(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Swedish-Lebanese singer-songwriter Maher Zain performs his new song “One Day”, written in honor of refugees worldwide, for the first time at the 2014 Nansen Refugee Award ceremony.
The Nansen Refugee Award marks its 60th anniversary this year and is UNHCR’s top humanitarian honor. A courageous Colombian women’s rights network – Butterflies with New Wings Building a Future (Butterflies) – received the Award for its outstanding work to help victims of forced displacement and sexual abuse in Buenaventura, Colombia.
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Three Lebanese women were featured as part of BBC’s 100 Women of 2014, an annual list of inspiring and leading female figures from around the world.
Beirut-based engineer and business owner Hind Hobeika, London-based composer Bushra El-Turk, and Lebanese-Egyptian designer and artist Bahia Shehab were included in this year’s list.
1. Hind Hobeika
Lebanese entrepreneur Hind Hobeika is the founder of wearable tech company Instabeat, which produces a unique device that allows swimmers to monitor their heart rate and other metrics through a real-time display.
Instabeat’s wearable gadget provides on-demand data for swimmers on a color coded screen on the interior of swimming goggles.
The device is small, creates minimal friction with water, and provides key information without having the swimmer lose focus. Hind expects that the technology could be applicable to sports and athletes beyond the swimming world and plans to launch a triathlon version to market in the next few years.
Estimated to reach $50 billion by 2018, the global wearable tech industry has gained popularity in recent years with top names like Google and Apple making forays into the field. Hind and her team are already beginning to find a niche in the market and are inspiring other entrepreneurs in the region to do the same.
Watch Hind Hobeika’s Ted Talk:
2. Bushra El-Turk
Bushra El-Turk is a composer who forebears the influence of her Lebanese roots and straddles Eastern and Western idioms which seek to question Eastern socio-political and socio-cultural issues in contemporary Western contexts.
She studied the cello and piano at the Centre for Young Musicians at a young age, and then went on to study composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
El-Turk has composed for various concert halls, dance performances, theaters, and broadcast venues in England, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Her pieces have been featured on BBC, Royal Opera House, London Symphony Orchestra, and the Opera Holland Park, among others.
Watch Bushra El-Turk rehearse for a live performance:
3. Bahia Shehab
Bahia Shehab is a Lebanese-Egyptian artist, designer and art historian, who studies ancient Arabic script and applies it to modern-day issues. She is the Creative Director of MI7-Cairo, where she works on projects relevant to cultural heritage.
Shehab is also an associate professor at the American University in Cairo, where she has developed a four-year Graphic Design program focusing on the discipline in the Arab world.
In addition, Shehab is a TED Fellow and a PhD candidate at Leiden University in Holland. Shehab notably created a De Beers campaign, which won an International Advertising Association gold award
Most recently, Shehab has taken her art to the streets of Cairo, stenciling images in support of her country’s revolution.
Watch Bahia Shehab’s Ted Talk:
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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Several unidentified gunmen stole $500,000,000 LL, or $330,000 USD, from an armored banking truck in Baalbek on Saturday, according to sources.
Gunmen were reportedly driving two BMW SUVs when they stopped beside a Jammal Trust Bank armored truck and began firing bullets.
Source say they demanded two bank employees to step out of the way, when the gunmen stole the money and quickly fled the scene.
The employees were transferring money from the Jammal Trust Bank to the Central Bank, about 150 meters away.
Local Lebanese police say they are interrogating bank employees and have since gathered surveillance footage from a hotel between the two banks.
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(LIVONIA, MI) — The relics of Saint Rafka visited St. Rafka Maronite Catholic Church on Lyndon Street in Livonia this week featuring several divine liturgies and evening prayers with the holy artifacts.
“We couldn’t ask or a bigger blessing,” said Father Tony Massad. “We have the holy Eucharist and our sister, sister Rafka with us. I couldn’t ask for a bigger blessing — for more joy.”
OTV Lebanon and Noursat attended the divine liturgy and spoke to several local Lebanese-Americans.
Watch here:
For a list of locations of Saint Rafka relics, see the flyer issued by the Eparchy of St. Maron – Brooklyn below:
Examiner StaffComments Off on OTV visits Detroit to report on St. Rafka relics visit 2013
(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanese video artist Akram Zaatari was listed number 94 on ArtReview’s influential Power 100 list.
Zaatari, who is included for the first time, stands as the sole Lebanese figure and one of only three Arabs on the annual list of the most powerful people in the contemporary art world.
The Power 100 is selected by a committee of 26 art critics, museum directors, and artists from around the world.
According to the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Mark Rappolt, there are four basic criteria that determine who makes the cut: Selected figures must have an influence on the kind of art that is being produced, have been active in the past 12 months, have an international influence and have an influence over the public perception of what constitutes art.
