Public Library to open in Sanayeh in December.

A public library will open in a historic building now named Saraya el Hamra, which is located in the old Faculty of Law and Political Sciences at the Lebanese University in Sanayeh, in December.

The renovation and expansion will cost $25 million. Several donors, including Qatar and the Government, funded the project.

Saraya el Hamra will also comprise an auditorium, a faculty for religious dialogue, a museum for fine art, an open air museum for sculpture, and a national theater. ...

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Central Bank asks banks to prepare ‘recovery plans’.

The Central Bank (BDL) has asked banks to prepare a 'recovery plan' as an additional step to bring the banking sector further in line with international regulatory standards.

The plan, which is to be used in times of crisis, is part of the 'Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions' set by the Financial Stability Board (FSB). The FSB is an international organization that monitors the global financial system and promotes financial stability and reform of fin...

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Subsidized housing loans cap upped to $800,000. Move is part of efforts to support the real estate sector

The Central Bank (BDL) has raised the upper limit of subsidized housing loans provided by commercial banks by 50 percent to 1.2 billion liras (approximately $800,000), according to BDL's intermediate circular 473.

The previous ceiling was LL800 million (approximately $530,000).

BDL said in the circular that was addressed to banks and financial institutions, that the borrower is not allowed to obtain additional credit facilities to cover the price of a residential unit.

Comm...

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MEA suspends Erbil-Beirut route.

Middle East Airlines (MEA) acceded to the request of Iraqi civil aviation authorities to suspend its Erbil-Beirut flights starting Friday evening.

The company said that Iraqi authorities banned international flights to and from Erbil, due to political concerns after Kurdistan's independence referendum.

Mohamed El Hout, Chairman of MEA, said that the suspension has been applied for three days, until Monday. MEA will later react based on the actions of the Iraqi authorities. If the i...

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Unemployment in Tripoli is at nine percent. Potential jobs through support of SMEs and startups

The working age population in the North is estimated at 610,000 individuals, of which 53 percent are inactive, leaving a total labor force of 289,000, according to the World Bank report "Jobs for North Lebanon", issued this week.

Within the participating labor force, 20 percent are employers and 22 percent are self-employed, both are largely informal. Just 49 percent of the labor force receive a standard wage and of those, only 15 percent are formal wage workers. The remaining nine perce...

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