In Other Lebanese Diva News, Haifa Wehbe Has Had a Busy Week

Having started the day with the news of the death of Sabah at age 87, it seems only appropriate to check in with the current generation of celebrity superstar Lebanese divas. Haifa Wehbe has been in the news at least three different ways in the past week or so.

• Egypt's State Radio announced that  her songs will no longer receive airtime on State Radio because she is "unlicensed," invoking a 1934 law requiring singers to undergo a voice test. Resurrecting  this old rule may be an attempt to provide cover for the banning the day before of the music of Hamza Namira, who is a critic of the regime. The ban applies only to State Radio, not Private stations.

• On the other hand Egypt's Administrative Court reversed a ban on the showing of her movie Halawat Ruh; Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb banned the film last spring without its having even been submitted to the Censorship Board. He argued that it was obscene.

• Haifa also came under fire for wearing a revealing dress on the competition show Arab Star Academy. Parts of the dress appeared see-through under the bright studio lights. In fact, her strategic areas were opaque and she has worn far more revealing outfits in her concerts and movies, but this program is broadcast across the Arab World and so the dress seemed shocking in countries more socially conservative than Lebanon. (American actresses and entertainers routinely appear on television in more revealing outfits, of course.)

But in true diva style, Haifa Wehbe managed to appear in headlines for three different reasons in under two weeks' time. A clip of the Arab Star Academy broadcast is below.