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Beirut the City of Life, An Initiative to Make the Lebanese Capital’s Heart Beat Again

A Gemmayze cafe, photographed by Fadia Ahmed, who is taking part in the initiative's photography exhibition
A Gemmayze cafe, photographed by Fadia Ahmed, who is taking part in the initiative's photography exhibition
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Beirut the City of Life, An Initiative to Make the Lebanese Capital’s Heart Beat Again

A Gemmayze cafe, photographed by Fadia Ahmed, who is taking part in the initiative's photography exhibition
A Gemmayze cafe, photographed by Fadia Ahmed, who is taking part in the initiative's photography exhibition

Following the August 4 explosion in the Lebanese capital, Mar Mikhael and Gemmayze, two Beirut neighborhoods close to the port, were devastated. They had been buzzing with life before a large part of the capital was destroyed that day, when its heart stopped beating, its streets, cafes and neighborhoods froze and its people were traumatized.

Today, “Beirut City of Life” aims to alleviate the pain through an initiative to bring life back to the heart of Beirut. Starting December 7, Mar Mikhael and Gemmayze will come out of darkness and destruction to the light through the efforts of admirers of the city and artists determined to keep the hope alive.

“We will not accept to continue to mourn and cry over the ruins. We stood back up, and we took it upon ourselves to pay tribute to our beloved city and everyone who helped to save lives. We have gathered as volunteers from various fields and started a journey to restore life to the landmarks of a city struck by the explosion,” Executive Director of the Stro'berry Marketing Company Faten Attar, who is overseeing the initiative, told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“In cooperation with the Syndicate of Restaurants and pub owners, various bodies and companies in Gemmayze and Mar Mikhael, we decided to initiate activities to restore life to the heart of Beirut,” Attar continued.

Around 40% of the 90 restaurants, cafes and bars in Gemmayze and 158 in Mar Mikhael joined the initiative. Other business owners, who didn’t participate, expressed their frustration and were left without hope, having not received any support from official agencies.

Attar also decried state inaction, saying the initiative did not receive any support from official or foreign bodies. Beirut admirers and residents funded all the activities.

The initiative includes workshops, exhibitions, concerts, Christmas markets, and sponsored discounts at restaurants, hotels and apartment rentals. There are also special events for children including games and competitions. There will also be panel sessions.

In the first week, from December 7 to December 13, restaurants in the two neighborhoods will offer up to a 50 percent discount. The train station in Mar Mikhael will host panel discussions and live children’s performances.

The opening ceremony on December 12 will feature a concert by a group of young artists. It will start with the song, Beirut My Mother, which was recently composed and produced by musician Jean-Marie Riachi.

That evening, the initiative will honor the brave people on the front lines during the disaster, including doctors, paramedics, civil defense personnel and the Lebanese Red Cross. On December 13, there will be a craft exhibition, live drawing on the street and educational game competitions. A Garage Souq, where people can purchase and sell used and new items, will be set up. The initiative also includes environment-friendly activities in which cars will be banned.

In the second week, from the 14th to the 20th, art exhibitions will be held at the various galleries in the area. “Pop up exhibitions” will also be set up. On the evening of December 20, Matteo Khodr, the star of the French-Lebanese version of The Voice, will perform a live concert.

From December 18 until next January 3, a Christmas fair will be set up at the Frere School in Gemmayze, and gifts will be distributed to children from Saint Anthony Church. In the last week, renowned Lebanese chefs will cook various dishes in front of audiences. All restaurants will open their doors to patrons, offering them discounts and price reductions under the event title “Take your family for a stroll.”

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Small Part of Sunshine State Becomes Snowy State as Florida Gets Snow Second Year in a Row

A rare snow is seen in Holt, Florida, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Danielle Brahier via AP)
A rare snow is seen in Holt, Florida, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Danielle Brahier via AP)
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Small Part of Sunshine State Becomes Snowy State as Florida Gets Snow Second Year in a Row

A rare snow is seen in Holt, Florida, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Danielle Brahier via AP)
A rare snow is seen in Holt, Florida, on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (Danielle Brahier via AP)

A small part of Florida is the Snowy State for the second year in a row.

Snow briefly covered the grass and rooftops in parts of the western Florida Panhandle on Sunday morning as just enough frigid air rushed in behind a cold front to turn the last rain showers into snowflakes in the Sunshine State.

