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Inside The Middle East

SHOW # 48

HOSTED BY HALA GORANI FROM BEIRUT

BITTERSWEET "CARAMEL" -- HALA GORANI

"Caramel" - the first feature film by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki - became a surprise international hit after it premiered at Cannes this year. It is also the first Lebanese film to garner major U.S. distribution. The film tells the bittersweet story of five Lebanese women from different generations and different backgrounds whose lives intersect in a Beirut beauty salon. The characters bustle around the lively salon where they use a sugar treatment to wax their legs, emphasizing a common bond beyond beauty treatments. The women face social issues that are quintessential in today's Lebanon, but which society marks as taboo. Hala Gorani talks to the film's young director.

A MOUTHFUL OF QAT -- BEN WEDEMAN

Chewing the qat leaf has become a cultural phenomenon in Yemen. Until twenty-years ago, qat chewing was a weekend habit for the rich. Now it is chewed several days a week by a large percentage of the country's population. The social aspect of qat chewing is as important, if not more so, as the physical high it creates. Qat sessions are a major part of Yemeni life; participants regard the time spent chewing qat as productive time, when business deals are arranged and communication is strengthened. Ben Wedeman travels to Yemen for a look at this pastime.

EGYPT'S FIRST MAJOR BLOGGER -- ANEESH RAMAN

Thanks to the internet, alleged police abuse in Egypt is no longer hidden away. While the government calls the abuse isolated incidents, blogger Wael Abbas works in cramped quarters to prove that wrong. His is one of the most visited blogs in the country - a million hits, he says, per month. Wael posts pictures of alleged police torture, using video taken from cell phones. He even names the men he believes are responsible. So instrumental are his efforts, Wael recently was recognized by the International Center for Journalists - the first blogger to receive such an award. Aneesh Raman caught up with Wael, and gauged his influence among the young at Cairo's American University.