by gulftoday.ae -- Lebanese journalism student Yasmina Zaytoun won the Miss Lebanon 2022, which was held for the first time in 4 years. The organisers of the competition wanted to send a message of "hope" in a country suffering from an economic crisis ranked among the worst in the world. Zaytoun, 20, from the town of Kfarshouba in the south of the country, won the title that Miss Lebanon 2022 after Maya Raidy (2018) retained the title for four years as the competition could not be held during the past three years, initially due to popular protests in October 2019, then the COVID-19 pandemic and the country's financial crisis. The elected queen, who studies journalism, is 167 centimetres tall and weighs 51 kilogrammes, and will receive a financial prize of $100,000. She will also represent Lebanon in the Miss World and Miss Universe competitions.

Maya Abul-Hassan was the first runner-up, Jacinta Rashid, the second runner-up, and Lara Hrawi, the third runner-up, while Al Khalasiya Dalal Hoballah was the fourth runner-up. Seventeen participants competed to win the title of the competition sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism under the slogan "We miss Lebanon", and it was broadcast by LBCE directly from the Forum de Beirut hall.

The jury consisted of musician Michel Fadel, influencer on social networks, Karen Wazen, general director of "An-Nahar" newspaper and website, Nayla Tueni, producer Mohamed Yahya, director of Caracalla Theater Ivan Caracalla, presenter Hilda Khalife, and Miss Lebanon for the year 1993 Samaya Shadrawi, and the current Polish Miss World Karolina Bilavska, who was replaced by the chairperson of the board of directors of the organizing body for the Miss World contest, Julia Morley, due to a health problem.

by middleeasteye.net -- Lebanese authorities are investigating the alleged kidnapping of a Saudi businessman in the Bekaa Valley region of eastern Lebanon, according to local media. Hussein al-Shammari was allegedly lured to the region to buy property, a judicial official said. A ransom demand has not been issued but the man was likely kidnapped "with the aim of financially extorting" him, the official said. The Bekaa public prosecutor instructed security forces to "conduct investigations and gather information on his whereabouts, which is likely the Al-Sharawneh neighbourhood" on the outskirts of the city of Baalbek, an official told the AFP on condition of anonymity.

The Bekaa Valley, a Hezbollah stronghold, is the heart of Lebanon's farmland and has been associated with lawlessness, competing tribes and hashish production. The region is a well-known route for smuggling into neighbouring Syria. In April, a gang kidnapped an Egyptian accountant in Baalbek. He was rescued by the army after two weeks in captivity.

khazen.org stands with his Beatitude Maronite Cardinal Patriarch Bechara el Rai and the Maronite church from the insult of the unlawful detention …

By Sami Moubayed, Correspondent - gulfnews.com -- Damascus: On October 31, 2022, Michel Aoun’s six-year tenure at the Lebanese presidency will end. Attempts are presently underway, led by Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), either to extend his term for an indefinite period or bequeath the post to his son-in-law and political heir Gibran Bassil. But, a third option is now making the rounds, which calls on Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati to assume the presidential seat, albeit temporarily, if no candidate is chosen anytime between now and next October.

FPM Initiative

The Aounists are peddling an extension of their boss’ term, citing a clause in the Lebanese constitution, which says the president cannot be sworn into office unless there is a full-fledge cabinet of ministers, approved by the Lebanese Parliament. Mikati is currently in designate mode, tasked with forming his fourth government last May. In Lebanon, that is a process that can take weeks, or months. A Prime Minister-designate cannot supervise a presidential election, nor inaugurate a new president, giving Aoun a legal pretext to extend his term at the Baabda Palace. Although he has often said that he has no intention of staying in office longer than his presidential term, he has also said he won’t surrender office to a “power vacuum”.

And it’s a power vacuum that the Aounists are trying to create, in order to keep Aoun as president. They have been trying to obstruct Mikati’s attempts at cabinet formation, to keep him in prime minister-designate capacity. A suggested cabinet reshuffle was sent to Aoun on June 29, which he automatically rejected, because it suggested replacing the FPM’s current Minister of Energy Walid Fayyad with an independent. They hope to keep finding more excuses to delay cabinet formation, saying that they will only facilitate the process if Mikati agrees to support Bassil for president. And that is something which Mikati refuses to commit, given that Bassil is an extremely unpopular figure, even among Lebanese Christians, and is sanctioned by the United States.