Xinhua: Owner of vintage bookstore in Syria encourages readers to keep passion alive

By Hummam Sheikh Ali. In the ancient al-Halbouni area of Syria’s capital Damascus, entering through a narrow gate, bookworms will have access to a unique “library,” a haven where they can immerse themselves in reading inside rows of bookshelves. The bookstore, named Modern Library and owned by Bashir Jarkas, boasts a collection of over 100,000

Science Alert: Study Links Preference For Loud Cars to Some Unsurprising Personality Traits

By Rebecca Dyer. Most of us have experienced the sudden, deafening blare of a car’s modified muffler, shattering your tranquility into a million pieces as it speeds past. If you live in a neighborhood where these disruptive sounds are familiar, it probably won’t surprise you that research links a desire to own this type of

The New Humanitarian: Syrians in Lebanon stay indoors as fears of xenophobic violence grow

By Madeline Edwards. ‘There is no safety.’ A mattress, an ashtray, and an Islamic calendar. A row of dirt-smeared clothes hanging neatly from wall hooks in a row, and a broken tile inscribed with the word “Allah”.  That’s all that adorns Mohammed’s* one-room apartment in eastern Beirut’s Mar Mikhael neighbourhood. And it’s all that surrounded

Rebuild Syria: Where has Michel Khoury gone?

By Pierre Kallas. It was during the time of chaos and change that stroke Lebanon due to the collapse of the currency around the end of the nineteenth year. Queues formed in front of the bread dispensers, fights were no exception. What once cost nothing now cost too much, what used to cost a lot

History.com: This Day In History (October 27-1994): U.S. prison population exceeds one million

By History.com Editors. The U.S. Justice Department announces that the U.S. prison population has topped one million for the first time in American history. The figure—1,012,851 men and women were in state and federal prisons—did not include local prisons, where an estimated 500,000 prisoners were held, usually for short periods. The increase, due to tougher

International Committee of the Red Cross: Israel and the occupied territories: Facts and Figures January to June 2023

By ICRC’s Editorial Dept. Through its permanent presence in Israel and the Occupied Territories (ILOT) since 1967, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been working to alleviate the suffering of people impacted by conflict. Here is a snapshot of our activities in the first six months of 2023. Ensuring Dignity in Detention

The Rio Times: Lebanon’s Schools in Crisis

By Rio Times Editorial Dept. In Lebanon, economic woes disrupt public schooling, leaving Sara Ahmed, a mother, struggling to explain the closures to her daughter, Lily, admitting, “I have no answers.” The financial downturn started in late 2019. It has reduced the Lebanese pound‘s value by 98%. This has cut teachers’ salaries and led to

Daraj: “How I Wish To Be a Refugee”

By Hussein Zaher. I want you to know that it was not my choice to be your guest. Leaving my hometown was not the idea I had in mind. I had no desire to have dinner with you, loiter your sidewalks, or have my voice heard by you. I, and many others like me, never

NPR: How to laugh in the face of sorrow: Insights from a Lebanese sweets shop owner

By Ari Daniel. When the civil war broke out in Lebanon in 1975, Nassim Haddad was running three restaurants. One of them, al-Tannour, was on the road to the airport outside of Beirut. A special oven cooked fresh bread right in the middle of the restaurant. “The people take the bread hot and they eat

History.com: This Day In History (February 27-1922): Supreme Court defends women’s voting rights

By History.com Editors. In Washington, D.C., the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, providing for female suffrage, is unanimously declared constitutional by the eight members of the U.S. Supreme Court. The 19th Amendment, which stated that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United