The start-ups brewing change for Lebanon's workers

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ZALKA, Lebanon (Thomson Reuters Foundation) by Heba Kanso - Farah Ballout’s big, infectious smile is the first thing that greets you at her workplace, a cafe in Lebanon with a mission to do more than just brew coffee. Before she was hired the 29-year-old, who suffers from Angelman Syndrome, a genetic disorder that means she has developmental disabilities, had struggled to find work in a country with high unemployment. “I feel like it is a dream that I started here,” Ballout said as tears rolled down her face. “It feels like you are walking into your home - it doesn’t feel like you are going to work.” Almost all the 14 staff at the Agonist coffee shop near Beirut where Ballout has worked for the past five months have special needs, from autism to Down’s Syndrome.

Wassim El Hage set up the business in December to help people with disabilities, who are typically excluded from the workforce in Lebanon. As a social enterprise - a business that aims to do good as well as make profit - it faces even more of a challenge than most start-ups in a country whose economy has been badly hit by years of political instability and a mass influx of refugees. The country is grappling with an unemployment rate of 30 percent and last year, nearly 2,200 businesses closed, according to Lebanon’s chamber of commerce. For El Hage, that was part of the motivation - Lebanon, he said, desperately needs organizations prepared to hire people who would otherwise struggle to find jobs. “It is not my target to make money or to make profit for my own self. My target is to give them back this money [for them] to be integrated, to be independent, to have a real life,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We need it in Lebanon.”

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Debate on lifting WhatsApp, Skype call ban in UAE

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by khaleejtimes.com --Debate about lifting the ban on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has erupted again in the UAE following comments of a popular Emirati commentator and columnist. "It's so frustrating that Skype is banned in the UAE. How are we meant to conduct interviews and meetings? Such a contradiction in 2021 & 2071 Visions goals," said Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi, who is a well-known lecturer and researcher on social, political and culture affairs in the Arab Gulf states. A Twitteratti Yousif said removal of ban on free calling apps is long overdue here. "Lifting the ban on Skype and FaceTime is really overdue. Also, Internet service at home is mostly monopolised by one provider (Du or Etisalat). Mobily (UAE's Etisalat) changed the game in Saudi market, hope something like that happens in the UAE, or regulator gets involved," Yousif said in a reply to Al Qassemi's tweet. Emirati businessmen and celebrities had raised their voice time and again to end the blockade on VoIP in a bid to make the Emirates smart and its residents happier.

In September 2018, Dubai-based Emirati billionaire Khalaf Al Habtoor, chairman of Al Habtoor Group, had called on the UAE's telecom service providers Etisalat and du to unblock VoIP services so that the UAE residents can make free calls through WhatsApp and Skype. He had stressed that unblocking VoIP is essential as the UAE strives towards becoming number one in every sector - including telecommunication. "A lot of people use WhatsApp and Skype call everywhere in the world. (they're) free all over the world except in my country. The telecom companies (in UAE) are blocking it and not allowing it. Therefore, I like to request the management and directors of these companies to release and free the system and enable everybody to enjoy it," the billionaire had said in a video statement. "We always here in the UAE want to be number one in everything. But why we are lagging as far as communication is concerned. Our and our leaders' aim is to be number one. So I request telecom firms to release (VoIP) for everybody in the UAE everywhere," said Al Habtoor.

The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) maintains that the availability of VoIP is the choice of licensed telecommunication providers - du and Etisalat. The UAE telecom services providers had launched their own VoIP calling cards which give residents more time for international calls.

Former Nissan Chief Carlos Ghosn's Trial Expected To Be Delayed: Report

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by AFP -- TOKYO, JAPAN: Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's trial, which was expected to begin in September, will be delayed, local media said Saturday, hinting that it may not start this year. The 65-year-old tycoon, currently on bail, is preparing for his trial on four charges of financial misconduct ranging from concealing part of his salary from shareholders to syphoning off Nissan funds for his personal use. The Tokyo District Court had proposed to start his trial in September during its pre-trial meetings with his defence lawyers and prosecutors, news reports said, quoting unnamed sources. But the court told the lawyers and prosecutors on Friday that it had retracted the plan without proposing a new time frame, Kyodo News said, adding that the move could mean the trial will not start this year. The court also decided not to separate the trial for Ghosn, his close aide Greg Kelly and Nissan -- all indicted on the charge of violating the financial instruments law by underreporting Ghosn's compensation, according to Kyodo.

His lawyers have so far demanded he be tried separately from Nissan and have voiced fears he will not receive a fair trial. The Sankei Shimbun also said prosecutors gave up filing an appeal to the Supreme Court against his bail, a move to erasing a chance of his return to jail unless he is arrested again on fresh charges. Immediate confirmation of the news reports was not available. On Thursday, Ghosn exited his Tokyo detention centre after accepting bail of $4.5 million under strict conditions, including restrictions on seeing his wife. His case has captivated Japan and the business community with its multiple twists and turns, as well as shone a spotlight on the Japanese justice system which critics say is overly harsh. Ghosn denies all the charges, with a spokesperson for the executive saying on Monday he would "vigorously defend himself against these baseless accusations and fully expects to be vindicated". In a statement hours after his release, Ghosn said: "No person should ever be indefinitely held in solitary confinement for the purpose of being forced into making a confession." COMMENT The dramatic case has thrown international attention onto the Japanese justice system, derided by critics as "hostage justice" as it allows prolonged detention and relies heavily on suspects' confessions.

