Josh Wood

BAALBEK, LEBANON // Not long after the sun fades from the fields of the Bekaa Valley, Cameroonian-born jazz bassist Richard Bona and his band launch into their set on the steps of the Temple of Bacchus. As thousands gyrate, clap and sing along to the music that skips between cultures, rhythms, genres and eras, the anxieties of present-day Lebanon melt away.

The Baalbek International Festival, at which Bona was performing on Sunday evening, was established in 1966 to bring top musicians, dancers and actors to the well-preserved ruins of the ancient city that the Romans called Heliopolis. The festival’s early years coincided with Lebanon’s golden age – the two decades leading up to 1975 – and saw greats such as American trumpeter Miles Davis, folk singer Joan Baez and queen of jazz Ella Fitzgerald play against the stunning backdrop of the Roman temples.

By: Tamsyn Burgmann, The Canadian Press

Visual artist Jad El Khoury, 27, planned five months to make his "art attack" on this derelict apartment building in downtown Beirut. In this composite image, the photo on the left show the apartment building as it stands in Beirut, and the right is a computer-generated artist's concept of what his "Potato Nose" characters in his signature humourous style would look like adorned on the same building. El Khoury incorporated missile and bullet holes blasted into the 11-storey facade during Lebanon's 15-year civil war. He hopes the giant display will unite the religiously divided society with a shared laugh. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Jad El Khoury

BEIRUT - We're driving the highway through downtown Beirut, just a stone's throw from the former "Green Line" that split the Middle East capital in two during Lebanon's 15-year civil war and, with it, its people.

One hand on the wheel, visual artist Jad El Khoury gestures at a bombed-out 11-storey building somehow still planted on its foundation. A constellation of missile and bullet holes mar its exterior.

El Khoury has big plans for this urban eyesore. They're also illegal.

The 27-year-old has spent five months plotting to scale the derelict apartments and subversively spray upon it a sky-high mural, transforming scars of war into one giant joke.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s health minister says the country is on the brink of a "major health disaster" unless an immediate solution is …

Magda Abu-Fadil

Believe it or not, an LBCI TV report said, the journalists union in Lebanon is tasked with protecting journalists' rights.

But, believe it or not, it quoted online journalist Hassan Al Zein as saying, members of the Lebanese Journalists Union (LJU), who aren't even journalists, sell their presence to political entities for a pretty penny during that election period.

"A large number of members aren't journalists, while a large number of journalists aren't members," leading disgruntled reporters, correspondents and editors to petition for a boycott of the election, said a newsperson.