And it wasn't a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Less than a year ago, on Jan. 21, 2025, some of those same areas saw up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow in what was the most significant snowfall in many places since the late 1800s.

Snow photos flooded social media. There were a few flakes on the beach and snow nestled into palm fronds. It was too warm to stick to the roads, but a dusting of snow sat on the grass for a little while before mostly melting.

The rare snow in the South wasn't just in Florida. Southeastern Alabama and southern Georgia also reported snow in areas that also got to celebrate a second winter wonderland in less than a year.

Snow covered the ground in Columbus and Macon, Georgia, and officials warned enough might fall to make travel treacherous.

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Shark Mauls Boy in Sydney Harbor

This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)
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Shark Mauls Boy in Sydney Harbor

This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)
This photo shows an aerial view of Bondi Beach and Sydney Harbor as seen from a plane flying over Sydney on January 14, 2026. (AFP)

A shark mauled a boy swimming in Sydney Harbor on Sunday, leaving him in critical condition with serious leg injuries, authorities said.

The predator bit the boy, believed to be about 13 years old, during the late afternoon off Shark Beach, New South Wales state police said.

"The injuries are consistent with what is believed to have been a large shark," police said in a statement.

Officers pulled the boy from the water off the harbor beach within minutes of being alerted to the incident, police said.

They gave the boy first aid for "serious" leg injuries while he was aboard a police boat, applying two medical tourniquets.

Paramedics transported him to Sydney Children's Hospital, where he was said to be in critical condition.

"Swimmers are advised to avoid entering nearby waters at this time," police said.

Shark Beach, in Sydney's eastern suburb of Vaucluse, was closed and police evacuated nearby beaches in the harbor, the state government said.

Wildlife experts were working to identify the shark species involved, it said in a statement.

"This is a tragic shark attack on a young boy having a swim on a Sunday afternoon near a harbor beach in Sydney's east," New South Wales Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said.

"Our thoughts are with the young boy and his family. I understand there were also other young people with him at the time of the attack, our thoughts are also with them."

There have been more than 1,280 shark incidents around Australia since 1791, of which more than 250 resulted in death, according to a database of the predators' encounters with humans.

Increasingly crowded waters and rising ocean temperatures that appear to be swaying sharks' migratory patterns may be contributing to a rise in attacks despite overfishing depleting some species, scientists say.

A great white shark mauled surfer Mercury Psillakis to death at a popular northern Sydney ocean beach in September.

Two months later, a bull shark killed a woman swimming off a remote beach north of Sydney.

Varieties

Social Media Addiction's Surprising Challenger? Anti-doomscrolling Influencers

A 13-year-old boy poses at his home as he looks at social media on his mobile phone in Sydney on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)
A 13-year-old boy poses at his home as he looks at social media on his mobile phone in Sydney on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)
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Social Media Addiction's Surprising Challenger? Anti-doomscrolling Influencers

A 13-year-old boy poses at his home as he looks at social media on his mobile phone in Sydney on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)
A 13-year-old boy poses at his home as he looks at social media on his mobile phone in Sydney on December 8, 2025. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)

It’s simple to accidentally become entranced by an endless loop of videos on Instagram or TikTok. But sometimes, that mindless scroll is interrupted by a reminder that what you thought was a 10-minute break spent on your phone was closer to 30 minutes.

Olivia Yokubonis, armed with a kind voice and scientific research, often pops up in feeds on social platforms, gently reminding viewers that they might not remember the video they saw two videos before she appeared on the screen.

Yokubonis is a content creator who goes by the name Olivia Unplugged online, making videos to combat overuse or mindless use of social media. For the most part, people who view her videos welcome the disruption from the endless loop of content, treating it as a wake-up call to get off their phones. Other times, they are snarky, The Associated Press said.

“People will comment and they’ll be like, ’Oh, (it’s) ironic that you’re posting. And I’m like, ‘Where else am I supposed to find you, Kyle? Outside? You’re not outside. You are here, sitting here,’” she said. “For us to actually be seen, we have to be where people are.”

Yokubonis’ content responds to the feeling many people have, that they spend too much time on social media or apps.

“Most people have no clue how much time they spend on social media,” said Ofir Turel, a professor of information systems management at the University of Melbourne who has been studying social media use for years. Through his research, Turel found that when he presented people with their screen time information, they were practically “in a state of shock” and many people voluntarily reduced their usage afterwards.

