Lebanese Champion Charbel Abou Khattar

Lebanese bodybuilder Charbel Abou Khattar participated in The Italian international Class of Natural Bodybuilding and won the first international natural bodybuilding trophy in the history of Lebanon. It is worthy noting that Charbel passed his drug test with a 100/100 score as a life time drug free.

Thumbs up to our local champion and to team Shape Up!

You can check out more pictures about the event on ShapeUp’s Facebook page [Here].

[YouTube]

Families of Islamist prisoners protesting outside Roumieh Prison

I would understand finding mobile phones, drugs, laptops maybe, knives and other sharp items inside few prison cells, but how the hell do you sneak in a 62 Inch TV inside a prison? Honestly I don’t see a reason why those prisoners are asking for their release from Roumieh. They do whatever they want, leave whenever they find it suitable, buy mobile phones, laptops, knives, weapons, 60-inch TVs, have internet access and are never bothered by the guards.

I wonder what’s really bothering them? The food maybe? Kababji doesn’t deliver there?

The military court wrapped up on Tuesday investigations in the Roumieh prison break carried out by three Fatah al-Islam inmates with the number of detained security guards reaching 13, reported the National News Agency. Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported on Tuesday that the “flawed situation” included the inmates’ possession of a 62 inch flat-screen television and internet access that allowed them contact with extremists from all over the world. [Naharnet]

[YouTube]

Via LBC

Picture taken by Sandrella via Instagram

Clouds were beautiful during yesterday’s sunset.

Picture taken by myself [LeNajib] via Instagram

Lebanese expats were denied the chance to participate in the 2009 parliamentary elections and it looks like they are going to be excluded as well from the 2013 elections, especially that our dear Foreign Minister is treating this issue as if it’s some sort of joke. In fact, according to the report he submitted to the government 3 days ago, only some 3,009 expats had registered to vote at Lebanese embassies and missions to take part in the 2013 elections while Assafir’s earlier study revealed that there are almost 1 million Lebanese expats eligible for voting.

I managed to get from a source the distribution of those 3009 and they clearly show how unprofessional and lousy this report is. Here is the list of cities and number of registered voters as provided by the foreign ministry:

State or City / number of registered voters
Istanbul 19
Indonesia 15
Detroit 77
Oman 181
New York 110
Washington 132
Los Angeles 9
France 742
Montreal 0 Canada
Ottawa 0 Canada
Brussels 117
Bogota 20
Bucharest 16
Britain 20
Austria 20
Canberra 11
Sydney 1
Prague 10
Buenos Aires 0
Tunisia 12
Rio de Janeiro 0
Freetown 519
Caracas 5
Conakry 89
Manama 29
Senegal 161
Asuncion 0
Madrid 70
Kuwait 23
Angola 0
Zambia 0
Mozambique 0
Zimbabwe 92
Malawi 89
Botswana 18
Namibia 16
Marseille – France 37
Guinea 63
Dubai 14
Melbourne 50
Kuala Lumpur 1
Switzerland 17
South Africa 0
Jeddah 0
Doha 21
Vienna 63
Kazakhstan 25
Stockholm 84
Sofia 6
Abidjan Cote – d’Ivoire 6

0 Lebanese registered in Montreal and Ottawa while 92 registered in Zimbabwe. 89 Lebanese registered in Conakry, which is the capital of Guinea, while none of the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese in Brazil bothered registering. Needless to say, this report is a joke and was rejected by a large number of officials. I mean how is it possible that 0 or barely 10 Lebanese register in major cities ( 1 in Sydney) while 25 register in Kazakhstan?

Maybe it’s better if Adnan Mansour resigns and let someone handle the expats file and other files in a decent and professional manner. In fact, I think the expats voting should not be handled by a minister but by an independent committee at one distance from all parties and capable of handling such a large task.

Wael Kfoury performing during Miss Lebanon 2012

What is wrong with Wael these days? Using the GodFather font in his latest album and now this?

I wonder what’s next? Terminator, Metallica or Hulk Hogan T-shirts maybe?

