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Barbara Leaf: 'ball is in Iran's court' over nuclear deal

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by Mina Al-Oraibi | Joyce Karam -- nationalnews.com -- The US believes the “ball is in Iran’s court” regarding the resumption of the JCPOA deal, at a time when the prospects for the deal seems less positive than just a few months ago. Meanwhile, protests are expanding in Iran over the killing of Mahsa Amini. Speaking to The National in New York, where she participated in the US delegation to the UN General Assembly’s High Level Week, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs Barbara Leaf said that the US “was not looking for fights” with Iran. While there continues to be a diplomatic push to revive the nuclear deal with Iran, several Arab and western diplomats who spoke to The National in New York appeared less optimistic that an agreement could be reached..

Ms Leaf said she was "not going to speculate" over what options were available if the deal did not come through, but said "the package that's on the table is a sound one”. She said the talks were “stuck because Iranian leaders haven't made the decision to go back in, but they also have brought in extraneous issues and it's not just we who view them as extraneous, the collective group views them as extraneous”. Among those demands are additional safeguards that the US would not pull out of the deal in the future and the removal of the Islamic Republican Guard Corps from the list of terrorist organisations. Ms Leaf said: “we've done everything that we needed to do at this point. The ball is really in Iran's court."

As to whether the protests in Iran will make it harder for politicians to make a decision to rejoin the JCPOA, Ms Leaf said: “They were having trouble making the decision before it appeared." On the protests, she said that: “The brutal killing of this young woman was so shocking and it’s just unleashed this titanic wave of anger in Iran that is really quite striking. “I've talked to Iranian women over the past few years and they're really sick of being told what to do, about their appearance [and] how to live their lives. And clearly, a lot of lot of Iranian men feel the same way." However, she did not see the two issues as related. “I don't know if it affects how they think about the deal. The deal has its own logic."

Patriarch Cardinal Rai: "To block the presidential elections aims to overthrow the republic and exclude the Christian and Maronite role

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NNA - Maronite Patriarch Beshara Boutros Rahi, warned on Sunday during Sunday Mass service against any attempt to disrupt the presidential elections because it excludes Christians from power. "To block the presidential elections aims to overthrow the republic and exclude the Christian and Maronite role, in particular, from power," Rahi said. The Patriarch renewed the insistence on the need to form a new government that transcends the equation of political division between March 8 and 14, which represents the popular situation that arose with the October 17 uprising, and with the parliamentary diversity that resulted from the parliamentary uprising and the May 15 elections. "These circumstances require a national, sovereign, inclusive and representative government that guarantee the country's unity, economic advancement and carry out the required reforms," he stressed.

The Blue House Restoration: A Recapturing Of Beirut’s Rich Heritage

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By Ghalia Tamam -- Beirut, a picturesque coastal city known for its white capped mountains and booming night life is also home to some of the most beautiful heritage houses lining its inner neighborhoods. Nestled within Beirut’s oldest neighborhood, Abdel Wahab Al Ingiliz’s Street, are some of Beirut’s architectural gems including the 1890 Messarra House as well as the refurbished 1930s house transformed into the Albergo hotel. Unfortunately, not all of the city’s buildings stood the test of time. On August 4th 2020, a loud explosion thundered through the port of Beirut, killing at least 220 people while also destroying several of the city’s unique and precious buildings in its wake. The event saddened the hearts of its people and the Arab nation as a whole. To bring back a semblance of hope as well as a taste of Beirut prior to the 2020 incident, the Beirut Heritage Initiative (BHI) which launched after the events of the explosion collaborated with a maritime archaeology charity known as The Honor Frost Foundation to restore one of the buildings destroyed by the blast.

Located between Pasteur Street and Charles Helou Avenue, the Medawar 479 also known as The Blue House built in 1890 was hit badly by the explosion because of its proximity to the port. To restore it back to its old glory, the BHI reached out to the Honor Frost Foundation (HFF) to request funding for the restoration of several of the buildings hit by the blast including the Blue House. The HFF agreed to fund the Medawar 479 project and the renovation process started on November 2021. The entire project took over a year. On February 28th of this year, the HFF posted an update as well as a sneak peek of the house on Instagram, proudly stating that in over four months, they were able to complete 50% of the renovation process. Structural consolidation, as well as reconstruction of the pitched roof and rebuilding of the houses’ windows using Lebanese cedar wood, were some of the highlights of the restoration work.

US Catholic bishops' report to the Vatican shows a church split by politics

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VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Catholics in the United States are deeply divided over issues as disparate as LGBTQ inclusion, clerical sexual abuse and celebrating the liturgy, according to a summary of consultations carried out in dioceses across the country in recent months as part of Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality. “Participants felt this division as a profound sense of pain and anxiety,” the U.S. bishops wrote in a summary released Monday (Sept. 19) to the public after being sent to the Vatican last month. In 2021, Francis launched a global discussion, requiring parish churches and a host of other religious organizations to gather their congregations to talk about how they view the hierarchy and issues facing the church. The discussion would inform a summit of bishops at the Vatican scheduled for October 2023 on the topic “For a Synodal Church: Participation, Communion and Mission.”

