Examiner Staff

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 Sports

Amchit snap Homenetmen winning streak

BEIRUT: Homenetmen’s six game winning streak reached a resounding end Thursday after they were dealt a humiliating 133-91 loss at the hands of Amchit in round 16 of the Lebanese Basketball League, as the Jbeil side moved level top with Riyadi and Sagesse at 12-4.

Along with Mouttahed, Amchit were the only team whom the Armenian side have failed to beat this season.

The visitors started brightly to lead 17-13, thanks to American center Terrence Leather, who scored 15 points alone in the first quarter. Amchit eventually claimed the lead at the end of the first 25-24, with Joey Accaoui excelling from behind the arc.

The 176-cm point guard played as a starter following the injury of Karl Sarkis who was sidelined for the game. And Accaoui made the most of his chance sparking his side to a 38-18 in the second with 5-of-7 from the 3-point line in the first half, as Amchit led 63-42 at halftime.

The Jbeil side continued in the third from where they left in the second, as their gap was extended to nearly 30 points in the period. From then on the game was already decided as Amchit eventually wrapped up a lopsided 133-91 victory.

Accaoui starred with 25 points including 6-of-9 3-pointers, while Jeremiah Massey added 26 points, six rebounds and six assists.

Ali Traore and Fadi al-Khatib both had 22 points with nine rebounds for the former.

Leather top scored for Homenetmen with a game-high 36 points and 10 rebounds, while his compatriot Dion Dixon added 29 points and Hayk Gyokchyan notched 13 points.

Meanwhile, Mouttahed will hope to move level with the leading trio Riyadi, Sagesse and Amchit, when they visit eighth-placed Champville at Dik al-Mehdi Friday during round 16 of the Lebanese Basketball League.

The Tripoli side were among a four-way tie for top spot after the end of round 15 at 11-4, and they will look to earn a timely boost ahead of next week’s important encounter with Riyadi at Manara.

The battle for pole position remains open, with all the games being unpredictable to the extent that Riyadi only narrowly defeated Hoops 78-72 Wednesday in the last two minutes.

Meanwhile, Champville will look to keep their hopes alive of leapfrogging Tadamon into seventh place, as both teams are level at 5-10. Tadamon will face Bejjeh Saturday at Ghazir.

Mouttahed defeated Champville in the first leg 94-71. They are also heading to the match on the back of two successive victories against Amchit and Hoops. Meanwhile, Champville have been far from impressive against the top four teams, managing only one win, a 94-93 overtime victory over Sagesse in the first leg. The 2012-2013 champions have failed to replicate the form of their title-winning side.

Source: The Daily Star

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 Culture

Local producers shine at food industry event

Toothpicked foie gras flew off the stands, mixed with complimentary swigs of wine and miniature fruit tarts. Lebanon’s top food industry professionals – from hotel management firms to cake design companies and more – have set up their booths in the massive Biel complex on the Beirut seaside for the delicious Horeca 2014 hospitality mega-event. But speckled among the grandiose stages are modest stands manned by members of Lebanon’s small farming cooperatives. From the Chouf, the Beqaa, Tyre, Tripoli, and other Lebanese regions, these farming cooperatives have displayed the best of their organic products to network with potential exporters and compete with the big brands.

And compete they did. After taste tests by eight international judges, the Dar Bechtar Cooperative from al-Koura in Lebanon’s north took the prize for the nation’s best extra virgin olive oil, beating out 50 national competitors.

Despite being surrounded by major hospitality corporations and established food industry companies, none of the cooperatives’ members seemed the least bit intimidated. “We do feel there’s a difference between us,” says Wafaa Jamal, a member of the Najmet Al Sobeh Cooperative in Mhaidseh, in Lebanon’s Beqaa. Surrounded by crunchy roasted nuts and crimson raisins, Jamal told NOW that the cooperatives have less of a focus on financial gain than the larger companies present at Horeca. “We make money too, but not the way they do.”

Daad Ismail, originally from Ras al-Ain outside of Tyre, told NOW she’d rather work with a small cooperative than a large company. “We hope the big companies are successful, too. At the same time, we want our co-op to stay like a creative, cooperative group of women,” she said. “The work that we do is innovation. We don’t want to be a big company.”

