DOHA, (Reuters) – Qatar will invest $500 million in Lebanese government U.S. dollar bonds to support Lebanon’s struggling economy, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. Lebanon has one of the world’s highest levels of public debt compared to GDP and stagnant growth. Comments from its finance minister ten days ago about the […]

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be among the leaders attending Several notable political leaders will be missing from this year’s World Economic Forum, which kicks off Tuesday in the Swiss town of Davos. President Trump is staying put due to the ongoing government shutdown, while U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May will be presenting a new […]

By Bill Gates gatesnotes.com –— When I announced that I was investing in Alzheimer’s research for the first time last fall, I thought I knew what to expect. I knew I would get to engage more deeply with the brilliant scientists and advocates working to stop Alzheimer’s—and I haven’t been disappointed. The things I’ve seen over the last seven months make me more hopeful than ever. What I didn’t see coming was the amazing response I got from the Alzheimer’s community at large. Because my family didn’t talk publicly about my dad’s diagnosis before the announcement, I had yet to experience how remarkable the support community is. So many of you have shared your personal experiences with me, both in person and online (including here on TGN). It helps to hear from others who are going through the same thing.

Alzheimer’s research is a frontier where we can dramatically improve human life—both the lives of people who have the disease and their loved ones. I’m optimistic that we can substantially alter the course of Alzheimer’s if we make progress in several key areas. One of the biggest things we could do right now is develop a reliable, affordable, and accessible diagnostic. The process of getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s today is less than ideal. It starts with a cognitive test. If you don’t perform well, your doctor needs to rule out all other possible causes for memory loss, like stroke or a nutritional deficiency. Then your doctor can order a spinal tap or PET scan to confirm you have Alzheimer’s. Although these tests are fairly accurate, the only way to diagnose the disease definitively is through an autopsy after death. There are two big problems with this process. First, it can be expensive and invasive. Most insurance plans in the United States won’t reimburse tests for Alzheimer’s. Patients often pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets. Meanwhile, spinal taps can be scary and uncomfortable, and PET scans require the patient to stay perfectly still for up to 40 minutes. That’s difficult for anyone to do—but especially someone with Alzheimer’s. Second, patients aren’t being tested for the disease until they start showing cognitive decline. The more we understand about Alzheimer’s, the clearer it becomes that the disease begins much earlier than we previously thought. Research suggests Alzheimer’s starts damaging the brain more than a decade before symptoms start showing. That’s probably when we need to start treating people to have the best shot at an effective drug.

 BEIRUT,(Xinhua) — Arab leaders and officials on Sunday urged the international community to support nations hosting Syrian refugees and take steps to minimize the impact of the refugee crisis. The call was made in the Beirut Declaration issued as the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit concluded in the Lebanese capital. “We call on the […]

by Ian Thomsen — Northeastern University is naming its fastest-growing college the Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences in honor of alumnus and trustee Amin Khoury. Inspired by Northeastern’s leadership in digital innovation, Khoury has endowed the college with $50 million to support all aspects of the college’s future focus. “In the world of higher education, truly historic moments happen when a compelling vision is joined together with a powerful investment,” President Joseph Aoun wrote in a message to the Northeastern community. “Amin Khoury is a far-sighted entrepreneur who built his career by anticipating trends and making transformative decisions. Amin understands the limitless promise of technology to shape our society, and his support will allow us to advance the frontiers of knowledge in the age of artificial intelligence. All of us in the Northeastern family are grateful for his wisdom and support.”

Khoury, an accomplished entrepreneur who earned his MBA at Northeastern, has launched and scaled companies in a variety of fields, including medical products, medical services, aerospace manufacturing, aerospace distribution, and oilfield services. He and his wife, Julie, met at Northeastern while she was also earning her MBA. “Julie and I spent some time thinking about how we might be able to give back to the university and its students in a way which could be really meaningful,” Khoury said. “This is more rewarding for us than it is for the university.” Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences is a national leader in cybersecurity and privacy in an increasingly digitally connected world. It will be one of the first named colleges of computer science nationally. Over the past decade, computer science enrollment at Northeastern has skyrocketed, and now stands at 3,474 students. Simultaneously, the academic quality of computer science applicants—already at a high level—continues to rise each year. “Julie and I would like to help prepare learners for a future reality where human, data, and technological literacies will become imperative for success and leadership in a world based on innovation rather than resources,” Khoury added.“This digital transformation is well underway, and it is impacting how all of us communicate, learn, and work.” Khoury’s vision for the Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences is strongly aligned with the university’s academic plan, Northeastern 2025. As the global economy adapts to the influence of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and cybersecurity, Northeastern is empowering humans to be agile learners, thinkers, and creators, beyond the capacity of any machine. During a private meeting with computer science faculty and staff on Dec. 7, Khoury suggested that he was doubling down on that mission.

