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Mona Buwarshi, a Lebanese woman who is the President of the Board of the Jazaeiri transport companies, was rated 5th on the list of the 200 strongest women in Arab family companies in 2014, which was put together by Forbes Middle East magazine.  Buwarshi is amongst the first women who head transportation (local and international, maritime and land) companies.  She works from her headquarter in Beirut and manages branches in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Cyprus.  Buwarshi also heads the Abdel Salam Bou Azza Al Jazaeiri Charitable Foundation and is a member of the Boards of Trustees of Al Makassed Charitable Institution in Beirut and of the International College School in Beirut.

Source: Al-Mustaqbal 1 October 2014

Al Akhbar newspaper published a report about films participating in the current Beirut International Film Festival.  Many of these films reflect the Arab meaning given to masculinity and femininity whilst several dissect the construct of Arab communities and their common problems.  The report focused on three movies.  The first is entitled “al Daleel” and is about a man who refuses to admit his sterility even if this would liberate him from his problem because this will strip him of his masculinity in the macho Algerian society.  The second film, “al Shallat” tells the story of a young man who used to ride his motorcycle in Tunis and cut women's bottoms with a blade.  His ghost still stirs fear amongst Tunisian women to this date.  According to the movie director, a woman, many young men who came to the casting wanted passionately to play this role.  The third movie entitled “More than 2 hours” talks about the predicament of a young woman in Iran who risks dying from hemorrhage because the law prevents the hospital from carrying out a surgery for her without the presence of her parents.  She simultaneously faces the danger of death should the doctors discover that she is not a virgin.
To be noted that the 14th edition of the Beirut International Film Festival kicked off last Tuesday and will go on until 9 October.

Source: Al-Akhbar 1 October 2014

A press conference was convened the day before yesterday by Bobolink to kick off the Pink Stands 4 campaign which seeks to raise awareness on the dangers of breast cancer.  The Press Conference was held with the participation of Professor Naji al Saghir of the Lebanese Association for Breast Cancer Prevention.  The annual agenda of the Campaign was announced as it seeks to raise women's awareness on the importance of carrying out regular medical exams.  Professor Saghir called on women, especially those over forty years, to replace fear by early detection tests starting by carrying out self examinations regularly in addition to a mammography every six months.  He added that the Campaign will cover all areas in Lebanon especially remote areas.  He further noted that the therapy is not expensive and is subsidized by the Ministry of Public Health, and concluded by saying that women have no excuse not to carry out these tests.

Source: Al-Diyar 1 October 2014

Tele-Lumière and Noursat cable TVs will launch tonight a new affiliated TV channel, “Maryam”, a women TV station which will provide women with a platform to express their views.  According to the channel’s programmes director, Sanaa Riachi, Tele Lumiere chose to call this new channel “Maryam” because Maryam is a woman figure in both the Christianity and Islam and is a role model for resilience and for standing up for justice.  She added that the aim of Maryam TV is to raise awareness and knowledge amongst women through providing them with knowledge about their “specificities” and their role, in order to enable them to distinguish between traditions that bind them and true values.  She also added that various cultural aspects will be addressed so as to contribute to a human renaissance in both East and West through women. Riachi, who is expecting positive feedback regarding this initiative, noted that programmes will help women become stronger so that they are able to support themselves, their families and their communities. To be noted that Maryam TV will broadcast throughout the Arab region, in Africa, Europe and the rest of the world on NILESAT 11177

Source: Al-Nahar 1 October 2014

As Safir newspaper published a report on the disaster which hit the olive orchards in Aley and the Higher Metn where olive production is critical for the agriculture of the area notably in what is known as Wadi Sharon which includes most of the villages of the highlands in addition to the middle area of Aley and Higher Metn.
The president of the Sharon General Cooperative Agricultural Association, Ahmad Sayegh, noted that this year’s harvest is not expected to exceed 5% of normal average production.  He also added that even this minimal harvest will not qualify for marketing as the olives are expected to be too small as a result of the outbreak of diseases.  Sayegh also added that hardly 50 olive oil gallons will be produced compared to an annual average of 800 gallons.  Agricultural expert Diana Marruche Abi Saeed noted that climate change is largely responsible for this disaster and the outbreak of diseases resulting in poor production.  She recommended regulated use of pesticides one month prior to harvest and to use insect catchers rather than drugs, as well as the use of organic drugs rather than poisonous pesticides.

