SAO PAULO – Washington Post – When Brazilian Vice
President Michel Temer from Lebanese Origins complained to embattled President Dilma Rousseff
that he didn’t like being a “decorative” figure, he was serious. Now he
could take her job. Temer and Rousseff always made an awkward couple. As head of the
centrist PMDB party, Temer represented the biggest force in the leftist
Rousseff’s shaky coalition.

For years, the PMDB has played that kingmaker role, and it worked.
But in March, the party voted to quit the government and go into
opposition, supporting the rush to impeach Rousseff. Impeachment is edging closer, with a crucial vote on Sunday in the
lower house of Congress, which will decide whether to push for an
impeachment trial in the Senate. A last-ditch appeal to the Supreme
Court by Rousseff failed early Friday.

That leaves the dour Temer closing in on the interim presidency, as
required under the constitution should Rousseff be suspended or removed
from office.

Naharnet, The government is expected to agree on Monday on a solution to the controversial issue of the State Security agency, ministerial sources said. The
sources told An Nahar daily that the government will likely approve the
allocation of funds to State Security, which tops the agenda of the
cabinet session.

The move will facilitate the discussion of other urgent matters following weeks of wrangling among ministers on the matter. The
sources said that the government will likely approve the funds for
State Security and form a committee to discuss ways to organize its
leadership structure.

Shane Snow, Contributor

Until a decade ago, there was one way to perform a heart bypass surgery: by stopping your heart. The surgery, called Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting, is a heart
attack prevention method that basically calls for a doctor to install a
new tube for blood to flow to the heart because the old tube is clogged
from too many cheeseburgers. Because the heart needed to be stopped to install the new tube, the surgery often led to complications.

There was good news. At the turn of the millennium, doctors figured out a new way to do the surgery without stopping the heart. This would help a whole lot of people live complication-free lives
and not die from heart attacks — if doctors could learn to do it. But the tricky new CABG surgery took practice. A group of business researchers started following heart surgeons
around the U.S. as they practiced the technique in order to answer a
pressing question: How do people learn from their mistakes?

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 […]