Ismail is a member of the Tyros Local Action Group, a collective of over 12 different cooperatives based around the southern city of Tyre. She said she’s proud of the jams, honeys, and various fruit preserves that she and her colleagues produce because of their nutritional value. “We take this all from the earth, and that’s what we work with,” she said. “Even before we provide the society with these products, we’re feeding our families – and we’re happy we can give our families something clean, healthy, and probably cheaper.” According to Ismail, Ras al-Ain even has a miniature testing lab, used by locals to identify nutritional values and acidity levels in the organic snacks.

Next to Ismail’s tasty treats were small mountains of organically-made and beautifully scented soap squares. Khodr Salhan, also from the Tyros Local Action Group, was adamant that his soap products were far better than any beauty product available at superstores. “We’ve added natural olive oil, milk, and honey – you can use these soaps instead of beauty products,” he told NOW.

Organic products from local cooperatives have replaced the usual processed snacks in many communities. In Jamal’s village of Mhaidseh, children opt for the dried seeds, preserved fruit, and sweet jams over packaged potato chips. Jamal says mothers are happy because the options are healthier, and that kids are drawn in by the local products’ cheap prices. Packages of thyme, sumac, or raisins can be as inexpensive as 1,500LL.

Most of the local cooperatives represented at Horeca were supported by the Lebanon Industry Value Chain Development Project (LIVCD), a USAID program designed to support small businesses in rural areas in Lebanon. According to Charbel Daher, one of the program’s production specialists, LIVCD works with Lebanese farmers and cooperatives to identify exporting opportunities, improve marketing strategies, and encourage rural tourism throughout Lebanon’s farming areas. Both the Dar Bechtar Cooperative from Koura and Jamal’s Najmet Al Sobeh Cooperative received support from LIVCD, which helped groups develop their pitches for potential exporters. “We’re here to network,” Jamal told NOW. “We’re happy to have this opportunity because it’s hard for us to get here.”

But for many of the rural women represented at Horeca, working in local cooperatives is about so much more than healthy snacks and networking opportunities. According to Jamal, getting involved in local cooperatives “changes the role of women in society.” Instead of being confined to the household and receiving spending money from husbands or brothers, women are becoming increasingly financially independent. They are now able to purchase medicine, pay school tuitions for their children, and be a contributing member of the family. Their personalities are even becoming stronger, Ismail said.

“I can contribute to buying things for my household,” Jamal proudly told NOW. “Even if it’s a really modest income, now we feel like we’re columns of support for our families.”

“The women have challenged society, we’ve challenged the men – but in a positive way,” Jamal said. “We’re sending a message. With our work and our convictions, we’re bringing something to the women in the area. We have a lot of pride in what we’re doing.”

 

Source: Lebanon Now

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 Lifestyle

Designer hopes her hi-tech tent can ease the plight of refugees

BEIRUT: Abeer Seikaly saw a tent and, invoking nomadic lifestyles of the past, re-envisioned its structure as a self-sustaining shelter, not only achieving its primary function of housing refugees, but also providing the point from which their social interactions can be recreated in a new environment.

Her project, “Weaving a Home” re-examines the traditional architecture of tent shelters, creating a fabric that both expands and contracts according to weather conditions, while providing utilities to ensure the provision of heat, running water, electricity and storage. The result is a collapsible, mobile solar-powered refugee tent. The design project garnered her a prize in last year’s Lexus Design Award, with a prototype and patent in the pipeline.

Seikaly submitted the project to the design contest because its theme of “motion” resonated with her.

She has been experimenting with the relationship between structure and fabric for years, while also exploring abstract concepts like motion, time, self-sufficiency and nature in her work.

“When I talk about motion, I am talking about physical motion, but I am also talking about it in a non-physical way,” she told The Daily Star. “The work I do has to do with movement, patterns, light, and I am mostly interested in the type of experience that a space or an object would give to its viewer, occupant and so on.”

The experience of the “object” in Seikaly’s design work is also related to movement.

“Time describes movement,” she continues, describing the theoretical underpinnings of her work. “This is really the main focus, the way things change over time and shift through memory and current experience, and how current experience unfolds with the things we interact with.”

Seikaly’s design concept is deeply rooted in nature, and her work employs principles that she perceives as existing already in the environment. “Whatever is created cannot be detached from the dimension in which it interacts,” she said.

The idea for “Weaving a Home” was the unexpected result of designing luxury retail stores, something Seikaly, who is based in Amman, has been doing since 2005.

“I had to look at many aspects. It was like a dance of some sort. You have to involve the five senses, and engage buyers in many different ways: Visually, sensually, aurally,” she said.

