No more Barbie dolls in Iran

Police have closed down dozens of toy shops for selling Barbie dolls, part of a decades-long crackdown on signs of Western culture in Iran, the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported Friday.

Mehr quoted an unnamed police official as saying police confiscated Barbie dolls from toy shops in Tehran in a “new phase” of its crackdown against “manifestations of Western culture.” (more…)

Court acts to stop arranged wedlock

A 16-YEAR-OLD Lebanese Australian girl has been placed on a nationwide airport watch list to stop her being sent to Lebanon against her will for an arranged marriage.

In what a magistrate has called an ”act of great bravery”, the girl sought a court order to stop her parents taking her out of Australia to marry a man she has met only once. (more…)

Op-ED: Israel, the Apartheid State of 21st Century

The so-called democratic government of Israel has two systems of education and two different curricula in its present day Apartheid system of Education.

Gholmieh passes away at age 73 after a long battle with illness

Dr. Walid Georges Gholmieh died at the age of 73 after a long battle with illness, National News Agency reported on Tuesday. (more…)

World Press Photo exhibit closes early over censorship

A World Press Photo exhibit in Beirut is shutting down early after Lebanese authorities ordered the removal of an Israeli photographer’s prize-winning work, an organizer of the exhibit said Friday. (more…)

Cannes 2011: A personal project for Nadine Labaki

Cannes, France – For many filmmakers, the moment of inspiration can be difficult to pin down. Lebanese writer-director Nadine Labaki, however, has exceptional reasons for remembering exactly when the idea for “Where Do We Go Now?” came to her. (more…)

Lebanon’s ‘Stray Bullet’ film won first prize in Dubai

“Stray Bullet” by Lebanese director Georges Hachem won first prize at the Dubai International Film Festival yesterday, this year a showcase for new Arab talent.

The film, set shortly after the start of Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, tells the story of a young woman who is torn between a fiance picked by her family and a former lover who suddenly reappears in her life. (more…)

Art: Lebanon’s Wadi al-Safi honored in Syria

Dar al-Assad for Culture and Arts recently held two concerts dedicated to Lebanese singer, songwriter, actor and musician Wadi al-Safi featuring a choir of 60 singers, 15 musicians and a dance troupe, celebrating al-Safi’s history and accomplishments across 70 years of music, Syrian DP news / SANA reported. (more…)

Lebanon’s Dirty Laundry

By Diana Nemeh
How dirty is your laundry? Maybe I should ask your maid and quite possibly she will air out information dirtier than your clothes.

Composer, singer take on ’sexist’ Arab pop in new song

The backlash rages on over “Metlak Mesh Ayzin” song by a Lebanese singer that beckons women back to domesticity