Dominique Hourani claimed in a recent interview in Men El Ekhir on MTV that she once got an offer from Playboy to pose semi naked in a photoshoot and she rejected it. Not sure how true is her claim, but can you imagine the media buzz that a Lebanese model would generate if she ever made to the cover of Playboy?
I already set the video the start at the part when Dominique starts talking about the offer.
I bet at least half of those who will read this post already know about Stars Communications, so this goes to the other half. Stars Communications (aka Amhaz) is a cell phone shop in Dahyeh known for its very competitive prices, probably the cheapest you’ll ever find around Beirut!
Some people claim that Stars Communications are able to lower their prices that much because they don’t pay any custom fees for the mobiles they get since they’re backed up by some politician. But who cares anyway when we’re paying less? I already bought a couple of phones from there and never face a problem with them.
If you’re interested to check out the shop, they have two branches, one off Sayed Hadi Nasrallah street in Dahyeh (just go there and ask about “Amhaz”), while the other is at Beirut Mall in Tayouneh and is usually few dollars more expensive than the first branch.
Update:
Seems like there’s a third branch in Verdun under the name of LibanNet. And you may check their latest prices on this Facebook group.
Thank you Amer.
LBCI published today a list of Lebanese supermarkets and restaurants that were fined for dealing with expired and rotten food.
The only name I was shocked to see making such list is Kababji, I mean that’s the least you expect when you pay 7,000L.L for a tinly sandwich of grilled meat!
Although this list dates back to 2011, I’m guessing it might relate a bit to the recently confiscated amounts of rotten meat by the authorities, but unfortunately it is limited to the Metn area only (assuming by the header of the document).
What’s surprising though is how low the fines are, notice how some of them were reduced from 25,000,000L.L to 500,000L.L, even for big names like TSC.
Check out this collection of old video segments shot in Lebanon during the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s of last century. I just love to watch these stuff and see how did the country use to look like before eruption of the civil war.
The videos vary from a report about the events that led to our independence in 1943, to random scenes from Beirut, Jeita Grotto, Telepherique Jounieh, as well as footage of the US marines landing in Lebanon in 1958.
It’s a bummer though that a lot of the listed videos are silent since they’re just offered for preview while the full versions require a license fee, but they’re still worth watching anyway.
Thank you Kheireddine.
Just when we thought the story of the Ethiopian maid that was beaten in front of her embassy might have reached a happy ending with identifying the guy appearing in the video and her ending up at Deir El-Salib for treatment, LBC reported that she committed suicide today!
This is probably going to burst the bubble of so money people who talk big about Lebanon and Beirut being the best places in the world.
In a recent study published yesterday by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Beirut was ranked 117th most competitive global city in the world, barely managing to come ahead of the bottom 3 cities, Dhaka (Bangladesh), Lagos (Nigeria), and Tehran (Iran), taking into consideration 8 key factors that are Economic strength, Physical capital, Financial maturity, Institutional effectiveness, Social and cultural character, Human Capital, Environment and natural hazards, and Global appeal.
New York ranked 1st worldwide followed by London and Singapore, while with regards to the Middle East, Dubai unsurprisingly ranked 1st followed by Abu Dhabi, Doha, Tel Aviv, Kuwait City, Muscat, Riyadh, Beirut and Tehran.
You may read more about the study here, and download the full report here.
I never knew wrestling events happen here! According to this page, there’s an upcoming match between two female wrestlers, Maiju Kujala and Juliana Carneiro, taking place at Beirut Sports City this Friday March 9th. I have no idea however at what time is it happening and where can you buy tickets from. If you have any more details please share them in the comments.
I’ve done a quick search on Google and found that a cage fight event was held at Habtoor Grand Hotel last month as well. You can watch a video of it here.
Update:
I just heard a radio ad for the event. It will begin at 7PM on Friday with more than 30 fighters of several nationalities (including Lebanese) participating, and ticket are available starting $20 up to $150 at Virgin Megastore.
I took these photos in Sawfar last Sunday, I’ve never seen that much snow in the area before!
One good thing I noticed while driving is how better the road has become if you’re coming from Hazmieh, it used to be a living hell with the all the works that have been ongoing for more than a year now to widen the road. I guess a good part of the project is now done and the road condition became much better with separators at certain areas to keep the drivers in opposite direction from jumping to your lanes.
That’s how much snow there is Faraya righ now, the chairlifts are all covered!
I remember the people responsible for the pistes were struggling in the past couple of years to bring more snow into the tracks so people can actually ski, now they sure have to take lot of snow so that at least the chairlifts can operate! Anyway, one thing is for sure, the season is definitely going to last till early in May I believe!
Photos via Mzaar Ski Resorts FB page. Thanks to @peter_khayat.
An article in ArabianBusiness.com today shared some information about Beirut City Center shopping mall which is located in Hazmieh and expected to open early in 2013.
The mall will house 200 stores including the first Carrefour hypermarket in Lebanon, in addition to 40 international restaurants, cinema theaters, and a family entertainment center. There’s no confirmation however whether IKEA will be opening there or not, and I really hope it does!