In a meeting this month, executives from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) operations of Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW) extended the offer of a matching grant for classroom or laboratory technology facilities worth up to USD $500,000 to Dr. Joseph Jabbra, President of the Lebanese American University (LAU).

Once ratified by both parties, the joint investment from Sun would assist LAU in achieving its goal of building new academic and research labs, especially for its medical and pharmacy schools. This deployment is expected to take place in 2006. LAU has specified that technology deployment will play a critical role in the success of its recently-completed strategic plan. During the meeting in Dubai between Dr. Jabbra and Sun MENA’s managing director, Chris Cornelius, Sun also extended additional support to LAU’s computer science and engineering schools, specifically in the areas of grid and high performance computing.

‘Central to Sun’s regional strategy is the ability to empower educators with the latest software and hardware solutions, and we are offering LAU a matching grant as well as number of strategic programs that provide technology access to the broadest range of students effectively and affordably,’ said Sun’s Cornelius.

Neil McMahon,  The harassment by other Australians is relentless, young Lebanese people say – on trains, at school, on the street, at the beach. But no authority figures attract as much criticism as police officers.Rania Hamam, 18, who was interviewed for the research project by the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, told the Herald that police harassment was common.She had been stopped and ordered to surrender her mobile phone in Auburn on Wednesday. "I said to him, ‘My phone is private’, but he took it anyway," she said. The officer checked the phone for text messages as part of the police crackdown after recent racial clashes.Ms Hamam said she wanted to become a police officer – because the only way she could see the force changing was if people of different backgrounds joined it. "If police treat us with respect we will reply with respect," she said. The centre’s research on racism revealed a widespread perception of police bias.

One man, Tariq, 19, recalled driving around Auburn and Bankstown with a friend who owned a Mercedes. In one night, he said, they were pulled over 22 times. Tariq said his friend had asked police why he was being harassed. An officer had replied: "A young, ethnic guy driving a Mercedes – why wouldn’t we?" Another, more disturbing, incident was described by Hana, a 16-year-old girl, who said a police officer asked a male friend: "Which girls are you ready to rape?"Ms Hamam said some members of the Lebanese community had to take responsibility for contributing to the problem.

By Rita Daou A sleek official-looking convoy rolls up in front of Beirut’s Maronite patriarchate. No-one emerges. Seconds later a lone, humdrum jeep pops up. And out steps Lebanon’s Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.Such fake convoys are just one of the methods used by Lebanese politicians attempting to outwit potential attackers who have reportedly already compiled hit lists of their next targets.

Even the most sophisticated equipment and armoured convoys have been incapable of preventing targeted assassinations against critics of Syria – the last being parliamentarian and press magnate Gibran Tueni a week ago."The rhythm of the attacks is scary. We hardly have the time to bury a martyr, before another one falls," said Maronite Catholic Cardinal Nasrallah Sfeir.

The 85-year-old cardinal, a vocal critic of Syria’s presence in Lebanon whose own name appeared on the alleged hit-lists, has also used similar dummy convoys and army helicopters for his movements.For some, the only option in a climate of fear that has seen 15 attacks and political killings since October 2004 last year has been to barricade themselves at remote mountain retreats or leave the country altogether.Figures critical of Syria’s role in Lebanon have adopted tight measures or stayed abroad like Saad Hariri, son and political heir to slain former prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Leader Michel Aoun has been also retreated to his villa in Rabiyeh, an exclusive residential hilltop overlooking the capital.Marcel Ghanem, a prominent LBCI talk-show star, said the channel had adopted security measures for homes as well as means of transportation and communication.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon criticised on Wednesday U.S. demands that it hand over a Hizbollah hijacker released by Germany after nearly 19 years in jail for murdering an American."Originally they (the U.S. government) could have requested that Germany hand him over. Why are they asking us?" Prime Minister Fouad Siniora told reporters."He served his sentence in Germany and there are measures that will be completed in Lebanon…Why are they asking us now?"

Siniora also said Lebanon’s judicial authorities were looking at the legal status of Mohammad Ali Hammadi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a German court for his role in the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner and the murder of U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem in Beirut. Hammadi was freed quietly last week and immediately returned to Lebanon despite objections from Washington, which has vowed to bring him from Lebanon to face a U.S. judge.

BEIRUT (AFP)- Lebanon