• Lebanon: UNIFIL, Army mark 'International Day of Peace' in south
• Lebanon: Mayor launches 'Beirut is Amazing' city greening plan
• Organic Lebanon

• Replications of Lebanon study showing decreased war deaths: Scientific research on the Brain-Based Approach to Peace
• Lebanon: World Peace Assembly planned to create coherence and harmony
• Lebanon: Achievements of Maharishi's programmes recognized

• Lack of funds hits refugee health care in Lebanon
• Lebanon: Hezbollah says could hit all of Israel in future war
• Lebanon: Shooting between Lebanese Shiites, Sunnis kills three

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Positive Trends
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Lebanon: UNIFIL, Army mark 'International Day of Peace' in south
21 September 2012 - To mark the International Day of Peace Thursday, the UN Interim Forces in Lebanon held a ceremony at their headquarters in Naqoura, southern Lebanon. The event, which was attended by representatives from the Lebanese Army, religious and municipality leaders, and ambassadors, was held under this year's theme, 'Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future'. Speaking at the event, Head of the European Union delegation Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst said, 'Europe, after suffering in the past the results of hatred and conflict, has learned to overcome differences and to build peace on the respect for diversity.' (more)

Lebanon: Mayor launches 'Beirut is Amazing' city greening plan
15 June 2012 - The mayor of Beirut Wednesday launched the green 'Beirut is Amazing' campaign, which will see the renovation of some of the few existing green spaces in the capital and the construction of some new areas. Speaking Wednesday at the Beirut Municipality building, Beirut Mayor Bilal Hamad introduced the project, which he said would see the capital regain some of its former beauty, when it was once a 'gem in the Middle East'. (more)

Organic Lebanon
28 January 2012 - What started out in 2007 with the Massoud family growing pesticide and chemical-free produce for its own consumption on small plots of land in north Lebanon has grown into an Italian certified organic farming enterprise that works closely with some 40 farmers across the country. There's a 'big increase in demand', says Mario Massoud, commercial director of Biomass, a Lebanese, family-owned company selling organic produce. 'People want to eat better, healthier, and fresher. (more)

Lebanon: A small step towards literacy
23 August 2011 - Seven years ago, Khadija Assaad began teaching the Koran to girls in the remote Lebanese village of Wadi al-Jamous in Akkar District, Northern Governorate, but had no idea how much impact the initiative would eventually have on her poor community. 'I used to do this at home. Then illiterate women in Wadi al-Jamous came up to me; they wanted to learn how to read. I went to see the mayor, Khodr Abdelkader Akkari, who gave us a room in the municipality building. We grew little by little. I was introduced to people in charge of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Akkar. I attended a training to teach illiterate adults and they gave me books to use in class,' she told IRIN. (more)

Lebanon bans smoking in enclosed public places
18 August 2011 - Lebanon passed a law banning smoking in all enclosed public places on Wednesday, with people who light up inside facing a fine of 100,000 LL ($66) and the owner of the establishment 3 million LL ($2,000). In February, the next phase of the law will come into effect phasing out cigarette advertising. (more)

Lebanon: Solar power helps schools, hospitals
29 October 2009 - In Lebanon's remote northeastern district of Akkar, teachers and pupils at the Rajam Issa public school are hoping this winter will be the first when the lights stay on. It is hoped that by the end of November their classroom lights, projectors, and photocopying machines will stay on during power cuts thanks to a set of rooftop photovoltaic panels producing renewable electricity from one of Lebanon's most abundant natural resources, the sun. (more)

Lebanon vote favours more moderate camp, boost for Obama
9 June 2009 - A pro-Western coalition won Lebanon's parliamentary elections Monday, dealing a major setback to the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and giving a boost to Barack Obama's Middle East peace policy. Coming just days after the American President reached out to the Muslim world, the vote undercuts the most militant force in Lebanese politics. It was the first major political test in the Middle East since Obama's groundbreaking address last week, in which he challenged the Islamic world to confront violent extremism and urged Israel and the Arabs to find common ground to establish peace. (more)

Lebanon opens first embassy in neighboring Syria in sign of improving relations
16 March 2009 - Lebanon on Monday opened an embassy in Syria, sealing the establishment of full diplomatic relations between the long-feuding rivals for the first time since they gained independence from France in the 1940s. Relations between the neighboring countries reached a turning point in August when they agreed to establish ties and demarcate their contentious border. The agreement marked a final break in Syria's longtime dominance over its smaller neighbour. (more)

