supplies in the Central and West Bekaa regions is completed. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, October 26, 28, 30, 2018)

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Domestic violence has stronger impact on individuals than war

30-10-2018

During a conference held in collaboration with St George Hospital University Medical Center, Ashrafieh, Beirut, IDRAAC association revealed a study covering Syrian and Lebanese students in a number of Lebanese schools which indicated that the impact of domestic violence on individuals is stronger than post war effects. The president of IDRAAC, doctor Elie Karam, said the study has shown the domestic abuse Syrian refugee children might experience produce results that can negatively affect their mental health, and is greater than the psychological trauma from war. He underlined the need for providing a healthy home environment in order to improve the refugee child’s mental life. For his part, the director of Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Richard Mollica, presented a new approach that should be adopted in the case of refugees. This does not only secure children’s essential needs, of food, drink and shelter, but also focuses on the rehabilitation of their shattered psychological condition in order to enable them to recuperate and recover from stress. Mollica stressed the need to prepare refugees to return to their country from the first day of their displacement. (Al Akhbar, October 30, 2018)

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New criticisms to IDAL maritime export bridge after Nassib reopening

29-10-2018

Al Akhbar newspaper featured in its issue of October 27, the maritime export bridge launched by IDAL, September 2015, five months after the closure of Nassib Crossing, describing it as an unviable alternative to the land exportation. The bridge, the newspaper wrote, has become a ‘private taxi’ for the government imposing its conditions on exporters over the past three years but has not succeeded in restoring the export activity prior to 2015. On the subject, one owner of an agricultural export refrigerated truck, Mohamad Araji, said the reopening of Nassib crossing on the Jordanian-Syrian borders relieved him from dependence on the operators of the maritime bridge to approve loading his trailers anchored in Jordan for over a year now to return them to Lebanon. Araji told Al Akhbar reporter that he had to pay transit parking tariffs for the Jordanian authorities for each day on the Kingdom’s territory. He revealed that, in addition to the land transport fees, he paid the shipping agency the freight of his trucks by sea to the Port of Aqaba. The agency, he said, received from IDAL around USD 3,000 for each truck as a subsidy from the Lebanese government, adding that if his trucks had returned, it would have received an additional USD 3,000. What Araji and other Lebanese truck owners faced in Jordan, Al Akhbar wrote, was repeated at the Saudi Port of Dabba which has become a leading maritime export destination. Citing Omar Ali, chief of the Owners of Refrigerated Trucks in Lebanon, Al Akhbar said the export activity was restricted to two shipping containers whose owners have close ties with the Future Movement. They are suited for the transport of livestock and not for agricultural goods! The maritime export program, Ali added, has turned into an agency for robbing exporters and owners of containers by controlling prices and transport dates, pointing to the complete absence of IDAL and the Directorate of Sea Transportation at the ministry of public in this respect. More on the subject on the following link: : https://al-akhbar.com/Community/260524. (Al Akhbar, October 27, 2018)

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Chinese interested in connecting Lebanon to the Silk Road via Iraq, Syria

