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'Racism' claims at Lebanon beach clubs

Many tourists are unaware of the beach clubs' entry policies

Summer is at its peak in Lebanon. Each weekend its famous beach clubs are heaving with people seeking some relief from the oppressive heat.

Thanks to the relative peace in the country, many clubs are now having their best season in years - with thousands of tourists joining the beachside throng. 

However, it seems not everyone is welcome at the clubs. 

The Lebanese office of campaign group Human Rights Watch says a majority of beach clubs it surveyed are preventing many migrant workers from Asia and Africa from using their facilities.

The clubs are not being quite as specific as that. 

It is alleged the bans are on household maids and domestic servants, widely employed by Lebanese families and the many Gulf Arabs among the tourists. 

As the vast majority of the maids are women from places like the Philippines, Nepal, Ethiopia and Kenya, it seems no-one can be in any doubt as to who these restrictions are aimed at. 

Restrictions enforced

"It's a clear manifestation of the racism that exists in large parts of Lebanese society," says Nadim Houry of Human Rights Watch, whose survey found that 17 out of 27 beach clubs enforce some kind of restriction on migrants. 

One of Beirut's best known and oldest beach establishments, The Sporting Club, is among those enforcing such restrictions. 

The manager, Marwan Abu Nassar, initially justified the ban on grounds that allowing in maids would attract too many children to the club. 

When it was pointed out that there is a children's pool inside the complex - and there are usually many families with youngsters there - Mr Abu Nassar eventually conceded he was operating a policy of discrimination. 

"You can call it that, if you want, from a foreigner's point of view," he said. 

Marwan Abu Nassar protested that if he started allowing in domestic maids, "we would get complaints, I would lose customers and it would affect my business". 

By contrast, other foreigners are welcomed - those from wealthier Western countries, for example. The club is popular with this group of expats though few are seemingly aware of the entry policies.

As a private club, Mr Abu Nassar said, it is up to the management to decide on the rules. 

The Sporting Club - and others with similar policies - are doing nothing illegal, as Lebanon has no law against discrimination. 

In a country still rebuilding from past conflicts and fearing the possibility of more in the future, this may not seem like a priority issue. 

Yet critics say it is symptomatic of a widespread culture of discrimination and of the abuse many of these migrants working in Lebanon suffer. 

It is thought that there are currently 200,000 domestic maids in Lebanon, the vast majority of them women from Asia and East Africa. 

Tales of mistreatment

Reports of mistreatment are commonplace. 

The story of one maid the BBC spoke to is typical. Carrie - not her real name - arrived in Lebanon three years ago at the age of 20, after being recruited in her native Philippines.

Carrie was taken on by another household but claims they beat her and after two months she ran away. She is now effectively stuck in Lebanon because that employer still has her passport. 

Every year there are reports of domestic maids in Lebanon committing suicide. 

The country's labour ministry says a new law granting migrant workers better rights is awaiting approval, once a new government is formed. 

In a statement it condemned the practice of banning maids from beach clubs as, "an act of discrimination and racism". 

The new law will be a "good sign", says MP Ghassan Mkheiber, from the Lebanese parliament's human rights committee. 

He adds that there is "a lot of racism in the way the Lebanese deal with people of different nationalities." 

Attitudes, he says, need to change.

Finally Russia finds missing cargo ship

Russia says it has found a missing cargo vessel near the Cape Verde islands and retrieved its Russian crew.

Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said that the 15-member crew had been taken on board a Russian navy vessel. They were in good condition, he said. 

The Finnish-owned Arctic Sea went off radar after passing through the English Channel with its cargo of timber. 

Speculation over the cause of its disappearance had ranged from pirates to a mafia dispute to a commercial row. 

The Arctic Sea was found at 0100 Monday (2100 GMT Sunday) 300 miles (480 km) off Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean, Tass news agency quoted Mr Serdyukov as telling Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Women 'to join Iranian cabinet'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says he will bring at least two women into his new cabinet - the first such appointments in Iran since the 1970s.

