A Canadian study from McGill University has found that the female hormone Estrogen gives women more powerful immune system, boosts their ability to fight bacterian viruses, and blocks the inflammation process. As such, the lack of estrogen makes men more sick.

Avis Favaro from CTV discusses this in her Mednews Express report below along with other studies such as the new simple test to predict Alzheimer’s disease.

In New York, the Iraqi-born performance artist Wafaa Bilal has a 10 megapixel camera surgically attached to the back of his head.

The idea of the project he’s working on, also called “The Third Eye”, is to mount a camera on the back of his head which is connected to the internet and to the Doha Modern Art Arab Museum, and which takes images every one minute while broadcasting them on the internet.

He claims that by doing this he’s creating a platform for discussion.

In preparation for a world record attempt, the 51 year old Syrian free fighting champion Jamal Koukeh is practicing smashing concrete blocks with his legs. As part of his public demonstration, he also broke blocks with his hands using an upturned machete. For a finale, he placed a pair of swords in his mouth before being hit with a sledgehammer.

Watch him in the video below:

CBC has just released today the 21st of November a months-long CBC investigation on Rafic Hariri entitled “Who Killed Rafic Hariri?”. The investigation, relying on interviews with multiple sources from inside the UN inquiry and some of the commission’s own records, found examples of timidity, bureaucratic inertia and incompetence bordering on gross negligence.

Among other things, CBC News has learned that:

• Evidence gathered by Lebanese police and, much later, the UN, points overwhelmingly to the fact that the assassins were from Hezbollah, the militant Party of God that is largely sponsored by Syria and Iran. CBC News has obtained cellphone and other telecommunications evidence that is at the core of the case.
• UN investigators came to believe their inquiry was penetrated early by Hezbollah and that that the commission’s lax security likely led to the murder of a young, dedicated Lebanese policeman who had largely cracked the case on his own and was co-operating with the international inquiry.
• UN commission insiders also suspected Hariri’s own chief of protocol at the time, a man who now heads Lebanon’s intelligence service, of colluding with Hezbollah. But those suspicions, laid out in an extensive internal memo, were not pursued, basically for diplomatic reasons.

Read the full report of four parts on the CBC website here

(Click on the image below to enlarge)

Phone network involved in Hariri assasination - CBC

Many of us have heard the word Halal in the context of meat, but now it’s make-up, and it’s in a market that is growing fast. More info in the BBC video below:

I have previously mentioned the Hong Kong apartment sold for a record 57 million dollars, but now India’s billion-dollar home has taken the lead to be the world’s most expensive home ever built.

India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and his family are set to move into a 27-floor home tended by an estimated 600-person staff. As NBC’s Ian Williams reports, the mega-mansion is taking heat from many people in India.

The series of record-breaking events continues in Lebanon with a new record set by the Lebanese Red Cross association. A 4,600-square-meter painted canvas was assembled at the Cite Sportive stadium in Beirut Sunday, breaking the Guinness world record for the largest handprint painting.

The Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) broke the record by creating the Red Cross emblem using handprints collected from various Lebanese regions. The former holder of the world’s largest handprint painting was China, with a 3,715.86-square-meter canvas encouraging youths to combat drugs.

World's Largest Handpring Painting by Lebanon - AP/Lebanese Red Cross

Organizers of a wine festival in Beirut poured around one hundred bottles of Lebanese wine into the giant glass, 2.4 meters high and 1.65 meters wide.

Lebanon managed to steal the 12 year-old record from Portugal and was officially confirmed by Guinness World Records adjudicator Liz Smith.

Organizers said winemakers from across the country had contributed their produce as part of a campaign to promote Lebanese wine — half of which they said is exported.

The wine glass may be a useful accompaniment for Lebanon’s other forays into culinary extremes. In recent years it has claimed the world’s biggest servings of kibbeh and tabbouleh, traditional meat and salad dishes, largest falafel and the biggest bowl of hummus.

Largest Wine Glass in Lebanon - Reuters

Lebanon has revealed on October 10th 2010 the world’s largest national flag at the Lebanese Air Force Base in Rayak, to commemorate the Lebanese Army’s 65th anniversary.

The flag, which measures an amazing 65,650 square meters, beats previous record-holders Morocco , which only measured in at a minuscule 60,000 square meters. The area of the cedar at the centre of the flag measures in at 10,452 square metres, a reference to the country’s total area of 10,452 square kilometres.

The flag, which measures 325 metres in length and 202 metres wide, was made in Kuwait under the supervision of Lebanese entrepreneur Ashraf Makarem. Guinness World Records confirmed that the flag is indeed the world’s largest, with regional official Talal Omar on hand to present Makarem with his record-breaking certificate.

World's Largest Flag by Lebanon - EPA

The craze for Robots in Japan has led a couple to decide to get married by a Robot!

Via OnlyInJapan.org

How do seemingly intelligent, conscientious people miss what’s right in front of them? Dateline’s Chris Hansen takes a look at what causes people to make quick, inaccurate decisions.

The video below demonstrates how our eyes might not be as reliable as we think and how we can fail to see something that should be obvious:

In Damascus, Syria, Khaled Dadouh does crazy things like piercing his skin with metal hooks and then pulling a car. He claims that we can overcome impossible obstacles through sport, as long as we have faith. Not only that, Khaled claims anyone can do this.

Watch the video of Khaled below:

Those working off the land in Lebanon face stiff competition for international trade, as they do not benefit from subsidies like many farmers abroad. But as Katy Watson from BBC reports, one man has now set up Beirut’s first farmers’ market to help local producers reap rewards closer to home.

The skyline of the Syrian capital is changing, with tower blocks being replaced by new office buildings and malls. Damascus is also slowly opening up to private investment and encouraging an influx of entrepreneurs.

The BBC’s Lina Sinjab has met Abdulsalam Haykal, who runs a number of private businesses, and is one of many Syrians to return to do business at home.

Lebanon has a reputation for cultivating local crafts, from metalwork to woodwork and many are still making a living from their traditional skills. But faced with cheaper imports from China and India it is getting tougher to survive. This has prompted some to try to raise the profile of local craftsmen.

Watch the 4 minute video below on this subject by BBC: