Lebanon’s budget deficit for 2010 slipped slightly by LL57 billion ($38 million) to reach 25.78 percent of spending, or LL4.405 trillion, compared to 25.99 percent, or LL4.462 trillion, in 2009, the Finance Ministry said Thursday. [DailyStar]

That’s good news to start the day with. Our debt has increased by a tiny margin, smaller than last year’s reaching “only” 4.405 trillion LBP and leaving the debt amounting to around 55$billion dollars.

The Total government expenditures in 2010 reached LL17.89 trillion compared to LL17.167 trillion in 2009. I wonder where those additional expenditures are going cause I don’t see any changes anywhere.

So what does 1 trillion Lebanese pounds look like? That’s how 1 trillion dollar bills look like. Imagine them x4 and you have an idea of how much money we owe.

As you probably read or heard, Mark who posts here on BlogBaladi and is behind the 248am blog in Kuwait is being sued for sharing his experience at Benihana online and critisizing few things.

This issue has attracted a LOT of attention in the Middle East and even worldwide, to the extent that Benihana Inc. had to issue a PR to isolate itself from the incident.

Having said that, I believe it is extremly important that Mark win this case or that Benihana people get back to their senses and drop the case because it will affect blogs and bloggers not just in Kuwait but in the whole Middle East.

Imagine thinking twice and taking the necessary precautions everytime you want to critisize a restaurant that served bad food. This is absurd and unacceptable by all standards. Of course, this does not mean there shouldn’t be certain standards for bloggers when posting, but what is being challenged here is the simple fact of expressing one’s discontent about his/her experience at a certain place.

I’ve had myself many bad experiences at restaurants in Lebanon which I shared online and instead of receiving lawsuits, had impressive and unexpected feedbacks from the restaurants’ managers and staff members.

This is how you gain people’s trust and you enhance your image to the public, by caring about every customer and handling every comment you get, not by issuing lawsuits for people who don’t like your food.

Last but not least, I believe a lawsuit should be issued by Lebanese bloggers against Benihana for stereotyping when they assumed for some reason that Mark was a Lebanese and asked him if he was so.

What does that even mean? So what if he is Lebanese? He’s a bad person?

Until now, the lawsuit is still on and it might take some time before we have a verdict, or before whomever issued that lawsuit drops it and realizes the damage he’s done.

Lebanon ranked the last country in the Middle East and North Africa in terms of volume of sustainable investments, according to the International Finance Corporation, the private arm of the World Bank. [...] The IFC defines sustainable investment as investment techniques that integrate environmental, social and governance value drivers into financial research and investment processes. [DailyStar]

No wonder we don’t care about the environment, if our idea of protesting is burning thousands of tyres and throwing garbage all over the place.

Via BeirutSpring

It is almost official but not yet published that gas prices will drop by 5000 L.L as of tomorrow.

At last, we got something positive out of the bickering between the two political parties ruling (and ruining) the country.

My younger brother got the Lebanopoly game I was telling you about during Christmas and we decided to give it a try during the weekend.

The selection of the tokens is pretty interesting as they include the Baalbeck temple, a cedar tree, a small phoenician statue, a tarboush, a slipper, an arguile, a blackberry and for some reason a donkey!

Also, they are around 7 if I counted them properly, which is much less than 12, the normal number of tokens you find in a monopoly and are not metal ones.

As for the money, it’s similar to the old monopoly, also the Chance and community chest cards. However, It felt like there were not enough money as the 100 bills ran out quickly. Moreover, The small houses and buildings are ugly and could have been done better.

I chose the donkey and my brother the arguile and the donkey won.

The Lebanopoly costs 26$.

The first newspaper page designed for the blind was launched on Monday by caretaker Social Affairs Minister Salim Sayegh and will be included in Annahar newspaper.

“The page will look like a mini-magazine with all the important social, economic and political stories,” Ghassan Hajjar, An-Nahar managing editor, told The Daily Star. [Source]

This is a great initiative but as Mustapha from the BeirutSpring said, I think Naharnet should first work on improving their terribly slow and unfriendly website.

Few posters inspired from Benihana’s slogans and the disgraceful lawsuit they issued against Mark from 248am.com that I had posted
about earlier today.

Thanks N!

Mark from 248am.com is being sued by Benihana restaurant in Kuwait for having reported a bad experience he had at their restaurant.

You can read here the court order here and read about it on CNN iReport and Gulf News.

Let’s show our support for Mark who also blogs here and is one of the most prominent bloggers in Kuwait.

I always thought I would get sued or harassed first but it seems restaurants in Lebanon react more positively to critics.

Notice the gas tanks put unsafely and randomly on the pick up and notice the Christmas decoration that is still there.