al-monitor.com: The web series format is growing in popularity in the Arab world, providing youths and others with an uncensored forum for self-expression and an outlet for social commentary.

“Zyara,” a Lebanese documentary web series, has been attracting international attention since December 2015, winning awards at competitions in Bilbao, Buenos Aires, Dublin, Rome and other European festivals. The first installment of “Zyara,” which means “Visit,” consists of 12 short videos, around five minutes each, in which a person talks about his or her life.

Cinematographer Muriel Aboulrouss, speaking for herself and producer Denise Jabbour, described Zyara as “depicting intimate portraits of various Lebanese individuals sharing their hopes and dreams, stories about love, fears and most memorable experiences.”

middleeasteye.net - Lebanese police arrested a prominent human-rights lawyer this week after he accused government officials of complicity in a sex trafficking ring involving Syrian refugees that was broken up earlier this year, Human Rights Watch said. Police detained Nabil al-Halabi, executive director of the Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, in a dawn raid on his home on Sunday after Interior Minister Nuhad Mashnuq and a senior adviser filed separate lawsuits for libel and slander of a public official, both criminal rather than civil offences in Lebanon.

HRW called for Halabi's immediate release, criticising both the manner of his arrest and the jail sentence of up to one year if found guilty.

Dina Hanna, a graduating senior at the Lebanese American University (LAU), made a simple request to her University: to provide her grandmother with a ticket to attend the graduation ceremony. A day later, she received this email instead of information about her grandmother's ticket:

Dina was taken aback by the response, and took to Facebook to speak out  against the preferential treatment of relatives of "VIP" Lebanese:

"Dear LAU,

I have been with you for five years now and will be graduating next week. Funny thing is, you always were so keen on teaching us values and principles. Everyday I would walk into your campus, smile, and say hello to the janitor the same way I do to my teachers. However, this email shows otherwise.
We have been trying to break stereotypes for so long. Appearance isn't everything. You accept students in spite of their race, appearance and social status. I sent you an email yesterday asking for an extra ticket for my grandmother to attend my graduation and I got no reply back. I guess it matters more to send an email that same week asking students who have 'important' parents to inform you so that you can seat them upfront to 'retain your image.'

Thank you for all the values you taught us.

MP Robert Fadel during press conference resigns as MP

In Tripoli Lebanon municipal elections preliminary results indicated that none of the 24 seats on the council were won by members of the Christian or Alawite communities which were both represented in the outgoing council. One analyst described the result as a sign of growing hardline sentiment in the mostly Sunni city that is a historic bastion of Sunni Islamist groups.

daily star.com.lb Tripoli MP Robert Fadel unexpectedly announced his resignation Monday, hours after unofficial results from the city's local elections held one day earlier showed that probably no Christians will be represented in the new municipal council. Fadel, an independent March 14 figure, had backed the coalition list that took only six seats against the 18 captured by the ticket supported by resigned Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi. In a news conference earlier in the day, Rifi had vowed to preserve Tripoli's coexistence, despite his list falling short of a sufficient Christian and Alawite representation.