by knews --The American University of Beirut is officially opening its doors beginning next year with a campus in Paphos, according to Paphos Mayor Phedonas Phedonos. In statements on Wednesday, Mr. Phaedon said that the new University will mark a new era for the city of Paphos. Construction of the new campus is expected to start in June or July of this year, with a cost of 29 million euros. New enrollments are expected to begin in September 2023. According to the Mayor, the Paphos campus of the American University of Beirut will accommodate approximately 2 thousand students and will offer three faculties, computer science, economics and business and the School of Civil Engineering. In his statements, the Mayor thanked the government for its support of the project while announcing that the agreement with AUB will be officially formalized in a ceremony this Friday in which the Mayor, the President of Cyprus and the US Deputy Secretary of State are expected to be present.

​​Founded in 1866, the American University of Beirut bases its educational philosophy, standards, and practices on the American liberal arts model of higher education. It was granted institutional accreditation in June 2004 by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools in the United States which was reaffirmed in 2016. AUB Beirut currently offers more than 130 programs for bachelor's, master's, MD, and Ph.D. degrees.

By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Parties standing in the May 15 parliamentary elections in Lebanon are hurrying to draw up their candidate lists ahead of the Monday deadline for registration. Campaigning for the elections is gathering pace as candidates visit their constituents across the country and their rhetoric becomes increasingly inflammatory. Most of the parties in power have announced their lists and alliances, but the opposition and independent forces are still forming lists and alliances.

A voter in the Baalbek-Hermel constituency told Arab News that “Hezbollah mobilized all its electoral machinery and began touring the voters, wooing them in Beirut and its southern suburbs, in the Bekaa and the south.” The voter added that party delegates “enquire about the number of voters in each house and whether they need transportation to reach the polling booth, and ask them to fill out a specific form to communicate with them.” The voter, who declined to be named, also indicated that Hezbollah’s delegates were being challenged during campaigns. They said people were raising queries about how the party had benefited them during the last period of being in power, and that their situation had become worse. “The same applies to other parties whose electoral machines face losing the voter enthusiasm.”

NNA – Minister of Industry, George Boujikian, on Friday said during his meeting with the CEO and founder of “Made in Lebanon” …

By Najia Houssari -- arabnews.com -- BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian has called on Lebanese voters to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections without hesitation. “Any alternative produced by the elections is better than the coercive and corrupt authority, and some candidates are motivated and willing to create change,” he said. Addressing the Lebanese people on Friday ahead of Ramadan, Derian criticized what he called a “corrupt clique” in power. He accused them of demolishing “everything that the Lebanese built in 100 years, including the judiciary and the banking sector, as well as Lebanon’s relations with Arab and international countries.” Derian criticized the “desperate attempts to ruin Lebanon’s identity, belonging and constitution, and destroy the principle of separation of powers in favor of personal feuds and miserable political interests.”

FASTFACT

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian has called on Lebanese voters to participate in upcoming parliamentary elections without hesitation. He expressed concern about the military losing stature and power in favor of militias that follow orders from abroad.