by Natasha Turak | @NatashaTurak cnbc.com —— The cost of insuring Lebanese debt has hit its lowest level this year on the back of some reassuring news for investors: The country has finally formed its government after nine months of gridlock, and state officials revealed they are in talks over financial support for a floundering economy. Lebanon’s five-year credit default swaps, or the price of insuring the country’s debt against a default, fell to $694 this week from a high of $900 in January, levels not seen since November last year. But markets have yet to see the change that will unlock $11 billion in funds pledged by international donors to the small Levantine country at the Paris Cedre conference last April. The financial support rests on the condition of direly needed reform in the areas of corruption, subsidies and public-sector spending. The new government will “most certainly” introduce austerity measures to shore up international and bond market confidence, according to political risk consultancy Eurasia Group — and that will not be easy.

Unpopular, yet urgent, reforms “The issue of cost cutting will prove challenging, though some cuts are also likely,” said Ayham Kamel, Eurasia’s practice head for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). “On balance, these positive reforms will not be overly ambitious and could slow over the long term.” Many of the reforms are also unlikely to sit well with the Lebanese population. “If it’s taken nine months to form a government, it will be extremely difficult to agree on the details of an aggressive (and unpopular) fiscal tightening. The only other plausible option to deal with the public finances would be debt restructuring,” research consultancy Capital Economics said in a weekly report Thursday. One key area of reform is the electricity sector — Lebanon suffers daily power outages while the state power company, Electricite Du Liban, is awash in subsidies. Reforming this sector would cover a huge part of the fiscal consolidation promised to donors in April, but Kamel notes that this has thus far been prevented due to “vested interests.” Overhauling the electricity sector, and the infrastructure upgrades that would come with that, is one of the new government’s first priorities, a top advisor to the Lebanese prime minister told media in an interview earlier this week.

By Associated Press– BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Prime Minister has called on Italian companies to invest in his country as it seeks to address deepening economic challenges. Saad Hariri met with his Italian counterpart, Giuseppe Conte, in Beirut on Thursday and said that “the coming period in Lebanon is a period of work … with many […]

sputniknews.com — A particular part of a nearby sea shelf, called Block 9, has been a source of tension between Israel and Lebanon since the 2000s, as both states claim that the area falls within their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament Nabih Berri has accused Israel of violating Lebanon’s sovereignty by licencing […]

BEIRUT, (Xinhua) — The Lebanese army on Wednesday closed numerous illegal crossings along with border with Syria in North Bekaa in a bid to stop smuggling between the two countries, TV Channel LBCI reported. According to LBCI, smuggling between the two countries costs Lebanon about 600 million U.S. dollars every year. This is not the […]

by cnbc.com —Tom Popomaronis, Contributor — When it comes to job interviews, we all want to give answers that make us stand out from the rest of the candidates. That means knowing how to answer each question, including the tricky ones designed to stump you. But what if you don’t know the answer to a question? That’s a problem Google CEO Sundar Pichai faced in 2004, when he first interviewed at the company for the VP of product management position. In a 2017 chat with students at his alma mater, Indian Institute of technology, Pichai shared details about his interview experience at one of the world’s largest tech companies. In the first few rounds, Pichai said the interviewers asked him what he thought of Gmail.

There was just one problem: Google had just announced the email service that very same day, on April 1st. “I thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke,” Pichai said. He responded by saying he couldn’t answer the question because he hadn’t been able to use the product. “It was only in the fourth interview when someone asked, ‘Have you seen Gmail?’ I said no. So he actually showed it to me. And then the fifth interviewer asked, ‘What do you think of Gmail?’ And I was able to start answering it then,” Pichai said at the talk. Most candidates would have attempted to make something up before trying to move on to the next question. Pichai did the exact opposite and ended up impressing his interviewers (after all, he got the job).

Here’s why his response was so brilliant:

1. He displayed “intellectual humility” More often than not, telling an interviewer you don’t know the answer to something will dock off a few points, but it’s better than coming up with something that may be completely false. “Successful, bright people rarely experience failure, and so they don’t learn how to learn from that failure.” -Laszlo Bock, Former senior VP of people operations at Google Science agrees, too. Research has shown that people with “intellectual humility” – or, as they say, the willingness to admit what you don’t know – are better learners. Laszlo Bock, Google’s former senior VP of people operations, calls it one of the top qualities he looks for in a candidate.

by catholicherald.co.uk –The Pope was welcomed by Emirati Prime Minister Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum — The sun had set long before Pope Francis arrived in Abu Dhabi on February 3, but Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince, and Egyptian Sheik Ahmad el-Tayeb, grand imam of al-Azhar, still went to the […]

