Compiled news by Naharnet and BBC

Middle East Airlines chairman Mohammed al-Hout had on
Saturday warned that “birds that gather on the tarmacs of Beirut’s
international airport pose a serious threat,” noting that “preserving
passengers’ safety is the priority. “I sent the hunters and we have to choose between MEA’s
birds (planes) and seagulls… Unfortunately, we are obliged to
exterminate these birds,” Hout added, revealing that he was behind a
controversial decision to send hunters to the airport’s vicinity to gun
down seagulls and other types of birds.

Activists from the You Stink
campaign and the civil society staged a protest Sunday inside Beirut’s
airport against the nearby Costa Brava garbage landfill and the manner
in which Lebanese authorities have addressed the presence of seagulls
threatening flight safety around the airport. “We call for eliminating the main reason behind this
crisis, which is the Costa Brava landfill,” You Stink activist Lucien
Bourjeily said, referring to the seagull problem. “For Flight Safety, Remove The Landfill”, read banners carried by the protesters.

Hunters have been spotted shooting
dead birds said to be threatening planes at Beirut’s international
airport, an environmental group has claimed. The men were spotted
on a nearby rubbish dump blamed for attracting birds days after their
increasing presence was called an “emergency”. It is feared a bird
strike could cause a crash, but the Lebanon Eco Movement have said
shooting the seagulls breaches an international conservation agreement. It is unclear who the hunters are. Some
activists called the shooting a “massacre”, while the Lebanon Eco
Movement released a statement condemning the killings “under the eyes of
the security forces” and in light of the government’s vow “to preserve
the environment”

The statement accused them of violating the International Convention for the Protection of Aquatic Birds. Transport Minister Yusef Fenianos promised to deal with the problem
earlier this week, after local media reported a Middle East Airlines
flight encountered a large flock of birds as it landed on the airport’s
west runway. It was suggested an increase in devices emitting bird
of prey calls around the airport to scare off the animals could solve
the issue. But groups said this would not go far enough, and
called for the dump to be closed – which it was on Thursday, less than a
year after it opened.

The decision to shoot down seagulls has angered
environmentalist groups, which described the move on Saturday as an
“extermination campaign.” The step has also sparked a storm of criticism
on social networking websites. The hunting of seagulls violates the Agreement on the
Conservation  of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, environmentalists
have warned. On Friday, Transport and Public Works Minister Youssef
Fenianos announced after an emergency meeting that foreign experts have
suggested the use of pyrotechnics, flare pistols, percussion bombs,
auditory repellents and chemical repellents to keep birds away from the
airport.

By Joseph A. Kechichian

Beirut: Like hard-working bees everywhere, Lebanese bees pollinate
essential vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, asparagus,
cantaloupes, cucumbers, pumpkins, blueberries, watermelons, almonds,
apples, cranberries, and cherries. They do a whole lot more, of
course, as they also produce honey, which they consume during winter
season as food, though humans are equally fond of the amber. It is
a little known fact that Lebanon is one of the only countries in the
world where bees can find natural sources of nectar all year long. Because
of the diversity of its altitudes (from 0 to 3000 meters), its position
on the Mediterranean, its 4 distinct seasons, and the diversity of its
flora, flowering seasons occur almost all year long. As a result, Lebanon’s honey is one of the best in the world.

As described in the Old Testament, “Your lips drip nectar, my bride;
honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is
like the fragrance of Lebanon” (Solomon 4:11), which confirms that this
country which is mentioned frequently in Scriptures — has a lot more to
offer than gloom and doom. Remarkably, honey production has grown
in recent years though and, far more important, local beekeepers have
garnered international attention. Not only did they develop unique
techniques to improve yields, they also guarantee year-long production
of pesticide-free honey.

According to the Lebanese Ministry of
Agriculture, the number of beekeepers increased by 14 per cent from the
end of 2011 to mid-2015 (from 5,546 to 6,340 beekeepers), while the
number of hives increased by 41 per cent during the same period (from
194,520 to 274,390 beehives). Honey production increased by 35 per
cent between 2011 and 2015 (from 1,360 tonnes to 1,920 tonnes), for an
estimated value of $38 million (Dh139.58 million) for the last year for
which statistics were available.

by Will Martin

The Legatum Institute, a London-based research institute released its 10th annual global Prosperity Index in November, a huge survey that ranks the most prosperous countries in the world. The organization compares 104 variables to come up with its
list, splitting those variables into nine subindexes. One of the big
components of the ranking is how healthy a country’s people are. Health is measured by three key components by the Legatum
Institute: a country’s basic mental and physical health, health
infrastructure, and the availability of preventative care. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the countries that have the best scores
in the Prosperity Index, and therefore rank as the world’s healthiest,
are generally big, developed economies with large amounts of resources. Britain — whose NHS pioneered free at the point of use
healthcare globally — misses out on this list, finishing 20th in the
Legatum Institute’s health sub-index.

Take a look at the top 16 countries below

by RT A flight from Beirut to London was forced to make an emergency landing after a brawl broke out on board at 35,000ft. Footage taken by a passenger aboard the Middle Eastern Airlines flight shows two men squaring up before launching into a punch-up. The older man can be seen throwing the initial blow, […]

Flights in and out of Lebanon’s Beirut
airport are at risk because of the large number of birds flying over a
nearby garbage dump, the country’s transport minister said Wednesday. “Today
we face an emergency… we recognise that there is a danger posed to
civil aviation movement by the birds,” Yusef Fenianos said after a
meeting with Prime Minister Saad Hariri. “The
presence of the Costa Brava dump has contributed to the increasing
number of birds,” the minister said, according to a statement released
by Hariri’s office after the meeting.

The Costa
Brava dump was created in March 2016, as one of three “temporary” dumps
intended to provide an interim solution to the closure of the main
landfill receiving waste from Beirut. Under
a government plan intended to end the crisis caused by the landfill’s
closure, the dumps were eventually intended to have waste processing
facilities, but that has not happened. As
a result, garbage has piled up in Costa Brava, on the coastline close
to the runways at Beirut’s international airport, reaching nine metres
in some places and wafting foul odours nearby.