npr.org -- SASHA INGBER -- The June cover of Vogue Arabia featuring a Saudi princess behind the wheel of a convertible is facing backlash. The photo was intended to celebrate the trailblazing women of Saudi Arabia ahead of the lifting of a ban on women driving, on June 24. But the royal family has been accused of jailing female rights activists who for years fought for the right to drive. It is the first Vogue edition dedicated to the conservative country. Editor-in-Chief Manuel Arnaut said the magazine "celebrates the exciting and progressive changes transforming the Kingdom" and that "embodying this new era of female empowerment is [her royal highness] Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud." He added that the photo shoot, in "the dancing sands of the desert of Dhahban" outside Jiddah, was "of great meaning for the Arab world." But some people saw the cover as an affront to Saudi women's rights activists who were recently arrested.

At least 11 activists have been detained since mid-May, amounting to "a large-scale crackdown on women's rights activists and other supporters," according to the Human Rights Watch. Some of the activists remain in custody. That casts doubt on the kingdom's commitment to women's rights, Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement. "The crown prince, who has styled himself as a reformer with Western allies and investors, should be thanking the activists for their contributions to the Saudi women's rights movement." "The choice of a Saudi princess for Vogue Arabia's cover is completely tone-deaf," Husain Abdulla, executive director of Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, told NPR. "It obscures the monarchy's long-standing violations of women's rights and freedoms in Saudi Arabia, and steals credit from the trailblazing women who have campaigned ceaselessly since the 1990s for equal rights — and who the government just locked up."

by George Kafka -- metropolismag.com--   Beirut is a profoundly complex and contradictory city. The vaunted jet-setters’ playground of the Middle East, with sparkling new towers designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Foster + Partners, is also home to tens of thousands of Syrian and Palestinian refugees. It’s a coastal metropolis of over 2 million that offers little public transportation, and Lamborghinis sit bumper to bumper with minibuses in its congested streets. “Our context is chaos,” explains Fouad Samara, a Lebanese architect whose eponymous practice is situated on the first floor of Modulofts, its most recently completed project. Born in Beirut, Samara studied at the American University of Beirut and the University of Bath in England and has a keen grasp of Lebanese and international architectural history (with a particular focus on Modernism) that suits his highly intellectual approach to design. At the University of Bath, he studied under the late Patrick Hodgkinson, architect of London’s Brunswick Centre, and is fiercely devoted to the work of Alison and Peter Smithson.

Modulofts was completed in 2017 and can be seen as a thoughtful unification of the threads that run through Samara’s life and career. Located in eastern Beirut’s Rmeil neighborhood, near the historic and now-gentrifying Ashrafieh area, the 14-story building comprises seven stacked “lofts”—six duplex apartments plus Samara’s ground-floor studio. The layouts of the apartments blend the traditional Lebanese residential floor plan—a double-height central communal space with four radiating rooms—with the functional expectations of loft-style living: “light, spatial luxury, flexibility, and honesty in the use of materials,” says Samara. His architectural checklist is on full display at Modulofts. Light floods into each of the lofts through the glass frontage, which also provides sweeping views of the city. “Spatial luxury” is achieved with a central 19 foot, double height living area, which—like the traditional Lebanese home— is flanked by a kitchen and one non-specific room. This layout is repeated on the unit’s upper level, which can be accessed by a floating steel staircase inside, or by a secondary entrance off the building’s central stairway. A simple yet strict material vocabulary of exposed, board-formed concrete, dark steel, and white painted wood is maintained throughout.

Joseph Haboush| The Daily Star BEIRUT: Two political parties announced Friday they would challenge a new naturalization decree granting 375 people Lebanese citizenship, as the justice minister leaped to the defense of the government. While the act itself, which was signed by President Michel Aoun, caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri and caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk – is not in violation of the Constitution, the manner of its passage and its timing are raising hackles across the country. Despite the announcement by two major political parties that they will appeal the move to the judiciary, officials behind the decree have remained silent in response to the widespread criticism. The Lebanese Forces announced that it would “go all the way” with the case and raise the issue with the Shura Council, the highest legal body dealing with administrative matters.

