by thehill.com -- John Craig is former U.S. Ambassador --Lebanon today can be likened to a bus without brakes, its driver hurtling toward a brick wall. One can see the impending collapse of the country’s economy and national currency, a perfect storm that’s been in the making for at least ten years. However, the passengers on this bus — the Lebanese people — are not sitting idly by. They have risen up against those who drove Lebanon toward its collapse, and many have abandoned it midway, taking from the country all they could carry. The Transatlantic Leadership Network held a conference earlier this month at the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington D.C. dedicated to Lebanon’s turmoil. All-star experts gathered in an effort to discuss best ways forward. One was one of the most reputable members of Lebanon’s parliament: Neemat Frem.

Frem left the comfort zone of a successful 25 years in the private business sector to run for parliament. After winning the seat, he began his public service with a simple question that ended up demonstrating the gravity of problems in Lebanon: How many paid employees were there in Lebanon’s public sector? Frem could not obtain the answer from anyone. Frem instructed the Central Audit Bureau to his parliamentary committee, officially requesting a bottom-up audit of all 150 governmental departments and directorates. The report displayed stunning results: Lebanon’s public sector workforce stands at 256,000 employees and 100,000 retirees — out of a total Lebanese workforce of 1.2 million. Almost a third of the country’s workforce was on the public sector payroll.

By Cat Ellis - techradar.com --

WhatsApp dark mode

  After a long, long wait, WhatsApp dark mode is now available to beta testers on Android and iOS, and hopefully a full global launch won't be far behind. Soon, everyone will be able to catch up with the group chat in comfort when the lights are low, and maybe even save a little battery power in the process. It's a big step for the messaging app, which now has over two billion active users, but there are lots more changes on the horizon. Here are some of the changes and new features we're expecting to see in the coming months. Some of these are almost certainly on the way, based on hints found in the app's install files, whereas others are speculation based on comments made by WhatsApp staff at conferences and trade shows. However many of them actually arrive on handsets, it's set to be an interesting few months.

Ads (a few, at least)

 Originally, WhatsApp's owner Facebook had intended to start slipping ads into your chats in 2020, but just a few weeks ago it emerged that the team tasked with this job had been disbanded. In January, The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook had broken up a team responsible for finding ways to work advertisements into conversations – a move that would have been met with widespread annoyance. That doesn't mean WhatsApp will remain entirely ad-free, thoughl Facebook is still planning to plug ads into the app's Status feature. This works much like Instagram Stories, with posts that are only visible for a short time, but occupy your whole screen.

by washingtonexaminer.com -- by Zachary Halaschak -- A U.S. senator is threatening Lebanon with sanctions over the arrest and imprisonment of a cancer-stricken American citizen. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, who is reportedly working on a sanctions bill, told Fox News that Amer Fakhoury is being held by authorities despite no proof of wrongdoing. “There has been no evidence to substantiate the charges against Amer Fakhoury, and his health condition is dire,” the New Hampshire Democrat said. “Time is of the essence, and the Lebanese government needs to understand there will be consequences for his continued detention.” Fakhoury, who was born in Lebanon, was arrested there during a visit last September after a Hezbollah-affiliated publication alleged that he tortured people imprisoned by the South Lebanon Army, a majority-Christian militia group backed by Israel in its fight against Hezbollah and Palestinian militias during the 1980s and 1990s. He was held for six months before being charged with murder, kidnapping, and the torture of prisoners at Khiam detention center, which is located near Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. Celine Atallah, Fakhoury’s lawyer, said that the charges are made up and noted that the names of SLA members accused of torture have been publicly released and do not include Fakhoury. “Amer’s only crime is that he is a United States citizen, which is making the Lebanese government hold him hostage to gain leverage over the United States," she said. "This is an egregious act of criminality by them.”

The Daily Star BEIRUT: Washington remains committed to assisting the Lebanese Army, the U.S. defense secretary said Saturday. U.S. military aid to …