BEIRUT: Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil and the budget and finance parliamentary committee have failed Tuesday to find an acceptable formula to pay the salaries of civil servants. Khalil, who emerged from a meeting with the committee members, told reporters that he is not going to authorize paying the salaries of government employees end… اقرأ المزيد
The last two weeks of attacks by Israelis and Palestinians and street clashes in Jerusalem have raised questions about whether Palestinians will launch a new intifada to shake off the Israeli occupation. That is a reasonable expectation, in view of the two previous intifadas and the continuing abuses that Palestinians suffer from Israel’s occupation, colonization… اقرأ المزيد
Elias Sakr| The Daily Star BEIRUT: The Lebanese government is no longer capable of borrowing in foreign currency but will be able to meet its short-term debt obligations, the Finance Minister said Monday. Ali Hasan Khalil said Parliament needs to pass a law authorizing the Cabinet to issue foreign-currency denominated debt and approve extra-budgetary spending… اقرأ المزيد
Wassim Mroueh BEIRUT: Lebanon’s political crisis could lead to another extension of Parliament’s term, political sources said Sunday, as no positive signs emerged to end the presidential deadlock soon. “Despite the statements in public to the contrary, most major players now realize that it’s virtually impossible for elections to be held this year,” a… اقرأ المزيد
With the sudden rise of the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), a little-noted aspect is that Gen. Qasem Suleimani, the supposed strategic genius of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, has blundered disastrously. By overreaching in Iraq and Syria and triggering a violent response, Iran now faces dangerous instability on its border… اقرأ المزيد
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil leans to take a question during the news conference in Beirut, Friday, July 4, 2014. (The Daily Star/Stringer) BEIRUT: Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil Friday warned against attempts to permanently settle Syrian refugees in Lebanon, arguing that it was high time Lebanese authorities took initiatives to protect the country’s sovereignty. “There are… اقرأ المزيد