Watch the Prophet Trailer – Featuring Salma Hayek

Inquirr

The moment she made her breakthrough in Hollywood by playing Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, everybody became aware of Salma Hayek’s Mexican roots. Her physical features all scream of her Mexican descent, but who would’ve thought that she has Lebanese roots, too?

Recently, Hayek revealed her Lebanese ancestry as she promoted her new animated film entitled The Prophet. According to her, the movie was a labor of love dedicated to her late Lebanese grandfather who adored the 1923 book by Kahlil Gibran, which the movie draws inspiration from.

Associated Press:

QALAMOUN MOUNTAINS, Syria –  Here in pockets of the rugged mountains near the Lebanese border, the distinctive yellow flag of Hezbollah now flies where al-Qaida militants once held sway.

These gains in the Qalamoun Mountains represent a bright spot for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, now reeling from a unified insurgent assault in the country’s northwest. And again, they show the power and influence of the Lebanese militant group in Syria’s civil war, grinding on into its fifth year after killing more than 220,000 people.

A team of Associated Press journalists traveling with Hezbollah into Syria found smiling Hezbollah fighters proudly showing newly dismantled booby traps and food quickly left behind by the Sunni insurgents as commanders promised further advances they say protect Lebanon. But in Lebanon, worries persist that Hezbollah’s battlefield successes only further entangle the tiny country in Syria’s violence, risking attacks back home as well.

By Pamela Engel – Business Insider

Muslims becoming radicalized and joining the Islamic State terror group — and in some cases leaving their home countries to travel to the Middle East — is becoming a growing crisis in the West.

Local imams are speaking about having to fight against a tide of young people who are turning to radical Islam in increasing numbers, Twitter is scrambling to shut down Islamic State accounts that spew propaganda and advertise the brutal acts the group carries out, and airport customs officials are now on the lookout for people who are trying to enter Syria illegally through Turkey.

  EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst stressed on Friday that the election of a new head of state increases the trust in Lebanon, which is confronting enormous challenges. “It gives a positive indication locally and in the region,” Eichhorst said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper. Lebanon has been without a president since […]

  Growing fears of a vacuum in the Lebanese Army Command will spur international powers to launch a flurry of political activity in September aimed at breaking the yearlong presidential deadlock, according to Western diplomats. “September seems to be a suitable date for the international community to begin talks with regional and local players to […]

  BEIRUT: The American University of Beirut hosted its triennial Honey Day Wednesdy, in an effort to raise awareness about the role of bees in nature and funds for its campus apiary. Rami Ollaik, a professor of beekeeping, and 25 of his apiculture students sold a wide array of honeys, including oak, orange and wild […]

Three indictments were issued on Thursday against detainees held on terror charges, reported the National News Agency. Military Examining Magistrate Judge Fadi Sawan issued the indictments against the suspects for belonging to a terrorist organization that was seeking to carry out terror attacks. They were also charged with combating the army and killing an officer […]

  SIDON, Lebanon: A fire broke out Thursday at a four-story building housing Syrian refugees in the southern city of Sidon. Firefighters, backed by seven trucks and several ambulances, were able to douse the blaze at the Ouzai building a short time later after evacuating more than 400 refugees. Three girls suffered minor burns, according […]

  The army said on Thursday it arrested a fugitive wanted for murder and three other people for the possession of drugs in several areas of Beirut’s southern suburbs. Hassan Hussein Zoaiter, who is wanted for the death of a Lebanese man, was apprehended, said a communique issued by the army command. Three other suspects […]

  The army intelligence has arrested two people accused of transferring money to Lebanon to finance terrorist organizations, the military announced on Tuesday. The army’s communique identified the suspects as Mahmoud Mohammed Hamze and Mohammed Osama Mehsen. It said the two men are accused of transferring the money from Islamic Sate members abroad and handing […]