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* USJ Goes to Dubai
The University of Saint Joseph (USJ) will inaugurate a law school in Dubai this month.
The University of Saint Joseph-Dubai College of Law will be USJ's first campus outside of Lebanon. It will offer a four year bachelor of law degree and will cover Shariah, French, Arabic, and European law. The program will be taught in Arabic and will include constitutional law, international law, contracts and torts, property law, civil law, labor law, human rights, intellectual property rights, maritime and aviation law, and tax laws. The college will qualify lawyers to work in the Public Prosecution Office and in areas such as immigration and customs, according to USJ statements, The courses will be in line with the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA)'s commitment to the Dubai Strategic Plan 2015, which includes the important pillars of security, justice and safety.
Founded in 1875, USJ is a private Lebanese university with 12 faculties, one school, and 24 specialized institutes in its four campuses in Beirut, Sidon, Tripoli, and Zahle. The USJ School for French law was established in 1913 and became the Faculty of Law in 1946. The university currently has more than 11,000 students, 1,800 professors, and 500 other staff. It has links with 82 universities in France, and has established cooperation agreements with universities from 20 different countries.
* FTV Content on Info2Cell
Info2Cell.com, a mobile application service provider, has signed a content license and distribution agreement with Future TV to provide video and MMS clips of popular TV programs - " Rossoom Mutaharirah", "La Youmal" and "Abou Riad" - to mobile phone users in Saudia Arabia. Through the subscription-based service, launched last month, users will receive the content three times per week. Each video clip- video IVR, WAP portal, video push, and video streaming - will be up to two minutes long, while the MMS content will be 30 seconds in duration. Bashar Dahabra, founder and CEO of Info2Cell.com said: "This agreement will enable us to provide select clippings from three highly popular TV programs on the mobile phones of subscribers." Samir S. Hammoud, chairman and general manager of Future TV, said: "The viewership for our programs has been growing steadily in recent years and we are glad that this alliance with Info2Cell.com has created another vital channel for subscribers in Saudi Arabia to view clippings of some of our most watched programs." Last year, Info2cell.com teamed up with MBC channel in Saudi Arabia to offer subscribers video clips, ring tones, wallpapers, and Java games of popular television programs including "Tash Ma Tash", "Beiny o Bainak", "Meznah", and "Stories of the Prophet". Dahabra was the chief architect and founder of the concept of a regional wireless portal service in the Middle East. He developed the Info2Cell concept in 1998. Dahabra sold Info2Cell in 2003 to Acotel, having interconnected the company with 30 regional operators such as MTC-Kuwait, Zain-Jordan, MobiNil-Egypt, Batelco-Bahrain, Etisalat-UAE, Qtel-Qatar, Jawwal-Palestine, and having over 250,000 registered mobile subscribers.
* BSE is World Leader
The Beirut Stock Exchange (BSE) has been the best performer in the world so far this year. Following the Doha Accord and a solid performance from banking and other listed companies, stock market values have increased by more than 35 percent since the beginning of the year. Bassel Barbir, a trader at Shuaa Capital's propriety trading desk for equities, said that the agreement was what investors had been waiting for. "It signaled some kind of stability for the coming five to six years," he said. "After things cooled down on the political side, there was mo reason to hold them back. People just wanted to buy like crazy," he said "The banks were doing very well also. If you look at their earnings, they're doing extremely well," Barbir said. Earlier this year Bank Audi noted that IMF experts think that the banking system is an attractive destination for deposits. "The main sources of deposits are the large and wealthy Lebanese diaspora, Arab investors in the region and Lebanese residents at large," the IMF said. "The banking system is well regulated, exhibits good financial sector soundness indicators, offers banking secrecy, enjoys high core liquidity levels, and depositors have never lost money from bank failures," it said. Lebanon's strong performance in the year to date was followed by Ghana, where the index was up by 34 percent. Kuwait came in third with an increase of 21 percent, according to data from Bloomberg.
* Imports, Exports, Trade Deficit Up
Imports and Exports totaled $9.06 billion in the first half of 2008, up 33 percent from the same period of last year, more than five times the 6.6 percent yearly increase witnessed in the first half of 2007, according to figures published by the Higher Customs Council. The increase is largely driven by increased prices of imported oil and the depreciation of the dollar against the euro. As a result, the trade deficit widened by 34 percent to $5.5 billion during that period. Euro-denominated imports are almost twice the size of those denominated in dollars. Imports went up by a yearly 34 percent to reach a total of $7.3 billion in the first half of 2008.
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