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Lebanese director credits street children actors for Oscar nod

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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tuesday’s Oscar nomination for the Lebanese film “Capernaum”, praised for its depiction of poverty in the slums of Beirut, is a “huge victory” for the street children who acted in it, according to director Nadine Labaki. The nomination of a Lebanese picture for the Best Foreign Language Film award for the second year running is also a milestone for Arab and Lebanese cinema, Labaki told Reuters after the nominees were announced. “It’s a huge victory for each one of the actors who are ... putting their own struggle out there through the film, being the voice of the voiceless, each one with his own story and own struggle and own problems,” she said. Labaki cast street children in the town of Capernaum to tell the story of a 12-year-old boy trying to stop his younger sister being married off as soon as she reaches puberty. Much of the plot is based on events that Labaki witnessed or cast members experienced, and its biting social commentary helped secure the Jury Prize at the Cannes film festival in May. The protagonist is played by a young Syrian refugee, while another young cast member was thrown in jail during the shoot, and a third was deported to Kenya with her mother.

Last year, Lebanon gained its first nomination for a foreign language Oscar with “The Insult” by Ziad Doueiri, a film that examines Lebanon’s sectarian tensions through a street argument that leads to a trial. 'Roma,' 'The Favourite' lead Oscar nominees with 10 apiece “This is definitely very important for Arab cinema, the Lebanese especially,” Labaki said. “It’s like we started our first steps in international cinema.” Lebanese film maker Oualid Mouaness agreed, saying: “It’s an incredible honor for the country, and I think it really creates a visibility to Lebanese cinema and creates support.” The other films nominated for Best Foreign Language Film are “Roma” from Mexico, “Cold War” from Poland, “Shoplifters” from Japan and “Never Look Away” from Germany. Reporting By Issam Abdallah and Imad Creidi; writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Kevin Liffey Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WhatsApp tightens limit on the number of people you can share messages with

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By Rishi Iyengar, cnn.com -- WhatsApp is imposing stricter limits on how widely its users can share messages in a bid to crack down on the spread of false information. Following a six-month experiment in India, the messaging platform announced on Monday that it will restrict users globally to forwarding a message to only five chats at a time. The previous limit outside India was 20. WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook (FB), first imposed the five-chat limit in India — its biggest global market — in July after viral hoax messages resulted in more than a dozen lynchings. Many of the victims were mistaken as child abductors because of false rumors spread via WhatsApp. "The forward limit significantly reduced forwarded messages around the world," the company said in a statement, adding that the limits would help keep WhatsApp a private messaging platform for close contacts. "We'll continue to listen to user feedback about their experience, and over time, look for new ways of addressing viral content," the company added. Even under the new restrictions, a user could still share a forwarded message with up to 1,280 people. WhatsApp limits the number of people in a single chat to 256.

The lynchings placed WhatsApp at the center of India's fake news debate, with the Indian government demanding that the platform do more to stop the spread of misinformation. While WhatsApp has refused some of the government's requests, such as tracing individual messages, it has taken other steps like labeling messages that are forwarded rather than composed by the sender and taking out ads to raise awareness of the issue. Monday's move further highlights how India, with more than 500 million internet users and nearly 900 million people yet to come online, is increasingly influencing how the rest of the world uses the internet. Silicon Valley's biggest firms, including Facebook, Google (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Uber and Tinder, frequently test new features in India before rolling them out to their users globally.

Qatar to invest $500 mln in Lebanese bonds

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DOHA, (Reuters) - Qatar will invest $500 million in Lebanese government U.S. dollar bonds to support Lebanon's struggling economy, the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday. Lebanon has one of the world's highest levels of public debt compared to GDP and stagnant growth. Comments from its finance minister ten days ago about the public debt triggered concerns, leading to a sell-off in the country's dollar-denominated sovereign bonds, though they later partially recovered. Qatar is at the heart of a bitter row among Gulf Arab countries, which pits it against Saudi Arabia - historically a backer of Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri. Hariri, who has Saudi citizenship, was summoned to Riyadh a year ago, briefly detained and compelled to resign as prime minister until France intervened to free him. Saudi Arabia denied that, but its relationship with Hariri and Lebanon is seen as less strong than before. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017. They accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism and cultivating ties with Riyadh's regional foe Tehran. "We wish stability and prosperity for the Lebanese republic and the Lebanese people, and that the Lebanese economy will recover. The region needs a strong and prosperous Lebanon," Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said in a statement. Lebanon's dollar-denominated bonds rose across the curve on the news, with the 2025 issue up almost 1 cent and the paper due in 2037 adding 1.2 cents in early trade, according to Tradeweb data.

