An-Nahar  An-Nahar () (English translation: "The Morning" or "The Day") is a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper published in Lebanon. It was launched on 4 August 1933 as a four-page, hand-set paper. The paper, whose staff numbered five, including its founder Gebran Tueni, was started with a capital of 50 gold pieces raised from friends, and a circulation of a mere 500 copies. Tueni served as the chief editor of the paper until his death in 1949. His son, Ghassan Tueni, and grandson, also named Gebran Tueni, were subsequent editors and publishers. Ghassan Tueni was publisher and editor-in-chief of the paper from 1948 to 1999 when he retired. On 19 December 1976, Syrian forces occupied the offices of the daily. Upon this incident Ghassan Tueni suspended the publication for a while and left Lebanon for Paris. In 1977, several journalists writing for the daily were detained. Ghassan's son, Gebran Tueni, was the editor-in-chief of the paper from 2003 to 2005. He was elected to parliament for a Beirut constituency in the 2005 elections, but was assassinated on 12 December 2005 in Mkalles near Beirut in a car bomb explosion. A fiery critic of Syria and its hegemony in Lebanese affairs, Gebran had just returned on the eve of his assassination from Paris where he had been living for fear of assassination. After Gebran's assassination on 12 December 2005, his father Ghassan took over the paper again until his death on 8 June 2012. Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal has a stake in the paper. The 2009 Ipsos Stat survey revealed that the paper is the most popular newspaper in Lebanon and one of the five most popular in the Middle East. "An-Nahar" is the first Arab paper which regularly covers news on environmental issues. Since 1997, the daily contains a daily page for the environment. "An-Nahar" provided a platform for various freethinkers to express their views during the years of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. The paper can be best expressed as centre-left, though its writers' views range across the political spectrum. Journalist Charles Glass argues that "An-Nahar" is Lebanon's equivalent of "The New York Times". Another Lebanese daily, "As-Safir", is cited as the rival of "An-Nahar". In the mid-1990s the latter was described as a moderate and right-of-center paper, while the former as a left-of-center paper.