By Business Insider Lydia Ramsey:

As we age, our brains might start to get less sharp, making it harder to learn new things or remember key events. And for some, that cognitive decline could be significant, in some rarer cases leading to Alzheimer’s Disease. Here’s what the science has to say about the best ways to lower your risk of Alzheimer’s and cognitive decline.

By daily Star Lebanon BEIRUT: Lebanon’s majoritarian parliamentary election system diminishes Druze representation in the country, said Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan Friday. “Druze can only elect two lawmakers out of eight by their votes based on the 1960 [electoral] while the remaining six are elected by our partners from other sects,” Arslan told reporters […]

by AP – BEIRUT — Lebanon’s state news agency says Beirut will file a lawsuit against the suspect behind the New Year’s terror attack in Istanbul that killed 39 people, including three Lebanese citizens. The agency says a Justice Ministry official has been appointed to defend the rights of the Lebanese victims and sue the […]

Reported by Rania Ghanem The total number of visitors reached 1.7 million last year, increasing 11 percent compared to 2015, according to the Ministry of Tourism (MoT).  “The country has regained trust after the positive political and security developments,” said Nada Sardouk, Director General at the MoT.  Europe was the main source of visitors last […]

By NAJIA HOUSSARI

BEIRUT: Saudi tourism to Lebanon is tipped to increase after a boost in
diplomatic ties between the two nations. In a visit to Lebanon last
month by Thamer Al-Sabhan, Saudi minister for Arabian Gulf Affairs, the
diplomat told President Michel Aoun that Saudi Arabian Airlines would
increase its flights to Beirut. Lebanese-Saudi relations have been
troubled in recent years as a result of the Syrian crisis. The
Gulf countries earlier barred their citizens from traveling to Lebanon,
while Saudi Arabia last year suspended $3 billion in military aid
involving French arms to Lebanon. But President Aoun’s visit
to Riyadh at the beginning of the year paved the way for restoring warm
ties between the two nations, and Al-Sabhan’s visit to Beirut was
perceived as “a complementary effort comfortably received by the
Lebanese,” said Future Bloc MP Ammar Houri. “The Kingdom has always been keen to offer Lebanon help and support in all fields and arenas,” Houri said. “The
Lebanese state’s proven ability to control security and fight terrorism
combined with a warm welcome to our Saudi brothers constitutes
favorable conditions for the Saudi comeback to Lebanon,” he said.

By Scott Belinksi

While the Eastern Mediterranean is well known for its major (and underexploited) gas reserves, Lebanon is the latest country in the region to join the oil rush, after Egypt’s fitful entry into the market and Israel’s more straightforward path to exporter status. Seismic surveys
in 2013 estimated Lebanon’s offshore fields to hold 96 trillion cubic
feet of gas and 850 million barrels of oil. On January 27th, the
government finally opened the bidding for five offshore blocks in a
first licensing round, after a three-year delay brought upon by
political instability.

The fractious Lebanese government hopes
that these energy reserves and the wealth that should come with them
will alleviate the country’s notorious power shortages and budget
deficits. But, history is littered with examples of fragile countries
going completely off the rails because of the warping effects oil has on
their economies – will Lebanon follow suit or can Beirut dodge the
resource curse? Michel Aoun, who was elected President at the end of October, after a grueling 29-month standoff, vowed
to use the fund for the good of the Lebanese people, financing
development projects and revamping ailing infrastructure. In this, his
government wants to follow the example of developed economies that have
the advantage of better governance and economic planning, greater
regional security, and long-established transparency practices. However,
even if Lebanon’s estimated reserves turn out to be as substantial and
as profitable as its leaders predict, replicating that success won’t be
an easy feat.

For the time
being, the government is off to a good start. To send a message that it
will handle the future proceeds from exploiting its reserves
responsibly, Beirut is pushing a plan that would require all
oil-generated proceeds be deposited into a national sovereign wealth
fund (SWF), which emulates the path followed by Norway and more recently
by Saudi Arabia. Norway, the country that manages the world’s
largest wealth fund, sets the gold standard when it comes to
transparency. The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG)
publishes online details of every investment it makes to uphold its
culture of political trust. As former fund supervisor Martin Skancke put
it, the trust the fund enjoys comes down
to “relatively high levels of equality and cultural homogeneity.” Even
with unexpected bumper profits, Nordic frugality and trust in government
meant the public has thus far been content to put hundreds of billions
into the fund and let the money stay there.

