Latest news with #Beirut
LBCI
18 hours ago
- Business
- LBCI
Lebanon next? Elon Musk calls Lebanese president as Starlink eyes new market
Report by Ghida Fayad, English adaptation by Karine Keuchkerian This is not a rumor: "Tech king" Elon Musk has called Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. So why did he call? The call came two weeks after a delegation from Starlink visited Lebanon and presented the president with a proposal outlining Starlink's services. Negotiations, which had already begun between Lebanon's telecom ministry and the company, have since advanced. Talks now focus on the Lebanese state's potential revenue from Starlink services, which is reportedly confirmed and on its way. So why Lebanon? Elon Musk, who leads Tesla, Starlink, and SpaceX, is expanding his companies' global footprint. After investing in 136 countries, he has now set his sights on Lebanon. Musk is interested in Lebanon's telecom and internet sectors and believes the upcoming phase could be full of opportunity. Sources familiar with the discussions say Starlink's interest was sparked by Lebanon's human capital and young talent. Lebanon, in turn, needs what Starlink offers. Many remote areas still lack strong landline networks or any telecom infrastructure — especially those hit by the recent war, from the South to the Bekaa. That makes Lebanon a market in need and one with strong revenue potential for the company. It seems Elon Musk is excited — and President Aoun did not let that energy go to waste. He gave Musk a warm welcome and said Lebanon is ready to facilitate everything his companies need within legal and regulatory frameworks. Aoun also invited Musk to visit Beirut, and Musk reportedly promised to take up the offer at the first suitable opportunity. Could this meeting mark the start of a new tech chapter for Lebanon?
LBCI
a day ago
- Business
- LBCI
Lebanon raises minimum wage to LBP 28 million
Lebanon's cabinet approved most items on its agenda Friday, including a draft law to amend the public-private partnership law, according to Information Minister Paul Morcos. Morcos also announced that the government raised the official minimum monthly wage for workers and employees to 28 million Lebanese lira, starting next month.
Daily Mail
a day ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Patient, 56, dies from colon cancer after just ONE WEEK as doctors reveal key warning signs
EXCLUSIVE Patient, 56, dies from colon cancer after just ONE WEEK as doctors reveal key warning signs A man diagnosed with colon cancer after just a week of symptoms died in one of the world's most aggressive cases. The 56-year-old from Lebanon visited his local hospital after a week of constipation and bloating. A colonoscopy revealed a cancerous tumor in his sigmoid colon, the lowest part of the colon that meets the rectum. Doctors also found multiple lesions in the man's liver, suggesting the cancer was already 'at an advanced stage' despite symptoms starting so suddenly. The man was diagnosed with a colonic sarcomatoid carcinoma, an extremely rare and aggressive cancer that can take over the body in just weeks. No more than 50 cases like the man's have been reported in medical literature, and the disease is thought to kill most patients in less than six months. In similar cases, patients have died just 30 days after being diagnosed with no time to receive treatments. The unnamed man was unable to start chemotherapy before returning to the hospital days later with a fever. He died about a week later. A 56-year-old man from Lebanon died of colonic sarcomatoid carcinoma after suffering symptoms for just one week before his diagnosis (stock image) The above image shows cancerous lesions on the patient's liver from his cancer spreading Writing in a medical journal this week, doctors treating the man said there is a 'huge need for further research' on colonic sarcomatoid carcinomas to develop treatments and stop the disease from becoming a death sentence. Sarcomatoid carcinomas are made up of both carcinoma - cancer of the epithelial tissue, which lines organs - and sarcoma - cancer of connective tissues like bones. It most commonly forms in the lungs, though it only makes up 0.1 percent of all lung tumors. Doctors treating the man said sarcomatoid carcinomas are rare in the digestive tract. They're also the most aggressive with an average survival rate of five months. The medical team noted this could be because these tumors are more likely to spread and be resistant to chemotherapy, and most patients are already at an advanced stage by the time they receive a diagnosis. There are no specific treatment guidelines for sarcomatoid carcinomas. Like more common forms of colon cancer, diet, sedentary lifestyle and conditions like diabetes and obesity can raise the risk of the disease by creating inflammation in the digestive tract, which leads to cell DNA damage and dangerous mutations forming. The patient was a heavy smoker with high blood pressure, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes and an enlarged prostate. It's unclear if he had any genetic mutations linked to colon cancer. Smoking also introduces about 7,000 carcinogens into the body that attack DNA and lead to polyps forming in the colon, which can turn into cancerous lesions. The man's case comes as 154,000 Americans are expected to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer this year, including 20,000 under 50 years old. And the latest data shows early-onset colorectal cancer diagnoses in the US are expected to rise 90 percent in people 20 to 34 years old between 2010 and 2030.