Bishops’ conferences were tasked with collecting comments made at the parish level and sending them to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who produced a report for the Vatican. To collect the information from the over 66.8 million Catholics living in the United States, bishops divided the country into 15 administrative regions, including one representing the Eastern Churches. Contributions by Catholic organizations and individuals were grouped into a 16th region. A total of 290 documents were sent to the U.S. bishops to summarize. In a section of the document titled “Enduring wounds,” the bishops wrote that Catholics have brought divisions born in the political arena, including views on the Eucharist and the celebration of Mass, into the pews. A controversy about whether Catholic pro-choice politicians, including President Joe Biden, should be allowed to receive Communion at Mass has fractured Catholic communities in recent years and led U.S. Bishops to launch a $28 million three-year process to “restore” and “revive” the Eucharist.

Francis’ decision last year to strongly restrict the celebration of Mass in the Old Latin Rite, which the pontiff believed had become a rallying cause for conservative dissent, has led some Catholics to lament “the level of animosity” and “feeling judged” in the church, the USCCB report said. The polarization has also affected the church hierarchy, with the divisions among bishops — and sometimes between bishops and the pope — becoming “a source of grave scandal,” the summary stated. “This perceived lack of unity within the hierarchy seems to, in turn, justify division at the local level,” the document said. Connected to the topic of polarization was “marginalization.” The report emphasized calls by many Catholics for the church to become a more welcoming and open space. Two groups most marginalized, it suggested, were those who lack social or economic power and those whose lifestyle is condemned by church teaching.

Lebanese people turn to cryptocurrencies and decentralisation as banks permanently close

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By Patrick Huston -- bollyinside.com -- On September 22, the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) stated that all banks in the nation will close permanently due to aggressive depositor withdrawals. The government limited access to the depository accounts and shut down all banks on September 16 for a week due to the economic crisis. Young people in Lebanon are using cryptocurrencies to get away from the financial turmoil, which has increased usage since 2021. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, also tweeted the news. In response to Zhao’s tweet, hundreds of people expressed their support for the ownership and decentralisation of cryptocurrencies, which keep them from going out of business like the banks in Lebanon. Reuters reports that by September 2021, the Lebanese pound, which was pegged at roughly $1,500 at the time, had dropped to $15,000 on the black market. Due to this, banks had to halt withdrawals because depositors continued to take money out despite large losses.

financial emergency

Since August 2019, the nation has been experiencing a financial crisis, which got worse in 2020 with the explosion in Beirut and the epidemic. In 2020, the IMF predicted that Lebanon would suffer a loss of about $83 million and put up a recovery strategy for the country.

Bitcoin in Lebanon

Mediterraneo, a twin campus of the American University will start construction in Cyprus

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by nna-leb.gov.lb -- The American University of Beirut that JV MAN Enterprise and Atlas Pantou has been selected to construct the American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo campus in Pafos, Cyprus. JV MAN Enterprise and Atlas Pantou, which was selected after a rigorous tender process, will begin work immediately. “This is an important milestone in the establishment of our new twin campus in Pafos, Cyprus, where we will be welcoming students in fall 2023,” said American University of Beirut President Fadlo Khuri.

The American University of Beirut – Mediterraneo, a twin campus of the American University of Beirut in Beirut, Lebanon, is being established through an agreement with the Municipality of Pafos, Cyprus, which was signed on April 8, 2022. The signing ceremony was attended by the President of the Republic of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades; US Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Lee Satterfield; Ambassador, American University of Beirut Trustee, and Chairman of the American University of Beirut International Advisory Council Frank G. Wisner; Mayor of the Municipality of Pafos Phedonas Phedonos; American University of Beirut President Fadlo Khuri; in addition to ambassadors and officials as well as other members of the American University of Beirut Board of Trustees. “The new university, capitalizing on the long and successful experience of the mother American University of Beirut to manage issues of coexistence and cooperation of groups with different religions and cultural backgrounds, is in a position to convincingly convey the messages of brotherhood, solidarity, mutual respect, and equality, which are the foundations for any honest compromise and for the establishment and development of a democratic and prosperous society,” stated the Mayor of Pafos Phedonas Phedonos.

Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Mikati

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by state.gov -- Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met yesterday with Lebanese Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in New York City. The Secretary emphasized the need to hold a timely presidential election in Lebanon and urged that the Prime Minister and other leaders implement key reforms needed to effect meaningful change, promote good governance, and revive Lebanon’s economy while restoring the trust of its people. The Secretary and the Prime Minister also discussed the generosity of the Lebanese state in hosting refugees and emphasized that refugee returns to Syria must only be done voluntarily, safely, and with dignity. The Secretary stressed the urgent need and continued support to conclude a maritime agreement to ensure stability and Lebanon’s economy. The Secretary reiterated that the United States would continue to work with Lebanon for peace and prosperity in the region.