Merrill Lynch recommended that emerging-market investors put Lebanese state Eurobonds at an "underweight" position in their portfolios for March, said a report in Lebanon This Week, the economic publication of the Byblos Bank Group. Merrill Lynch ranked Lebanon and Ukraine
Last week the Beirut Stock Exchange snapped its monotonous downward trend of the past few months, driven by relative political optimism on electing a president and the rumors about Bank Audi's merger. The BLOM Stock Index rose 1.7 percent from
Thousands of Christians took part on Saturday in the first Mass at Qatar's only church, opened last week despite threats from Islamists. Vatican envoy Cardinal Ivan Dias presided over the eucharist attended by around 15,000 worshippers at Our Lady of
Iraqi Kurds mourned on Sunday the deaths of around 5,000 villagers from Halabja who were massacred 20 years ago in chemical attacks blamed on Saddam Hussein's forces during the Iran-Iraq war. Kurdish villagers, dressed in black, gathered in Halabja for
Sudanese renegades frustrated with not being absorbed into the military - and not Ugandan rebels initially suspected - were behind recent attacks in South Sudan, officials said on Saturday. Major General Peter Parnyang of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA)
Jordan said Sunday it has invited officials from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt to a conference this week to develop closer cooperation in coping with hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees. United Nations officials and representatives from Turkey and Iran
A suspected Islamist leader may have helped foil an attack in Britain just after the 2005 London train bombings by tipping off Belgium's intelligence service, a newspaper reported Saturday. Belgium's domestic intelligence gave British authorities "very precise" information that enabled
A missile strike in Pakistan's tribal belt killed 16 people Sunday, witnesses and state media said, a day after a bomb targeting foreigners at an Islamabad restaurant left a Turkish woman dead. The deteriorating security in Pakistan, a key ally
The abductors of two Austrians seized in Tunisia and currently thought to be in Mali extended a Sunday midnight deadline for their demands to be met, the Austrian Foreign Ministry said. The deadline "has been extended," spokesman Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal told
Prince Hassan bin Talal of Jordan has expressed outrage at the death of Mosul Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulus Faraj Rahho, whose body was discovered last week after his abduction by gunmen on February 29. Hassan, who serves as chairman of
Occupied Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah led thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world on the traditional procession into the Holy City on Palm Sunday, but the peaceful celebration was marred by Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday started a three-day visit to Israel aimed at cementing ties with the Jewish state nearly 60 years after its creation following the Nazi Holocaust. "Sixty years after the creation of Israel we affirm again
A bomb threat on Sunday targeted the Paris book fair, forcing organizers to evacuate visitors to the literary event, which this year is honoring Israeli writers despite a Muslim boycott, police said. Visitors were told to leave the Paris exhibition
US Vice President Dick Cheney left to the Middle East Sunday, hoping to help revive the battered peace process and get Arab allies like Saudi Arabia to do more to curb Iran's influence in Iraq. With just 10 months left
The researchers say that the zebrafish exploits microRNAs - small pieces of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that can potentially control the activity of dozens of different genes - to control the regeneration of is organs and tissues. They say that one
The report by Professor Sarah Brown and Dr Karl Taylor, found that kids whose parents are socially active tend to score better in reading, maths and vocabulary tests. "Children's scores in reading, mathematics and vocabulary tests are positively associated with
Experiments conducted on mineworkers in Libby, Montana showed scarring and thickening of the membrane that lines the chest wall, some 25 years later. Vermiculite is a mineral that has a number of consumer applications, from gardening products to loose-fill home
The trolleys have been fitted with sat nav, which facilitates an on-board computer that help plan the best route to buy what you want and suggests meal recipes based on it. The trolleys, which are set to slash the time
From 2002 to 2007, the mean age of patients seeking the top ten most performed invasive procedures has increased by two years. The invasive procedures that have seen the largest increase include liposuction, sclerotherapy, facelift and forehead lift. Following suit
