Gareth Harris

Tony Salamé, the Lebanese founder of the Aïshti fashion chain, hopes to put Lebanon on the contemporary art map with a new museum due to open in Jal el Dib, a coastal site in Beirut, in October. The Aïshti Foundation building, designed by the British architect David Adjaye, is costing $100m. The opening show will be organised by Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of the New Museum in New York. The building will form part of a commercial centre with a sculpture terrace on the waterfront, to be overseen by Cecilia Alemani, director of High Line Art in New York.

Salamé began buying art in 2003, initially acquiring Arte Povera works by Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, Giuseppe Penone and Michelangelo Pistoletto. His 2,000-strong collection now includes pieces by artists such as Christopher Wool, Gerhard Richter, Franz West, Richard Prince, Wade Guyton, Danh Vō and Carol Bove.

“We faced many delays due to the instabilities in the regions, but now we’re almost done,” says Salamé, adding that “the art gallery spaces measure around 3,000 sq metres”.

QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA AND SAMEER N. YACOUB , Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) — Tariq Aziz, the debonair Iraqi diplomat who made his name by staunchly defending Saddam Hussein to the world during three wars and was later sentenced to death as part of the regime that killed hundreds of thousands of its own people, has died in a hospital in southern Iraq, officials said. He was 79.

Aziz died Friday afternoon after he was taken to the al-Hussein hospital in the city of Nasiriyah, about 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, according to the provincial governor, Yahya al-Nassiri. Aziz had been in custody in a prison in the south, awaiting execution.

Aziz, the highest-ranking Christian in Saddam’s regime, was its international face for years. He was sentenced in 2010 to hang for persecuting members of the Shiite Muslim religious parties that now dominate Iraq.

His wife, Violet, had visited him in prison Thursday, their daughter Zeinab told The Associated Press in the Jordanian capital, Amman, where most of the family lives.

  The seat of the Maronite church announced on Wednesday that Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will not hold talks with Syrian officials during his visit to Damascus next week. Bkirki’s press officer Walid Ghayyad said the June 8 trip is “pastoral and will not include any political meetings.” Al-Rahi’s visit to the Syrian capital has three […]

  BEIRUT: Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri postponed a presidential election vote Wednesday to June 24 due to lack of quorum. Lawmakers have failed in 24 consecutive sessions to elect a successor to former President Michel Sleiman since his term ended May 25, 2014, amid a feud between the country’s rival factions on a consensus candidate. […]

  BEIRUT: Education Minister Elias Bou Saab Wednesday denied rumors circulated on social media that this year’s official exams would be more difficult than in previous years since last year’s tests were cancelled. "Exam questions must match the curriculum,” Bou Saab said during a news conference concerning the 2015 official Brevet and Baccalaureate exams set […]

  BEIRUT: The Cabinet Monday discussed the thorny issue of security and military appointments amid warnings that failure to resolve the dispute over the border town of Arsal could spark a new civil war. Statements made by a number of ministers showed that the Cabinet’s main parties were entirely in disagreement on how to deal […]

  The Islamic Spiritual Summit condemned Tuesday assaults against Christians in the Orient on sectarian basis, calling for the election of the only Christian head of state in the region. The summit expressed grave concern over the turbulence in the several Arab countries, which is taking racist, ideological and sectarian aspects. “The turmoil is threatening […]

  BEIRUT: An ISIS militant currently in the custody of Lebanese authorities confessed Tuesday that he filmed the beheading of two Lebanese soldiers who were captured by the group, the National News Agency reported. Abdel-Rahman Bazerbashi, also known as ‘Baghdadi’s grandson,’ confessed to Military Investigative Judge Imad Zein during interrogations Tuesday that he was behind […]

  The military court of appeals on Tuesday accepted an appeal filed by State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr against the jail sentence that was handed to former minister Michel Samaha, state-run National News Agency reported. “The court accepted the appeal in form and content after discussing all the arguments mentioned in […]

BASSEM MROUE, ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — For decades, the mere mention of Tadmur Prison was enough to send chills down a Syrian’s spine.

The notorious facility in the desert of central Syria was where thousands of dissidents were reported to have been beaten, humiliated and systematically tortured for opposing the Assad family’s rule.

This weekend, it was demolished by the Islamic State group, which took over the site near the ancient town of Palmyra last month, bringing mixed emotions from many Syrians who wanted it to remain standing so future generations would know its horrors.

"They destroyed our memories, our catastrophe and the walls that we leaned on and told our stories to," said Ali Aboudehn, a Lebanese who spent four harrowing years in Tadmur. "They destroyed the land that absorbed our blood because of torture."