ON THIS DAY- Today is Lebanon’s Independence Day, celebrated in commemoration of the end of the French Mandate over Lebanon in 1943, after 23 years of Mandate rule. On this day in 1963, US President John F Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas as his motorcade was travelling through the main business area of the city. In Europe, Angela Merkel was sworn in as Germany’s first woman chancellor in 2005. 30 year earlier, in 1975, Juan Carlos became king of Spain, two days after the death of dictator Francisco Franco. In 1990, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher quit after her cabinet refused to back her in a second round of leadership elections. On this day in 1890, French President Charles de Gaulle was born. In 2003, England became the first team from the northern hemisphere to win the Rugby World Cup after beating Australia 20-17. This time last year we were starting to see inflows trickle in as banks attracted USD 3 bn since the float three weeks earlier. In 2014, we were covered reports that OTMT was struggling to repatriate profits from its North Korean subsidiary Koryolink.