Her experience of the fashion world paved the way for her to use fabric in ingenious and integrated ways, a quality that stands out in her design concept for the tent shelter.

“This was something I saw in existing tents, where … fabric is draped over the structure, but it was never conceived of or thought out as a holistic system,” she said. “I think this was my point of departure.”

She began by looking at the physical aspect of a tent and poor conditions of most refugee camps. Jordan hosts over 500,000 Syrian refugees, most of whom live in overcrowded camps. In Lebanon nearly 1 million Syrian refugees are registered, many living in improvised shelters.

Seikaly also invoked the past in her research for the project.

“There is a very direct reference … in the way nomadic tribes used to live and travel, and these [tents] were their only homes,” she said.

“I tried to look at the physical aspects of a tent that could be inspired by traditional weaving and how to reference old traditional techniques and reinterpret them in our world in a way that addresses contemporary needs.”

Seikaly said the outer solar-powered fabric of the tent should blur the line between fabric and structure and is heavily inspired by weaving techniques unearthed during the research phase. Her design sketches detail how it absorbs solar energy and converts it into power, while the inner fabric features pockets for storage. A storage tank at the apex of the tent supplies water for showers, with a drainage system to avoid flooding.

The tent opens up for the warm summer months and can be clumped down for the colder winter season.

Seikaly’s project will likely require some tweaking before it can be a bona fide product, though she hopes it will one day be the standard shelter for the displaced.

Already, she has been flooded with emails from individuals who live in dire conditions, inquiring about the feasibility of her design, and from engineers interested in its structural integrity. She admits the project will have to be a collaborative one. For now, it represents an example of how inventive design can complement and facilitate humanitarian assistance.

“Design is supposed to give form to a gap in people’s needs,” Seikaly writes in her design brief for the project. “This lightweight, mobile, structural fabric could potentially close the gap between need and desire as people metaphorically weave their lives back together, physically weaving their built environment into a place both new and familiar, transient and rooted, private and connected.”

The Daily Star

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 Business

Sudan says Qatar to deposit $1B in aid

KHARTOUM: Qatar will deposit $1 billion at Sudan’s central bank as part of an aid package, Khartoum said Wednesday, a move likely to worsen neighboring Egypt’s already tense relations with Doha.

The announcement by Sudanese Finance Minister Badr al-Din Mahmoud came at the end of a state visit to Khartoum by Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

Mahmoud, speaking to journalists at Khartoum airport, said Qatar also planned to invest in large agricultural and energy projects in Sudan, a country vital to Egyptian interests because of its location upstream on the river Nile.

Mahmoud said the deposit was the second part of an aid package but declined to give details of the first part.

In a written statement, Sheikh Tamim said his visit “comes to confirm the two countries’ desire for continued dialogue and coordination on issues of mutual interest.”

Egypt has accused Qatar of meddling in its internal affairs and supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that was ejected from power by the army last year after mass protests against President Mohammad Morsi’s rule.

 

Reuters

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 Business

Tunisia’s prime minister wants to fix ailing economy

TUNIS: Ahead of his Friday meeting with President Barack Obama, Tunisia’s interim prime minister says the government at last has a handle on extremism and the transition to democracy is back on track. Now, he says, it’s time to fix the faltering economy. In Washington, Mehdi Jomaa will be talking about security in North Africa but also how the United States can support the troubled finances of Tunisia – which kicked off the region-wide pro-democracy uprisings in 2011.

“The security situation in Tunisia is today much more under control,” Jomaa told the Associated Press in an interview. “ Tunisia has learned how to confront [the extremists] over the past three years and we have a security force that has organized itself and is well prepared to prevent new attacks.”

Jomaa, an engineer by training, was appointed in December to form a Cabinet of technocrats to guide the country to new elections.

Tunisia has a new constitution called the most progressive in the Arab world, written by Islamist, left-wing and liberal parties. The country is now looking forward to new elections by the end of the year, after a transition that has been marked by terrorist attacks, political assassinations and widespread social unrest.

The initial promise of the 2011 pro-democracy revolutions in the Middle East has faded in many countries, with a military coup in Egypt, a civil war in Syria and militia-fueled chaos in Libya.

Tunisia alone seems to be managing a transition characterized by consensus between political factions, but it hasn’t been easy. The rise of radical Islamists linked with Al-Qaeda – and armed with weapons spilling over the porous borders with Libya – has challenged the state.

