Beirut (AFP) – A Lebanese judge has banned the country’s central bank governor Riad Salameh from travelling, days after Beirut received an Interpol Red Notice following a French arrest warrant, a judicial official said Wednesday. Salameh has been the target of a series of judicial investigations both at home and abroad on allegations including embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and illicit enrichment, which he denies. French investigators suspect that during his three decades as central bank chief, Salameh misused public funds to accumulate real estate and banking assets concealed through a complex and fraudulent financial network.

On Wednesday, judge Imad Qabalan questioned Salameh and “decided to release him pending investigation, ban him from travelling, and confiscate his Lebanese and French passports”, the official told AFP, requesting anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media. Activists say the travel ban on the central bank chief helps shield him from being brought to justice abroad — and from potentially bringing down others in Lebanon’s entrenched political class. “The Lebanese judiciary, with the exception of a few judges, has shown that it is not independent. It is biased for politicians who steer it the way they want,” charged lawyer and activist Karim Daher. “The corrupt Lebanese regime… has no interest in Salameh being tried abroad and spilling the beans” about the political class’s financial activities, he told AFP.

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by LBCI news  — Jean Abboud, the President of the Association of Travel and Tourism Agents in Lebanon, confirmed that “2023 is witnessing a significant positive push in terms of the number of visitors to Lebanon, as the indicators suggest that 2023 will be better than 2022 regarding the tourism sector.” “Preliminary estimations indicate the […]

Sidon (Lebanon) (AFP) – Lebanese activists protested Sunday at a beach in the coastal city of Sidon after a woman said she was harassed there over her allegedly indecent bathing suit, an AFP correspondent said. \ Defying a municipality ban on their demonstration, dozens of protesters, mostly women, gathered briefly in the Sunni Muslim-majority conservative city, the correspondent said. “We have all come to support women’s right to be in public spaces, whether in a bikini or a burkini,” said Diana Moukalled, a journalist and women’s rights activist. “Public spaces don’t just belong to certain people as a function of their beliefs, but to everyone. It’s a constitutional right,” she told AFP.

In last week’s incident, a group of conservative religious Muslims reportedly assailed a bather and her husband at the public beach in Sidon, accusing them of not respecting local norms due to the woman’s attire. The incident sparked a wave of solidarity on social media, with some women posing in bathing suits with the hashtag #Sidon. Others instead praised the conservative intervention.

By Ruth Sherlock, Jawad Rizkallah, npr.com — NEAR AARAMTA, SOUTHERN LEBANON — Muscle-bound Hezbollah fighters karate chopped terracotta tiles to smithereens with their bare hands, as others leapt onto fast moving dirt-bikes while wielding rifles. Rockets smashed into a hillside the Lebanese militia had dotted with “enemy” Israeli flags. Snipers hit metal cut-outs of Israeli soldiers from hundreds of meters away. “Oh Zionists, we are coming for you, from places you know and places you don’t,” a Hezbollah member shouted into a microphone, as fighters sprayed their targets with live ammunition in the simulated attack. “We will come at you from the sea, from the air and from the land.”

The military exercise on Sunday at a Hezbollah base in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel, was the biggest public show of force by the militia in at least a decade. The group invited local and foreign journalists to attend, giving them rare access to a sensitive military position to report on the event. The display was ostensibly to mark the upcoming anniversary of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon on May 25, 2000. But it also comes at a time of heightened tension between Israel, Hezbollah and allied groups.

by Delia Reynolds — bollyinside.com — Princess Sara said ilmi “will offer all Saudi Arabia’s young and lifelong learners the ability to realize their potential, further drive advances in the Kingdom, and help shape the future. The ilmi center reflects the city’s goals to embody creativity and sustainability through integration in its natural surroundings and extensive landscaping, and make use of natural light. As featured on SPA, ilmi’s core is a unique approach that seeks to project a detailed, quality picture of how young people across Saudi Arabia best connect with STREAM subjects.