23-10-2018

As part of Arab-Chinese cooperation’s efforts to participate in reviving the Silk Road, An Nahar newspaper mentioned the recent visit to Beijing made by a delegation of the Arab Chinese Cooperation & Development Association (ACCDA) at the invitation of the highest Chinese economic committee, the China International Chamber of Commerce. This was followed by an extraordinary meeting of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and deputy director for the Department of West Asia and North Africa, Zhang Jian Wei, with ACCDA president, Qassem Tfaili. This meeting, according to An Nahar, reflects the interest of the Chinese Department, which networks with over 400 associations and parties worldwide, in the Arab world and, particularly in the emerging ACCDA (founded in 2017). The newspaper quoted Jian Wei as telling the Arab delegation that the international department will present the Arab ideas and proposals to the concerned authorities in China to receive direct support, while the Arab delegation called for fostering cooperation in the fields of education, investments and exhibitions. An Nahar went on to say that from a Lebanese perspective the issue seems very ambitious and requires the following of an extensive and complex roadmap requiring first and foremost the mobilization of large-scale funding for infrastructure projects, roads, energy and transportation networks. The newspaper noted the interest of the Communist Party’s Central Committee in the Arab-Chinese cooperation to revive the Silk Road which connects China in one of its side roads with the Eastern Arab Mediterranean Coast via Iraqi and Syrian territory up to Beirut. In the same vein, the new shipping line from China to the International Port of Tripoli was opened on October 9 with the docking of the Cmacgm Congo vessel to the port carrying nearly 10,000 containers, according to Tripoli Port director, Ahmad Tamer, who said the new route boasts huge ships (50m wide and 300m long). Furthermore, the chairman of Fransabank Group, Adnan Kassar, hosted Chinamex on October 19 in Beirut, which manages and invests in the permanent Chinese Expo, Dragonmart, to promote Chinese companies and products around the world. Kassar stressed the common interest of China and his country in strengthening bilateral cooperation and partnerships, not only for the Lebanese market, but also for African and Arab markets via Lebanon. (An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, September 28, October 20, 23, 2018)

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Proud Lebanon denounces veto on LGBT rights

22-10-2018

Responding to Official Lebanon’s vote against LGBT rights at the 139th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU) in Geneva (http://www.lkdg.org/node/17903), Proud Lebanon director, Bertho Makso, said human rights are indivisible, and hence, LGBT rights should definitely be not treated as a secondary or unimportant. Makso said it is time to revolutionize Lebanese laws in order to put an end to all forms of discrimination, while observing the developments in medicine and psychiatry which no longer consider homosexuality as a mental disorder. Makso elucidated the work of Proud Lebanon which, he stressed, does not conflict with religions or religious institutions, saying, “We respect everyone and our struggle is part of reform of the legislation regulating the status of gays and LGBT persons in Lebanon.” He alluded to a panel discussion organized last week on the situation of the LGBT community, with emphasis on Article 534 of the Penal Code, that states that any sexual intercourse against nature is punishable by one-month to one-year imprisonment, and a fine from LBP 200,000 and one million. He said the session was held away from the media in the presence of the Deputy UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), Philippe Lazzarini, and representative of ministries and diplomats, revealing that the interventions pointed to Lebanon’s non-observance of international treaties on LGBT rights which it endorsed and signed. ( L’Orient Le Jour, October 20, 2018)

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Nassib Crossing unconditionally accessible to Lebanese good from Syrian side

22-10-2018

Al Diyar newspaper today spotlighted the reopening of the Nassib Crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian borders with Lebanon which is expected to save large amounts of money on Lebanese importers and provide jobs to scores of truck drivers who were forced to stop work. On the other hand, Al Diyar pointed to the continued closure by Americans of the Tanf and Bukamal outposts between Syrian and Iraq. Citing visitors to Damascus, the newspaper wrote that the reopening, despite the denunciation by some Lebanese officials, mainly the Future Movement and its chief, of the Sryian government, happened based on two key principles. The first, is the approach made by President Michel Aoun to his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, alluding to a question raised by Lebanon on the cost or requisites for restoring the transit movement, and to which Assad replied, nothing. The second principle, the newspaper argued, is that the Nassib and other crossings are regulated by certain inter-state controls and agreements, therefore, the actual use of these border points between Syria and Arab countries, and achieving an all-out return of refugees and reconstruction of Syria are separate issues. On the Jordanian part, the government enforced restrictions on the transit movement of goods (the crossing will be open from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm), which increases vehicular queueing in the next couple of weeks and slows down the transactions by exporters in timely manner. On the subject, LIA vice president, Ziad Bekdash, explained that the export activity through Nassib crossing remains the cheapest and fastest compared to the maritime bridge, demanding a reconsideration of the increase of transit fees imposed by Syria. (c.f: https://bit.ly/2OYOQtB). (Al Diyar, October 20, 22, 2018)

