ABU DHABI, 17th April, 2016 (WAM) — The Sheikh Zayed Book Award
announced today the decision of its board of trustees and scientific
committee naming Lebanese-born French novelist Amin Maalouf winner of
this year’s Cultural Personality of the Year Award in recognition of his
achievement as a novelist who has conveyed in French some key moments
in the history of Arab and other Eastern peoples to the entire world.

He shed light on distinguished personalities dedicated to promoting
harmony and dialogue between the East and the West. The award is given
in recognition of Maalouf’s ability to recreate unique experiences and
adventures in an extraordinary literary style that amalgamates
distinctly Arabic narrative and modernist Western styles in creative
works and intellectual research.

Naharnet, French President Francois Hollande concluded on Sunday a two-day trip to Lebanon where he met with senior officials and visited a Syrian refugee camp in the eastern Bekaa region.

In the morning, he held separate talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi and later Army Commander General Jean Qahwahi. Al-Rahi reiterated during the meeting the need to elect a a president to fill the vacuum that has persisted since 2014.

He revealed according to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) that he sensed a “seriousness” from Hollande to end Lebanon’s crisis. “Officials
should search for the real reasons why parliament has not been able to
hold electoral sessions,” he remarked from the Snoubar residence, the
headquarters of the French ambassador to Lebanon.

• Elena Holodny
  

Saudi Arabia threatened to sell up to $750 billion worth of US assets
held by the Kingdom if Congress passes a bill that would allow the
Saudi government to be sued over 9/11, reports The New York Times’ Mark Mazzetti.

Saudi Foreign Minister, Adel al-Jubeir, personally passed on the message last month during a trip to Washington, according to The Times. The foreign minister was referring to the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, (JASTA) which would let victims of 9/11 and other terrorist acts sue foreign sponsors of terrorism.

As Vice News noted when it was reintroduced in September, the Senate bill would pave the way for a lawsuit to proceed over Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the 9/11 terror attacks.

In an ironic twist of fate, the alleged terrorist arrested last week for taking part in a pair of bombing attacks was once featured in a documentary lauding his successful integration into European society.The Swedish tabloid Afteenbladet reports that when he was eleven years old, Osama Krayem starred in a documentary called Without Borders: A Film About Sport And […]

Rob Price

Here’s a neat feature hiding in Google you might not know about: You can use the search engine to help you eat healthily.Ask Google how many calories, or fat, or salt, is in a given foodstuff, and it’ll automatically calculate it for you.

Queries can be asked in natural English, and you can ask about pretty
much any nutrient: “How much protein is there in 89g of chicken?” for
example will yield you the answer — 24g — as well drop downs to further
specify what you mean. Are you talking about chicken breast or stewed
chicken drumsticks? McDonald’s Bacon Ranch Salad with Grilled Chicken,
Popeyes Bonafine Chicken, or plain old chicken gizard?

French President Francois Hollande has arrived in Beirut at the start of a regional tour that will take him to Egypt and Jordan.During his two-day visit to Lebanon, the French president is scheduled to meet senior officials and visit a group of Syrian refugees in the country’s eastern Bekaa Valley. Lebanon is home to more […]

AP – France’s prime minister says he’d favor a ban on Muslim headscarves
in universities, prompting criticism from within his own government. In an interview with the daily Liberation, Prime Minister Manuel
Valls said France should “protect” French Muslims from extremist
ideology.

He said the headscarf, when worn for political reasons, oppresses
women and is not “an object of fashion or consumption like any other.” Citing secular traditions, France banned the face-covering Muslim
veil and forbids headscarves and other religious symbols in schools and
public buildings. Asked whether to outlaw headscarves in universities,
Valls is quoted as saying “it should be done, but there are
constitutional rules that make this ban difficult.”

On Wednesday, the Lebanese people
marked the anniversary of the start of the civil war that plunged their
country into violence and chaos for 15 years. More than 25 years since the conflict ended, however, the Lebanese people have yet to enjoy domestic tranquility.

The older generations who remember the war hope to never see such dark
days again, urging the nation’s youth to put their sectarian and
ideological differences aside. In Beirut, many buildings still bear the scars of the gunfire and
shelling that once ravaged the city known as the “Paris of the Middle
East”. Saeed Shams al-Din, a 58-year-old engineer who remembers the war, described the conflict as “one of the worst in history”.

The Lebanese people had borne the brunt of the civil war, Shams al-Din
told Anadolu Agency, going on to urge the nation’s youth to remain in
the country and strive to maintain peace.

by Michael Karam

I was having dinner in Beirut with a young Lebanese couple.
He had Canadian citizenship from his father, who had studied in Montreal
in the ‘70s. She was able to claim the Portuguese nationality from her
maternal grandmother. Their kids would be Portuguese, being ineligible
for Canadian citizenship, as successive generations cannot be born
outside Canada to a foreign mother.

The Lebanese know their way
around nationality rules and any loopholes. Just ask those West African
expats with British Protected Persons status and their dependents who
pounced on full UK citizenship after the Nationality, Immigration and
Asylum Act was passed in 2002, without having set foot in Great Britain
or in many cases were unable to speak a word of English.

The
Lebanese love, or should I say, need, a foreign passport. The Lebanese
one has been ranked by Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index “a
global ranking of countries based on the freedom of travel for their
citizens,” among the top 10 worst passports to own because of visa
restriction issues.