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Livestock owners and dairy producers for raising customs on imported goods

27-5-2019

Dairy farmers organized on May 25 a symbolic sit-in at Halba Square in the North demanding the protection of national production and the enforcement of tax duties on imported milk and dairy products. During the protest, the head of the Cooperative of Milk Producers in Dreib, Akkar, Joseph Abdullah, grieved five years of suffering of the sector visibly seen in the decline in prices of fresh milk. He attributed this to the lack of policies aimed to protect Lebanese farmers, pointing out that agricultural agreements signed between Lebanon and foreign countries do not serve the interests of local farmers and bluntly encroach on domestic production. Protesters appealed to the three heads of the state to salvage the situation by pressuring for the enforcement of customs tariffs on imported milks, powdered milk and dairy products. For the same demands, and in cooperation with the General Union of Agricultural Syndicates, fresh milk producers and cattle breeders staged a sit-in on May 24 in front of the agriculture ministry in Zahle. They urged concerned parties to increase customs by 50% on all imported powdered milks and to control borders to stop smuggled goods into Lebanese territory. (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, May 25, 27, 2019)

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Lebanese Joyce Azzam on Everest summit

24-5-2019

After two months of risky adventure, Lebanese mountain climber, Joyce Azzam, realized her 7 summit dream when she reached the top of the world’s tallest Mount Everest peak and planted her country’s flag on 8848 m. Azzam boasted that she has waited six years for this dream to materialise. “I endured difficult moments, but most importantly I succeeded in overcoming the challenges and difficulties,” she said. Recalling, that Azzam has completed her 6th dream of the challenge after climbing Vinson Massif, the highest peak in Antarctica (4897m). In his comments, prime minister Saad Hariri, tweeted, “Mabrouk to Joyce Azzam who became the first Lebanese woman to complete the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. Mabrouk also to the accompanying Lebanese team who promoted Lebanon’s image in the world in this achievement which highlights the leading role of the Lebanese woman at all levels.” (An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, May 24, 2019)

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Minister Hassan for inclusion of women’s quota in electoral law

24-5-2019

The minister of interior, Raya Hassan, said yesterday that she seeks to include a women’s representation quota in the municipal and electoral laws. Hassan, who was speaking during a conference: ‘Parliamentary elections 2022: Electoral reform and gender equality’ planned by UNDP and EU Delegation to Lebanon, pledged to work in the coming years to introduce all reforms and proposals to this effect. She further pointed to three electoral occasions, including presidential, municipal and parliamentary elections, warning, “we have to get a move on.” The minister also pressed for introducing the required reforms in cooperation with civil society groups, saying "this allows us to take on recommendations and ideas in the forthcoming period, namely, Speaker Berri’s proposal and others". “We will have the opportunity to comment on all relevant draft bills, for we are interested in reaching a comprehensive plan based on the recommendations of all political factions. Subsequently, this will form a sketch for the upcoming electoral reforms,” Hassan stated. Concurrently, a delegation from the Lebanese Council of Women, led by Iqbal Doughan, visited the head of the Kataeb Party, MP Sammy Gemayel, and discussed with him the draft law related to women’s representation quota in the municipal elections. (Al Mustaqbal, Al Diyar, May 24, 2019)

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Prosecution of mother in South Africa who fought off her daughter’s rapists

23-5-2019

BBC published on April 2 the story of a mother from South Africa who fought off three men attempting to rape her daughter, killing one of them and seriously injuring the two others. The murder charges against the brave mother were dropped shortly under national outrage, which made her focus on ensuring the recovery of her battered daughter. The mother recounted details of the assault, saying she called the police with no answer, so she decided to help her daughter herself. She found a knife and went to face the perpetrators. She explained that she grabbed the knife first to protect herself in the dark path, when she started hearing her daughter’s screams as she approached the house. Upon entering the room, she was terrified seeing her daughter is being raped and began to scream. When the three men came charging towards her, she said she needed to defend herself as an involuntary reaction not realizing the extent of injuries they received. The mother went on to say, that when she went to the court, she was very scared, but the large public support alleviated her grief, especially after she learned that the people launched crowd funding for her legal defense. She added, that when she knew about the charges being dropped, she realized that the justice system was still able to distinguish right from wrong. (Al Diyar, May 20, 2019)

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Father molests his 4-year-old daughter in West Beqaa

23-5-2019

The Intelligence Directorate in West Beqaa announced in a statement on May 22, that it has arrested a Syrian national suspected of beating and molesting his four-year old daughter. The child has been transferred to Dr. Hamid Farhat Hospital in Kamed Lawz with bruises and burns all over her body, the statement said, adding, investigations were underway. Upon interrogation, the father alleged his daughter fell from a high place, but an informed medical source reported that the marks on the victim’s body have occurred 72 hours prior. (Al Mustaqbal, May 23, 2019)

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Lebanese Nahla Hwalla awarded by Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