World leaders skip out on Davos - Spotlight on new Brazilian President

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Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will be among the leaders attending

Several notable political leaders will be missing from this year's World Economic Forum, which kicks off Tuesday in the Swiss town of Davos. President Trump is staying put due to the ongoing government shutdown, while U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May will be presenting a new Brexit plan to Parliament, and French President Emmanuel Macron will remain in Paris after another week of “yellow vest” protests. Brazil’s new president, Jair Bolsonaro, as well as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will be among those attending the annual conference.

Why diagnosing Alzheimer’s today is so difficult—and how we can do better

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By Bill Gates gatesnotes.com --- When I announced that I was investing in Alzheimer’s research for the first time last fall, I thought I knew what to expect. I knew I would get to engage more deeply with the brilliant scientists and advocates working to stop Alzheimer’s—and I haven’t been disappointed. The things I’ve seen over the last seven months make me more hopeful than ever. What I didn’t see coming was the amazing response I got from the Alzheimer’s community at large. Because my family didn’t talk publicly about my dad’s diagnosis before the announcement, I had yet to experience how remarkable the support community is. So many of you have shared your personal experiences with me, both in person and online (including here on TGN). It helps to hear from others who are going through the same thing.

Alzheimer’s research is a frontier where we can dramatically improve human life—both the lives of people who have the disease and their loved ones. I’m optimistic that we can substantially alter the course of Alzheimer’s if we make progress in several key areas. One of the biggest things we could do right now is develop a reliable, affordable, and accessible diagnostic. The process of getting diagnosed with Alzheimer’s today is less than ideal. It starts with a cognitive test. If you don’t perform well, your doctor needs to rule out all other possible causes for memory loss, like stroke or a nutritional deficiency. Then your doctor can order a spinal tap or PET scan to confirm you have Alzheimer’s. Although these tests are fairly accurate, the only way to diagnose the disease definitively is through an autopsy after death. There are two big problems with this process. First, it can be expensive and invasive. Most insurance plans in the United States won’t reimburse tests for Alzheimer’s. Patients often pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets. Meanwhile, spinal taps can be scary and uncomfortable, and PET scans require the patient to stay perfectly still for up to 40 minutes. That’s difficult for anyone to do—but especially someone with Alzheimer’s. Second, patients aren’t being tested for the disease until they start showing cognitive decline. The more we understand about Alzheimer’s, the clearer it becomes that the disease begins much earlier than we previously thought. Research suggests Alzheimer’s starts damaging the brain more than a decade before symptoms start showing. That’s probably when we need to start treating people to have the best shot at an effective drug.

Arab economic summit in Beirut urges approach to Syrian refugee crisis

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Lebanese President Michel Aoun talks during the Arab Economic and Social Development summit meeting in Beirut

BEIRUT,(Xinhua) -- Arab leaders and officials on Sunday urged the international community to support nations hosting Syrian refugees and take steps to minimize the impact of the refugee crisis. The call was made in the Beirut Declaration issued as the Arab Economic and Social Development Summit concluded in the Lebanese capital. "We call on the international community to support Arab countries hosting Syrian refugees and take steps to stop the economic repercussion of the refugee crisis," said the declaration. The refugee crisis in Arab countries is the worst humanitarian problem since World War II, the declaration said, noting that the crisis leads to an economic slowdown, increases the expenditure and deficit, imposes burdens on public sectors and infrastructure and poses risks to the society. Arab leaders called on the world to shoulder its responsibilities to minimize the impact of the refugee crisis and double efforts to encourage and facilitate the return of refugees to their homeland. This is the first time Arab countries have reached a consensus on encouraging Syrian refugees to return to their country, according to Lebanese caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil at the press conference after the summit. Arab states also called upon through the declaration donor nations to fulfill their promises to offer financial support to nations hosting refugees.

