Only in Lebanon?
Via Ayman Itani
Tag: Beirut
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Gap is coming to Lebanon
Gap announced in a press release few days ago that it will be soon be opening the first Gap store in Lebanon after coming to an agreement with Azadea, the group that is well known for carrying famous brands like Zara, Mango, and others.
Gap Inc. also announced plans to open stores in three additional growing apparel markets in 2012:
Lebanon: Gap Inc. has signed a new agreement with Azadea group, one of the largest retailers in the Middle East, to open the first Gap store in Lebanon later this year. One of the main fashion centers of the region, Lebanon provides an ideal environment to introduce Gap brand. Since 2006, Gap Inc. has expanded its presence across the Middle East. Source
I’ve always loved their hoodies by the way, now you don’t have to wait for someone coming from abroad to get one!
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Real list of Lebanese establishments fined for food safety
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.
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Old videos of Lebanon
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.
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Beirut ranked last in city competitiveness
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.
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Reaction to the smoking ban at ABC
You most probably know that ABC Achrafieh became a smoke free mall as of the 1st of March. Check how some people are reacting to this ban.
Some of them are simply putting off their cigarettes on the no-smoking sign. Gotta love how classy these people are!
Photo via @maroun_baydoun
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Ethiopian maid beaten in the street
This video was published by LBC and shows barbarism at its best. For some unknown reason, a man was publicly beating an Ethiopian maid reportedly in front of the Ethiopian embassy before forcing her to get into his car and take her back home.
It was however possible to take note of his car plate number, and he was later identified as “Mahmoud Zhairani”. Now sure how accurate is this information, but if you know the guy and turns up to be the same one showing in the video, make sure to slap him, with a baseball bat, a thousand time.Update:
LBC just tweeted that the man was identified as Ali Mahfouz.
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Tons of rotten meat confiscated in Beirut
Al Jadeed news reported last night that around 40 tons of rotten meat was confiscated from “Al-Natrour” warehouse in Sabra yesterday ( Watch the video above for more details).
What’s more surprising than traders dealing with such big quantities of expired goods is the fact that the mentioned warehouse used to supply very famous hotels and restaurants in Beirut with meat! I’m really curious to the know the list of these places that dealt with Al-Natour.
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Superb parking skills
This Barbie Hummer was spotted at Le Mall parking occupying not just one, but two handicapped parking spaces. Way to go missy!
Photo via Joya Selwan
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Wrestling event at Beirut Sports City
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.