(CNN)Syria’s leader has praised
Donald Trump’s rhetoric on terror, saying the new US President’s pledge
to prioritize the fight against terrorism, including ISIS, was
“promising.” “Trump during the campaign and after the
campaign is promising regarding the priority of fighting terrorists,
and mainly ISIS, that’s what we’ve been asking for during the last six
years,” Assad said. “It’s
still early to expect anything practical. It could be about the
cooperation between the US and Russia, that we think is going to be
positive for the rest of the world, including Syria.” It’s
not the first time the Syrian leader has praised Trump. In an interview
with state media agency, SANA, last December, Assad said the then
President-elect would be a “natural ally” if he held fast to his hard line on terrorists.

tradearabia A bike-sharing station seen in downtown Beirut, Lebanon on February 7. According to the media office of Beirut Municipality which installed the first bike-sharing station in the capital Beirut in January, the project dubbed ‘Lebanon Bike Sharing System, Bike 4 All,’ is privately funded by Bike 4 All, launched in collaboration with the Governor […]

Source:The961 blog

A Daesh-linked Lebanese has been arrested yesterday. He is suspected
of plotting to carry out a terrorist attack in downtown Beirut.The Solidere employee was recruited by Daesh to monitor surveillance
cameras in downtown. A judicial source told The Daily Star Tuesday the
suspect, identified by authorities as 26-year-old Sidon native Mustapha
Safadi A judicial source, as well as authorities, identified the suspect as 26-year-old Sidon native Mustapha Safadi.

The Solidere employee monitored the construction firm’s security
cameras that watch almost the entirety of Downtown Beirut. Many public
institutions, major businesses, tourist attractions and homes of
influential figures including Prime Minister Saad Hariri are based in
the district. The Solidere employee was chosen due to his access to “sensitive information” because of his job. The family is known as a conservative working-class household. One of
Safadi’s brothers works for an Islamic social institution while his
sister works for an Islamic teaching organization.

Although the family has a reputation for being conservative, there is
no indication that family members hold extremists views, except for one
of Safadi’s brothers. Mustapha’s brother is reportedly in Syria fighting alongside Daesh.
When Safadi’s brother in Syria found out he had married a Shiite woman,
he branded him an apostate and refused to speak to him.

By Daily Mail – They’ve been enjoying a relaxing couple of days in Barcelona. And amid rumours she’s pregnant,
Amal Clooney certainly looked excited to enjoy some time with her loved
ones as she arrived in the city on Wednesday with husband George, 55,  and the actor’s parents Nick and Nina. The
human rights lawyer – who turned 39 on Friday – kept warm in a cosy
loose fitting sweater dress as the group arrived at the airport, and
appeared to be sporting a fuller figure in the casual outfit.

Amal had a big smile on her face as she led the way out of the airport, wrapped up warm for the chilly weather. She
layered a loose cream jumper dress under a casual black coat and added
black opaque tights and a chic pair of knee-high boots. A knitted cap and Altuzarra Bullrope Hobo
bag completed the look, while the beauty added a touch of makeup and
left her hair loose around her shoulders.

A dressed down George was seen chatting to airport staff before taking charge of the luggage. The next night the foursome were seen grabbing dinner at Barcelona’s swanky Rooftop Smokehouse Restaurant. Amal
looked amazing with her jet black mane down and a black skirt, holding
hands with her 55-year-old spouse as she walked in black heels.

A
source told InTouch last month that the dark-haired fashionista, who is
of Lebanese-British descent, ‘is pregnant with twins: a boy and a
girl.’  The couple, who got engaged in
April 2014 before tying the knot in Venice, Italy on September 27 of
that year, ‘feel like they’ve hit the family jackpot’ in light of the
big news, the source told the magazine.