By Peter Rubinstein –bbc.com – Olivia Bland, a 22-year-old from Manchester looking for a job in communications, knows how a job interview is supposed to go. A handshake, a few questions about strengths and weaknesses, some CV inspecting and a pleasant send-off. “They’re usually casual,” Bland says, “and definitely not two hours long.” But earlier this week, an interview she had with tech firm Web Applications UK left her in tears. In a viral tweet, she alleged that chief executive Craig Dean degraded and humiliated her about everything from her music taste to her parents’ marriage. Bland was offered the job but declined, likening Dean’s behaviour to that of an abusive ex. “He went on from attacking my writing to attacking me, including the way I sat and how I held my arms,” she says. Her tweet was shared tens of thousands of times, and prompted Dean to post an apology saying it had not been his intent to see anyone hurt. Web Applications UK has publicly denied Bland’s claims, but did not respond to BBC Capital for comment.

Stress test

The type of experience described by Bland is known as a ‘stress interview’ – a technique to test how applicants deal with pressure by taking them out of the comfort zone of expected questions and answers. One example is a trend that was prevalent in the tech industry earlier this decade – where an interviewer would ask a candidate bizarre questions such as “why are manhole covers round?” or instruct them to design something on the spot. The goal isn’t to get an exact answer – instead it’s to see how a candidate reacts and to test their thought process. “There are certainly different kinds of stress associated with many positions – achieving results, meeting deadlines, dealing with difficult clients, for example,” says Neal Hartman, senior lecturer in managerial communication at MIT. “The stress interview can create conditions to see how an applicant would handle those challenges.” Stress interviews can also be used to simulate certain situations, such as testing customer service agents who need to be prepared to deal with abusive phone calls, says Kim Ruyle, president of Inventive Talent Consulting. In such situations, the candidate would need to be told in advance. In any case, there’s a stark difference between asking a tough question and belittling a candidate, Ruyle says, adding that verbal abuse in any workplace setting is inappropriate and should never be part of the interview.

By Alyssa Newcomb — nbcnews.com — Amazon has a history of dropping cash on companies, like its $13.7 billion cash acquisition of Whole Foods in 2017. But when it announced in its latest earnings report that it planned to increase investments in 2019, the company’s shares fell 5 percent, even dropping into bear territory on Friday. […]

by evolving-science — Apple is already testing a version of iOS 12.1.4 that is meant to address the rogue FaceTime bug that allowed a caller to access the microphone and even the camera of the recipient before the latter picked up the call. The FaceTime eavesdropping bug allowed iPhone users to exploit a privacy-invading ‘Group […]

By SARAH EL DEEB / AP Updated: January 31, 2019 12:48 PM ET (BEIRUT) — Lebanese political factions agreed finally Thursday on the formation of a new government, breaking a nine-month deadlock that only deepened the country’ economic woes. Rival political groups have been locked in disagreement over the make-up of a new government since May, after the country’s first parliamentary elections in nine years. The breakthrough comes after rival factions worked out a compromise allowing representation of Sunni lawmakers backed by the powerful Shiite group Hezbollah. Celebrations broke out after the announcement, including huge fireworks that lit up the Beirut sky. The most pressing challenge for the cabinet is to revive Lebanon’s economic fortunes and cut the national debt, which stands at about 150% of GDP.

For the first time, the Lebanese government includes four women ministers, doubling their representation, including the powerful Ministry of Interior in charge of internal security. Gebran Bassil, the son-in-law of the Lebanese President, remains foreign minister. Hariri called the new government “a reflection of Lebanon’s image in 2019.” The main pressure appeared to be Lebanon’s deepening economic woes and Hariri told reporters the economy will be priority. “There isn’t any more time to waste,” he said. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri said on Thursday that Lebanon faced economic and financial challenges and the time for treating problems with “painkillers” was over, as his new national unity government took office. “The time of treatment with painkillers is over. No one can put their head in the sand any more. Matters are as clear as the sun. All the problems are known and the causes of the corruption and waste and administrative deficiency are also known,” he said. “Lebanese are living in concern about the economic situation,” he said, adding that the government’s work could not wait.

The last big hurdle was a dispute over how Hezbollah’s Sunni allies should be represented in cabinet, resolved by the inclusion of Hassan Mrad, the son of the pro-Hezbollah and pro-Damascus MP Abdul Rahim Mrad.

For a complete lists of candidates and names of the new ministers (Cabinet lineup) please click read more