by Arab news - Najia Houssari -- Thousands of women in Lebanon are turning to motorcycles for transport as a means to cut costs, with many saying that social stigmas are disappearing amid the country’s worsening economic crisis. Many Lebanese people no longer have the financial means to drive a car, instead opting for motorcycles to withstand the economic crisis. Motorcycle sales make up about 50 percent of the consumer vehicle market, according to car dealerships in Lebanon. Buying and driving motorcycles is no longer limited to young men, delivery workers, university students and professionals who need to move quickly on the roads to reach their workplace at the lowest possible cost. Now, Lebanese women — in their 20s, 30s and 40s — are skillfully driving motorcycles around the country, with some even converting their bikes into taxis.

The economic crisis has placed a great burden on Lebanese women. Some have turned to traditionally male professions to find an income, including selling vegetables in pickup trucks, working in butcher shops, at gas stations, in car repairs and as taxi drivers. Lebanon’s civil war previously revolutionized women’s role in the workplace, with many entering professions for the first time, such as journalism, search and rescue, civil engineering and even frontline military positions. Before the economic crisis, some Lebanese women joined Harley-Davidson luxury motorcycle clubs, took part in car races and competed in mountain climbing competitions. They became a source of inspiration for others.

by Ghinwa Obeid, Al Arabiya English -- A young Lebanese man was stabbed to death in California’s college town of Davis days after a similar attack took place, triggering a police manhunt for the suspect. The victim, 20-year-old Karim Abou Najm, was killed Saturday evening at Sycamore Park as he was on his way home coming from an awards ceremony at the University of California, Davis, where he was finishing his undergraduate degree. For the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online or via the app. “The day he left us, he won one of the UC Davis awards, and he was on his way back home,” Abou Najm’s father, Majdi, told local KCRA-TV channel. “He was literally 5 minutes away.”

The death of the computer science student came after another man, 50-year-old David Breaux, was stabbed to death at another park in the same town. The two incidents were followed by the stabbing of a 64-year-old woman at a homeless encampment on May 1, instigating fear that a serial killer might be on the loose in the area. “We moved from Lebanon in 2018 when the situation in Lebanon was…starting to go [in the wrong] direction and we came here hoping for safety,” the father said. The Associated Press reported that following the woman’s stabbing, a shelter-in-place was put into effect but was later lifted while calling on the residents to remain vigilant. The Associated Press also reported that the suspect was “described as a male with long curly hair, a thin build and carrying a brown backpack.”

Idlib - by Firas Karam -- aawsat.com -- -- Opposition civilian and political groups in Syria’s northwest announced their complete readiness to receive Syrian refugees from Lebanon in liberated Syrian regions in wake of the violations and forced deportation they are facing in the neighboring country. The “Political Affairs Administration” in the opposition-held Idlib region and the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group said on Friday that they were prepared to welcome over two million refugees in Lebanon who are threatened with forced deportation to regime-held regions where their lives could be at risk. In a statement, they urged Lebanese authorities to return to reason and their humanitarian and moral duties towards civilian refugees in line with international laws and norms that ensure their protection. They added that the Syrians were initially forced to leave their country given the violence of President Bashar al-Assad's regime against them. Nearly two million Syrians have sought refuge in Lebanon to escape imprisonment or death.

The groups said they are “fully prepared” to receive the refugees in liberated Syrian regions in the north. The practices of the Lebanese authorities prompted popular protests and rallies in the cities of Azaz, al-Bab and Afrin in the Idlib countryside and in Idlib city. Seif Hammoud, who was displaced from the Homs countryside to Azaz, said he fears for the life of his parents and siblings, who are living in a refugee camp in Lebanon’s Baalbek region, should they be deported to regime-controlled regions. 

Story by Jamal Osborne • © Provided by Hollywood Unlocked -- A12-year-old middle school student is speaking out after he said he was sent home from school for refusing to remove a T-shirt that read: “There are only two genders.”

The 7th grader, Liam Morrison attends John T. Nichols Jr. middle school and during a board meeting on April 13 he revealed to Middleborough Public Schools that he was in gym class on day and someone on the school’s staff told him that he had to take his shirt off because people were complaining that it was making them feel unsafe. “Yes, words on a shirt made people feel unsafe. They told me that I wasn’t in trouble, but it sure felt like I was,” Morrison told the MPS board. “I was told that I would need to remove my shirt before I could return to class. When I nicely told them that I didn’t want to do that, they called my father.”