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/ 8 February 2007
It was projected to be a golden year for Lebanon and one to beat all records; instead 2006, with its string of crises including a 34-day war, proved a disaster for the tourism sector. From the expected 1,6-million visitors, only 1,06-million travelled to the "Switzerland of the Middle East", down almost 7% on 2005 and a huge 17% on the previous year, according to Tourism Ministry figures.
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/ 22 January 2007
Six months after thousands of tonnes of fuel oil spilled into the Mediterranean when Israel bombed a Lebanese power plant, the waters are still spitting out black poison despite efforts to clean up the mess. "The rain and the low tide have created new pollution zones," Ahmed Kojok of the Sea of Lebanon association told the media.
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/ 24 September 2006
In the depths of Cairo’s City of the Dead, Umm Essam unveils her latest creation: a blood-red belly-dance costume, complete with golden pearls. But there are no models or podiums in this dressmaker’s tiny workshop hidden deep in the alleys of one of the city’s oldest cemeteries.
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Jalila, the new Arab superheroine, coursing across the sky, black hair flying, in her battle to right the wrongs and ensure that justice prevails in the Middle East. Joelle Bassoul investigates.
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/ 4 February 2006
Surviving passengers of an ageing Egyptian ferry that sank in the Red Sea, leaving hundreds feared dead, blamed the crew Saturday for failing to turn around when a fire broke out and monopolising the life rafts. "Two hours after our departure from [the Saudi port of] Duba thick smoke started to come out of the engines," said 34-year-old Egyptian Raafat al-Sayyed.