Last year, extremists gunned down two prominent opposition politicians in front of their families, plunging the country into crisis and stalling efforts to write the new constitution. Meanwhile soldiers clashed with armed militants holed up in hideouts on the Algerian border, resulting in dozens of deaths.

Jomaa said that following initial setbacks, Tunisia’s forces have now mastered the threat. In a pair of operations in February, seven members of the radical Ansar al-Shariah group were killed and six arrested.

“The authors of these assassinations have been arrested and when that wasn’t possible, eliminated,” he said, adding that only two or three top leaders remain at large outside the country, including the group’s leader, Seifallah Ben Hassine, who is believed to be in Libya.

Jomaa could not confirm or deny reports in December that Ben Hassine had been arrested in libya.

The premier said talks with the U.S. would include requests for advanced equipment to fight terrorism. “When we have such needs, we speak with all our friends, particularly the Americans, who have a high level of technological expertise.”

Just as important, however, will be American help in confronting the country’s shaky finances and plugging an estimated $2-3 billion hole in the 2014 budget, mostly likely through external borrowing.

Jomaa will also be courting U.S. investors on his trip, which starts with a stop in New York.

“The coming months will be very difficult for the finances of the state, but aside from that, Tunisia remains attractive to private investment and in the coming months, you will see many investors coming to Tunisia,” said Jomaa, who has recently visited a number of wealthy countries in the Gulf and included many businessmen in his delegation to the U.S.

Growth in 2013 was 2.4 percent, which is low for the region and isn’t expected to improve much in 2014. Unemployment remains high at 15 percent. Tunisia, however, has a good debt-to-GDP ratio of around 48 percent, allowing it to keep borrowing.

The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other international institutions welcomed the completion of Tunisia’s new constitution by releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, but with these come unpopular conditions such as cutting subsidies.

Inflation hit highs of 6 percent in Tunisia in 2013, provoking angry demonstrations over the cost of living – demonstrations that could get worse if subsidies are cut.

Jomaa said the government would find a way to reform the subsidies without hurting the purchasing power of low-income groups, by consulting with political parties and non-governmental groups, and predicted the country’s fortunes would change as new investment pours in.

“The consensus which made us overcome the difficulties and adopt a very modern and progressive constitution will also guide us through this difficult period and lead us to calmer waters,” he predicted.

Associated Press

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 Entertainment, Music

Ninety minutes of tarab with Shaar

BEIRUT: From behind the red velvet curtains of Metro al-Madina, four musicians emerge to take the stage, resplendent in matching black suits and red bow ties. Stage right sits Ziad Ahmadieh with his oud. Mohammad Nahas positions himself beside him, behind his qanoun. Alongside, violinist Ziad Jaafar prepares his instrument. Rik (tambourine) in hand, Bahaa Daou takes a seat stage left. Finally, veteran vocalist Abdel Karim al-Shaar takes his place at the center, says a warm welcome to his audience and sits down, just centimeters from the front row of tables.

The music begins.

This evening’s program features one single song, “Hayarti Albi Maak” (You Confused my Heart), a much-loved standard from the songbook of Umm Kulthum – the woman dubbed Star of the East back in the 1960s.

The tune of this rapturous 40-minute torch song was composed by Riad al-Santabli to accompany Ahmad Rami’s lyrics. The version performed by Shaar and his ensemble is 50 minutes longer than any extant recording of Umm Kulthum’s original but just as potent.

Like Umm Kulthum, Shaar studied the art of “Tajwid” (Quranic recitation) as a young man. The Tripoli-born vocalist is distinguished among his peers for his mastery of the vocal tradition that features both the tuneful articulation and ornamentation of Arabic phrasing as well as the mental and physical stamina needed for long hours of performance.

After decades of exposure to the 2.5-minute pop song model, it may be difficult to conceive of sitting through the concert performance of a single long-form piece. Yet, at Shaar’s March 20 performance of “Hayarti Albi Maak,” the audience at Metro al-Madina was transported through a wide array of emotions, emerging at the other end exhausted yet elated.

Shaar and his ensemble are faithful to Umm Kulthum’s version of the song, though they do repeat a few refrains more frequently, and the rhythm of the music is slowed to allow for this.

Shaar also introduces some of his own vocal improvisations – “layali” (from “layl,” night), an unmetered modal departure from the set lyrics. An hour or so into “Hayarti Albi Maak,” the audience’s classic music aficionados recognized the words of another Egyptian tune “Leh ya Binafseg,” (Why are You Alone) composed by Riad al-Santabli and made famous by vocalist Saleh Abdel-Hay.

