Wissam El Hassan’s funeral started at the ISF headquarter in Achrafieh at around 2PM today and unfortunately ended violently as the protesters in downtown attempted to storm the Grand Serail to demand the resignation of PM Najib Mikati.
Below are some photos and a video from the funeral and the clash between the protesters and the policemen. (I found photo #9 quite funny by the way!)
Here’s a raw footage from OTV showing how the second explosion happened yesterday in Achrafieh following the first big one that killed Wissam Al-Hassan. I don’t it’s due to another bomb but rather to some kind car gas tank maybe…
Thank god the people who show in the video were not much closer to the fire.
Here are some photos of the aftermath of the explosion that erupted a while ago near Sassine square in Achrafieh. I’ll try adding more photos as I get them from my twitter timeline.
Update:
As you probably all know by now, the ISF intelligence chief Wissam Al-Hassan was killed in this explosion.
You can check the BBC website and reddit for more high resolution photos.
A good friend of mine created this website called “Found me? Scan me!” aimed at helping people avoid losing their valuable items by using QR codes, and I thought of sharing it with you.
The idea is quite simple, you stick a QR code on the items that matter to you the most (camera, laptop, bag…) so that it becomes easier for people who might find that item to contact you and give it back in case you ever lost it. I know this is not guaranteed to work 100% since it all depends on how good people are, but it definitely increases the chances of recovering a lost item!
The idea of “found me? scan me!” started for my own personal use. I needed a way to maximize the chances in recovering a lost item.
If I am to lose my phone, for example, I can simply call it hoping that someone found it and would return it back or I can even track it using its built-in GPS features. But what if I lost another kind of items? Camera, bag, luggage, key chain, dog… you name it!
That’s where “Found me? Scan me!” comes into play, the idea is very simple: I stick/attach a QR code on every valuable item that would direct the person who scanned it to a dedicated web-page through which I can be contacted. This would save me the need to make my phone number and/or email publicly.
I very quickly found a lot of interest in the idea among friends and family who started asking me for tags and, in no time, we had more than 50 items in the database. At this point I got “found me? scan me!” it’s own domain name and decided to make it public and free to use to whoever might finds it interesting.
For more information on how this all work and a tutorial on how to create your QR codes, check “Found me? Scan me!” website.
According to this article from Al-Akhbar, Mohamad El-Hout (The CEO of MEA) is now working to convince the American authorities to remove the ban on MEA that was imposed in 1985 following the hijacking of a TWA plane at Beirut airport.
Aridi and Hout requested the resumption of air transport relations between Lebanon and the United States. One expert familiar with the issue said, “Hout went seeking US recognition of Beirut Airport’s ability, and the adequacy of its safety standards, to receive American airplanes and fly MEA planes to the United States.”
There has been an American ban on MEA since the hijacking of a TWA American passenger plane at Beirut Airport in 1985. Following this incident, the airport was put on the US terror list. MEA flights were banned from US airports and American airliners no longer flew to the airport in Lebanon.
The expert revealed that Hout took detailed files on MEA and Beirut airport to the DoT in America, including information on public safety standards at the airport, the technology used in this regard, as well as current capabilities and other related information. The DoT officials were satisfied with the information Aridi and Hout provided about the Lebanese carrier and the airport.
Telling by the actions Hout is taking, I wouldn’t be surprised if flights really resume some time in the near future. Given of course that politics will have nothing to do with the matter…
Apparently Maha Abdel Wahab was the “Haifa Wehbe” of the 60’s who no one told us about!
I don’t know from which Lebanese newspaper/magazine was this ad taken. I spotted it on Antique Arabia’s page on Facebook.
Thanks to Doha Frhat.
I noticed the other day that TSC mounted some LCD screens on their shopping carts to display advertisements while people are using them.
No matter how hard you try to ignore them, these screens keep on vibrating every once in a while to grab your attention… They’re so annoying and I hope they lose them anytime soon, unless they add an option to play Angry Birds while your wife takes her time checking every single isle in the supermarket!
Spotted in Hamra.
I was surprised to spot this small Grendizer figurine selling at Joué Club in Le Mall Dbayyeh along with a Grendizer mug and keychain. I mean I’m sure kids nowadays have no idea what Grendizer is all about.
Anyway, I bet they’ll make a cool gift idea to people who used to watch it religiously back in the 80’s and 90’s like me. The figurine was selling for 39,000L.L, the mug for 19,000L.L but I don’t recall for how much exactly was the keychain.
Watch Felix Baumgartner going supersonic while attempting the highest sky-dive ever from an altitude of 37km over New Mexico. (More about this mission here)
He’ll be jumping in around 30 minutes from the time of publishing this post and you can watch him live on the below YouTube channel or on Red Bull Stratos website.
Update:
The mission has unfortunately been delayed till 8:30PM Beirut time due to the weather conditions. You can follow the Red Bull Stratos website for any updates.