From loai at MIT.EDU Sat Mar 8 18:41:00 2008 From: loai at MIT.EDU (Loai Naamani) Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 18:41:00 -0500 Subject: [LCM Articles] Lebanese women suffer under outdated laws (AFP) Message-ID: <010401c88175$df959ca0$9ec0d5e0$@edu> Lebanese women suffer under outdated laws by Rana Moussaoui Fri Mar 7, 3:01 PM ET Lebanese women may be known as the Arab world's most liberal but they are by no means the region's most liberated considering antiquated laws that reduce them to second-class citizens. "The law in this country still considers a woman as being inferior," complained sociologist Rafif Sidaoui. >From domestic violence to rape to adultery, the rights of women often fall by the wayside in this multi-confessional sectarian society, nonetheless deemed avant-garde in the mostly conservative Middle East. "One of the absurd laws on the books allows a rapist to be exempt from prison if he marries his victim," said Ezzat Mroue, vice-president of the Women's Rights Committee (WRC). "A few years ago, there was a major scandal when a young man, who was after his cousin, kidnapped her from her university," she added. "He raped her and then brought her before a sheikh who married them. "The result was that he was not guilty in the eyes of the law," Mroue said. And although so-called "honour crimes" are not widespread in Lebanon, as in some other Arab countries, every year a number of women are killed by male relatives under the pretext of defending the family honour. Under the law, the murderer can benefit from "mitigating circumstances". But "murder is murder and you cannot apply different penalties" depending on gender, insisted Mroue. She said when it comes to adultery, the picture is not brighter. A woman can be sentenced to two years in prison if a third party accuses her of cheating on her husband, whereas a man has to be caught red-handed before being hauled to court. If a man admits to adultery but apologises, he is usually pardoned. The same does not apply to a woman. As far as domestic violence, the law offers no protection to women. "If a woman in Lebanon is beaten or humiliated at home, there is nothing she can legally do about it," said Sidaoui. "The husband has to break her neck, arm or leg, for her to be able to claim injury or damage, as you would for any car accident," said the sociologist. Many women who do turn to the police become the object of ridicule by officers who pat them on the cheek and suggest they deal with their problems "at home". Sidaoui said that one of the main problems in changing the status quo is the lack of legislation to protect women's rights and the fact that religion permeates most aspects of life in Lebanon, including marriage and divorce. For example, there is no civil marriage in Lebanon, although the government recognises such a union as long as it is celebrated outside the country. A woman also cannot transfer citizenship to her husband if he is foreign or to children born of such a union. And in the event of divorce, a Lebanese man automatically gets custody of the children. "For the religious and political communities determined to hang on to their prerogatives, this issue is a red line not to be crossed," Sidaoui said. Labour laws are another issue that rights groups have been battling to change. A married Lebanese man who works receives tax exemptions whereas a married woman does not. A man with children is also given a family allowance by the state whereas a woman can only receive it if she is widowed or if her husband is handicapped. "If these laws are not changed, they will perpetuate this mentality through generations and a woman will always be considered inferior to a man, whatever her social status," Sidaoui said. Copyright C 2008 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AFP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Agence France Presse. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/lebanon-articles/attachments/20080308/b9b4cb4a/attachment.htm From walid at chamoun.org Mon Mar 24 07:10:54 2008 From: walid at chamoun.org (Walid Georges Chamoun) Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 07:10:54 -0400 Subject: [LCM Articles] FYI - Moghtarebee Lubnan / HireLebanese.com - over 700 jobs for Lebanese Message-ID: <00b901c88da1$466c1a80$a9b13744@WALID> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lebanon Expats / Moghtarebeen.com" To: Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 12:22 PM Subject: Moghtarebee Lubnan / HireLebanese.com - over 700 jobs for Lebanese This is an email from 'Moghtarebee Lubnan' Message: Dear Lebanese Expatriates, It our pleasure to introduce to you hireLebanese.com which is an online jobsite dedicated to find jobs for Lebanese. HireLebanese.com is an initiative by Lebanon Expats that works with Lebanese managers throughout the Middle East to secure jobs for Lebanese professionals. 1. 