Lebanon appoints ambassador to Syria as ties warm
22 December 2008 - Lebanon appointed an ambassador to Syria on Saturday, the first time the Arab neighbours will have full diplomatic relations since gaining independence from France in the 1940s. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had issued a decree in October to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon, with whom bilateral ties have thawed since the end of a Lebanese political crisis in May. Syrian and Lebanese officials have expected ambassadors to be exchanged before the end of this year. The two countries had announced earlier this year they intended to open diplomatic relations at the highest level. (more)

Lebanon's Aoun visits old foe Syria, meets President Assad
3 December 2008 - Lebanese Christian politician Michel Aoun turned the page on a turbulent past with Syria on Wednesday in a visit to Damascus, Syria's captial. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad greeted Aoun warmly at his hilltop palace in a meeting underlining the dramatic shift in the position of the former general (Aoun) who was defeated in battle by Syrian forces at the end of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Replications of Lebanon study showing decreased war deaths: Scientific research on the Brain-Based Approach to Peace
8 November 2011 - The results of a study of the Brain-Based Approach to Peace, conducted during the peak of the Lebanon war and showing decreased war deaths in Lebanon, were subsequently replicated in seven consecutive experiments over a two-year period, also at the height of the war. (more)

Lebanon: World Peace Assembly planned to create coherence and harmony
17 May 2011 - A special course will be held in Lebanon from 24 June to 3 July for people who practise Transcendental Meditation and the advanced Transcendental Meditation Sidhi Programme, including Yogic Flying. In addition to knowledge of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Vedic Science, the course, called a World Peace Assembly, will feature extended group practise of these technologies of consciousness, which scientific research has shown to create coherence and harmony in communities and nations, including in the Middle East. (more)

Lebanon: Achievements of Maharishi's programmes recognized
26 January 2011 - The many fruitful initiatives of the national organization offering Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's programmes in Lebanon in the past year were given recognition in a recent videoconference. During the conference the National Directors, Teachers, and practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation Programme from throughout Lebanon were commended for a wide range of achievements including new Arabic language websites, many articles and interviews in the news media, expansion of Maharishi Ayur-Veda health care, and a business plan for building Lebanon's Maharishi Tower of Invincibility. (more)

Lebanon: New inspiration to realize goal of building a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility
26 January 2011 - The initiative to build a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility in Lebanon is one of the most important priorities of the national organization offering the programmes of the Global Country of World Peace, said the leader of Lebanon for the Global Country in a recent national videoconference. (more)

Lebanon: Rising to be a lighthouse of coherence and peace for the Middle East
26 January 2011 - Establishing and maintaining large, permanent coherence-creating groups of meditators in Lebanon has been recognized as a top goal of organizations offering programmes of the Global Country of World Peace in the nation. The purpose of these groups is to practise Transcendental Meditation and Yogic Flying together twice daily, creating a sustained, powerful influence of peace and harmony in national consciousness--and fulfilling Lebanon's leadership role as a lighthouse of coherence, promoting invincible peace, prosperity, stability, and progress in the Middle East. (more)

Lebanon: Maharishi Spa and Ayur-Veda expert tour draw hundreds during 2010
22 January 2011 - During 2010, Lebanon saw fruitful developments in Maharishi Ayur-Veda health care programmes, including at the Maharishi Spa in Beirut and in the distribution of Maharishi Ayur-Veda products. (more)

Lebanon: Many learn Transcendental Meditation, Consciousness-Based Education to expand
22 January 2011 - During the past year in Lebanon, many people learnt the Transcendental Meditation Technique and participated in residential courses for Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's programmes. Goals for 2011 include establishing a Consciousness-Based Education institution and a Maharishi Tower of Invincibility. (more)

Lebanon: Global Mother Divine Organization celebrates becoming officially established
12 January 2011 - In the past year, the Global Mother Divine Organization has become active in Lebanon, beginning to offer programmes and courses for women and girls in the knowledge and technologies of consciousness of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Just before the new year, the organization celebrated becoming legally established in the country. (more)

Lebanon: Distinguished faculty to lead Maharishi Ayur-Veda training for Middle East health professionals
20 November 2010 - Faculty of the upcoming training course in Maharishi Ayur-Veda, starting 3 December in Beirut for health professionals from across the Middle East, are experts with many years experience in this comprehensive modern formulation of the world's oldest system of natural health care. The Curriculum Development committee includes leading experts in the major disciplines of modern medicine, with extensive training in Maharishi Ayurveda and in applying its many modalities in modern health care practice. (more)

