Three years ago, when it semed the world was his for the taking, businessman tycoon Taha Koleilat bought a second-division Lebanese football team, pumped several million dollars into it, bought top Lebanese players, and set his sights on the number-one berth in the First Division.

Today, even though his business interests are under intense legal scrutiny, he has accomplished that goal with his Olympic Beirut team

Lebanese cement manufacturer Holcim Liban has acquired 100% of Bogaz Endustri Madencilik (BEM), a cement company in Northern Cyprus.

The Union Vinicole du Liban (UVL) and the Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) are exploring the possibility of setting up what is tentatively being referred to as a marketing board to promote Lebanon

Despite the usual upbeat suggestions that tourism is on the up and up in Lebanon, the Arab World Trade and Tourism Exchange (AWTTE), held at the BIEL exhibition center from 16 to 19 September, was, in the words of one hotel marketing director who participated,

Tripoli

Microsoft chat rooms in Lebanon have been shut down. The move comes after the world

There is anger and disappointment in south Lebanon that a $62 million World Bank cultural heritage and urban development loan will not cover Beaufort Castle. The castle, a 12th century monument built during the Crusades, was used both by the PLO and Israel and its Lebanese allies as a strategic outpost during the war years and up to May 2000.

Mustafa Badreddine, a former president of the municipality of Nabatieh, under whose jurisdiction Beaufort Castle falls, said he was at a loss to explain why the

The ministry of telecommunications and its network-operating subsidiary, Ogero, have installed the first wave of public payphones in Lebanon, with apparent success. The rollout began in late 2003 with payphones at Beirut airport and in the capital. According to ministry figures, installation shall continue until 4,000 public phones are available nationwide. The total project cost is $8 million.

The new network offers consumers an affordable alternative to mobile telephone communication. It employs the same smart card technology that has been successful around the world, but the new payphones do not accept coins. The prepaid card required to operate the phone offers the buyer of a LL10,000 card 100 minutes of domestic landline talk time. Rates for calling a mobile phone are priced at three times that, at LL300 per minute. The public phones also allow international calls, reportedly at rates below those from a regular landline phone. For the time being, customers have to visit an Ogero telephone exchange to purchase a card. Representatives at Ogero

In July and August, a new resolutely apolitical lifestyle magazine called Hi hit the Lebanese newsstands. Available only in Arabic, the magazine featured stories on singers, student life, online matchmaking and other matters that the publishers hoped would appeal to youth in the Middle East.

What made this product noteworthy was not so much its content, or its publisher, Magazine Group, a corporation specialized in niche magazines, but the fact that Hi is funded by the US State Department to the tune of $4 million annually. This makes Hi yet another example of the US government

After having shown his face all over town to promote his first CD, fashion designer turned singer Elie Karam now has exposure he never dreamt of, putting him beyond the reach of less obscure local artists. For around three months, people all over the world have been able to listen to Karam