22-5-2019

Dr. Nahla Hwalla, member of the board of trustees of Rafik Hariri University, won the 2019 medal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, one of the world’s largest organization founded in Cleveland, Ohio. Hwalla, former dean of the faculty of agriculture and food sciences at AUB, will receive the prize during the Food and Nutrition conference held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hwalla has founded and sponsored the first undergraduate program of nutrition sciences in Lebanon and the region and established nutrition as a recognized profession in Lebanon. She also published some 100 international articles in the field and received intensive funding for research from national and international donor institutions. Hwalla was appointed within the team of the World Health Organization Collaboration Center on Nutrition to put in olace guidelines for governments on issues related to nutrition, apart from receiving many national and international prizes in the field. Recalling, that the medal awards are presented each year since 1967 to honor members of the Academy who have shown dedication to the high standards of nutrition science and profession. (An Nahar, Al Mustaqbal, May 22, 2019)

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My Nationality Campaign denounces NCLW proposed discriminatory draft bill

22-5-2019

The NCLW head, Claudine Aoun Rukuz, yesterday handed the prime minister, Saad Hariri, a draft bill to approve the right of Lebanese women married to non-Lebanese to confer citizenship to their children. According to the proposal prepared by NCLW, nationality is granted only to minors who have not reached 18 at the time the law becomes effective. It excludes children aged 18 and above, who, by virtue of this draft bill, shall receive a green card that gives them civil, economic and social rights excepting the political rights and the right to property ownership and public office. The bill also notes that the holder of the green card, can, after five years of receiving it, be granted full Lebanese nationality if he/she meets certain conditions. (For more about the law, please check: http://bit.ly/2YCQx4g) In response to the above proposal, My Nationality is a Right for Me and My Familh Campaign commented on its Facebook page (https://bit.ly/2JUtMok), saying, the draft which originally seeks to address discrimination, clearly discriminates against Lebanese women by stressing inequality in rights between men and women in terms of conferring nationality to their children. The proposal, the Campaign added, supports exceptions and conditions that do not apply equally to Lebanese men, and it discriminates against the children of the Lebanese mother, eventually leaving children with a Lebanese citizenship and children with a green card! My Nationality is a Right for me and my family Campaign lamented that after the submission of two inclusive proposals that observe full equality to this effect, the NCLW draft law comes to exaggerate discrimination against Lebanese women and mothers. (Al Diyar, May 22, 2019)

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Lebanese dairy products within international quality norms

22-5-2019

A study published on May 18 in An Nahar daily has shown that the incidence of antibiotics in dairy products in Lebanon is within allowable international rates. The results of the study prepared by NDU and LAU students appeared in the global Veterinary World magazine, and aims to evaluate the status of some of the daily products available in the local Lebanese market in terms of the level of antibiotics residues. The study covered some 44 samples of the most consumed and renowned brands that have been tested according to the internationally accredited ELISA technique for detecting and quantifying antibodies and hormones. For more on the study, An Nahar asked Dr. Hussein Hassan, one of the contributing researchers, who maintained that it tested the percentage of tetracycline and penicillin deposits in some dairies, including yogurt, labneh and milk. The result, he explained, was satisfactory and positive, noting that antibiotics residues were within the MRL levels. On choosing these two specific types, Hassan said they were commonly used by farmers. The study is available on the following link: https://bit.ly/2HIAkUD. (Annahar 18 May, 2019)

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2019 tourism season opens in Tyre

21-5-2019

The minister of culture, Mohamad Daoud, opened on May 19, the tourism season for 2019 and a pedestrian path at the South Sea Corniche of the southern city of Tyre. The street which embraces art and heritage exhibitions, was inaugurated in the presence of the Italian, French and Korean troops operating within UNIFIL. On the occasion, while Daoud stressed the importance of similar events in stimulating the economic cycle, Tyre mayor, Hassan Dbuk, urged the Lebanese to visit the city. The latter, he said, has received some 18,000 foreigners who visited the archeological sites during the month of April. Similarly, the head of the information committee in the municipality, Khudr Aknan, explained the purpose of the pedestrian street which is to create safe spaces for children and elderly people away from the clamor of cars and motorcycles. The municipality, he said, extends to exhibitors all the assistance they need to showcase their products and projects for free, pointing to the presence of shops and eateries along the street for the benefit of all. (Al Diyar, May 20, 2019)

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Pakistani woman Asmaa Aziz documents domestic violence in video

21-5-2019

Pakistani woman, Asmaa Aziz, published on March 26 a shocking video on social media where she appeared with shaven head and bruised face. She accused her husband of beating her with iron pipes, taking her clothes off and shaving her hair off in front of his assistant for refusing to dance for him and his friends. Asmaa said that when she went to the police to file a complaint, the latter procrastinated, a fact the police denied. The police clarified that it immediately dispatched a team and arrested her husband, who denied his wife’s allegations, together with his assistant on the following day. Asmaa’s lawyers later pleaded the case be tried under the stricter anti-terrorism act instead of the usual criminal procedure. Recalling, that Asmaa’s case sparked uproar on social media with many voicing their anger over domestic violence in Pakistan. Similarly, Amnesty International said “systematic change was needed in Pakistan, noting that women’s rights in the socially conservative country is still controversial. (Al Diyar, May 20, 2019)

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