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Four trucks to Jordan, Gulf via Nassib-Jaber crossing

19-10-2018

Following the reopening on October 15 of the Nassib-Jaber crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian borders, (:https://bit.ly/2yrCzYr), Al Diyar daily reported that four trucks carrying Syrian products have arrived to the crossing on their way to Jordan and GCC countries. The first Jordanian trucks will depart through the crossing within the next couple of days, restoring the trade exchange movement between the Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Europe and Turkey, according to the chief of Jordanian Truck Owners, Mohamad Kheir Daoud. Official Lebanon and concerned parties welcomed the decision. The trade minister, Raed Khoury, tweeted, “Finally, we witness the long-awaited opening of the crossing”, stressing his ministry’s constant contact with the farmers to this end. For his part, vice president of the Lebanese Industrialists Association (LIA), Ziad Dakach, described the occasion as a winning lottery card for Lebanon, mentioning the USD 2 billion losses incurred on the industrial sector as a result of the closure of the crossing. Also, the president of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council, Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, welcomed the Syrian decision, stating that it revives Lebanon’s economy and props productive sectors, notably, agriculture. Likewise, while the head of the South Farmers Congregation, Mohamad Husseini, pointed out that the land crossings are the only outlet for the Lebanese industrial and agricultural exports, the chief of the Beqaa Farmers Association, Ibrahim Tarshishi, clarified that raising the export tariffs on the Syrian part will not delay the start of the export activity. (Al Diyar, October 17, 18, 19, 2018)

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National strategy needed to fight poverty in Lebanon

19-10-2018

In its issue of today, Al Akhbar newspaper highlighted the national program to support the poorest families (http://www.lkdg.org/ar/node/12106), citing a memo released earlier this month by the director general of the ministry of social affairs (MoSA) that allows poor families to apply in order to benefit from the program launched since 2011. This type of programs, Al Akhbar wrote, while aimed in part to help needy households, is but a partial solution that does not achieve the desired results, or replace a national strategy to combat the prevalent poverty. In the absence of accurate official statistics on the absolute number of people under this category, excluding MoSA estimates which puts the average rate of families living in extreme poverty between 8% and 12%, the above program does not cover all the poor families in the country, Al Akhbar said. The newspaper quoted one of the program’s sponsors as admitting the loopholes that could emerge in its implementation, in terms of the inflated number of inapplicable recipients on the one hand, and those who are virtually in need of assistance, on the other. In this respect, the newspaper pointed to the exaggerated number of applicants (exceeding 200,000), while the number of those who benefitted stood at 44,000, including 10.000 on the bottom rung. To recall, the program benefits include, obtaining a 3-year card which enables its holders to benefit from hospitalization and education services, in addition to a food card, which entitles each family member to get USD 27 each month, provided the maximum number of members be not more than five. (Al Akhbar, October 19, 2018)

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House Speaker votes against LGBT rights

19-10-2018

House Speaker Nabih Berri and his delegation to the 139th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (IPU) in Geneva played an active role yesterday in rejecting a draft bill for respecting LGBTQI rights, according to the state-run National News Agency (NNA). Berri voted against a law on LGBTQI rights after meeting on Wednesday with the head of Africa’s Parliamentary Union who agreed with his stand on this matter, NNA reported. The meeting was preceded by two other meetings of the Islamic and Arab Parliamentary Unions who stressed their opposition to the bill, NNA said. The results of the votes came out as follows: 636 against, 499 in favor and 130 abstentions. European countries and a group of Latin American states spearheaded the advocates for LGBTQI rights. Hence, opponents, including many African countries, China and Russia, won, An Nahar newspaper wrote. (An Nahar, Al Diyar, Al Akhbar, October 19, 2018)

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