Business Insider By Abby Jackson

College admissions season is upon us, reinvigorating conversations about what it takes to get accepted into top schools around the nation. The impressive strength of the applicant pool has been apparent over the past few years. Business Insider, for example, profiled impressive students for the class of 2020, some of whom gained acceptance to all eight Ivy League schools.

The New York Times, too, puts out an annual call for college-admissions essays to the newest class of applicants, and then prints the most poignant essays, displaying the wit an eloquence of the teenage applicants. The strength of these credentials and impressive essays elicits the question of whether it's more difficult to get into elite schools today than ever before. Former Ivy League admissions directors have some potentially unsettling news for college applicants: yes, it is.

"Admissions have gotten more and more competitive in the past decade," Angela Dunnham, a college admissions counselor at InGenius Prep, told Business Insider via email. "In addition to the sheer number of applicants applying, the expectations for candidates have increased," Dunnham, a former assistant director of admissions at Dartmouth College, said.

The steady uptick of college applicants, especially at elite schools, is stark, driven in part by the emergence of Common App, which allows students to apply to many schools at once. Take, for example, an article in the Harvard Crimson about the acceptance rate for the class of 2000. "The class was chosen among a pool of 18,190 applicants, making Harvard's admission rate a paltry 10.9 percent — the lowest in College history," The Crimson wrote. Twenty years later, the authors of that story are likely to be aghast that the acceptance rate has spiraled ever lower. With more than double the applicants, about 95% of students who applied to Harvard were rejected.

This is a compilation of news event from AP news, GULF news and Reuters. The purpose is to get a complete picture of the nomination of new appointed PM Saad Hariri

Newly-assigned Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri speaks to journalists at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. Lebanon's newly elected president, Michel Aoun, on Thursday, asked former Premier Saad Hariri to form a new government, after he secured an overwhelming parliamentary majority to be named as the next prime minister. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar

Lebanese students wear masks showing the face of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and wave his portrait, as they celebrate the announcement, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016. Lebanon's newly elected president, Michel Aoun, on Thursday asked former Prime Minister Saad Hariri to form a new government, after the ex-premier secured an overwhelming majority in parliament. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

BEIRUT  — Lebanon's prime minister designate vowed on Thursday to work swiftly to put together a "national unity government that overcomes political divisions" that have plagued the Mideast nation for years. The pledge by Saad Hariri, who already served as prime minister for 14 months until early 2011, came shortly after the country's newly elected president, Michel Aoun, asked him to form a new Cabinet. That process can go on for weeks or even months, and usually involves much bargaining among Lebanon's notoriously fragmented politicians. The government must then win parliament's approval. Aoun's office made the announcement about Hariri after two days of talks with lawmakers over their choice of prime minister. The statement didn't say how many lawmakers supported the 46-year-old Hariri for the post.

"It is a new era," a beaming Hariri told journalists gathered at the Baabda presidential palace, repeating the phrase three times. "I have great hope -in this positive moment that ends the suffering of the country and its citizens that lasted for two and a half years of vacancy and paralysis," he said.

Hariri was endorsed by 112 members of the 127-seat parliament on Thursday, with only Hezbollah and the Lebanese Baath party - all supporters of Syria's government - declining to back him as prime minister. A long line of deputies trekked to the presidential palace on Wednesday and Thursday according to a carefully orchestrated protocol to nominate their chosen candidate for the office.

 The long list was led by outgoing Prime Minister Tammam Salam, followed by a Future Movement delegation, former premiers Najeeb Miqati and Fouad Saniora, Deputy Speaker Farid Makari and the independent deputies Butros Harb, Michel Murr and Nayla Tueini, as well as Michel Pharaon, Talal Arslan and Ahmad Karami. In addition to the Future Movement (35), the Free Patriotic Movement (20), the Lebanese Forces (8), the Phalange Party (5), the Marada Movement (3), and the Progressive Socialist Party (7), all pledged support even if deputy Ahmad Fatfat (Future) voiced his opposition. “I told President Aoun that the constitution and the laws must be respected and I hoped the essential principles will return to political life, seeing as no political system can function without an opposition,” Harb said after his consultations with Aoun.

Michel Pharaon was a bit more cynical when he declared that he “nominated Hariri for the premiership and called for facilitating the formation of the next cabinet in order to immunise unity”. Although the Marada Movement leader did not accompany his bloc to the consultations, in what was a clear protest move on account of the year-long rivalry between Sulaiman Franjieh and Aoun, the fact that Marada added its votes to the tally was a good omen for internal stability.

