News

The Istanbouli Theatre and Tiro Association for Arts announced on Friday the launch of the participating drama in the first edition of the International Women Monodrama Festival 2019 to be held from March 8 to 12, 2019. The event comes to mark the International Women’s Day and celebrate the female and femininity, while accentuating a woman’s strength in Arabic on stage and artistically. The festival will be held on the Lebanese National Theatre in Tyre, in collaboration with the ministry of culture and Tyre Municipality. On the sideline, the first conference for theatre in Lebanon will be held to discuss the crisis that theatre is facing in the country and the need to break the federalism of culture, as well as the role theatre in raising awareness and stimulating change. It will also host a seminar by the League for Lebanese Women’s Rights and the Mothers Welfare Association, on the role and aspirations of women in society, in addition to a craft fair by the Southern Woman’s Association. On the other hand, Zarifa Diab, an inmate at the Central Women’s Prison in Qobeh, Tripoli, signed on February 28 her first poetry collection she completed behind the cells. This cultural event is first of its kind to take place at a Lebanese prison, noting that the signing was called upon by the ministry of culture and the Charity for Reform and Rehabilitation. (An Nahar, March 2, 2019)
 

Under the patronage of tourism minister, Hospitality Services announced in press conference on Friday, the launch of the 26th edition of the regional hospitality and food service exhibition, Horeca Lebanon held this year under the slogan, ‘For a better industry’. The 4-day event will take place at the Beirut Waterfront, Seaside Arena, from April 2 to 5 and will embrace more than 10 daily activities, including cooking demos and forums. More than 70 international experts from the world of food, beverages and hospitality are expected to attend and share their experiences, and be part of a jury in a number of competitions. On the occasion, Jumana Damus Salameh, the managing director of Hospitality Services, the event organiser, said: “We are proud to offer experts a unique platform that allows them to communicate, interact and explore new products.”  (Al Diyar, March 3, 2019)
 

The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering (RDFL) and the National Coalition for Protecting Children from Child Marriage, organized a march on Saturday to raise awareness on the issue of child marriage marking International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8 of every year. The demonstration, held under the banner, ‘The younger, the more dangerous’, took off from Al Adlieh area toward Riad Solh in downtown Beirut, to step up the enactment of a bill which makes 18 the minimum age for marriage. Participants hoisted banners which read, “Stop the marriage of children” and “Lawmakers, a child is entitled to security”. The head of RDFL, Leila Mroweh, pointed out in a statement, that the march is aimed to pressure legislators to approve fair civil laws that ensure the rights of women and girls and provide legal protection for them against the most horrendous form of violence, exploitation and trafficking, which is early (child) marriage. For his part, PSP leader, Walid Jumblat, tweeted on the occasion, “The lives of minors, boys and girls, should not be put at stake. The PSP, hence demands the legislature to enact a law that prohibits marriage before the age of 18.” (Al Diyar, Al Mustaqbal, March 4, 2019)