At the opening session of the summit, Lebanese President Michel Aoun called for the world to step up efforts for Syrian refugees to return home. "Lebanon calls on the international community to exert every possible effort and to ensure the suitable conditions for the safe return of the displaced Syrians to their country, particularly to the accessible stable regions or the de-escalation zones, without linking this return to the political solution," Aoun said. Lebanon has been shouldering for years the "heaviest burden" of the displacement of Syrian and Palestinian refugees, who make up about half the Lebanese population with inadequate resources, he added. Since conflict broke out in Syria in 2011, more than 1 million people have fled across the border to Lebanon. The United Nations says conditions are not yet ready for their safe return.

The fourth Arab Economic and Social Development Summit on Sunday kicked off in Beirut. Although at least eight heads of states were expected here, only the Qatari emir and Mauritanian president joined the event. But Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani arrived shortly before the summit and left minutes after it began. The other participating countries sent their second-level and third-level ministerial delegations. Rifts among Arab states over the absence of Syria and Libya have overshadowed the Beirut summit. Syria is not invited to the summit organized by the Arab League (AL) as its AL membership was suspended in November 2011 through the rising casualties in the violent clashes during anti-government protests. Ahead of the summit, Bassil openly called on AL to re-admit Syria while Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, secretary-general of AL, said AL member states have not reached a consensus on Syria's return to the 22-member bloc. Libya's seat was also empty as it protests against the summit after supporters of the Lebanese Amal Movement tore the Libyan flag in Beirut. The Arab economic summit, held at the head-of-state level to address issues of economic and social development among member states, is a prelude to the AL summit scheduled for March in Tunisia.

Northeastern establishes the Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences

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by Ian Thomsen -- Northeastern University is naming its fastest-growing college the Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences in honor of alumnus and trustee Amin Khoury. Inspired by Northeastern’s leadership in digital innovation, Khoury has endowed the college with $50 million to support all aspects of the college’s future focus. “In the world of higher education, truly historic moments happen when a compelling vision is joined together with a powerful investment,” President Joseph Aoun wrote in a message to the Northeastern community. “Amin Khoury is a far-sighted entrepreneur who built his career by anticipating trends and making transformative decisions. Amin understands the limitless promise of technology to shape our society, and his support will allow us to advance the frontiers of knowledge in the age of artificial intelligence. All of us in the Northeastern family are grateful for his wisdom and support.”

Khoury, an accomplished entrepreneur who earned his MBA at Northeastern, has launched and scaled companies in a variety of fields, including medical products, medical services, aerospace manufacturing, aerospace distribution, and oilfield services. He and his wife, Julie, met at Northeastern while she was also earning her MBA. “Julie and I spent some time thinking about how we might be able to give back to the university and its students in a way which could be really meaningful,” Khoury said. “This is more rewarding for us than it is for the university.” Northeastern’s Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences is a national leader in cybersecurity and privacy in an increasingly digitally connected world. It will be one of the first named colleges of computer science nationally. Over the past decade, computer science enrollment at Northeastern has skyrocketed, and now stands at 3,474 students. Simultaneously, the academic quality of computer science applicants—already at a high level—continues to rise each year. “Julie and I would like to help prepare learners for a future reality where human, data, and technological literacies will become imperative for success and leadership in a world based on innovation rather than resources,” Khoury added.“This digital transformation is well underway, and it is impacting how all of us communicate, learn, and work.” Khoury’s vision for the Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences is strongly aligned with the university’s academic plan, Northeastern 2025. As the global economy adapts to the influence of artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, and cybersecurity, Northeastern is empowering humans to be agile learners, thinkers, and creators, beyond the capacity of any machine. During a private meeting with computer science faculty and staff on Dec. 7, Khoury suggested that he was doubling down on that mission.