A new science and technology center called “ilmi” will be launched in Saudi Arabia in 2025. The center aims to encourage scientific curiosity and develop skills among youth in the kingdom, with a focus on STREAM subjects (science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, and mathematics). Princess Sara bin Mashhour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud created the center, which will be a fully accessible Science Discovery and Innovation Center located at Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City in Riyadh. The project is a philanthropic, non-government initiative incubated and supported by the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation. The center will feature permanent exhibitions, installations, events, talks, performances, and learning partner programs designed to build a new STREAM community in Saudi Arabia. As featured on Arab News, a new center for science and technology called “ilmi” will be launched in Saudi Arabia to encourage scientific curiosity among youth in the kingdom as well as developing their skills. The center, created by Princess Sara bin Mashhour bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, aims to allow youth to best connect with STREAM subjects like science, technology, reading, engineering, arts, and mathematics.

Princess Sara, the wife of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stated that “ilmi will be a beacon of creativity, learning and accessibility.” The new center, which its name translates to “my knowledge” in Arabic, will be a fully accessible Science Discovery and Innovation Center. Located at Mohammed bin Salman Nonprofit City in Riyadh, the ilmi center is set to open in 2025 and spans 27,000 square meters.

by reuters — The Lebanese army said on Saturday it had arrested a prominent al-Qaida leader in Deir Ammar town, northeast of the city of Tripoli. The army identified the arrested man only as “T.M.” and said in a statement that the arrest took place on Friday. “T.M. is one of the most prominent leaders […]

By Victor Dey — venturebeat.com — According to a recent survey conducted by automation software firm UiPath, a substantial majority of workers (approximately 60%) believe that AI-powered automation solutions can mitigate burnout and significantly improve job satisfaction. Moreover, 57% of the respondents expressed a more positive perception of employers that integrate business automation to support their employees and streamline operations than of employers that do not, reflecting their favorable attitude towards such practices. As workloads intensify, 28% of individuals report taking on extra responsibilities due to layoffs or hiring freezes. A full 29% of workers worldwide experience burnout. This is fueling an escalating dependence on AI tools for alleviation.

These factors are contributing to the emergence of what has been called the “automation generation” — professionals who proactively adopt automation and AI to enhance collaboration, foster creativity and boost productivity, regardless of age or demographic. These individuals actively seek technologies that enhance their professional and personal lives, as they strive to avoid feeling dehumanized. One of the survey’s primary revelations is that 31% of respondents actively employ business automation solutions in their workplaces. The automation generation subgroup believes they have the resources and support they need (87%) to carry out their responsibilities effectively. Furthermore, 83% of these workers believe that business automation solutions can effectively mitigate burnout and enhance job satisfaction. “With more than half of respondents stating they believe automation can address burnout and improve job fulfillment, it is clear that AI-powered business automation technology is already positively impacting business and technical workers and helping them to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks and focus on more critical and gratifying work,” Brigette McInnis-Day, chief people officer at UiPath, told VentureBeat.

By Riva Gold, Editor at LinkedIn News — Google will delete inactive accounts starting in December, it announced in a blog post. In a new policy, any accounts that haven’t seen “activity” in two years — such as reading or sending an email — will be permanently deleted to help prevent spam and identity theft. […]

By Laure Delacloche — BBC — Sonia Constantin’s fridge and water boiler are plugged in. Sitting on her sofa with her sister, she appreciates the rediscovered comfort of her home in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital – now fully supplied with electricity. A Lebanese professor of educational sciences, Constantin decided to invest $6,500 (£5,140) of her savings in nine solar panels and a battery last September. “We are not looking for a life of luxury, we simply want dignity,” she tells me. The investment allowed her to unsubscribe from the privately owned diesel-powered generators which supply power to most households in Beirut. “I have since resumed a normal life: I can charge my phone whenever I want.”

Lebanon’s national grid has struggled to meet the population’s full electricity requirements since the country’s civil war began in 1975, forcing consumers to rely on expensive neighbourhood generators to fill the gaps. The civil war ended in 1990 but the grid problems continued. The state provider, Electricity of Lebanon (EDL), ceased supplying power altogether in 2021, when it ran out of fuel, plunging the country into near total blackouts. In Beirut, the blackouts continued for over a year and a half, with EDL only able to provide electricity for an average of 3-4 hours per day.