theadvocate.com — It’s difficult to calculate just how many people of Lebanese descent live in Acadiana today, but the cultural impact of this population is apparent everywhere. Generations of Acadiana residents remember shopping at Abdalla’s, Brother’s on the Boulevard, or Boustany’s Department Store. Local institutions such as Evangeline Maid and Evangeline Downs were concerns of prominent Lafayette businessman Frem Boustany. And when you drive down Kaliste Saloom Road, visit the major retail and medical centers of South Lafayette, or eat at restaurants such as Tabouleh Lebanese Cuisine, you’re participating in slices of Acadiana life that only exist thanks to waves of immigration from the modern-day country of Lebanon.

The first families began arriving in South Louisiana in the 19th century, bringing names that are still well-known today — like Saloom. Other Lebanese family names include Boustany, Azar, John, Ashy, Antoine, Abdalla, Hannie, Mahtook, and Haik — a short list of dozens that have descendants in South Louisiana. The Salooms were some of the earliest arrivals from the region that was then a province of Syria. According to Lafayette City Judge Judge Doug Saloom, his great-uncle Racheed was the first Saloom in the area, after arriving in Ellis Island and working his way down from New York. “He was so exhausted when he got to New York, he fell asleep and he was robbed,” says Doug Saloom. “They took his passports, money, everything. He walked and hitched rides down to Louisiana.”

By Najia Houssari — Arabnews.com –– BEIRUT: Small portable alarms named in memory of a young British Embassy worker raped and murdered in Lebanon in 2017 have been distributed on Beirut Corniche as part of a campaign to protect women and girls from violence. Known as Becky’s Button, the lightweight devices were handed out by the Becky’s Button Association on Saturday, with volunteers explaining how the alarms can offer protection from sexual harassment or assault. When activated, the alarm emits an ear-piercing signal that can frighten off attackers and alert anyone nearby, offering wearers a few seconds in which to escape. We all know what happened to Becky. The news was shocking at the time and women in Lebanon are still living with the repercussions. The alarm is named after Rebecca Dykes, the 30-year-old British Embassy worker raped and strangled to death in 2017 by a taxi driver. Dykes’ killer, Tariq Samir Huweisheh, was sentenced to death by a criminal court in Mount Lebanon.

On Saturday, volunteers wearing T-shirts bearing the words “Press, Run and Report” explained the benefits of the device and how it could protect women exposed to any kind of danger. A British Embassy official joined the volunteers as the alarms were handed out to women passers-by. Female officers and members of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces were also present. Becky’s Button can be placed under clothing or attached to a bag. Becky’s mother, Jane, who has been donating the alarm to vulnerable women, believes her daughter’s life might have been saved if she had such a device. The alarm is provided to women after an interview at the Ahla Fawda NGO, a community organization. “Stocks are currently limited, but they can be requested via social media,” an association activist said.

BY BASSEM MROUE AND QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA — BEIRUT (AP) — A Lebanese Shiite cleric who has angered politicians and religious leaders in Lebanon and Iraq said Friday that groups including Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah are trying to silence voices of dissent within the sect — including his own. Sheikh Yasser Auda has developed a reputation on social media in recent years for his criticism of corruption in Iraq and Lebanon. He has also spoken out against the use of violence against opponents of Iran-backed groups in the two crisis-hit countries. He vowed in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday not to bow down even if it costs him is life. His comments came two days after a department within The Supreme Islamic Shiite Council of Lebanon, the country’s top Shiite religious authority, issued a statement naming 15 clerics whom it said are not qualified to provide religious guidance. Auda was at the top of the list and was almost stripped of his religious status. But the council later issued a statement saying that the position of the General Directorate for Religious Advocacy did not represent its point of view.

“I don’t recognize The Supreme Islamic Shiite Council of Lebanon,” Auda said in the sitting room of his modest apartment in Beirut’s predominantly Shiite southern suburb of Mreijeh. Auda said he rejects “corruption by politicians who are protected by religious authorities,” in an apparent reference to the council. He blamed the divisions within the council regarding the statement about his being unqualified to provide religious guidance to competition among clerics who hope to head the council one day.

By Rob Sacks, Editor at LinkedIn News —  Nearly half of Americans believe artificial intelligence could replace their jobs, Bloomberg reports, citing an American Staffing Association survey. Young, Black and Hispanic workers feel most vulnerable, while white Americans and baby boomers don’t feel as threatened. Compared to a similar 2017 survey in which a majority […]

By AP — WASHINGTON: The United States imposed sanctions Wednesday on a Lebanese environmental organization accused of being an arm of the militant group Hezbollah. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Green Without Borders and its leader, Zouher Nahli, for allegedly providing support and cover to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon along the […]

By AGNES HELOU — BEIRUT — The Lebanese navy expects to receive three Protector-class patrol boats in coming days as part of US military aid, but the country’s naval commander said Beirut will need twice that number — plus larger patrol boats — to better secure its maritime borders. “This number is not sufficient to meet the needs of the navy to protect the country’s natural resources and sovereign rights in its economic waters,” Lebanese navy commander Adm. Haissam Dannaoui told Breaking Defense. “Since these boats have limited capabilities to navigate in difficult weather conditions, the navy has a plan to acquire large-sized patrol boats that can navigate in difficult weather conditions, have greater firepower, and can transport more equipment and items.” He told Breaking Defense that larger vessels are also more effective in search and rescue operations and protection of oil platforms.

