BEIRUT: The decision of Taraya municipality, Bekaa, to move a memorial for Lebanese armed forces personnel from the town’s entrance to the side of the road has come under criticism.

It was claimed that the memorial was moved to not disturb a photo associated with a political party.

The monument — a military armored vehicle — was given as a token of loyalty to the townspeople who had died while defending the country.

BEIRUT: The National Museum of Beirut is in darkness as the diesel allocated by the Ministry of Culture to turn on the generators at this major tourism facility has run out.

The museum has seen fewer tourists since the beginning of the summer.

Its management has changed its opening hours, based on the sunlight that bathes its halls through the windows.

It is now open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. — it used to be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

ALGIERS: More than 10 percent of a UNESCO-listed biosphere reserve has been destroyed by fires that tore through northeastern Algeria, killing at least 38 people, an expert told AFP on Saturday.
The figure cited by Rafik Baba Ahmed, former director of the El Kala Biosphere Reserve, means that the burned area of the park alone is almost double what the civil defense service said has been destroyed throughout Africa’s largest country since June.

PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Algeria next week in a bid to improve strained ties between Paris and Algiers, the French presidency said in a statement Saturday.
“This trip will contribute to deepening the bilateral relationship looking to the future… to reinforce Franco-Algerian cooperation in the face of regional challenges and to continue the work of addressing the past,” the presidency said after a call between Macron and his opposite number Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

LONDON: Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, the Bahraini ambassador to the UK, visited his country’s pavilion at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, the Bahrain News Agency reported.

He also met the founder and director of the center, Farhan Ahmad Nizami, and reviewed its research into history, economics, arts and social science in the Islamic world. The envoy highlighted the role the center plays in bringing together elite scholars and researchers.

Nizami congratulated the ambassador on his recent appointment as the Dean of the Arab Diplomatic Corps.