Lebanon: Health professionals to begin Phase I of extensive training in Maharishi Ayur-Veda
20 November 2010 - A training course in Maharishi Ayur-Veda, starting 3 December in Beirut for health professionals from throughout the Middle East, is an introductory course consisting of several blocks. This is Phase I of a planned extensive training programme that will require over 1,500 hours of classroom theory and practical teaching, professional examinations, and 500 hours of internship--leading to a master's degree or postgraduate diploma in Maharishi Ayur-Veda. (more)

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Flops
Short Summaries of Top Stories

Lack of funds hits refugee health care in Lebanon
8 February 2013 - The Lebanese government and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) say they are trying to scale up their assistance to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees but are hampered by a lack of funds. On 7 February Medecins Sans Frontières (MSF) released a report which painted an alarming picture of the living and health conditions of refugees in Lebanon and called on both the UN and the government to increase registration and aid. Aid agencies in Lebanon are facing growing difficulty keeping up with worsening conditions, as the number of refugees increases and the financial situation of those already present degrades. (more)

Lebanon: Hezbollah says could hit all of Israel in future war
25 November 2012 - Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Israel on Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and cities across the Jewish state if it attacked Lebanon. Speaking four days after the ceasefire which ended a week of conflict between Israel and the Islamist Hamas rulers of Gaza, Nasrallah said Hezbollah's response to any attack would dwarf the rocket fire launched from Palestinian territories. But Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a standstill in a 34-day war six years ago, says it has been re-arming since then and has a far deadlier arsenal than Hamas. Nasrallah has said Hezbollah could kill tens of thousands of people and strike anywhere inside Israel if hostilities break out again. 'If the confrontation with the Gaza Strip ... had a range of 40 to 70 km, the battle with us will range over the whole of occupied Palestine%26mdash;from the Lebanese border to the Jordanian border, to the Red Sea,' Nasrallah said. Hezbollah could hit targets 'from Kiryat Shmona -- and let the Israelis listen carefully -- from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat', he said, referring to Israeli's northernmost town on the Lebanese border to the Red Sea port 290 miles further south. (more)

Lebanon: Shooting between Lebanese Shiites, Sunnis kills three
11 November 2012 - Shooting between Sunni and Shiite Muslim gunmen in southern Lebanon killed three people and wounded at least five Sunday, officials said, in the latest sign Syria's civil war may be spilling over to Lebanon. The clash between followers of hardline Sunni cleric Sheik Ahmad al-Assir and members of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah broke out after Shiite religious banners were raised in the port city of Sidon, the officials added. The banners marked Ashoura, an annual 10-day mourning period for Shiites that begins Thursday. Sectarian tensions related to the conflict in neighbouring Syria have been rising in Lebanon, coming to a head last month with the assassination of a senior anti-Syrian intelligence official. The killing of Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan, a Sunni Muslim, sparked sectarian violence that killed at least 13 people. Lebanon and Syria share similar sectarian divides that have fed tensions in both countries. Most of Lebanon's Sunnis have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Lebanese Shiites tend to back President Bashar Assad, who belongs to the minority Alawite sect -- an offshoot of Shiite Islam. (more)

Clashes break out in Beirut after slain official's funeral
22 October 2012 - Gunmen exchanged fire in southern districts of Beirut overnight after the state funeral of an assassinated Lebanese intelligence chief ended in violence when angry mourners broke away and tried to storm the offices of Prime Minister Najib Mikati. Sunday's clashes fed into a growing political crisis in Lebanon linked to the civil war in neighbouring Syria. On Sunday night, gunmen armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades exchanged fire in southern districts of Beirut, security sources said, and residents could hear the sound of ambulance sirens. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the clashes in the capital, but in the northern city of Tripoli a 9-year-old girl was killed by a sniper and several people were wounded in clashes. Sunday's events highlighted how the 19-month-old uprising against Assad has sharpened deep-seated sectarian tensions in Lebanon, which is still scarred from its 1975-90 civil war. (more)

Protesters try to storm Lebanese government
21 October 2012 - Lebanese soldiers fired guns and tear gas to push back hundreds of protesters who broke through a police cordon and tried to storm the government headquarters in Beirut. The enraged crowd came from the funeral of a top Lebanese intelligence official assassinated in a massive car bombing. The protesters blame Friday's killing on Syria -- and they consider the government in Beirut to be far too close to the regime there. Lebanon for much of the past 30 years has lived under Syrian military and political domination. Several hundred protesters made it to within 50 meters (yards) of the entrance of Lebanon's government palace, with thousands more behind them. The gunfire appeared to push the crowd back. The crowd had marched from Martrys Square, where thousands of people had turned out for Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan's funeral. Al-Hassan, 47, was a powerful opponent of Syria in Lebanon. He headed an investigation over the summer that led to the arrest of former Information Minister Michel Samaha, a Lebanese politician who was one of Syria's most loyal allies in Lebanon. He was among eight people killed in the attack on Friday. (more)