Having referenced a line from “Leh ya Binafseg,” Shaar moves into a “layali” then back to “Hayart albi Maak,” holding his audience rapt. Later on, he weaves in the chorus of “Ghanili Shway Shway” (Sing to Me Little by Little) – an Oum Kulthum tune from the soundtrack of the 1945 film “Salama.”

Throughout Shaar’s performance, many audience members confidently sang along. As is often the case with well-performed tarab music, the sounds emitted by the performers were punctuated by eruptions of “Ouf!” and “Allah!” from the spectators.

The applause at the end was enthusiastic, and Shaar returned for a brief encore – some 30 minutes in length.

Abdel Karim al-Shaar will restage “Hayarti Albi Maak” at Metro al-Madina Saturday evening. Doors Open at 9:30 p.m. For more information, please see www.metromadina.com or call 01-753-021.

The Daily Star

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 News

Rafik Hariri University Hospital could be closed

BEIRUT: Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said Thursday that the government-run Rafik Hariri University Hospital could be shut down as a result of substandard facilities and low standards.

“The Rafik Hariri University Hospital is dying, and the government has two choices, either [formulate] a radical solution or close it down,” Abu Faour said at a news conference following his meeting with the head of the Association of Private Hospitals, Sleiman Haroun.

The minister said he was in the process of preparing a full plan to present to the Cabinet.

Media reports have emerged recently over corruption in the hospital, which was inaugurated in 2004. Reports have also cited the hospital’s inability to provide medications to patients suffering from chronic diseases.

Abu Faour said he discussed with Haroun comments concerning some hospitals’ performance, but insisted that he was not generalizing about or treating unjustly hospitals that were doing their job well, cooperating with the Health Ministry’s legal standards and abiding by moral and humanitarian criteria.

“There are a large number of hospitals that are committing violations and are not respecting the signed agreement with the Health Ministry or the patient’s health and dignity,” he said.

Abu Faour stressed that he “would not tolerate these hospitals and would not be lenient with whoever violates the signed agreement with the Health Ministry, even if matters required the strictest measures and decisions,” adding that those doing otherwise would be “embraced” by the government.

Haroun said the outcome of the meeting was positive, describing the minister’s formula as “reasonable and legal” and respecting hospitals’ rights so long as they performed their duties.

Also Thursday, Abu Faour met with United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos and discussed different ways to cooperate over files of common interest.

He also met with Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan, former minister Elias Skaff and former MPs Mansur al-Bawn and Misbah al-Ahdab.

 

 

The Daily Star

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 Entertainment

Facebook to buy virtual reality goggles maker for $2bn

Facebook Inc will acquire two-year-old Oculus VR Inc, a maker of virtual-reality glasses for gaming, for $2 billion, buying its way into the fast-growing wearable devices arena with its first-ever hardware deal.

The acquisition, which comes hot on the heels of its $19 billion deal for messaging service WhatsApp, marks a big bet byFacebook to anticipate the next shift in an evolving technology industry, at a time when consumers are increasingly abandoning their PCs for smartphones.

The world’s largest social network was deemed late to recognize the shift to mobile devices and the company’s revenue has only recently begun to recover from the late start.

Many in the industry believe that wearable devices could represent the next big platform shift. Google Inc has been testing Google Glass, a stamp-sized electronic screen mounted to a pair of eyeglasses for several years. Last week, it introduced an effort to develop computerized wristwatches.

On Tuesday, Facebook said virtual-reality technology could emerge as the next social and communications platform.

“The history of our industry is that every 10 or 15 years there’s a new major computing platform, whether it’s the PC, the Web or now mobile,” Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call with analysts and media on Tuesday to discuss the acquisition.

“We’re making a long-term bet that immersive, virtual and augmented reality will become a part of people’s daily life,” the 29-year-old Zuckerberg said, noting that wearing the Oculus goggles was “different than anything I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

Zuckerberg said Facebook was not interested in becoming a hardware company and did not intend to try to make a profit from sales of the devices over the long term. Instead, he said Facebook’s software and services would continue to serve as the company’s underlying business, potentially generating revenue on Oculus devices through everything from advertising to sales of virtual goods.

While Oculus will operate as an independent company, Zuckerberg stressed that Facebook’s plans for Oculus extended well beyond games.

“Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face – just by putting on goggles in your home,” he said.

