[YouTube]

It’s not everyday that you see a Lebanese cop stopping at the red light. Check out this one for example going the wrong way. [YouTube]

PS: Apologies for the bad quality of the video, as my friend was trying to be discrete while filming. Watch it in Full Screen mode on YouTube.

[YouTube]

This guy is living the Lebanese “dream”. He set a tent illegally in the middle of the road, is expanding it day after day, and might host Iftars there during Ramadan. He always wanted to ride the bicycle as a kid so he blocked the roads around him and went for a ride.

He doesn’t need to go to the barber, the barber comes to him. He doesn’t understand English properly so he fabricates stuff like that “Aisha-hating” Anti-Sunnite machine gun.

Question is: Why doesn’t he have his own reality show yet? It would most definitely be a hit.

PS: I heard he also went horseback riding but I don’t have a picture yet.

I learned about Fadi Tannous’ death (heart attack) few hours ago and I am still in shock. Aside from being a good friend and a truly great guy with a unique sense of humor, Fadi was Lebanon’s fencing Champion on many occasions and part of the Lebanese delegation to the London 2012 Olympics. Fadi was truly devoted to the sport as well as many others and was the Federation’s secretary general. He also represented Lebanon abroad and has many medals to his name.

I always looked up to Fadi for being able to work all day yet stay in great shape and compete at the highest level. He was a great athlete and a multi-talented one and a role model to all those who got to knew him. He was getting married in a month time and was only 38 if I am not mistaken.

Here’s his last interview with Al Joumhouriyya Newspaper talking about our chances at the Olympics in London. [Interview]

R.I.P Champ! We’ll miss you!

Who the hell comes up with a decision like that? Closing down Gemmayze street(Rue Gouraud) for a whole month during July & August? The busiest months in the summer?

Let’s not forget that Ramadan starts on the 20th of July as well, the best time for many Lebanese and tourists to go out and have iftars.

If I were the minister of tourism, I would stop those works at any cost.

Mtv Lebanon won’t be covering activities that give Lebanon a bad image anymore but is certainly ready to make the voice of every civilized citizen heard!

First of all, a professional television should be covering all events regardless of whether they give Lebanon a bad image or not so it’s wrong to just ignore certain events.

Second of all, I’ve been watching MTV news lately and the reports they’ve been showing on the situation in Lebanon were far more damaging to its image than some tire-burning and blocking-roads demonstrations.

Last but not least, this initiative should have been introduced back in May before the summer season. It’s too late for that now. [YouTube]

The deal is estimated at $1.0 billion.

“Middle East Airlines-Air Liban (MEA), the flag carrier of Lebanon, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for five A320neo and five A321neo aircraft plus eight options,” Airbus said in an official statement. [Link]

The neo refers to “new engine option” as the new planes have 15% less fuel consumption, 8% lower operation cost, less noise production and a reduction of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by at least 10% compared to the A320 series according to Airbus. [Wiki]

Kalam Ennas’ episode yesterday was one of the best I’ve seen so far this year and the three reports they did during the show, covering the internet outage, the current events and the poverty in Lebanon were brilliant.

The “Wein el Dawoule” documentary was my favorite and sums up the chaotic situation we are currently living in. You can check it out [Here].

PS: Not to be confused with MafiMetlo’s Wayniye el Dawoule funny sketches.

Golden Beach 00:12 … Oceana: 00:28 … Miramar: 1:05 … Long Beach: 1:20 … Edde Sands: 1:37 … Florida Beach: 1:50 … Portemilio: 2:12 … Cyan: 2:47 … La Plage: 3:01 … Las Salinas: 3:31

This is embarrassing… [YouTube]

via Anti Racism Movement

The London 2012 Olympics are in two weeks and it’s time to meet the athletes that will proudly represent Lebanon in four different disciplines. I couldn’t find an official list anywhere and the Olympics website is not yet updated with the official number of participating athletes, however I was able to extract a preliminary list from LOrientLejour:

