BEIRUT: Civil Defense fire brigades, assisted by municipality workers and residents, are struggling to extinguish a fire that broke out in the vicinity of millennia-old cedar trees in Maaser al-Chouf, southeast of Beirut, Thursday. According to a Civil Defense spokesperson, the fire started in a pine forest between Maaser al-Chouf and the adjacent village of […]

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Mazin Sidahmed| The Daily Star Al-MARJ, Lebanon: “Put the safety on until the gun is in the right position,” Khaled Saleh tells his niece Dareen Saleh as she positions her Maxim, a wide 12mm automatic rifle made in Turkey, just below her collar bone. She heeds his advice as she takes aim at a plastic […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 08/20/2014 In attempt to curb illegal waste dumping throughout the capital, the Jerusalem Municipality is soon to be training officers how to be more vigilant in enforcing against such activity. A pilot course on the subject, which would initially train 25 environmental agents in the city’s waste disposal enforcement department, is to […]

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The Politics of Assessment: Water and Sanitation MDGs in the Middle East Neda Zawahri, Jeannie Sowers and Erika Weinthal Development and Change 42(5): 1153–1177. ABSTRACT The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is generally considered to be making adequate progress towards meeting Target 10 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which calls for halving the […]

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August 5, 2014 As this blog is published, the dark clouds of war continue to cast their shadow over the Middle East. The enormous loss of innocent lives, the fear and the terror that Palestinians and Israelis are subjected to and subject each other to, have left too many of us stunned in silence. This […]

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by Mohammad Ghazal | Aug 13, 2014 AMMAN —The Attarat Power Company on Wednesday said it is awaiting the government’s response on when to sign agreements to go ahead with its $2.4 billion oil shale-fuelled power plant. “The government approved the deal… but it seems the National Electric Power [Company] is still waiting for official […]

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AMMAN — Jordan will sign an agreement with Russia in September to start conducting studies on the country’s first nuclear reactor for power generation, Khaled Toukan, chairman of the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission, said Thursday. “The Cabinet approved signing a project development agreement with Russia and we will sign the deal with the Russian partners […]

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AMMAN — British Petroleum (BP) ended its gas exploration activities in the Risheh Field because it estimated the field’s gas reserves to be unfeasible, Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed said on Thursday. At a meeting with board members of the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company, the minister said BP found natural gas reserves under deep layers and […]

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BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt has questioned the management of Lebanon’s potential gas and oil reserves, warning against subjecting Lebanon’s national resources to political dueling. “I questioned the withdrawal of some of the major oil companies from bidding in the Lebanese oil market,” he said in his weekly column in the PSP’s newspaper, […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 08/11/2014 One such success includes the sentencing of Alfonso Hasson to imprisonment for operating a pirate waste transfer station in a Bnei Brak. Over the past year, the country’s justice system has significantly strengthened enforcement activity against ecological violations, the Environmental Protection Ministry informed The Jerusalem Post on Monday. Examining various events […]

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by SHARON UDASIN 08/06/2014 Opposition MP in Ankara: Both our governments are missing out on economic, peace opportunities. Natural gas export from Israel’s Leviathan reservoir to Turkey will remain impossible as long as the Israel-Gaza conflict persists, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said on Monday. Only after a permanent cease-fire has been declared and stability […]

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Sunday, 10 August 2014 The Iraqi conflict – where Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, Iraq Kurdistan’s Peshmerga forces, and Iraq government forces – battle for control, is largely over water, oil and power, instead of religion, according to an article in UK-based newspaper The Sunday Times. Much of the world’s media attention […]

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Osama Habib| The Daily Star BEIRUT: The United States proposed three different ways of resolving a dispute between Lebanon and Israel over offshore borders, according to a classified proposal obtained by The Daily Star. The proposal, which was handed to a few Lebanese and Israeli officials in July 2013, was aimed at breaking the deadlock […]

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Osama Habib| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Lebanon will reschedule the offshore gas auction again after the Cabinet failed to discuss two decrees setting the number of blocks and the share of the government from untapped wealth, Energy and Water Minister Arthur Nazarian said Wednesday. “The prime minister has not yet put the decrees on the […]

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by Mohammad Ghazal | Aug 10, 2014 AMMAN — Jordan is in discussions with Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company, to build solar and wind power plants in the Kingdom, according to Energy Minister Mohammad Hamed. “We are in talks with the government-owned company and they have plans for building a solar and wind power […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Aug 10, 2014 AMMAN — Work is under way to rehabilitate three deep wells in Karak Governorate to meet the increasing demand for water in the southern region, a government official said on Sunday. The wells are located in the Lajjoun area in Karak, the official added, and a local company […]

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Sarah Weatherbee The Daily Star BEIRUT: Plenty of pollution floats on the surface of Lebanon’s coastal waters, visible to all who stop for a seaside stroll. But the scientists aboard the Tara Méditerranée, a boat newly arrived in Beirut’s Marina, are focused on the invisible pollution, in the form of microplastics, that may be harming […]

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Sunday, 3 August 2014 Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took over Iraq’s biggest dam unopposed by Kurdish fighters, who also lost three towns and an oilfield on Sunday to the Sunni militant group, witnesses said, according to Reuters news agency. Control of the dam could give ISIS, which has threatened […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 08/04/2014 As a result of damage from rockets, asbestos roofs are becoming a dangerous threat, Environmental Protection Minister Amir Peretz says. Boasting a front-yard garden of potted plants and palm fronds, an otherwise pastoral cottage in the heart of Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha threatens the lungs of those who enter – following the […]

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by Mohammad Ghazal | Aug 04, 2014 AMMAN — First Solar, a global provider of comprehensive photovoltaic (PV) solar systems, said Monday it signed an agreement to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for the Shams Maan Company’s projected 52.5 megawatt solar-run power plant in the southern governorate. The US company said it has also […]

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