 Speaker Nabih Berri was the last person to name a candidate in the name of the Amal Party. Berri apparently requested to be the last to avoid making three treks from his Ain Al Tinih headquarters to Baabda Palace — first as a Speaker, second as head of Amal, and third to be briefed by Aoun on the outcome of consultations. Berri declared that he will cooperate at the governmental level, but stressed that he will not forgo his alliances with Franjieh and Waleed Junblatt.

By DailyStar: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri is poised to return to the premiership this week after having secured the support of most of the country’s major blocs, including his Future Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement, the Lebanese Forces, MP Walid Jumblatt’s bloc, in addition to a number of independent lawmakers. Meanwhile, Saudi King Salman Bin Abdel Aziz spoke by phone with President Michel Aoun Tuesday night to congratulate him on his election as head of state, wishing him good luck and success in his new national responsibilities, in the kingdom’s clearest support of Aoun’s election.

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon's two major parliamentary blocs on Tuesday named Saad Hariri, a former prime minister and a Sunni leader, as their candidate for premier in the government being formed after a new president was elected The widely expected endorsement by the Future bloc, led by Hariri, and the majority Christian bloc comes a day after Michel Aoun was elected president. Hariri was promised the post in exchange for backing Aoun's presidential bid in parliament, ending a two-and-half-year deadlock that left Lebanon without a president. Aoun is receiving the different parliamentary blocs Wednesday before naming the prime minister, likely before the weekend.

By Naharnet: Mustaqbal MP Ahmed Fatfat has asked to go alone to the binding parliamentary consultations to name a premier, and will not accompany the Mustaqbal bloc MPs to the presidential palace, al-Akhbar daily reported on Wednesday. “Fatfat is taking this measure because he did not support the bloc's decision to nominate Aoun for the post of president,” sources close to Fatfat told the daily. The sources denied rumors alleging that Hariri has distanced Fatfat from the alliance for his failure to commit to a decision to vote for Aoun. They assured that the two men had a “friendly” telephone conversation on Tuesday. On the reason that made Fatfat leave the Mustaqbal ranks despite the fact that other Mustaqbal MPs including head of the bloc Fouad Saniora and MPs Mohammed Qabbani, Farid Makari, Ammar Houri and Samir al-Jisr have also refrained from voting in favor of Aoun, the sources preferred to keep the reason undisclosed. However, well-informed Mustaqbal sources told the daily that distancing Fatfat came after a “direct request from Hariri, who is very upset with the MPs actions, statements and his lack of commitment to the bloc's decision.”

By DailyStar:

Aoun’s call came during a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who also called the founder of the Free Patriotic Movement Tuesday night to congratulate him on his election as Lebanon’s president. Kerry urged a quick formation of a new government in Lebanon following Aoun’s election to the presidency. Kerry affirmed “the United States’ stand beside Lebanon’s and its commitment to support the Lebanese Army in confronting terrorism and its attempts to strengthen stability,” according to a statement released by Baabda Palace’s media office. He also told Aoun that the U.S. and “the international community are looking forward to the formation of a new government as soon as possible,” the statement said.

Thanking Kerry, Aoun underlined the “importance of the U.S. keeping its military assistance to the Lebanese Army which is working to bolster security and stability in the country.” The U.S. has provided Lebanon with more than $1.4 billion in military aid since 2005 following Syria’s withdrawal from the country. Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi was among the first visitors to meet Aoun at the presidential palace in Baabda. Kahwagi later signed a memorandum appointing Brig. Gen. Salim Feghali as the head of the Presidential Guard. Feghali is set to begin his job on Nov. 7.

By Business Insider: Pamela Engel

Huma Abedin has been by Hillary Clinton's side for decades as one of her longest-serving aides, and now she's at the center of an FBI investigation that involves the Democratic presidential nominee's use of a private email server. Clinton's critics have long focused on the 41-year-old Abedin because of her close connection to Clinton.

Vanity Fair noted in a profile of Abedin earlier this year that she is often referred to as Clinton's "second daughter." She follows Clinton nearly everywhere and is thought to be one of her closest confidantes. Abedin started working for Clinton as an intern in 1996 when Clinton was the First Lady. Abedin had initially wanted to go into journalism, but ended up sticking with Clinton and following her from the White House to the Senate to the State Department to the campaign trail. She's now vice-chairwoman of Clinton's presidential campaign. And the email scandal isn't the first controversy she's found herself at the center of.

Her ties to Saudi Arabia Abedin's upbringing and family ties have been the sources of many conspiracy theories. She was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to a Pakistani mother and Indian father, and she spent much of her childhood in Saudi Arabia.