The Progressive Socialist Party released a statement saying it would appeal to the Constitutional Council. But a judge from the body told The Daily Star, “All [appeals to] decrees go to the Shura Council and we have nothing to do with this [decree].” A PSP source subsequently said legal advice would be sought as to where the appeal should be made and that “the important part was the stance against this decree.” The source said the PSP had decided to appeal due to the lack of clarity over the criteria used for who gained citizenship. “Is it a coincidence that most of the names on the list are businessmen?” the source asked. The party’s parliamentary Democratic Gathering bloc released a statement asking for clear and specific criteria, “removed from political calculations and personal interests,” to be adopted when discussing naturalization decrees. The bloc also criticized the leaking of the names of those included in the decree in documents across social media. With the LF, PSP and a handful of politicians blasting the decree, caretaker Justice Minister Salim Jreissati released a statement defending its legality and accusing critics of “a false campaign similar to the ‘presidential quota’ one,” in an apparent reference to the recent LF-Free Patriotic Movement spat over ministerial portfolios. Jreissati is member of the FPM, which was founded by the president. He contrasted this decree against previous similar acts that “changed the demographic balance [of Lebanon].” An LF source said the party’s legal team was fully prepared to take all legal steps needed to strike down the decree. “Some people on the list might have the right to citizenship, but the way in which this whole thing was done is too shady,” the LF source told The Daily Star. The source said that the timing of the decree was questionable, with nearly 1 million registered Syrian refugees in the country, and with many in Lebanon, including senior politicians, alleging an ongoing campaign to have them naturalized. Aoun in April criticized a joint EU-U.N. statement made after that month’s Brussels conference on the refugee crisis, saying it suggested the international bodies were advocating permanent settlement of Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Jreissati confirmed reports that Aoun was planning on issuing similar decrees each year until the end of his term in 2022, saying such decrees would be repeated when “deserving cases arise and applications are submitted.” Although similar decrees have been enacted before by outgoing presidents, the LF source noted that “reasons were made public as to why those being granted citizenship were eligible.” Sources familiar with the issue have confirmed to The Daily Star that Aoun signed the act within the last 10 days, while Hariri and Machnouk did so before the current government assumed caretaker status on May 22.

by albawaba.com -- The next time you fly into or out of Beirut, take a moment to think about the air traffic controllers monitoring the skies and runways to make sure you’re safe. Or don’t – they’re overworked, undertrained and underpaid, representatives say. “It is a safety problem,” said Ali Hammoud, the head of the executive committee of the Lebanese Air Traffic Controllers Association, or LebATCA. “If you have somebody working more than he should, that’s a problem.” Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport has just 19 certified air traffic controllers, Hammoud said. Along with six or seven retiree holdovers and 19 uncertified assistants, they make sure some 350 flights take off and land safely and efficiently every day. “In order to work normally, we need 65,” Hammoud said. Under the law, there should be 106, according to another air traffic controller, who asked to remain anonymous since he is not authorized to speak to the press. “We need staff, we need training, we need ... intensive care,” the controller said.

That was the primary grievance behind their one-hour strike on May 16. Air traffic controllers were trying to pressure Cabinet – then in its last week before lapsing into caretaker status – to take swift action. Cabinet came through on that count, with Prime Minister Saad Hariri signing decrees to hire 25 new trainees and promote 17 current controllers, Hammoud said. Those decrees, however, still need President Michel Aoun’s signature. A representative of Baabda Palace told The Daily Star that the decree for hiring trainees was before the president’s legal committee. Cabinet also extended the contracts for the retiree holdovers – a necessary stopgap measure, according to Hammoud. Brought on two years ago to allow time to bring new trainees up to speed, the retirees got another one-year extension, he said. A separate matter concerns pay. Hammoud argues that the government is misconstruing an article specific to air traffic controllers in the 2017 salary scale law, essentially slashing their raise by half. He wanted Cabinet to issue a clarifying directive before it went into caretaker status, but that did not happen. Pay appears to be a secondary concern – the anonymous controller told The Daily Star that they only cared about recruiting new staff. Even if Aoun signs the decrees tomorrow, new recruits “need at least three years of theory and on-the-job training,” the controller said. “This is a long-term procedure.” And if Aoun fails to sign the decrees? Hammoud didn’t rule out another strike, but said any such decision would be taken with a heavy heart. “We know [the airport] is the only gate” into and out of Lebanon. But at the same time, he said, this is an issue that can’t be ignored, because it affects the safety of passengers and air crews.