Lebanon to decide by year-end on sale of mobile phone companies

Lebanon will decide by the end of the year how to sell two mobile phone operators, which previous governments had hoped would raise as much as $7 billion.

“It’s complicated,” Minister of Telecommunications Charbel Nahas said in an interview at his office in Beirut. “We will decide the pattern or forms of private investment in the telecommunications industry by the end of the year.”

Plans to sell the mobile phone companies were put on hold because of an 18-month political crisis that eased in May 2008 and later by the global credit crisis and parliamentary elections in June of last year. Lebanon’s public debt reached $50.5 billion at the end of November, or 153 percent of gross domestic product.

“The process of bringing in investors has different techniques and it can be an IPO or a mix that includes a strategic partner,” Nahas said. businessweek.

Israel accused of assassinating a Hamas leader in Dubai

Hamas accused Israeli agents on Friday of assassinating a veteran operative of the Palestinian militant group, saying he was electrocuted last week in a Dubai hotel room.
It identified the man as Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, one of the founders of Hamas’ military wing that has been responsible for hundreds of deadly attacks and suicide bombings targeting Israelis since the 1980s. It said he was 50 years old.
Israel’s government had no immediate comment. AP

3 Lebanon banks report higher profits in 2009

Byblos Bank, Lebanon’s third largest lender, Thursday said its 2009 full-year net profit rose 20% to $146.1 million from $122 million a year earlier.
Total assets grew 21% to $13.6 billion at the end of 2009 from $11.2 billion at the end of 2008, the bank said in an emailed statement.
Customer deposits climbed 23% to $10.3 billion from $8.4 billion a year earlier while loans increased 14.5% to $3.2 billion from $2.8 billion.
“Gross non-performing loans represented 2.6% of gross loans and were fully covered by provisions,” Byblos Bank said in the statement.

Similarly Bank Audi, Lebanon’s largest bank in terms of deposits, said on Thursday its 2009 net profit rose 21.4 percent to $289 million.
The bank said in a statement total assets increased by 29.9 percent to $26.5 billion at the end of 2009 from a year ago.
Customer deposits increased by 32.6 percent to $23 billion while earnings per share rose 23.5 percent to $8.
Bank of Beirut, one of the five top banks in Lebanon, said on Thursday its 2009 net profit rose 15 % to $76.3 million . The bank said the rise in profit was mainly due to considerable growth in the bank’s activity in Lebanon and abroad. It added that the bank had seen a remarkable surge in housing loans and loans to the private sector in Lebanon last year.
The growth in profits was also due to the rise in net operational earnings by 12.10 percent while the operational costs rose only by 11.76 percent.
Bank of Beirut’s private equity rose by 53 percent to $800 million in 2009.

U.S. Senate OKs sanctions on Iran’s fuel suppliers

The US Senate on Thursday approved legislation that would let President Barack Obama impose sanctions on Iran’s gasoline suppliers and penalize some of Tehran’s elites, a move aimed at pressuring Tehran to give up its nuclear program.
The sanctions, approved on a voice vote, would target companies that export gasoline to Iran or help expand the country’s oil-refining capacity by, in part, denying them loans and other assistance from U.S. financial institutions.
The House of Representatives has already passed similar legislation. Differences between the two bills will have to be worked out before the measure becomes law. Washington Post

South Lebanon bids farewell Friday to a victim of ET409 crash

Tomorrow the city of Nabatiyeh in south Lebanon will bid farewell to Ahmad Jabel who was killed in the Ethiopian Airline flight ET409 crash . 15 passengers from Nabatiyeh were on that same flight and all are feared dead

From Montana to Beirut

Erin Cole, a student at the University of Montana, visited Lebanon for the first time over winter break.

Majdel Anjar Emam found in good condition

Lebanon’s Internal Security intelligence unit found this evening the Emam of Majdel Anjar Sheikh Mohammad al Al Majthoub in the town of Lala in the Bekaa valley region . He was kidnapped on Tuesday and is reportedly in good condition . Investigation is ongoing to determine the reason behind who kidnapped him and why . Lebanon Files

Franjieh, Lahoud, Aoun are meeting in Rabiah

Former Lebanese president Emile Lahoud, his son Emile Jr., FPM leader MP Michel Aoun and Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh are having a dinner meeting at Franjieh’s residence in al Rabiah . No details were revealed about the purpose of the meeting . Lebanon Files.

ET409: Suleiman says a crises committee for emergencies should be formed

President Michel Suleiman told Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television that a permanent crises committee for emergencies should be formed in case a similar tragedy to ET409 occurs.
Suleiman revealed he had worked on a similar project when he was the Lebanese army chief.
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called for the formation of such a committee in his last speech

ET409 crash: Another submarine will be used to retrieve the black boxes

Lebanon’s Information Minister Tarek Mitri said after Cabinet’s extraordinary session that the black boxes had been detected at a depth ranging from 200 to 1400 meters below the surface of the sea. He also said that the submarine which will be sent to identify the location is to take pictures and to determine the exact position of the boxes adding that another submarine will be utilized to retrieve the boxes from the sea
meanwhile , Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi al-Aridi told New TV on Thursday that search operations to find the Ethiopian plane’s fuselage would continue even if the black boxes are recovered
“The detected vibrations specified the geographical location of the black boxes,” Aridi said,
The truth behind the crash will be revealed to the public, Aridi said.