Art Review wrote:
Zaatari, whose work involves a self-reflective examination of photography and documentary, has been busier than ever these past 12 months. His use of archival research and history as both subject and material, with a deft nod to the longstanding political turmoil of the Middle East, has won him curatorial fans far beyond his base in Beirut. Besides 2014 shows at Salt, Istanbul, and the Power Plant, Toronto, he had a survey at Wiels, Brussels, centring on the artist’s recurring motif of the letter. Last November he had a well-received exhibition of photographs and multimedia installations at Thomas Dane, London. That show included the 38-minute film On Photography People and Modern Times (2010), which, in part, is a portrait of the Arab Image Foundation, an expanding collection of over 600,000 vernacular and studio photographs from the Middle East, North Africa and the Arab diaspora, which the artist cofounded in 1997.
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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Alfa mobile operator launched a new mobile app that allows the Lebanese Red Cross to see the address of a caller on Monday as part of the company’s Social Responsibility Strategy.
“Najat Application” simplifies the work of emergency crews by directly locating coordinates of the phone location, after receiving a call to the toll-free LRC emergency number 140.
“Because every moment counts in saving the life of a human being, Alfa calls citizens and smartphone users to download this application in order to simplify the work of LRC ambulance and emergency,” a news release said.
The name of the app was inspired by Najat Waked, a mother who passed away last year on her way to the hospital. Her death, according to a news release, was due to the amount of time it took medics to reach her house.
“Alfa ‘s adoption of this project stems from the belief in its community responsibility towards the Lebanese society and the need to support civil society initiatives,” said Marwan Hayek, CEO and Chairman of Alfa.
The app can be downloaded on the Google Play and App Stores free-of-charge.
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(RAS BAALBECK, LEBANON) — The threat of Islamic State has crossed the borders of Syria to neighboring Lebanon, making Christians there arm themselves to defend their land and families from the extremists. International Russian cable channel “Russia Today” goes to the Syrian-Lebanese border, to meet the militants.
Watch here:
“With the Syrian war next door, we have many troubles, many suspicious people come here, we have to be on high alert. We have to defend our land from terrorists, from ISIS and Nusra Front [al-Qaeda branch operating in the area,” Abu Tony, a militia member of the town of Qaa in north-western Lebanon told RT.
Christians maintain considerable power in Lebanon, with estimates suggesting the number is roughly equal to Muslims. The exact percent of Christian believers has been disputed for decades, with the last official census conducted in the country in 1932, but studies show there might be up to 40 percent currently living in Lebanon.
According to a report, published at the start of the year by a group monitoring persecution of Christians worldwide, at least 2,100 Christians died because of their beliefs in 2013. Most of the dead were in Syria, where radical Islamist groups have clamped down on a long-established religious minority.
(LONDON, ENGLAND) — London Live visited Tony Kitous of Comptoir Libanias in Chelsea, London to watch him make Lebanese style halloumi and tomato mezze and discuss the similarities between Lebanese and Italian cuisines.
Directions
Brush the cheese with olive oil and place onto a medium hot grill for 2 minutes on each side, or until marked. Remove and slice into 1/2-inch pieces. Sprinkle with oregano. Drizzle the olive oil on top and squeeze the lemon juice over the cheese. Serve with grilled pita bread.
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay, Food Network.
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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — Lebanon suffers from severe gender inequality, according to the annual Gender Gap Index issued by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
The survey showed Lebanon falling to 135th place in the list of 142 nations, after Morocco and Jordan, which ranked 133rd and 134th, respectively.
Lebanon was ranked 141st for female political participation, given the low number of women holding public and political office. Lebanon was also at the bottom 10 in terms of labor force participation.
Gender equality was most apparent in Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, according to the report.
Syria ranked 139th, fourth place behind Yemen, Pakistan, and Chad, which remained at the bottom of the index.
“Achieving gender equality is obviously necessary for economic reasons. Only those economies who have full access to all their talent will remain competitive and will prosper,” Klaus Schwab, WEF founder and executive chairman, said in a statement.
The index ranks countries based on data reported by international organizations on four categories: health and survival, access to education, economic opportunity and political participation.
“Because women account for one-half of a country’s potential talent base, a nation’s competitiveness in the long term depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its women,” the report said.
See the interactive report below:
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(BEIRUT, LEBANON) — The 2013 Lebanese drama film directed by Amin Dora, “Ghadi” is vying for an official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at next year’s Oscars Awards.
The film was originally selected as the Lebanese entry last year, but was delayed to this year because it didn’t meet eligibility dates.
“Ghadi” set in a fictional village near Batroun, tackles the daring campaign waged by a father to overcome villagers’ animosity toward his disabled son.
Written by Georges Khabbaz, the film was previously awarded the audience choice award at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea and was recently selected by the Culture Ministry as Lebanon’s official entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Entertainment magazine Variety described it as “a sly and absorbing comedy whose particular resonance for Arab viewers (particularly fans of the fledgling Lebanese filmmaking industry) never undercuts its essential appeal to a potentially broad array of audiences.”
“Ghadi” will be competing against 80 other entries in the foreign language category. Lebanon has entered 11 films for the Oscars since 1978, but has yet to receive a nomination.
Watch the movie trailer here:
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