Trillion-dollar Azure Microsoft vs. Windows Microsoft: Finding the better path

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This article does not necessarily represent khazen.org opinion

By Rob Enderle, Computerworld  -- I recently took a call about how Microsoft is competing against Amazon AWS and one of the questions really got me thinking about how much the company has changed. I pointed out that the old Microsoft would have been far more aggressive. The weapon they developed in the early days was “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.” It effectively took out both Lotus and IBM’s OS/2 efforts, and nearly took out Apple. But it resulted in a company that cared more about competitors than customers, a firm that was exceedingly arrogant, and one that almost was regulated out of existence in the 1990s. Tactically, the strategy was brilliant. Strategically, not so much…because it nearly killed the firm. Today’s Microsoft is very different. And these differences, while they represent a far lower competitive problem for Amazon, represent a far better path for those of us who actually use Microsoft’s offerings. They’re also why they reached a trillion dollars in valuation this week, a new milestone for the company.

Windows Microsoft

Microsoft came up hard. What I mean is that, from the start, they had issues with IP theft and companies like IBM trying to put them out of business. As a result, they focused aggressively on competitors and often left partners hanging. For instance, I was recently eyeing a book coming out on 3Com. One of the things that badly hurt that company was that Microsoft wasn’t straight with them on Microsoft’s plans with OS/2. That failure to disclose hurt 3Com a lot and significantly contributed to the CEO’s early departure. And rather than apologizing Steve Ballmer said something to the effect that the 3Com CEO should grow up. They did, which meant they never trusted Microsoft again.

Microsoft was a warlike company thinking that locking customers in was a good thing and that as long as they were making money everything was good. I recall the launch of Windows 95 where they had lines of people wrapping around buildings to buy the thing. But when problems overwhelmed support, rather than staffing up, they blocked the support lines so folks couldn’t get through – pretty much assuring they’d have no lines when Windows 98 launched. Instead of competing with Netscape in market they worked behind the scenes to torpedo the company. Ironically, none of what they attempted actually worked. (It reminds me of what was disclosed in the recent Mueller/Trump report where Trump’s staff disobeyed orders and prevented the President from obstructing justice.) But the regulatory backlash took Microsoft out at the knees.

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Lebanese army to completely control borders with Syria: British source

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BEIRUT,  (Xinhua) -- British diplomatic sources in Beirut said that Lebanese Armed Forces will have complete control over its borders with Syria in 2019, local newspaper Asharq al-Awsat reported on Saturday. "The Lebanese Armed Forces have improved their capabilities over the past 10 years which turned them into a professional army able to protect Lebanon against terrorism on the borders and inside Lebanon," the sources said. The sources added that Britain has offered since 2012 a program to train and equip the four land border forces of the Lebanese army. "This program aims at allowing the Lebanese Armed Forces to have complete control over their country's borders with Syria to prevent any illegal operations through the borders," according to the sources. They also noted that Britain has trained around 11,000 soldiers for military operations in populated areas and 7,000 on the borders.

Roundup: Lebanese companies eye role in Syria's reconstruction process

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DAMASCUS,  (Xinhua) -- Lebanese companies are opting to take part in the rebuilding process in Syria because of its proximity and the mixed social fabric with Syria. Lebanese companies have recently been active in taking part in the fairs that are being held in Damascus. Their latest participation is the undergoing Industrial Fair at Damascus' Fairground where the Lebanese companies have an entire pavilion. Roy Balian, sales manager of the Mega Prefab company for pre-made beton, told Xinhua that the Syrian market is promising given the fact that the reconstruction process in the country is around the corner. "Syrian market is big and promising in the future and we are coming from Lebanon so we are very interested in entering this market," Balian said. Balian believes that the Lebanese companies will have the priority in working in Syria, adding that the projects which his company is aiming to make are not yet executed in the country. "Lebanese companies will have the priority particularly in Syrian areas close to northern Lebanon ... so we are giving prices for a number of projects but nothing has been executed on the ground so far," he said. For his part, Hisham Zuraiq, representative of the Constra Cham company, said that his company is aiming to help in the rebuilding process in Syria as the Syrian and Lebanese people are more than neighbors. "We are interested in coming to Syria to take part in rebuilding the country after long years of war and pains in Syria," he said.

Zuraiq hoped that the Lebanese people could help their Syrian brothers to rebuild their country. "So we are hopeful that we can help the Syrian people in returning to the country as it used to be. We are one company but many more companies would come and take part in rebuilding Syria," he said. Meanwhile, Marwan Kalssei, head of the Miro Plastic company, said that the Syrian market is a huge one but the development is not fast in terms of the beginning of the process. "I think that the Syrian and Lebanese markets are one and we have a firm belief that the Syrian market will be active again so there are many Lebanese companies desirous for making business in Syria," he said. Kalssei added that "the development is not fast but ... it will become much bigger." The Syrian government has said that friendly countries would have the priority in the rebuilding process in Syria. As for Lebanon, the country's various political currents have been divided in terms of dealing with the Syrian war. Parties like Hezbollah are supporting the government, while others are opposing it. Enditem