I always thought Lebanon would be ahead of other Arab countries in terms of freedoms, but according to this report, Kuwait is ahead of us in terms of freedom of press.

Here’s a list of the top 20 countries, as compiled by Mark from 248am.com:

1- Kuwait (78)
2- ****** (92)
3- Lebanon (93)
4- UAE (112)
5- Qatar (114)
6- Oman (117)
7- Algeria (112)
8- Jordan (128)
9- Tunis (134)
10- Morocco (138)
11- Iraq (152)
12- Palestine (153)
13- Libya (154)
14- Saudi Arabia (158)
15- Egypt (166)
16- Sudan (170)
17- Yemen (171)
18- Bahrain (173)
19- Iran (175)
20- Syria (176)

PS: In order to stay safe and not be labeled as a Zionist, or accused of attending their meetings, I censored Country #2.

According to Al-Akhbar website, Lara Fabian is after all coming to Lebanon after news spread that she had cancelled her performances after being threatened.

I am not sure how accurate this information is, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

The government decided to back red diesel prices during winter for some of Lebanon’s coldest areas. As a result, the price was slashed from 29,300 to 26,300LL.

One day before the expiry date, around midnight, 8 million liters of red diesel were distributed by the Tripoli Refinery at the discounted price of 26,300LL.

The next day, they were sold to the Lebanese at 29,300LL according to some reports, which means that profits of 3000*(8,000,000/20) = 1,200,000,000 (or 800,000$) were made.

Fingers are pointing at Energy minister Gebran Bassil for being behind this scandal, and investigations are underway with the Tripoli refinery officials.

You’d expect the minister or officials to resign following such a scandal, but I say it will be forgotten within a week time.

Update: According to the head of Audit bureau, Judge Aouni Ramadan, the amount of diesel sold neared the 100 million liters and not just 800,000$. [Naharnet]

Update2: I corrected the profits made as the 8 million liters should have been divided by 20 as pointed out by few readers. That doesn’t however justify stealing money still.

Did anyone else notice the swastika?

On a different note, the swastika wasn’t created by the Nazis. They have been used for centuries by Buddhists and Hindus as a symbol of auspiciousness. I remember seeing a lot of swastikas in the markets of Kolkata, India. [Link]

Via Joe’s Box

I picked up this flyer from a stand at Le Mall. It’s for a gaming superstore called [Allin].

Ever since news spread that Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri broke his leg while skiing in the French Alps, jokes and critiques started pouring in all over the net. “Mich 3ejbitto Faraya, ra7 3al Alps”, “Di3ano ma ya3mil Ski bil Alpes” among others.

What’s the big deal if the man likes to ski and can afford going to the Alps? Have you seen the Alps slopes when compared to the Faraya slopes?

Added to that, Faraya is not cheap at all if you’re planning a weekend there and everyone speaks French up there, so it’s not that different from the Alps come to think of it.

The flyer above was an invite by a bar in Gemmayze to an event scheduled for this Friday, which invited guests to dress up as migrant domestic workers for the chance to win $100. [Link]

The event was cancelled after it was reported online by the Anti-Racist movement and drew a lot of online criticism. The bar’s name is Life bar.

Cheyef 7alo wou mkattar.

Talk about random stuff people come up with. The place is not even a sea food restaurant!

Androka and Antsikoroke – a village closer to Ambohibola – were part of the villages that have seen women leave to work in Lebanon and I had the fortune, or rather misfortune, to find out that two of these women are now missing. The Androka woman was supposed to return home 3 years ago and the Antsikoroke woman was supposed to return home 12 years ago. Shocked yet? Let me continue, the Androka woman stopped sending money home at one point for no known reason and the Antsikoroke never even contacted her family. Now you might think I’m jumping to conclusions here by claiming that both women are probably enslaved or dead but what if I told you that 17 Malagasy maids died in Lebanon last year? What if I told you that foreign domestic workers are not covered by Lebanon’s labor laws?

An interesting and must read post by a Lebanese who spent two months in Madagascar as a WWF volunteer. [Link]

More than 300,000$ were collected so far by a joint-effort between Bashir Gemayel Foundation and MTV. Achrafieh MPs Nadim Gemayel & Michel Pharaon, as well as Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui helped promoting this campaign which was initiated on Sunday and will last for 1 week only. [Link]

The money collected will go to the families that were victims of the Fassouh building collapse that killed 27 people and injured 12 others.

For those of you who wish to donate, there are two days to do so:
1- SMS the letter ‘A’ or ‘ أ” to the number 1000.
2- Donate directly by heading to the nearest Bank Audi branch and depositing in the account mentioned below: (IBAN:LB03005600020009446100200907)

I just posted this to inform you the two individuals who stole a KFC branch in Saida last week were finally arrested.

The ISF members have been working day and night to catch those criminals and make sure KFC remains operational. Chicken-fried restaurants are a matter of national security in Lebanon.

“It’s true. I have been exchanging emails with Joe Dumars [Detroit Pistons’ President], who has asked me to come in summer,” revealed Khatib, who is 32 years old. He added: “I don’t know yet if I am going. Playing in the NBA is something professional players dream of, but I have a family and I am starting a new project here.” [Source]

My friend was telling me the Pistons are serious about it and are being critisized for bringing in a 32 year old basketball player with no NBA experience. I never really liked Khatib but I wish him luck and hope he’ll be joining them soon.

He was already deprived from this chance some 10 years ago when he was playing for Sagesse. That’s probably the last chance he’ll ever get to join the NBA.

The Detroit Fans however don’t seem very happy about it. [Link]

Krikita (Lebanon) by rogermazz

This may seem silly but there’s something that caught my attention from the first time I saw this ad. How the hell was the girl able to snatch a cricri from the guy’s bag while jogging? This calls for an experiment.

(To be continued)