Tripoli is set to take on the title of Arab Capital of Culture in 2024. Musicians and cultural organizations hope this will help establish the city as a hub for culture in Lebanon.
The World Heritage Committee meeting in an extraordinary session decided on Thursday to inscribe the Rachid Karameh International Fair of Tripoli (Lebanon) on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
Located in northern Lebanon, the Rachid Karameh International Fair of Tripoli was designed in 1962 by the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer on a 70-hectare site located between the historic centre of Tripoli and the Al Mina port. The main building of the fair consists of a huge covered hall in the shape of a boomerang of 750 metres by 70 metres, a flexible space for countries to install exhibitions.
The fair was the flagship project of Lebanon’s modernization policy in the 1960s. The close collaboration between Oscar Niemeyer, the architect of the project, and Lebanese engineers gave rise to a remarkable example of exchange between different continents. In terms of scale and wealth of formal expression, it is one of the major representative works of 20th century modern architecture in the Arab Near East.
The World Heritage Committee used an emergency procedure to inscribe the site, due to its alarming state of conservation, the lack of financial resources for its maintenance, and the latent risk of development proposals that could affect the integrity of the complex.
The site was therefore inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, which opens access to enhanced international assistance both technical and financial.
The tank number 188 at Tripoli oil refinery caught fire early Wednesday morning for unclear causes.According to preliminary information, there was an old stock of fuel in the tank, and what happened was most likely on purpose, possibly with the aim of theft.
The tank number 188 at Tripoli oil refinery caught fire
WASHINGTON – Today, President Joseph R. Biden announced the appointment of Sara Minkara to be the U.S. Special Advisor on International Disability Rights – a role critical to ensuring that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of persons with disabilities around the world. The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and political unrest disproportionately impact persons with disabilities, making the appointment of Sara Minkara more necessary than ever. Discrimination against persons with disabilities hinders economic development, limits democracy, and erodes societies. With Sara’s leadership, the United States can play an important role in meeting these challenges and mitigating their harmful impacts on persons with disabilities globally.
As the senior-level disability human rights position at the State Department, the Special Advisor leads the U.S. comprehensive strategy to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities internationally and across the Department.
This announcement comes today, during National Disability Employment Awareness Month, as we celebrate the progress made toward economic empowerment of persons with disabilities and refocus our efforts on the work yet to come.
Sara Minkara, United States Special Advisor on International Disability Rights, Department of State
Sara Minkara is an advocate, expert, and facilitator in the fields of disability, inclusion, authentic leadership, and social entrepreneurship. She is the founder and a Board Member of Empowerment Through Integration (ETI), a nonprofit organization she established while still an undergraduate student. ETI’s mission is to disrupt the narrative surrounding disability through both empowering youth with disabilities individually and accelerating authentic inclusion globally. More than a decade later, ETI and the programs Sara designed are still active in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, providing social and life skills development for refugees and other children with disabilities. As an internationally recognized champion for disability inclusion, leadership, individual empowerment and social enterprise, Sara promotes adaptive approaches to social and workplace challenges.
Sara is a graduate of Wellesley College and the Harvard Kennedy School. She advises numerous academic, government, and policy groups on issues related to disability, gender, interpersonal dynamics, inclusion, and entrepreneurship, including the United Nations and the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executive Education program. She has been recognized for her many contributions through appointments and awards, including Forbes 30 Under 30, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology IDEAS Global Challenge, and the Vital Voices “100 Women Using Their Power to Empower” program.
Dubai’s Emirates airline will provide extra baggage allowance to passengers traveling to crisis-hit Lebanon until September 30, Emirates announced in a press statement on Wednesday.
Travelers will be able to check in an extra ten kilograms as “Lebanon [is] experiencing a severe shortage of essential goods and medicines,” the statement said.Passengers booking tickets from the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Australia will be offered the extra baggage allowance.
An economic crash in October 2019, exacerbated by a massive explosion in Beirut’s port and the COVID-19 crisis, has led to electricity, food, and medical supply shortages in the Mediterranean nation.
Blackouts have swept Lebanon as the fuel oil used to generate electricity has disappeared from the market.
The US is working with the World Bank and the governments of Egypt and Jordan to meet Lebanon’s fuel and energy needs, Washington’s ambassador to Beirut revealed in an interview with Al Arabiya English on Thursday.
Many say living conditions are worse than during the 1975-90 civil war.
Emirates set up a “humanitarian airbridge” with Lebanon following the port explosion in August 2020, which it says helped to deliver 160 tons of medical supplies, food, PPE, and other items.
Lebanon has a large diaspora in the Arabian Gulf and further afield.
BEIRUT, Aug. 17 (Xinhua) — Lebanon’s participation in the upcoming 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) will benefit bilateral services trade, Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Qian Minjian said Tuesday.
“This will allow Lebanese companies to introduce themselves in the Chinese market and promote the growth of services trade between the two sides,” the ambassador said.
“We aim at encouraging Chinese companies to strengthen coordination with their Lebanese counterparts and advance practical cooperation,” Qian added.
Qian’s remarks came during a press conference held at Beirut’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture to launch an initiative by the Lebanese Chinese Business Association (LCBA).
The initiative supports Lebanese companies’ participation in the CIFTIS, which is scheduled for Sept. 2-7 in Beijing.
“China will continue focusing on cooperation, not confrontation, and openness rather than closure, while adhering to mutual benefit and win-win approaches,” Qian said.
Meanwhile, Ali El Abdallah, president of the LCBA, said his association’s initiative will provide Lebanese businesses with a great opportunity to showcase their products especially as the fair covers such areas as transport, travel, construction, insurance, financial services, telecommunications, cultural and entertainment services and others.
Lebanon’s Caretaker Economy Minister Raoul Nehme said that Lebanon and China have various opportunities to boost their economic cooperation, adding more efforts should be made to this end.
Caretaker Industry Minister Imad Hoballah said that Lebanon enjoys a high quality of production in different sectors, adding he is “certain that Lebanese products will find great success in China.”