By Constanze Bayer – NOW. Banque du Liban’s initiative is aimed at keeping new business in Lebanon Banque du Liban Accelerate 2014, the first international start-up conference in Lebanon, took place last week. Visitors came away with the impression of a strong and developing start-up economy in Lebanon. More than 20 companies presented their ideas, most of them founded a …

By Ramzy Baroud When news reports alleged that the two cousins behind the Jerusalem synagogue attack on 18 November were affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a level of confusion reigned. Why the PFLP? Why now? The attack killed five Israelis and wounded others. It was, to a degree, an expected addition to a violent episode …

A Saudi woman was arrested on Monday after attempting to drive into the kingdom in defiance of a driving ban on women in the conservative country. “I have been at the Saudi border for 24 hours. They don’t want to give me my passport nor will they let me pass”, Loujain Hathloul tweeted before tweets from her account @LoujainHathloul stopped. …

The US on Monday ruled out plans to create a no-fly zone along the Syria-Turkey border, brushing aside rumors that it is in talks with Turkey about creating a safe haven for refugees. According to US President Barack Obama’s spokesman Josh Earnest, the US was “open to discussing a range of options with the Turks” but that a no-fly zone …

The Canadian government is working to determine the credibility of reports about a Canadian citizen that was allegedly captured by extremists in Syria. The Jerusalem post, citing websites “known to be close” to extremist group Islamic State (IS), reported on Sunday that Canadian Gill Rosenberg, who had reportedly joined Kurdish fighters, was captured by the extremists. However, CBC reported a …

By Jennifer Zobair – The Feminist Wire Whenever the epidemic of rape in Egypt makes the news, I am destined to think of Joyce Carol Oates. Last summer, the author took to twitter to question whether Islam was responsible for the widespread incidence of sexual assault in Egypt, an argument people continue to make today. As a Muslim woman, I …

A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed an explosive-laden car into a British embassy vehicle in Kabul, killing five Afghans and one Briton in the latest attack as NATO troops continue to withdraw from the country. An Afghan employee in the embassy and a British security contractor died in the blast, which occurred on a stretch of road known for suicide …

The United States on Wednesday said that it was “horrified” by Syrian regime airstrikes in Raqa that caused the death of at least 95 people, slamming the regime for its “continued slaughter”. The bombing on Tuesday was the most lethal attack conducted by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s air force since extremist group Islamic State (IS) captured the city last year …

International rights group Amnesty International on Thursday condemned Egypt’s destruction of hundreds of homes and urged for a stop to its “unlawful evictions” of residents to create a buffer zone with Gaza. Egypt started working on the buffer zone in October to stem militants reportedly infiltrating the Sinai Peninsula – militants have stepped up attacks against Egyptian soldiers in the …

Multiple news websites, including Canadian national broadcaster CBC, on Thursday were briefly hacked in an attack claimed by the Syrian Electronic Army. A few users of the websites reported seeing a pop-up message that read “You’ve been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA)”. The hack targeted a network used by many businesses and news organizations; a tweet sent by …