But before any additional ships, Lebanon expects to accept the first three Protector-class vessels on Aug. 21, a source told Breaking Defense. Earlier in 2023, Lebanese navy teams were trained for operating these vessels in the US. A spokesperson for the US Embassy in Beirut declined to comment on the timing of the ship delivery. Another US State Department told Breaking Defense, “The United States is providing maintenance and training to support the transfer of protector class patrol boats to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Crew training began earlier this year. The U.S. takes a total package approach to Foreign Military Sales to ensure customers are able to fully employ capabilities to meet their security requirements.” When asked about the possibility of increasing the number of vessels, the official said, “At this time we are focused on transferring and building up the LAF’s capacity to employ the protector class patrol boats.”

by Bassen Moure — BEIRUT (AP) — Libya’s judicial authorities have formally asked Lebanon to release one of the late dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s sons, held without charges in Lebanon since 2015, because of his deteriorating health, officials said Monday. The health of Hannibal Gadhafi has been deteriorating since he went on hunger strike on June 3, to protest his detention without trial. He was taken to hospital at least twice since then and has been only drinking small amounts of water. According to two Lebanese judicial officials, Libya’s prosecutor general Al-Sediq al-Sour, sent a request earlier this month to his Lebanese counterpart, Ghassan Oueidat, regarding Hannibal Gadhafi. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The note stated that Lebanon’s cooperation in this matter could help reveal the truth regarding the fate of a prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric, Moussa al-Sadr, who went missing in Libya in 1978. It questioned why Gadhafi was being held and asked that he be either handed over to Libya or be allowed to return to Syria, where he had been living in exile with his Lebanese wife, Aline Skaf, and children until he was abducted and brought to Lebanon eight years ago.

The Lebanese prosecutor then referred the case to Zaher Hamadeh, the investigative judge in the missing cleric’s case, who is studying the Libyan request and would respond in time. Hannibal Gadhafi has been detained in Lebanon since 2015 after he was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information on the whereabouts of the cleric. Lebanese police later announced it had picked up Gadhafi from the city of Baalbek in northeastern Lebanon, where he was being held. He has since been held in a Beirut jail. The disappearance of al-Sadr in 1978 has been a long-standing sore point in Lebanon. The cleric’s family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume al-Sadr is dead. He would be 94 years old. He was the founder of the Amal group, Arabic for “hope,” and an acronym for the militia’s Arabic name, the Lebanese Resistance Brigades. The group later fought in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon’s powerful Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri heads the group. Most of al-Sadr’s followers are convinced that Moammar Gadhafi ordered al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya has maintained that the cleric and his two traveling companions left Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome and suggested he was a victim of a power struggle among Shiites.

by The National News — The head of Lebanon’s Maronite Church called for state control over weapons on Sunday, days after a deadly skirmish between residents of a Christian village and members of the heavily armed Hezbollah militia. A member of the Shiite group and a Christian resident were killed in a brief exchange of […]

by arabnews.com — DUBAI: Lebanese filmmaker and actress Nadine Labaki has been announced as a jury member for the 80th Venice International Film Festival, to take place from Aug. 30 to Sept. 9. She will be joined by French Cesar-winning actor and producer Elsa Zylberstein, Mexican actor and Oscar nominee Yalitza Aparicio, British-Nigerian screenwriter Misan […]

BY MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS AND ABBY SEWELL NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The United Nations refugee agency said Friday it was “extremely concerned” over the return of more than 100 Syrian nationals from Cyprus to Lebanon without being screened to determine whether they need legal protection and who may be deported back to their war-wracked homeland. The UNHCR office in Cyprus said deportations and transfers between states “without legal and procedural safeguards for persons who may be in need of international protection” are against international and European law. Such transfers could result in people sent back to a country where “they may face the risk of persecution, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other irreparable harm,” the agency told the Associated Press. The Cyprus government said such returns are being lawfully carried out in line with a bilateral agreement the island nation and neighboring Lebanon signed in 2004.

According to senior Interior Ministry official Loizos Hadjivasiliou, the agreement obligates Lebanon to prevent and stop illegal border crossings and illegal migration of individuals who depart from Lebanon. Hadjivasiliou told the Associated Press these individuals are returned to Lebanon, which is deemed safe and where they enjoy benefits afforded to the hundreds of thousands of refugees in the country. “Under these circumstances, we believe that they don’t face any danger and their choice to set sail toward a European Union member country is being made for clearly economic reasons.”