Nice find by Ivy

Taken from Beirut.com

That’s one bus people will think twice before using it, and the font is not helping!

Horsh Beirut: Picture taken from Greenation website

Green areas in Lebanon have decreased dramatically throughout the past years and now only represent 3% of Beirut’s surface and 13% of Lebanon’s surface. Many organizations and NGOs are working on preserving those green areas and creating new ones but the main problem is that Lebanese are not even aware of those green areas. Added to that, there is a big misconception that those places are not maintained and dirty and that it’s not safe to take our children or go ourselves there.

This lack of awareness and knowledge drove 2 do-gooders to launch the Greenation non-profit intiative, “devoted to education and advocacy around environmentally and socially responsible choices for individuals, schools, and communities”. In simpler words, Greenation aims at highlighting all the existing green spaces and encouraging citizens to explore and benefit from a “Green” outdoor in their surrounding.” [Greenation]

How will they achieve that?
Answer: The Green Map

The first stage of the Greenation initiative includes launching the Green Map, a visual representation of the green spaces, where public parks in Beirut are highlighted with a geo-location and images. In a second stage, “the map will gather all the needed information concerning private green spaces and make this information free for all and accessible on the web and on the mobile. The Green Map will serve as a valuable tool for all NGOs, media, schools, universities, municipalities and ministries.” [Source]

In later stages, Greenation aims to cover on its map all green parks and reserves in Lebanon and the region.

Picture taken by Horsh Beirut (via Flickr)

What I love most about Greenation is that it is creating a platform for Green NGOs and Lebanese in general to get involved and spread the word about our green spaces. After all, it is our responsibility as citizens to use the existing public gardens instead of nagging about the lack of forests and pollution, and demand the government and concerned ministries for more green areas.

Picture from Sioufi garden

All being said, Greenation is a project in progress that requires support from all Lebanese and concerned parties to succeed.

David Frem, the guy behind Lebanon’s first supercar ‘Frem F1′, is planning to build his first 4X4 truck, the ‘Frem Immortal’. It’s a super-heavy duty truck equipped with a Chevrolet Big Block Chevy engine and 502-hp. You can check out all the specs about Frem’s newest car [Here] and pictures of his other cars [Here].

Every time he comes up with a new car, he plans to build 100 models or less and sells them but he never does it. I understand he is not receiving any substantial support from the government but it could be that he’s doing it wrong and should reconsider his models and make them more affordable or commercial.

I just read Sheikh Al Assir is planning a sit-in in Beirut’s Martyrs Square in support of the Syrian uprising today at 4pm. I never thought I would say that but protests should be banned once and for all in Martyrs Square, at least in these critical times. The guy is living in Saida and there are tons of places to protest there yet he chooses to go down to Beirut and cause the ISF and Lebanese army to deploy, block roads and cause traffic.

People want to go out, enjoy the nice weather and take a walk on the Zaytounay Bay or in DownTown Beirut on a Sunday.

Innocent is a healthy snack consisting of sugar-free unsalted dry-roasted nuts. I only found out about it a week ago but it seems it’s been out for a while. It doesn’t taste that bad and is a great alternative to other salty or cholesterol-rich snacks.

Each bag costs 3000 Lebanese Liras.

Picture from Al-Akhbar

If you are wondering why I am posting such old news, it’s because Roumieh’s prison guards just found out today that three prisoners had fled. As it appears, no prisoner count was performed since mid-September of the year 2012. The three prisoners are Palestinian Mahmoud Falah, a Syrian and an Algerian.

Who’s the prison chief at Roumieh? I’d like to ask him what’s so difficult about keeping inmates inside a freaking prison!!

The council of Ministers has Approved during his session on October 10 2012, the amendment of article 15 of the Public Code of Contractuals , Nizam el Am lil Oujara2. Now, a woman contractual in the public sphere can benefit from a 60 day maternity leave instead of a 40 days maternity leave! [Source: RitaChemaly]

I think it’s time Lebanese men start asking for a paternity leave. 60 days for women and nothing for us? Wayniyye el Dawoule?