Biz Carson

Riding in a self-driving vehicle requires you to
suspend your belief that man is better than machine. You have to trust that the steering wheel moving below your
hovering hands is turning in the right direction and the right
amount.

You have to hope that the acceleration you feel will stop
when you reach the right speed and not careen out of control. You have to believe that this truck, a mashup of metal
and gears and circuit boards, is a better driver than you,
for you have given control of your life to a machine and are
blindly trusting that it actually sees the road better than
you. 

It’s a leap of faith, and one that I only realized how miraculous
it was after I saw how the self-driving truck I was riding in
knew the difference between an open lane and the open sky.

By Bassem Mroue, AP

BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria’s conflict
has caused hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee to Lebanon, putting
a huge strain on the Lebanese economy and its already-crumbling
infrastructure. But the five-year Syrian civil war has been a boon for at least one economic sector: the tobacco industry. At Lebanon’s main tobacco factory, located southeast of the capital,
Beirut, employees work round-the-clock but can barely cover the high
demand for locally-made cigarettes.

“We are lucky that there are
Syrians in Lebanon,” said George Hobeika, a senior official with the
state-owned factory, adding that consumption of some local brands in
Lebanon has more than tripled in five years. Lebanon is hosting
over a million registered Syrian refugees. Unofficially, the number of
Syrians who have fled to Lebanon is estimated to be closer to two
million. Many of them are unable to find work, and spend much of their
day smoking in tented encampments or makeshift accommodation around the
country.

In the months following the outbreak of war in March
2011, many of Syria’s cigarette factories closed down. Others were not
able to cover market demand after imports of tobacco stopped, leading to
a sharp rise in demand for Lebanese cigarettes – particularly Cedars, a
brand that is similar to Syria’s widely-smoked Hamra cigarettes.
Lebanon’s state-owned cigarette company sales peaked at US$1 billion in
2012.

by J.D. Durkin Eight television anchors in Egypt have been suspended by their network until they lose weight, an incident that has sparked wild controversy in the nation and the role of the state-run media outlet. The state broadcaster Egyptian Radio and Television Union (ERTU) have given the women involved one month to pursue an […]

By Al Bawaba

Lebanon
and the Arab world have not forgotten about that famous feud between
Emirati singer Ahlam and Lebanese TV host Adel Karam. The flamboyant singer boiled Lebanese people’s blood when
she referred to them as “nothing more than falafel vendors
and beggars,” while instructing them to “deal with their ongoing trash
problem instead of talking about their “Queen Ahlam.” Yep, this actualy happened!

Since
then, the two haven’t seen eye to eye (shocker) and several trending
hashtags on Twitter urged Lebanon not to allow Ahlam on its soil. However, looks like their numerous attempts to keep the “Queen” out of Lebanon have gone down the drain. 

Miss
Controversy is set to return to Beirut in the near future to resume
filming the singing talent competition Arab Idol, where she sits (not
quietly of course) on the judging panel next to Lebanese stars Nancy
Ajram and Wael Kfoury, and Egyptian music producer Hassan el Shafei.

Archaeologists believe they have identified a new way of putting
accurate dates to great events of prehistory. Rare and spectacular storms on the sun appear to have left their
mark in forests and fields around the planet over the past 5,000
years.

Michael Dee, of Oxford University’s research laboratory for
archaeology and the history of art, thinks evidence of such solar
storms could help put precise years to some of the great
uncertainties of history: the construction of Egypt’s Great
Pyramid of Giza, the collapse of the ancient Mayan civilization
in Central America, and perhaps even the arrival of the Vikings
in the Americas.

Every tree maintains its own almanac in the form of annual growth
rings. For decades dendrochronologists have been using tree-ring
evidence and radiocarbon dating to build a timetable of events
that confirm historical accounts, even those predating the first
written chronicles.

By Wajdi Al Aridi – Al Sharq Al awsat

Beirut- Tourists coming from Gulf Arab countries were absent from the
cities and villages of Mount Lebanon this summer, as one of the
repercussions to the current crisis between Lebanon and Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) countries.

For the first time since the end of the Lebanese Civil War, tourists
coming from Gulf States were absent from the towns and villages of Aley,
Bhamdoun al-Mhatta, Sawfar and Broumana in Mount Lebanon, despite the
fact that several Gulf nationals already own houses there.

The tourist boycott also reflected on the real estate sector, head of
the Lebanese-Saudi Business Development Commission Elie Rizk said. “The probability of GCC nationals who are selling their belongings in
Lebanon has reached 70 percent in the mountainous areas and 34 percent
in Downtown Beirut,” Rizk said.

BEIRUT –  Egypt’s foreign minister says he is visiting Lebanon to help rival Lebanese political groups find common ground. Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 and parliament has been unable to elect a head of state because of deep disagreements. After meeting with his Lebanese counterpart Tuesday, Sameh Shoukry tells reporters that […]