Arab News
a day ago
- Politics
- Arab News
UN commission says Syria must end violence against Alawites and protect places of worship
BEIRUT: The head of a UN investigative commission on Friday called commitments made by the new authorities in Syria to protect the rights of minorities 'encouraging' but said attacks have continued on members of the Alawite sect in the months since a major outbreak of sectarian violence on Syria's coast. Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told a meeting of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the current Syrian government — led by Islamist former insurgents who ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad — had given his team 'unfettered access' to the coast and to witnesses of the violence and victims' families. 'Disturbingly, reports continue to circulate of ongoing killings and arbitrary arrests of members of the Alawite community, as well as the confiscation of the property of those who fled the March violence,' he said. Pinheiro's commission also 'documented abductions by unknown individuals of at least six Alawite women this spring in several Syrian governorates,' two of whom remain missing, and has received 'credible reports of more abductions,' he said. Pinheiro also called on authorities to put in place more protections for places of worship after Sunday's suicide bombing attack on a church outside of Damascus. The attack, which killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens more, was the first of its kind to take place in the Syrian capital in years. The Syrian government has said that the perpetrators belonged to a cell of the Daesh group and that they thwarted a subsequent attempt to target a Shiite shrine in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb in Damascus. 'Attacks on places of worship are outrageous and unacceptable,' Pinheiro said. 'The authorities must ensure the protection of places of worship and threatened communities and ensure that perpetrators and enablers are held accountable.' Assad was deposed in a lightning rebel offensive in December, bringing an end to a nearly 14-year civil war. In March, hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between pro-Assad armed groups and the new government security forces on the Syrian coast. Pinheiro said his commission had documented scattered 'revenge attacks' that happened before that, including killings in several villages in Hama and Homs provinces in late January in which men who had handed over their weapons under a 'settlement' process set up for former soldiers and members of security forces under Assad, believing that they would be granted an amnesty in exchange for disarmament, were then 'ill-treated and executed.' He praised the interim government's formation of a body tasked with investigating the attacks on the coast and said government officials had told his team that 'dozens of alleged perpetrators' were arrested. Pinheiro said the government needs to carry out a 'reform and vetting program' as it integrates a patchwork of former rebel factions into a new army and security services and enact 'concrete policies to put an end to Syria's entrenched cycles of violence and revenge, in a context where heightened tensions and sectarian divisions have been reignited.'
Associated Press
a day ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
UN commission says Syria must end violence against Alawites and protect places of worship
BEIRUT (AP) — The head of a U.N. investigative commission on Friday called commitments made by the new authorities in Syria to protect the rights of minorities 'encouraging' but said attacks have continued on members of the Alawite sect in the months since a major outbreak of sectarian violence on Syria's coast. Paulo Pinheiro, the head of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, told a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva that the current Syrian government — led by Islamist former insurgents who ousted former Syrian President Bashar Assad — had given his team 'unfettered access' to the coast and to witnesses of the violence and victims' families. 'Disturbingly, reports continue to circulate of ongoing killings and arbitrary arrests of members of the Alawite community, as well as the confiscation of the property of those who fled the March violence,' he said. Pinheiro's commission also 'documented abductions by unknown individuals of at least six Alawite women this spring in several Syrian governorates,' two of whom remain missing, and has received 'credible reports of more abductions,' he said. Pinheiro also called on authorities to put in place more protections for places of worship after Sunday's suicide bombing attack on a church outside of Damascus. The attack, which killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens more, was the first of its kind to take place in the Syrian capital in years. The Syrian government has said that the perpetrators belonged to a cell of the Islamic State group and that they thwarted a subsequent attempt to target a Shiite shrine in the Sayyida Zeinab suburb in Damascus. 'Attacks on places of worship are outrageous and unacceptable,' Pinheiro said. 'The authorities must ensure the protection of places of worship and threatened communities and ensure that perpetrators and enablers are held accountable.' Assad was deposed in a lightning rebel offensive in December, bringing an end to a nearly 14-year civil war. In March, hundreds of civilians, most of them from the Alawite minority to which Assad belongs, were killed in revenge attacks after clashes broke out between pro-Assad armed groups and the new government security forces on the Syrian coast. Pinheiro said his commission had documented scattered 'revenge attacks' that happened before that, including killings in several villages in Hama and Homs provinces in late January in which men who had handed over their weapons under a 'settlement' process set up for former soldiers and members of security forces under Assad, believing that they would be granted an amnesty in exchange for disarmament, were then 'ill-treated and executed.' He praised the interim government's formation of a body tasked with investigating the attacks on the coast and said government officials had told his team that 'dozens of alleged perpetrators' were arrested. Pinheiro said the government needs to carry out a 'reform and vetting program' as it integrates a patchwork of former rebel factions into a new army and security services and enact 'concrete policies to put an end to Syria's entrenched cycles of violence and revenge, in a context where heightened tensions and sectarian divisions have been reignited.'