Yokubonis is part of a growing group of content creators who make videos encouraging viewers to close out the app they’re on. Some are aggressive in their approach, some more tame; some only occasionally post about social media overuse, and some, like Yokubonis, devote their accounts to it.

She works for Opal, a screen time app designed to help users “reclaim their focus,” she said, but those who engage with her content might not have any idea she is working for the company. Brand logos, constant plugs to download the app and other signs of branding are almost entirely absent from her page. “People love hearing from people,” she said. Millions of views on her videos point to that being true.

“It’s a fine line and a balance of finding a way to be able to cut through that noise but also not adding to the noise,” she added.

Ian A. Anderson, a postdoctoral scholar at California Institute of Technology, said he finds this kind of content interesting, but is curious whether it's disruptive enough to prompt action. He also said he wonders whether those with the strongest scrolling habits are “thoughtless about the way (they're) intaking information.”

“If they're paying full attention, I feel like it could be an effective disruption, but I also think there is a degree to which, if you are really a habitual scroller, maybe you aren’t fully engaging with it,” he said. “I can think of all sorts of different variables that could change the effectiveness, but it does sound like an interesting way to intervene from the inside.”

With billions of active users across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms, talk of cutting down on screen time is perennial, as is the idea of addiction to social platforms. But there’s tremendous disagreement over whether social media addiction actually exists.

Is social media “addiction” real? Researchers, psychologists and other experts agree some people spend too much time on social media, but the agreement tends to stop there. Some researchers question whether addiction is the appropriate term to describe heavy use of social media, arguing that a person must be experiencing identifiable symptoms, like strong, sometimes uncontrollable urges and withdrawal, to qualify as addiction. Others, like Turel, acknowledge the term seems to resonate with more people and is often used colloquially.

Anderson said he recognized the prevalence of casual mentions of being addicted to phones and was curious to see if that talk was “benign.”

A recent study of his suggests the debate extends further than academic discourse. In a representative sample of active Instagram users, Anderson found that people often overestimate whether they are “addicted” to the app. On a self-report scale, 18% of participants agreed that they were at least somewhat addicted to Instagram and 5% indicated substantial agreement, but only 2% of participants were deemed at risk of addiction based on their symptoms. Believing you are addicted also impacts how you address that issue, Anderson said.

“If you perceive yourself as more addicted, it actually hurts your ability to control your use or your perception of that ability and makes you kind of blame yourself more for overuse,” Anderson said. “There are these negative consequences to addiction perception.”

Cutting down on screen time

For those looking to curb their social media habits, Anderson suggests making small, meaningful, changes to stop from opening your social media app of choice. Moving the app’s place on your phone or turning off notifications are “light touch interventions,” but more involved options, like not bringing your phone into the bedroom — or other places where you often use it — could also help.

Plenty of intervention methods have been offered to consumers in the form of products or services. But those interventions require self awareness and a desire to cut down on use. Content creators who infiltrate social media feeds with information about the psychology behind why people scroll for hours a day can plant those early seeds.

Cat Goetze, who goes by CatGPT online, makes “non-pretentious, non-patronizing” content about artificial intelligence, building off her experience in the tech industry. But she’s also been on a lengthy road to cut down her own screen time. She often makes videos about why the platforms are so compelling and why we tend to spend longer than we anticipate on them.

“There’s a whole infrastructure — there’s an army of nerds whose only job is to get you to increase your time spent on that platform,” she said. “There’s a whole machine that’s trying to get you to be that way and it’s not your fault and you’re not going to win this just (through) willpower.”

Goetze also founded the business Physical Phones, which makes Bluetooth landline phones that connect to smartphones, encouraging people to spend less time on their devices. The inside of the packaging reads “offline is the new luxury.”

She was able to build the business at an accelerated pace thanks to her social media audience. But the early success of Physical Phones also demonstrates the demand for solutions to high screen time, she said.

“Social media will always play a part in our lives. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. If we can get the average screen time down from, if it’s 10 hours for a person to one hour, or from three hours to 30 minutes, that is going to be a net positive benefit for that individual and for society,” Goetze said. “That being said, I’d love to be the person that they’re watching for those 30 minutes.”