Beirut. May (Mai) 14, 2008 - (EN-FR) -Manal, a female Moroccan blogger studying at the American University of Beirut, has been drawing lots of attention to her blog Carpe Diem with her on going account of the rising crisis in Lebanon. Manal fills her readers in with a mix of trepidation, hope and on-the-street commentary, offering what is perhaps a rare glimpse at a foreign -though Arab- “on the ground” perspective of what's happening in Beirut. The following are extracts from several of her most recent posts: In her most recent post dated Monday, May 12, 2008, she reacts to Sunday's relative calm following a recent ceasefire:

Tunis. May 12, 2008 - A major Italian film producer, Mario Cotone, who is jointly producing a movie entitled the "Door of the Wind" (La Porta del Vento), by the filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, is currently in Tunisia where large parts of the movie are being shot and produced. During his meeting with the Tunisian Minister of Culture and Heritage Preservation, Mohamed El Aziz Ben Achour, the producer expressed his willingness to set up other projects in Tunisia, which he said was a "successful destination of the top of the range cinema industry, thanks to its stimulating political and cultural climate, to its beauty and diversity, as well as to its natural sites and the high artistic and technical potential of its young people".

Gunmen loyal to Hezbollah have shut a pro-government TV station and newspaper as battles continued between the group and Lebanese government supporters.
Beirut. May 09, 2008 - Future News, owned by Saad Hariri, the leader of the pro-Western governing coalition, went off the air as fighting entered a third day. The offices of Mr Hariri's al-Mustaqbal newspaper were reportedly set ablaze by opposition gunmen. Fighting erupted over a government move to shut Hezbollah's telecoms network. At least 10 people, mainly civilians, have been killed and more than 20 injured in several parts of the city since the clashes began.