by bbc.com The wife of former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has said he is suffering under “harsh treatment” in a Japanese jail, where he has been detained for nearly two months. In a letter to Human Rights Watch, Carole Ghosn described constant interrogations and appealed for action. Mr Ghosn’s arrest for financial misconduct shocked the […]

BEIRUT (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department criticized Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group on Monday for digging tunnels into Israel and stockpiling rockets, as Washington steps up efforts to isolate Tehran. In recent weeks, Israeli forces uncovered tunnels they said were dug by Hezbollah, and Lebanon complained about Israel’s construction of a barrier along disputed parts […]

this article does not necessarily represents the opinion of khazen.org by libyaobserver.ly —The Libyan Foreign Ministry of the Presidential Council has called for explanation by the Lebanese authorities for the desecration of the Libyan flag and the threats against Libyan delegation which was supposed to visit Beirut for the Arab Summit for Economic and Social […]

By Hannah Brockhaus Annaya, Lebanon, (CNA).– St. Charbel Makhlouf is known in Lebanon for the miraculous healings of those who visit his tomb to seek his intercession – both Christians and Muslims. “St. Charbel has no geographic or confessional limits. Nothing is impossible for [his intercession] and when people ask [for something], he answers,” Fr. […]

By Jonah Engel Bromwich and Alexandra Alter — nytimes.com — — In her 25 years of marriage to Jeff Bezos, MacKenzie Bezos has been a loyal ambassador for Amazon, the company that made her and her husband the richest couple in the world. She was an integral part of its origin story, driving to Seattle in 1994 while Mr. Bezos sat in the passenger seat, working on the nascent company’s business plan. She was Amazon’s first accountant and was involved in its transformation from a small online bookseller to the e-commerce behemoth it is today, the second company in American history to be valued at over a trillion dollars. Ms. Bezos, 48, is a novelist. But Amazon has defined her public image almost wholly. The announcement this week that she and her husband would be getting a divorce may soon change that. A statement signed “Jeff & MacKenzie,” which was first posted to Mr. Bezos’s Twitter account, read: “After a period of loving exploration and trial separation, we have decided to divorce and continue our shared lives as friends.” The couple, who have four children, wrote that they see “wonderful futures ahead, as parents, friends, partners in ventures and projects, and as individuals pursuing ventures and adventures.”

Over the last few decades, as Amazon grew, Ms. Bezos appeared with her husband at some high-profile events, including Vanity Fair’s Oscar parties and the Golden Globes; in 2012, she was a host of the Met Gala. (Amazon also underwrote the event.) But for the most part, Ms. Bezos has guarded her privacy, preferring to focus on writing and her children. She could not be reached for comment on this article. She has made infrequent forays into the public eye to promote her books and to defend her husband’s company. In 2013, she posted a scathing one-star review on Amazon of “The Everything Store,” a book about Amazon by Brad Stone, to say it was plagued by “numerous factual inaccuracies” and “full of techniques which stretch the boundaries of non-fiction.” (Mr. Stone is a veteran technology reporter. Michiko Kakutani, reviewing his book for The New York Times, said he told “this story of disruptive innovation with authority and verve, and lots of well-informed reporting.”) Little is known about Ms. Bezos, a private woman who may be awarded one of the largest divorce settlements to date. “The Book Worm” MacKenzie Tuttle, an aspiring novelist, met her husband at D. E. Shaw, a New York hedge fund where Mr. Bezos, a computer scientist by training, had become a senior vice president. She told Vogue that she took the position of administrative assistant to pay the bills while she worked on her novels, but she soon found herself enamored with the laugh of the man who worked in the next office over. As Ms. Bezos put it in a 2013 interview with Charlie Rose: “It was love at first listen.”