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Best Regards, Rabih Mogharbel Lebanonexpats.org HireLebanese.com From loai at MIT.EDU Thu Mar 27 23:00:43 2008 From: loai at MIT.EDU (Loai Naamani) Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 23:00:43 -0400 Subject: [LCM Articles] War Anniversary Photo Wins Int'l Press Photo Contest in China Message-ID: <013901c8907f$ea3de3b0$beb9ab10$@edu> The single photo "First Anniversary of the Lebanon-Israel War" taken by AFP photographer Marwan Naamani wins the gold prize in the General News Singles (GN) in the 4th China International Press Photo Contest (CHIPP) held in Shanghai from March 20 to 25, 2008. This photo shows Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah speaking in a giant screen erected on top of a building during a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the war with Israel in Beirut's southern suburb, Lebanon, on Aug. 14, 2007. (Xinhua Photo) The single photo "First Anniversary of the Lebanon-Israel War" taken by AFP photographer Marwan Naamani wins the gold prize in the General News Singles (GN) in the 4th China International Press Photo Contest (CHIPP) held in Shanghai from March 20 to 25, 2008. This photo shows Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah speaking in a giant screen erected on top of a building during a ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the war with Israel in Beirut's southern suburb, Lenanon, on Aug. 14, 2007. Interesting winners in other categories posted here: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/25/content_7857067.htm L. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/lebanon-articles/attachments/20080327/09afe2a9/attachment.htm -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 33849 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/lebanon-articles/attachments/20080327/09afe2a9/attachment.jpg From abdallah.jabbour at gmail.com Sun Mar 30 15:49:03 2008 From: abdallah.jabbour at gmail.com (Abdallah Jabbour) Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:49:03 -0800 Subject: [LCM Articles] Crusaders 'left genetic legacy' Message-ID: <417f413d0803301249j7c83d0e5vf61cec69485a316f@mail.gmail.com> *http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7316281.stm * By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News * Scientists have detected the faint genetic traces left by medieval crusaders in the Middle East.* The team says it found a particular DNA signature which recently appeared in Lebanon and is probably linked to the crusades. The finding comes from the Genographic Project, a major effort to track human migrations through DNA. Details of the research have been published in the American Journal of Human Genetics. The researchers found that some Christian men in Lebanon carry a DNA signature hailing from Western Europe. Four crusades came through Lebanon between the 11th and 13th Centuries - the first, second, third and sixth. The bulk of the crusader armies came from England, France, Germany and Italy; many of the men stayed to build castles and settlements, mixing with the local populations. The scientists also found that Lebanese Muslim men were more likely than Christians to carry a particular genetic signature. But this one is linked to expansions from the Arabian Peninsula which brought Islam to the area in the 7th and 8th Centuries. But they emphasise that the differences between the two communities are minor, and that Christians and Muslim Arabs in Lebanon overwhelmingly share a common heritage. *Genetic 'surname'* The legacy of the Muslim expansion has been demonstrated in other studies which looked at the genetics of Middle Eastern and North African populations. But signs of recent European migration to the region are more unusual. The study focused on the Y, or male, chromosome, a package of genetic material carried only by men that is passed down from father to son more or less unchanged, just like a surname. But over many generations, the chromosome accumulates small changes, or copying errors, in its DNA sequence. These can be used to classify male chromosomes into different groups (called haplogroups) which, to some extent, reflect a person's geographical ancestry. The team analysed the Y chromosomes of 926 Lebanese males and found that patterns of male genetic variation in Lebanon fell more along religious lines than along geographical lines. A genetic signature on the male chromosome called WES1, which is usually only found in west European populations, was found among the Lebanese men included in the study. *Science and history* "It seems to have come in from Europe and is found mostly in the Christian population," said Dr Spencer Wells, director of the Genographic Project. "This is odd because typically we don't see this sort of stratification by religion when we are looking at the relative proportions of these lineages - and particularly immigration events." He told BBC News: "Looking at the same data set, we saw a similar enrichment of lineages coming in from the Arabian Peninsula in the Muslim population which we didn't see [as often] in the Christian population." Lebanese Muslim men were found to have high frequencies of a Y chromosome grouping known as J1. This is typical of populations originating from the Arabian Peninsula, who were involved in the Muslim expansion. "The goal of the study was to put some science to the history of this country - which is very rich," said Pierre Zalloua, a co-author on the paper, from the Lebanese American University in Beirut. He added: "To have these great civilisations - with the Islamic expansion and the migration from Europe - coming to Lebanon, leaving not only their genes but also some of their culture and way of life, it can only make us feel richer." The Genographic Project was launched by National Geographic in 2005 to help piece together a picture of how the Earth was populated. The consortium has sold 250,000 DNA test kits and regional centres have taken samples of genetic material from 31,000 indigeous people. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mit.edu/pipermail/lebanon-articles/attachments/20080330/c55c7a87/attachment.htm