Highlights & Selected Articles

• Environment (2/34 articles) informed about Baabda judge, Hasan Hamdan, who ordered the Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Authority, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environment to conduct a scientific study on the impact of the ongoing construction of the Costa Brava landfill. The study is to include the landfill’s impact on the safety of incoming and outgoing flights from Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport and to determine whether construction meets permissible health and environmental standards.
• Education (5/34 articles) mainly reported on the Legion of Honor Society in Lebanon” (Legion d'Honneur) celebrating the “scientific excellence Lebanese - French Award for 2016.” Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy at the Saint Joseph University in Beirut, Mariane Abi Fadel, received the award for health, medicine and biology category for 2016.
• Women Rights (2/34 articles) covered the Parliament’s Administration and Justice Committee who agreed to abolish a penal code article that protects rapists who marry their victims, article 522. Abolishing this controversial article has been the focus of various NGOs, particularly local women’s rights organization ABAAD, which ran a broad media campaign on the issue throughout the committee meetings. 
• Other (2/34 articles) highlighted the three-day “Rebuilding Health Post-Conflict: A Platform for Dialogue,” conference organized by AUB’s Office of Strategic Health Initiatives.

• Tobacco Related (2/34 articles) showcased different activities by the state-run tobacco agency, the Régie. Director General, Eng. Nassif Seklawi, revealed that the agency’s cigarette production in 2016 has increased by 76% in comparison to 2015.
• Domestic Worker (4/34 articles) highlighted the deporting of a migrant domestic worker’s rights activist, Sujana Rana. The Nepalese domestic worker was arrested on November 30, 2016, at her employer’s house by General Security for investigation about her activism for the rights of domestic workers in Lebanon. On another note, one article shed light on Ethiopian domestic worker who was hospitalized after falling off the balcony in Abra, east of Sidon. The worker was admitted to Hammoud Hospital and sustained bruises.
• Water (3/34 articles) covered a report by Consumer’s Lebanon stating that 800 water companies in Lebanon are not licensed and might be endangering the citizen’s health. On another hand, one article noted that Baalbeck might be facing a possible extended drought in addition to high rates of pollution
• Road Safety (2/34 articles) covered a conference entitled: “Road safety, the role of municipalities and schools” held at Tripoli. According to statistics showcased at the conference, road crashes increased remarkably in Tripoli, whereby 240 accidents were recorded in Tripoli in 2015, comparing to 223 in 2014.
• Pharmaceutical Sector (2/34 articles) reported on the president of the Order of Pharmacists in Lebanon, Dr. Georges Silly, stressing on enhancing the role of the pharmacist, among other related articles.
• NSSF (2/34 articles) showcased updates regarding the elections at the National Social Security Fund.
• Sexual Abuse (1/34 articles) discussed the issue of how the Lebanese legal system transfers specific cases, like sexual harassment and abuse, that happen within religious institutions, to religious courts.