Officials
– Antoine Chartier, President of the Lebanese Olympic Committee
– Tony Khoury, VP
– Izzat Koraytem, Secretary General
– Ziad Richa, Head of the Delegation
– Sélim el-Hage-Nicolas, President of the Lebanese table tennis federation
– Georges Zeidan, President of the Lebanese Taekwondo Federation
– Mohammad Makki, President of the Lebanese Gymnastics Federation
– Francois Saadé, President of the Lebanese Judo Federation
– Samar Younes, Administrative Assistant for the delegation.
– Hassan Mehieddine, Press

Fencing:
– Ziad Choueyri, President of the Federation
– Fady Tannous, Member
– Imad Nahas, Member
– Amjad Badawi, Trainer
– Mona Shaito, Athlete
– Zein Shaito, Athlete

Taekwondo :
– Bassem Aad, Personal Trainer
– Cosette Basbous, Assistant Coach
– Luigina Abi-Samra, Physiotherapist
– Andréa Paoli, Athlete (- 57 kg).

Table Tennis:
– Raffi Moumjoghlian, Trainer & VP of the Federation
– Tvine Moumjoghlian, Athlete.

Athletism:
– Noureddine el-Kouch, Member of the Federation
– Élie Saadé, Trainer & Member of the Federation
– Vahé Ibrahamian, Trainer
– Greta Taslakian, Athlete
– Ahmad Hazer, Athlete

Swimming:
– Adnane Amil, member of the Federation
– Élie Boutros, Trainer
– Katia Bachrouche, Athlete (800 m)
– Waël Kobrosli , Athlete (100 m).

Shooting:
– Roberto Scalzoni, Trainer
– Roger Kasparian, Trainer
– Ray Bassil, Athlete.

Judo:
– Joseph Tchik, Trainer
– Karen Chammas, Athlete (- 63 kg).

Lebanon has participated 15 times in the Olympic games and won 4 medals overall, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze but never a Gold.

Good luck to our athletes!

Update:LOrient Le jour published yesterday the full Lebanese delegation list. I will update the post accordingly. Thank you Fouad

In Beirut, the censors have banned “The Da Vinci Code” as anti-Christian and the TV series “The West Wing” as anti-Arab. The security directorate has broad powers in other areas, too, refusing permission, for instance, for the director Francis Ford Coppola to land his private jet in Beirut in 2009 because the engine included parts made in Israel; he had to land in Damascus, Syria, instead, and travel overland.

As Lebanese filmmaker Danielle Arbid nicely puts it, “Nothing works in this country except the censorship bureau,”.

Read the full article [Here].

[YouTube]

Pierre Chalach, the teacher accused of sexually assaulting and harassing students in his care, was found guilty of sexually harassing young girls and will be jailed from 6 to 10 years. However, he was found innocent of rape charges for lack of evidence.

Based on what he said in his testimony, this guy has a serious problem and should not be released anytime soon.

An earthquake measuring 3.1 on the Richter Scale was felt yesterday in Nabatieh, Tyr and Sidon. Two days ago, another earthquake registering 5.5 on the Richter scale was recorded off the island of Rhodes and felt by some towns in Lebanon.

The only time I felt there was an earthquake, there were none reported the next day. I must have had a few too many drinks that night.

Kayrouz Bakery opened recently in Jounieh and is making its presence felt. I like the play on words.

I spotted this accident early in the morning. I don’t know how the truck ended up like that but the outcome could have been much worse had the truck crossed to the other side of the road.

Eitherways, we need better separators in the middle.

Update: As per one of the comments, the woman is a friend of his mom and was actually leaving money for what she bought. Too bad we are no longer used to such behaviors in Lebanon that we assume the worst always. Respect and Apologies to her!

Update2: I changed the title of the post as well as we owe it to this woman. I am so glad I was wrong about her.

This is the video of the bull who escaped from the slaughterhouse and invaded MedMart on the Dora highway. The bull ended up falling inside the oil pit and sadly died.

But that’s not the end of it. Look closely at the video and you will see the woman at Minute 0:24 pausing to grab something (from the cashier’s box?) to leave money before exiting the store.

[YouTube]

via +961