Archive | May, 2009

Lebanon – A smoker’s paradise

beirut-downtown-arguileh

I came across this article by AFP describing Lebanon as a smoker’s paradise, where you can work, dine and have your hair styled in a cloud of smoke. Too bad for us, the non-smokers.

Even teenagers can afford the average one dollar per pack, compared to an average seven dollars (five euros) in France or nearly nine dollars in Britain.

“The minute you land in this country you start huffing and puffing,” said Ghazi Zaatari, a physician and chairman of the department of pathology at the American University of Beirut as well as head of a WHO study group on tobacco regulation.

“As far as tobacco is concerned, Lebanon is a health disaster.”

You can read the full article here.

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Speech Market

Just 7 days for the elections, and 8 days until one of the camps (be it 8 March or 14 March) claims victory and the other “yonjolit”.

Meanwhile, politicians are showering us with their speeches. Some samples are found in the below video.

Video via BetLZ

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I vote for Diamony

Ma badda tnein yi7ko fiya!

vote-for-diamony

After the FPM’s “soit belle” and 14 March’s “soit egale”, here’s our latest contestants “Diamony”. In my opinion, she wins! 😀

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Billboards FAIL

Have you seen the latest 14 March billboards in the streets, and in specific the one below?

soit-egale-et-vote

It really is so obvious now, the Free Patriotic Movement are leading straight in the ads game, while 14 March are breathless behind trying desperatly to catch up. “Sois egale et vote”, they really call that a reply? And in the first place, did the FPM claim in their “Sois belle et vote” ad that women are inferior? Silly meaningless reply, that’s it, period.

What really got on my nerves though is the billboard that says “I think there14 I am”. How do you read that? And what does it mean?!

i-think-there14-i-am
Photo via Beirut/NTSC

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Hezbollah assassinated Rafic Hariri?

Tonight I came across an article published in Der Spiegel, a german weekly magazine, revealing new evidence pointing fingers to Hezbollah in the assassination of the late PM Rafic Hariri.

As per the Spiegel, Wissam Eid (assassinated early in 2008) reached that evidence by analyzing the phone calls that were made on the few days leading to the assassination. You can read the full article here.

I expect this news to hit the Lebanese press tomorrow morning, let’s see how will they react towards it, and what will Hezbollah have to say on that accusation.

Update (05/25/2009):

The international tribunal denied all what has been mentioned in Der Spiegel. More info here, article is in Arabic.

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Blogs I liked

I usually spend a good time everyday following the updates on the Lebanese blogsphere, and I lately came across two nice blogs.

The first is “Hummus nation“, a very funny blog acting as a national news agency from the Hummus nation and reporting daily news (and breaking news sometimes!) about various matter. The latest news reported the phoenix bird being accidentally shot by hunters using RPG’s at Dawra. T3isho.
I’d love to know more about the anonymous author of Hummus Nation, it would be nice if he/she posts an “About me” page. From the writing style I think he’s a man who has gone through the Lebanese Civil war, probably in his mid or late thirties. And the first letter of his name is … oh well khalas.

The second is “Maya’s Amalgam“, authored by Maya Zankoul (not Zakkour!!). It’s just like any other peronal blog, except that Maya is using illustrations to deliver her opinions, messages and daily observations, a bit similar to what Mireille does at Life Geeked.
I have gone over several posts on her blog, and so far all her stories are short, amusing, and interesting. Matches my reading requirements at work!

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Virgin & UFA buildings in Beirut

Expecting some elections billboards? Sorry to disappoint you, today I’m sharing with you 2 photos I have taken in downtown Beirut showing Virgin and UFA buildings in the martyr’s square.

ufa_small virgin_small

Eikhir injeizeiteh!

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Nahr El-Mot interchange

I received the below images by e-mail today showing how Nahr El-Mot interchange should look like in I dunno how many years from now. If the contracting companies will continue working at the same rate, that is 1 bridge per 3 years, then my son will probably be able to go through Nahr El-Mot without getting stuck in the traffic jam!

You can click on the images to enlarge them.

nahr-el-mot

nahr-el-mot-1

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