Search Results for: Lebanon
10 results out of 234 results found for 'Lebanon'.
Middle East faces demographic timebomb
By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut
With the end of the summer holidays, children and young people across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) once again donned uniforms, packed satchels and headed to school, amounting to more than a quarter of the region returning to class.
In Syria, a quarter of the country's population, some 5.3 million people, are enrolled in schools, while 38% of Saudis, 46% of Yemenis, 31% of Jordanians and 31% of Egyptians are below 14 years of age. Altogether, including Iran, half of the MENA's 300 million-plus people are under 24 years old.
While all these kids are in school, there is no pressing socio-economic problem. But over the next decade as students graduate and want to enter the workplace, finding employment for them all will be difficult. Already the Middle East and North Africa have among the highest unemployment rates in the world at 9.4% and 10.3% respectively, according to an International Labour Organisation report.…
Should cultural clothing rules be imposed in age of globalisation?
By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut
In an age of mass migration on a global scale, is it possible for governments to impose on the public, particularly immigrants, what they can and cannot wear? Take the diktats on women's wear in France versus Iran. In the Islamic Republic, females above the age of nine are required to wear the hijab (veil) and cover up their bodies.
Conversely, in France the authorities have talked of banning the burka and succeeded several years ago in banning the hijab in public offices and schools. Turkey has also done the same in the name of secularism.
Many argue that the French and Turkish are right to do so, to stem the tide of Islamisation and, moreover, for women – in most cases girls – to have the individual choice as to whether they want to wear a hijab, not decided upon by parents or family.…
SYRIAN TOBACCO MARKET THRIVING
BY PAUL COCHRANE
THE SYRIAN tobacco market, dominated by the state-run General Organisation of Tobacco (GOT), is witnessing substantial growth on the back of rising domestic demand and export of Syrian tobacco leaf, with average annual growth of 10% to 13%, according to the GOT.…
Middle East faces demographic timebomb
By Paul Cochrane
With the end of the summer holidays, children and young people across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) once again donned uniforms, packed satchels and headed to school, amounting to more than a quarter of the region returning to class.…
Should cultural clothing rules be imposed in age of globalisation?
By Paul Cochrane
In an age of mass migration on a global scale, is it possible for governments to impose on the public, particularly immigrants, what they can and cannot wear? Take the diktats on women’s wear in France versus Iran.…
BRUSSELS AND WASHINGTON HIT STALEMATE OVER FURTHER OPEN SKIES DEAL
BY ALAN OSBORN
THESE are uncertain times for international aviation deals generally thanks to the global recession, but nowhere is the situation more fraught than in Washington where negotiations for the second stage of the 2007 ‘open skies’ agreement between the European Union (EU) and the USA appear to have run into the buffers.…
Middle east elections shake up region's peace diplomacy
By Paul Cochrane, in Beirut
June has been a month of elections in the Middle East. As happens every now and again in a region pretty thin on democracy and heavy on dynastic rule, there are elections that matter. The outcome of the Lebanese and Iranian elections fall in this rather rare category, with the Lebanese result retaining a status quo the West is happy with, while the Iranian 'result' is further souring relations with the US and Europe.
For despite being on either side of the Middle East, with Beirut and Tehran being as geographically far apart as London and Rome, the results play into the region’s fractious politics. The common ground is Israel and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.…
Middle East elections shake up region's peace diplomacy
By Paul Cochrane
June has been a month of elections in the Middle East. As happens every now and again in a region pretty thin on democracy and heavy on dynastic rule, there are elections that matter. The outcome of the Lebanese and Iranian elections fall in this rather rare category, with the Lebanese result retaining a status quo the West is happy with, while the Iranian ‘result’ is further souring relations with the US and Europe.…
EURO ARAB MASHREQ GAS PIPELINE APPROACHES COMPLETION
BY PAUL COCHRANE
THE EURO-MASHREQ gas pipeline that runs 1,200 kilometers from Egypt through Jordan and Syria to Turkey has taken 20 years to come to fruition. The end is in sight however, with the project awaiting a final tender for the last leg through northern Syria.…
IRAN STILL INTERNATIONAL PARIAH OVER MONEY LAUNDERING REGULATIONS
BY PAUL COCHRANE
IRAN has been under international financial and other trading scrutiny since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago, with sanctions by the United States tightened under the Clinton administration through the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act. And since Iran’s decision to embark on a nuclear programme, US sanctions have intensified, but in the face of such restrictions Iranian banks and individuals are increasingly using joint venture banks in the Middle East and South America to bypass scrutiny.…