Economics Lebanon’s five listed banks posted an aggregate 2.4 percent growth in profits in 2012 standing at $1.01 billion, compared to $986 million a year earlier. More from The Daily Star Iran's foreign minister has welcomed the willingness of the United States to hold direct talks with Tehran in the standoff over its nuclear program. More from The National A Kuwaiti court sentenced a man to five years in prison on Sunday for insulting the emir on Twitter, a rights lawyer and news websites said. More from Arabian Business Lebanon's Union Coordination Committee, which groups public and private school teachers, has announced an open-ended strike will begin on February 19 should the government fail to implement the new salary scale. More from The Daily Star Companies A $1.35 billion sale of shares in Iraqi mobile telephone firm Asiacell, the country's first major public offer of equity