Lebanon-Syria: The refugee minefield
3 September 2012 - Progress in terms of providing more and better aid to the steady influx of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is being held back by government indecision stemming from fears that the ongoing violence in Syria may destabilize the country's fragile politics. Sectarian clashes in the northern city of Tripoli in recent weeks have left at least 15 dead and 120 wounded, and while politicians on all sides have pleaded for calm, many view the refugees as a security threat. General Ibrahim Bachir, secretary-general of the High Relief Commission (HRC), an aid agency in the prime minister's office (originally set up to coordinate post-war reconstruction in 2006), said his first priority was 'keeping this country safe'. Tension in Lebanon is high: Michel Samaha, a former minister of information with close ties to Damascus, was arrested on 9 August on charges of plotting bomb attacks in the north, including one targeting the Maronite patriach. No stranger to refugees, Lebanon already hosts 455,000 Palestinians in 12 camps. The influx of armed Palestinian groups in the 1970s changed the balance of power among sects and led to an arms race between the different militias, culminating into a bloody civil war (1975-1990) and leaving at least 150,000 dead. Even today, Palestinian refugees are deprived of many of their basic rights in Lebanon, and the refugee camps have grown into slums, reliant on basic services provided by the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA). Clashes between extremist groups from the camps and the Lebanese army occur regularly. (more)

Lebanon Shi'ites abduct more than 20, including Turk, Saudi
15 August 2012 - Gunmen from a Lebanese Shi'ite clan kidnapped more than 20 people on Wednesday, including a Turk, a Saudi and several Syrians, in retaliation for the capture of one of their kinsmen in Syria's capital Damascus. The incident, in an area of Lebanon controlled by Hezbollah Shi'ite militants, raised the risk that the sectarian violence driving the conflict in Syria will spread to its neighbour, which fought its own civil war on sectarian lines for 15 years. Saudi Arabia told its citizens to leave Lebanon after the mass kidnapping, which was accompanied by threats to seize more citizens of countries that have backed the uprising against Syria's president Bashar al-Assad. The United Arab Emirates also advised its citizens to leave the country immediately. Members of the Meqdad clan, one of Lebanon's powerful Shi'ite families, said the kidnapping was retaliation for the capture of kinsman Hassan al-Meqdad by the rebel Free Syrian Army in Damascus two days ago. The Syrian conflict has polarised Lebanon, with its Sunnis mainly supporting Syria's rebels, while Shi'ites, including the powerful militant group Hezbollah, mainly backing Assad, a member of the Alawite minority sect, an offshoot of Shi'ism. (more)

Lebanese marijuana growers fight security forces, two hurt
3 August 2012 - Armed Lebanese farmers clashed on Friday with security forces trying to destroy their illegal marijuana crops in the eastern Bekaa Valley, wounding two soldiers and damaging two of their vehicles, witnesses said. It was the second confrontation in two weeks between Bekaa farmers and security forces who have been using tractors to crush the marijuana plants. The witnesses and a security source said an officer had been shot and wounded and another member of the security forces had been wounded by an anti-personnel mine. A military vehicle was hit by another mine and a tractor used to dig up the marijuana was damaged by bullets, they said. More recent statistics from the United Nations consider Lebanon to be among the top five countries that produce cannabis resin, used to produce the drug hashish. (more)

Lebanon re-emerging as an opiates producer
23 July 2012 - During Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, the fertile Bekaa Valley produced up to 1,000 tonnes of cannabis resin annually and 30 to 50 tonnes of opium, used to make heroin. The crop was eradicated under a United Nations programme between 1991-1993 but it has re-emerged as the security forces struggle to control the volatile country. More recent statistics from the United Nations consider Lebanon to be among the top five countries that produce cannabis resin, used to produce the drug hashish. Farmers are likely backed by drug traffickers who are well funded and armed. (more)

Three dead after more Syrian shells hit Lebanon
10 July 2012 - Three people were killed when Syrian mortars hit villages in northern Lebanon on Tuesday, as violence in Syria continued to spill across the border. Residents said they had been under fire for five hours overnight, and that there had been sporadic shelling in the area for days. One Lebanese man was killed by the shelling, and two Syrians living in Lebanon died when they were hit by a car speeding away from an area under fire, residents told Reuters. It was the second fatal attack in three days. Three people were killed by mortar fire from Syria at the weekend and President Michel Suleiman ordered an investigation. Many residents of the border area are leaving their homes and heading to Lebanon's port city of Tripoli to escape the violence, locals said. (more)