Police released a photo of the bloodied detainee

by BBC- Turkish police have arrested the main suspect in the New Year's Eve attack on an exclusive nightclub in Istanbul after a huge manhunt. Abdulkadir Masharipov is believed to have mounted the assault on the Reina club which left 39 people dead. The Uzbek national is said to have been caught in Istanbul's Esenyurt district.

So-called Islamic State (IS) said it was behind the attack, saying it was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. The gunman arrived at the club by taxi early that Sunday, before rushing through the entrance with a long-barrelled gun he had taken from the boot of the car. He fired randomly at people celebrating the new year.

It was the culmination of a huge police manhunt: a raid on the Istanbul suburb of Esenyurt that finally caught the alleged Reina attacker, named as Uzbek national Abdulkadir Masharipov. Photographs show him with a heavily bruised face, wearing a grey T-shirt and being held by his throat. There had been fears that the gunman had managed to escape Turkey, perhaps to territory held by so-called Islamic State, which said it was behind the attack.

Compiled news by Naharnet and BBC

Middle East Airlines chairman Mohammed al-Hout had on Saturday warned that “birds that gather on the tarmacs of Beirut's international airport pose a serious threat,” noting that “preserving passengers' safety is the priority. “I sent the hunters and we have to choose between MEA's birds (planes) and seagulls... Unfortunately, we are obliged to exterminate these birds,” Hout added, revealing that he was behind a controversial decision to send hunters to the airport's vicinity to gun down seagulls and other types of birds.

Activists from the You Stink campaign and the civil society staged a protest Sunday inside Beirut's airport against the nearby Costa Brava garbage landfill and the manner in which Lebanese authorities have addressed the presence of seagulls threatening flight safety around the airport. “We call for eliminating the main reason behind this crisis, which is the Costa Brava landfill,” You Stink activist Lucien Bourjeily said, referring to the seagull problem. “For Flight Safety, Remove The Landfill”, read banners carried by the protesters.

Hunters have been spotted shooting dead birds said to be threatening planes at Beirut's international airport, an environmental group has claimed. The men were spotted on a nearby rubbish dump blamed for attracting birds days after their increasing presence was called an "emergency". It is feared a bird strike could cause a crash, but the Lebanon Eco Movement have said shooting the seagulls breaches an international conservation agreement. It is unclear who the hunters are. Some activists called the shooting a "massacre", while the Lebanon Eco Movement released a statement condemning the killings "under the eyes of the security forces" and in light of the government's vow "to preserve the environment"

The statement accused them of violating the International Convention for the Protection of Aquatic Birds. Transport Minister Yusef Fenianos promised to deal with the problem earlier this week, after local media reported a Middle East Airlines flight encountered a large flock of birds as it landed on the airport's west runway. It was suggested an increase in devices emitting bird of prey calls around the airport to scare off the animals could solve the issue. But groups said this would not go far enough, and called for the dump to be closed - which it was on Thursday, less than a year after it opened.

The decision to shoot down seagulls has angered environmentalist groups, which described the move on Saturday as an “extermination campaign.” The step has also sparked a storm of criticism on social networking websites. The hunting of seagulls violates the Agreement on the Conservation  of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, environmentalists have warned. On Friday, Transport and Public Works Minister Youssef Fenianos announced after an emergency meeting that foreign experts have suggested the use of pyrotechnics, flare pistols, percussion bombs, auditory repellents and chemical repellents to keep birds away from the airport.

By Joseph A. Kechichian

Beirut: Like hard-working bees everywhere, Lebanese bees pollinate essential vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, asparagus, cantaloupes, cucumbers, pumpkins, blueberries, watermelons, almonds, apples, cranberries, and cherries. They do a whole lot more, of course, as they also produce honey, which they consume during winter season as food, though humans are equally fond of the amber. It is a little known fact that Lebanon is one of the only countries in the world where bees can find natural sources of nectar all year long. Because of the diversity of its altitudes (from 0 to 3000 meters), its position on the Mediterranean, its 4 distinct seasons, and the diversity of its flora, flowering seasons occur almost all year long. As a result, Lebanon’s honey is one of the best in the world.

As described in the Old Testament, “Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon” (Solomon 4:11), which confirms that this country which is mentioned frequently in Scriptures — has a lot more to offer than gloom and doom. Remarkably, honey production has grown in recent years though and, far more important, local beekeepers have garnered international attention. Not only did they develop unique techniques to improve yields, they also guarantee year-long production of pesticide-free honey.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture, the number of beekeepers increased by 14 per cent from the end of 2011 to mid-2015 (from 5,546 to 6,340 beekeepers), while the number of hives increased by 41 per cent during the same period (from 194,520 to 274,390 beehives). Honey production increased by 35 per cent between 2011 and 2015 (from 1,360 tonnes to 1,920 tonnes), for an estimated value of $38 million (Dh139.58 million) for the last year for which statistics were available.

by Will Martin

The Legatum Institute, a London-based research institute released its 10th annual global Prosperity Index in November, a huge survey that ranks the most prosperous countries in the world. The organization compares 104 variables to come up with its list, splitting those variables into nine subindexes. One of the big components of the ranking is how healthy a country's people are. Health is measured by three key components by the Legatum Institute: a country's basic mental and physical health, health infrastructure, and the availability of preventative care. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the countries that have the best scores in the Prosperity Index, and therefore rank as the world's healthiest, are generally big, developed economies with large amounts of resources. Britain — whose NHS pioneered free at the point of use healthcare globally — misses out on this list, finishing 20th in the Legatum Institute's health sub-index.

Take a look at the top 16 countries below