He told Iran TV he would propose Fatemeh Ajorlou as social security minister and Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as health minister, among others. 

Mr Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term on 5 August amid a crisis triggered by disputed polls in June. 

Meanwhile another 28 people have gone on trial over post-election unrest. 

More than 100 people are already on trial in Iran following the election, among them a number of senior politicians. 

The trials have been criticised by several foreign powers, opposition groups and human rights campaigners, but authorities insist their legal proceedings are completely legitimate and conform to international standards of justice. 

'Rightful demands'

The latest trial comes a day after Mr Ahmadinejad's main opponent in the election, Mir Hossein Mousavi, vowed to continue challenging the result in a social movement called Green Path of Hope. 

"The Green Path of Hope is formed for the sake of people's rightful demands and for claiming their rights," the reformist Etemad Melli newspaper quoted him as saying. 

Official election results awarded Mr Ahmadinejad a sweeping victory in the polls. He is expected to announce his full cabinet line-up on Wednesday. 

MPs have to approve the ministers in a confidence vote, and have warned the president that they must be "experienced", amid criticisms of his frequent reshuffles and dismissals during his first term. 

Foreign media, including the BBC, have been restricted in their coverage of Iran in the wake of the election protests.

Google adding 'Caffeine' jolt to search upgrade for challenge with microsoft

Most people would agree that a little jolt of caffeine is just what the body needs to kick into high gear and start moving a bit faster in the morning.Apparently, caffeine can have the same effect on Google Inc.'s search engine. 

Caffeine is actually the internal code name for a "secret" upgrade to Google's search technology, one the company says is designed to help users scour the Web faster, while returning more results with greater accuracy and comprehensiveness.

According to a post on the Google Webmaster Central blog, the new upgrades sit "under the hood" of the Google search engine, so most users won't immediately notice a big difference in their search results. 


"But Web developers and power searchers might notice a few differences, so we're opening up a Web developer preview to collect feedback," wrote Google software engineers Sitaram Iyer and Matt Cutts.


Although Google maintains a stranglehold on the market for Web queries both in the United States and around the world -- accounting for 65% of U.S. searches in June, according to comScore Inc. -- the Mountain View, Calif. company has recently ceded some of the search engine spotlight to Microsoft Corp.


Microsoft first earned kudos from developers and a significant amount of buzz from the online community after releasing a revamped version of its search engine, Bing, in June and then following it up by striking a deal with Yahoo Inc. to provide search technology on sites owned by the Web pioneer on July 29. 


Bing is seen by many as Microsoft's best search offering to date, while the Yahoo deal gives the world's largest software company access to about 28% of the overall search market, presenting a more formidable opponent for Google. 

Google is inviting developers to test out its technology upgrades and offer their thoughts on the differences between caffeine and Google's traditional search engine, including feedback on which sites are ranking higher or lower in the new system.

Iran: US nationals nabbed over 'illegal entry'

Iran's security officials confirm the arrest of three American nationals in Western city of Marivan, charging the detainees with "illegal entry". 

“The three, who have not been identified yet, were arrested on the Malakh- Khur border area in Marivan," Iraj Hassanzadeh, the deputy governor of Kurdistan for political-security affairs, told Fars news agency. 

He said the 'middle-aged' men were traveling on Syrian and Iraqi visas, noting all those who try to 'illegally' cross Iran's borders will be arrested. 

The US had earlier asked Swiss embassy in Tehran -- which looks after US interests in Iran as the two countries have no diplomatic ties -- to follow the case of the three Americans. 

A Kurdish official in northern Iraq told AFP that the US nationals were backpackers who were arrested after warnings on the Iraqi side not to hike in the mountains because of the proximity of the border with Iran. 

However, Colonel Anwar Haj Omar of the Halabja police force in northern Iraq linked the three Americans to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to Voices of Iraq. 

Head of the Iranian Parliament's foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, has said the case will take its natural course.

RE : Presstv