By Business Insider: Pamela Engel

Huma Abedin has been by Hillary Clinton’s side for decades as one
of her longest-serving aides, and now she’s at the center of an
FBI investigation that involves the Democratic presidential
nominee’s use of a private email server. Clinton’s critics have long focused on the 41-year-old Abedin
because of her close connection to Clinton.

Vanity Fair
noted in a profile of Abedin earlier this year that
she is often referred to as Clinton’s “second daughter.” She
follows Clinton nearly everywhere and is thought to be one of her
closest confidantes. Abedin started working for Clinton as an intern in
1996 when Clinton was the First Lady. Abedin had initially
wanted to go into journalism, but ended up sticking with Clinton
and following her from the White House to the Senate to the State
Department to the campaign trail. She’s now vice-chairwoman of
Clinton’s presidential campaign. And the email scandal isn’t the first controversy she’s
found herself at the center of.

Her ties to Saudi Arabia Abedin’s upbringing and family ties have been the sources of many conspiracy theories. She was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Pakistani mother and Indian father, and she spent much of her childhood in Saudi Arabia.

By Ahram Online Google marked the 95th birthday of Wadih El Safi, Lebanon’s most prominent cultural icon, with a doodle featuring the musician sitting with his oud at the backdrop of a typical Lebanese landscape.Born on 1 November 1921, “El Safi became known as the ‘Voice of Lebanon’ after winning a national radio competition at […]

The new exhibition’s 520 pieces range from the Paleolithic period to the Ottoman Empire. A naturally preserved mummies, found in the caves of Qadisha valley in the Lebanese mountains and dating back to 1283 A.D., on display in the newly inaugurated basement section of Beirut’s National Museum. The National Museum of Beirut has a collection […]

By Dania Saadi, The National

Lebanon’s economic growth could accelerate to 3.3 per cent
next year following the election of a president after a 29-month
political vacuum, according to a report from the International Institute
of Finance (IIF).

Lebanon’s parliament on Monday elected Michel
Aoun, an ally of Hizbollah, as president, a post that had remained
vacant since May 2014 because of political haggling over the successor
to Michel Suleiman. The
next step is to form a national unity government, which is expected to
be headed by Saad Al Hariri, who helped to broker consensus for the
election of Aoun.

Growth, which is forecast to have risen to 1.4
per cent this year from 1.2 per cent last year, will pick up next year
thanks to “modest recovery in private investment and exports of goods
and services”, said Garbis Iradian, chief economist for the Middle
Eastern and North Africa for the IIF in the report.

These
growth estimates are more optimistic than the IMF, which is forecasting
1 per cent growth this year and 2 per cent for next year.The
economic recovery could be boosted if the blocked trade routes with
Syria and Iraq are reopened in the event of the defeat of ISIL, a
de-escalation of fighting in Syria takes place and Lebanon’s ties with
Arabian Gulf countries improve, according to the IIF.