Natasha Bertrand

Protesters stormed Iraq’s heavily fortified Green Zone over the
weekend, for the first time since its concrete barriers were erected
more than 13 years ago to separate US security forces and Iraqi
elites from the rest of Baghdad. The unprecedented breach has created an “accelerated meltdown” that “could be
both a local catastrophe and a signature blot on Obama’s foreign policy
record,” David Rothkopf, the CEO of the Foreign Policy publishing
group, said on Monday.

Ever since ISIS overran the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in
June 2014, much of President Barack Obama’s dealings with Baghdad
have revolved around formulating a cohesive strategy to halt the
jihadists’ momentum in Iraq and Syria.

It has been a battle that, as The Washington Post’s Greg Jaffe pointed out, “is predicated on having a credible and effective Iraqi ally on the ground in Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.”

Daily Star

The Lebanese Army early Sunday released a short clip it said showed militant positions being blown up on the country’s northeastern border.

The
aerial footage was apparently shot Saturday afternoon, showing two
large, successive explosions caused by missiles at a militant base in a
rugged area on the outskirts of Arsal. The army identified the area targeted as Wadi al-Aoueini, saying a number of militants were killed and wounded in the attack.

The clip then cuts to a scene from the same site after the smoke began to clear showing an individual running. The footage also shows another site where about two dozen artillery shells struck a nearby valley.

Daily Star

The Lebanese Army early Sunday released a short clip it said showed militant positions being blown up on the country’s northeastern border.

The
aerial footage was apparently shot Saturday afternoon, showing two
large, successive explosions caused by missiles at a militant base in a
rugged area on the outskirts of Arsal. The army identified the area targeted as Wadi al-Aoueini, saying a number of militants were killed and wounded in the attack.

The clip then cuts to a scene from the same site after the smoke began to clear showing an individual running. The footage also shows another site where about two dozen artillery shells struck a nearby valley.

In 1996, Christine Sfeir decided to introduce Dunkin’ Donuts to Beirut. It
wasn’t an easy sell. Not only had her home country of Lebanon been
through a civil war less than a decade earlier, but the foods she was
trying to push—doughnuts and American-style coffee—were alien concepts.
Fast-food franchises themselves were uncommon.

Now the 42-year-old Ms. Sfeir has what may be an even tougher
mission: to bring her own Mediterranean-food franchise to the U.S.
Preparing American palates for shawarma and authentic Mediterranean
hummus has meant huge investments in promotion and market research. “I’m
passionate about Lebanese cuisine, and I want to take it all over the
world,” says Ms. Sfeir. It has “been very challenging, but we are
determined to make it happen.”

An eating regimen that incorporates foods that are part of the
Mediterranean diet just got even more confirmation that it may be good
for your health.

In a study published Sunday in
the European Heart Journal, researchers found that people with heart
disease who ate more food associated with the Mediterranean diet —
things like olive oil, fish, whole grains, and nuts — had fewer major
heart problems than those who ate fewer of those foods.

To reach that conclusion, the researchers asked 15,000 people what
they ate every day, and based on their responses ranked them as either
more in line with a Mediterranean diet or a western one. The Mediterranean diet
is modeled off of foods commonly eaten in countries on the
Mediterranean Sea. It’s typically high in fruits and vegetables, fish,
and whole grains like whole wheat and brown rice. In contrast, a western
diet is characterized as higher in refined grains, sugar, and deep
fried foods.

by Adrian Hartrick – Huffington Post

As Armenians across the
world commemorated the 101st anniversary of the 1915 Genocide, we
visited Bourj Hammoud in Beirut, where Armenians fleeing the horrors in
Anatolia built new lives.

It is Sunday, April 24, 2016, and Beirut’s
chaotic Dora roundabout is at its frenetic best. Lebanese taxi drivers
shout destination names, while Ethiopian women in white scarves make
their way to church. Diverse groups of women from Ghana, Togo and the
Philippines pick through clothing racks at discount fashion shops while a
group of Kurdish men sip coffee on the sidewalk. Meanwhile, a Sri
Lankan restaurant continues its lunch service unabated, serving up hot
rotis and fish curry to its clientele of South Asian migrant workers.

By Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer

Seoul: Electricite du Liban (EDL) announced a plan on Friday to
increase energy production by 100 megawatts. EDL production was thus
1,600 megawatts, though the need was closer to 3,500 megawatts per day.

The
increase in output was achieved by raising the production capacities of
two Turkish power generating vessels that lie off the coast of the
Zahrani and Zouk power plants from 280 megawatts to 380 megawatts,
according to an anonymous source quoted by Al Jumhuriyyah daily.

According
to the newspaper, “experimental steps were completed and the increase
in production was put into implementation several days ago,” although
the daily raised a troubling point, namely that the initiative was only
tackled to renew the contracts with the working ships for another two
years while maintenance work in the Jiyyah, Zuk and Dayr Ammar plants
are completed.

BEIRUT — Two senior Islamic State group fighters, including a leader
of the extremist organization, were killed in Lebanon Thursday, as the
country’s army carried out an operation targeting one of the militant
group’s “key posts” on the nation’s northeastern border. A third man was
arrested.

Nayef Shaalan, who also was called Abu Fouz, was the
leader of the extremist group aka either ISIL or ISIS in the border town
of Arsal, long a stronghold of the militant group. During clashes with
the Lebanese army on the outskirts of Arsal, Shaalan and his “Syrian
escort” Ahmad Mroueh were killed, while ISIS’ regional security
official, a Syrian national named Moustafa Mousalli, was detained, the
army said in a statement.

AMMAN,
Jordan – Jordan is permitting a popular Lebanese rock band to perform,
lifting an earlier ban imposed amid claims the group’s songs promoting
religious and sexual freedom violate local customs and religious
beliefs.

Khalid Abu Zeid, a regional politician who initially
announced the ban against “Mashrou Leila,” or Leila’s Project, said in a
new statement that “we don’t mind if this concert takes place.” He
didn’t elaborate.

The indie band, known for songs about
controversial subjects, says the reversal comes too late for the Jordan
show to take place as scheduled on Friday.