Source: Al-Safir 1 October 2014

The Minister of Tourism, Michel Pharaon, met yesterday with a delegation from the school of tourism and hotel management at the Lebanese University.  The delegation was presided by the Faculty Dean, Ms. Amal Abou Fayyad who presented the work of her Faculty in promoting rural tourism and the collaboration with European Universities sharing the same interest.  Abou Fayyad highlighted the diverse specialties offered by the Faculty as well as the different research projects carried out by the students such as for instances studies on Roman and Phoenician roads as well a study on the impact of tourism on natural resources. For his part, Minister Pharaon emphasized the importance of the current collaboration between the Ministry and the Faculty of Tourism, and presented the different projects implemented since he became Minister of Tourism.  Pharaon noted that 20% of global tourists are youth under 17 years of age and he thus highlighted the importance of targeting this category of the population through awareness raising and marketing for rural tourism including adventures and camping.
Source: Al-Diyar 1 October 2014

The MoAg organised last Monday a workshop in order to launch the FAO regional project entitled “Building capacities to reduce the food wastage in the Near East” which is implemented in collaboration with that UN body and includes a number of countries from the region notably Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan and Iran.
On that occasion, the MoAg media office issued a statement noting that the workshop comes at a time when the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region is suffering from food wastage which is estimated at 250 kilograms per person and is costing the economies some USD 60 billion a year.  The statement added that such high levels of food wastage affect food availability and exacerbate water scarcity.  The statement also noted that governments participating in this project have made commitments to address this issue and have asked for the help of the FAO which subsequently prepared this project with technical assistance from the Technical Collaboration Programme (TCP).  The project seeks to build capacities in food management, transportation, storage and distribution, and will include the implementation of training and educational workshops spreading over 24 months that will focus on fundamental guidelines for prevention against food wastage.  The workshops also will seek to build the capacities of the industrial food sector as well as food distribution.

Source: Al-Safir, Al-Diyar 30 September 2014

The activities of the twinning programme within the QuaLeb Programme implemented by the Ministry of Economy and Trade (MoET) with EU funding were concluded yesterday during a closing event held at the Serail under the auspices of Minister Alain Hakim and with the participation of the EU Ambassador Angelina Eichhorst.
The director of the QuaLeb Programme within the Ministry, Ali Berro, noted in his speech during the event that the programme has been able to achieve most of its objectives and the activities implemented exceeded 92% of what was planned.  He confirmed that the quality unit within the MoET will continue to provide technical assistance throughout 2015. This initiative provides support to five departments within the public sector to enable them to introduce and implement a quality control system within their work.  The director of the implementing partner organization, the British Standards Institution (BSI), David Bell, presented the achievements of the programme namely the development of a National Measurement Standard through the enactment of nine decrees, setting up three monitoring and control councils, creating nine laboratories, training 130 directors and workers on ISO 17025 as well as launching a new website for the Trade Information Center which provides info to Lebanese producers on export rules.  Bell also added that the Quality Unit worked also on spreading awareness regarding quality and excellence which helped in turn in raising the standards of safety of products and services and in improving the competitiveness of exported products and creating new jobs for quality experts.
Minister Hakim added that the strategic aim of the project is to contribute to improving the legal and institutional framework of quality in Lebanon, in order to make national products safer for consumers and improve their competitiveness in international markets.  He added that the project has set up firm foundations for completing the quality infrastructure notably at the level of food safety.
Source: Al-Nahar, Al-Diyar, Al-Safir 30 September 2014

The Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Commission for Human Rights, MP Ghassan Mokhayber, convened a press conference yesterday to announce that he submitted a law petition to regulate the marriage of minors.  This new law petition targets all such marriages contracted in Lebanon and not only marriages contracted by Lebanese.  It seeks to ensure that minors are not being coerced into marriages and will penalize clergy who contract such marriages and parents who facilitate them and ignore the orders of the judge (as the law requires the approval of juvenile court judge to contract such marriage).  The new law requires that the judge hears the minor before a marriage is allowed.  Mokhayber noted that this law petition follows the persistent work of women organizations and had received inputs from experts in the field.  He added that the petition will strengthen individual freedoms since minors who marry are often coerced to do so.

Source: Al-Safir, Al-Mustaqbal, Al-Nahar, Al Arabi Al Jadid, 30 September 2014

Following is the full text of the law petition which has been published on the As Safir website.

Women in Front completed yesterday its “Women in Municipalities” project and organized a closing ceremony under the auspices of the Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Nehad el Mashnook, and with the attendance of the US Ambassador to Lebanon, David Hale, in addition to a number of political, diplomatic and media figures as well as civil society activists.  The event included two discussion sessions the first of which focused on challenges that women face in public and political life, and was facilitated by former Minister Ziad Barud, and the President of the IT crimes and copyrights protection bureau, Major Suzanne Haje.  The second session discussed the reasons why women refrain from participating in political life and included the participation of former Minister Ibrahim Hajjar and Nada Zaarour of the Green party.
The Women in Municipalities project which Women in Front started implementing a year ago with funding from MEPI, aimed at encouraging women to participate in public life through mobilizing them to take part in municipality, legislative and trade union elections.  Training workshops were organized for some 70 women from different parts of Lebanon so as to allow them to develop community projects that will be useful to their local communities and that is after they successfully present themselves as candidates for the 2016 municipal elections.  

Source: Al-Diyar 30 September 2014