In addition to game makers, Oculus has garnered some interest from developers keen on creating apps in areas like architecture, automobiles, marketing and education, the company has said.

Shares of Facebook, which have risen 25 percent in the past six months, were down nearly 1 percent at $64.36 in late trading on Tuesday.

Facebook’s recent spate of acquisitions is somewhat concerning, RBC Capital Markets analyst Mark Mahaney wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday. But he said that for a company of Facebook’s size, the deal did not seem “irrational.”

“The question this time is whether Facebook is too early or simply betting on the wrong platform. This won’t be known for some time. But if it gets the platform right, we’re relatively confident that Facebook will develop an effective monetization strategy for it, thus boosting its overall financial growth,” Mahaney said.

The acquisition makes Oculus VR one of the most successful companies or projects to ever emerge from the fledgling Kickstarter program, which has helped attract small investments from the public for everything from the Pebble smartwatch to the recent “Veronica Mars” movie.

Oculus VR, founded by Palmer Luckey, a self-described virtual-reality enthusiast and hardware geek, got its start as a Kickstarter-funded program, drawing small investments from thousands of people on the popular fund-raising platform.

It quickly drew attention to its “Oculus Rift” virtual-reality glasses, demoed at tech and gaming conventions around the country.

Oculus VR raised $75 million in December in a round led by Andreessen Horowitz, to market its virtual-reality headset for video games and develop the product for use in areas like education, film, architecture and design. Andreessen Horowitz partner Marc Andreessen, who is also on Facebook’s board, said in a tweet on Tuesday that he was recused “on both sides” of the Facebook Oculus deal.

Other venture capital backers included Spark Capital, Formation 8 and Matrix Partners. Oculus now employs more than 100 people and has distributed some 75,000 software development kits for Oculus Rift to game developers and others.

It recently began taking orders for new software development kits with better graphics and features to reduce motion sickness – a frequent complaint of the old prototype – slated to ship in July for $350 apiece.

Oculus plans to produce commercial versions of its virtual-reality glasses, called Oculus Rift, which users mount on their heads with a strap. It also hopes to take its technology beyond gaming.

“Virtual reality creates a canvas that is much richer than anything we’ve seen in computing so far,” Antonio Rodriguez, Oculus board member and general partner at Matrix Partners said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.

He said virtual reality presents an opportunity to re-imagine various tasks and social interactions in areas like medicine and education.

So far, “people have done all sort of apps (outside gaming) like body switching apps, where two bodies are scanned and you can switch identities.

Last week, Sony unveiled a prototype for a new virtual-reality headset accessory for its Playstation 4 games console at the annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. The headset, still in development under the name “Project Morpheus”, is designed to provide an immersive experience for gamers and is poised to compete with Oculus’ Rift once both devices are on the market.

The deal, which Facebook said is expected to close in the second quarter, marks the company’s second multi-billion dollar acquisition since mid-February.

Zuckerberg said on the call the two deals involved “incredibly rare companies” and that Facebook was unlikely to continue making big acquisitions at a similar pace.

Facebook ended 2013 with $11.45 billion in cash and marketable securities. The company’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp includes $4 billion in cash. The Oculus deal comprises $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock.

Finance Chief David Ebersman said the price of the deal was based primarily on the gaming business, but that Facebook believed the technology could be worth “multiples” of the purchase price if Facebook succeeds in extending it into other areas such as entertainment and communications.

 

Arabian Business

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 News

Lebanon public offices to close for Easter

BEIRUT: Public offices, government institutions and municipalities across Lebanon will close Apr. 18-19 and April 21 for Good Friday and Easter, according to a statement from Prime Minister Tammam Salam Thursday.

This year, Easter falls on the same date for both the Western and Orthodox churches.

The Daily Star

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 News

Protest against new rent law in Beirut

BEIRUT: A group of people Thursday briefly blocked a road in a Beirut neighborhood to protest the new rent law, which was passed by Parliament a day earlier.

Tens of demonstrators gathered in Wataa al-Msaitbeh to voice their opposition against the controversial law, which they say will displace hundreds of families.

More than 200,000 apartments, mostly in Beirut, are rented under an old law that governs lease contracts enacted before 1993. Inhabitants pay minimal rent fees that often amount to less than LL1,000,000 annually.

Under the new law, rents would increase over six years until they reach 5 percent of the current market value of an apartment. Owners have the freedom to either sell the apartment or lease under a new contract and price.

The Daily Star

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