The verdict for the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that killed 90 people, including 52 Lebanese is finally out and we still don’t know what happened.

Lebanese version:

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi revealed on Tuesday that the probe in the 2010 crash of the Ethiopian plane off the Lebanese coast, in which all 90 people on board died, points to a pilot error. “The truth is in the Lebanese report, the pilot is completely responsible for the plane crash,” the minister said during a press conference held at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International airport.[Link]

Ethiopian version:

Ethiopian Airlines said Tuesday the 2010 crash of its jet off Lebanon was likely caused by sabotage, a lightning strike or was shot down, rejecting an official Lebanese probe blaming pilot error. “The aircraft disintegrated in the air due to explosion, which could have been caused by a shoot-down, sabotage or lightning strike,” Desta Zeru, vice president of flight operations for Ethiopian Airlines, said in a statement. [Link]

Did we really need two years to come out with such conclusions? This is pathetic!

[Picture taken 7 hours ago of the site by Gino]

According to Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, the search operations were called off and the equipment were retrieved from the scene of the building collapse in Ashrafiyeh [Naharnet]. The final death toll rose to 27 people while 12 people were reported injured and no one is missing. This statement was given an hour ago.

As of 9 pm yesterday, the Red Cross reported 27 deaths, 12 injuries and 4 to 9 people were reported missing, all of Sudanese nationality. Why did the search stop if there are still people missing?

In other news, there are around 20,000 buildings risking collapse according to MP Mohammad Kabbani!! [Link]

A 5-storey building has collapsed on its tenants in the Ashrafieh neighborhood of Fassouh. 30 people were inside the building at the time it collapsed and 7 injuries have so far been reported.

Update: A 15 year old girl was reported dead. Her name is Ann-Marie Abdel Karim. For more information visit the DailyStar website [Here]

The Lebanese movie was banned for its sexual content by the General Security in Lebanon but will be aired on Friday, January 20 on the French television station, Arte, at 9:35 p.m. [Source]

You can watch the trailer [Here].

I love the pictures naharnet uses for its stories -_-

The first explosion was on November 16 targetting a night club and a liquor store, then on November 23 targetting a weapons’ stock pile, and the last one occurred today at 5 am targetting a restaurant that serves alcohol.

Since explosions have been targetting liquor stores and pubs in Tyr, why didn’t the minister of interior send few units to guard those places in order to prevent future bombings?

Despite all that, the restaurant’s owner Zuhair Arnaout insisted that “he will fix the damage, go ahead with the celebrations and serve alcohol”. I’m not sure how many people will be ready to risk their lives though and go to his party.

While Nahhas and Mikati keep scoring points again each other, the minimum wage law is yet to be implemented and the prices are increasing by the day.

PS: Graphs do not reflect real percentages as I just drew them to reflect what’s happening.

There’s been talk about this theather being demolished and there’s even a petition to stop this cultural terrorism but the minister of culture re-assured that it will be preserved.

VOL radio reported half an hour ago that the ISF in Tripoli received a call from a girl called Sawsan who told them that she was kidnapped by 4 people in a white Taxi in Jbeil and managed to escape but her location is still unclear.

Let’s hope she calls back if she has a phone on her so that the police can find her quickly.

The Lebanese army succeeded on Sunday in releasing Ahmed Zeidan, the owner of Liban Lait who was kidnapped on Wednesday. He was found in the outskirts of the town of Brital in the Bekaa, reported Future News on Sunday.[Naharnet]

I think it’s time the Lebanese army surrounds Brital and keeps checkpoints around it until all the criminals are caught. If they are able to go in and arrest the kidnappers then they have the political green light to go ahead and finish off with those gangs.

According to the police report, obtained by the AP, Fakih was initially stopped when officers noticed the 26-year-old speeding and weaving through traffic in Detroit early Saturday morning.

Cops say Fakih “immediately identified herself as Miss USA.”

According to the report, Fakih took a breathalyzer and blew more than TWICE the legal limit — once blowing a .19 and then a .20. The legal limit in MI is .08. [Link]

Let’s see if she has a good “wasta” that will keep her from doing some jail time.

After barely a month of opening Star Chef, they closed it down. I was told they finished shooting for Fatafeat’s show but it is hard to believe they worked for a whole month only to open for 2 weeks.

I heard this morning on the radio that George Michael had been struck with potentially fatal condition pneumonia. He remains in intensive care, and that his bf is a Lebanese.

His name is Fady Fawaz and he is a Lebanese-born celebrity hairstylist based in London.

I wonder if we will see the happy couple in Lebanon one day. The police will probably arrest Fady for being gay.

I’m currently at the Beirut Airport and my flight is being delayed because of the pilot strike Najib posted about below.

Until a few moments ago no flight was showing as delayed. If you had called the airport before arriving to check on your flight they would have told you it was leaving on time. If you asked the employee at check in if your flight was delayed they would have told you no. If you entered Duty Free past the immigration desks and checked the screens your flight would have also shown to be on time. I only realized my flight might be delayed because of the Naharnet article Najib linked to. Even then I checked the Beirut Airport website and the departure screen in the lounge and it still showed I was leaving on time so I figured my flight was affected. Only when it was nearly boarding time and I was about to leave lounge did I find out my flight was delayed. On my way out of the lounge I asked an employee if my flight was taking off on time and she told me no it was delayed by 2 hours.

Even though my flight is delayed and I have to sit and kill time in our boring airport, I do understand why the pilots are on strike and I stand by them. You don’t dump an employee who has been serving you for over 30 years because he ended up getting cancer. I’m not saying the pilot should continue flying (depending on his condition he probably can’t). What I’m saying is that the pilot should continue to undergo treatment on his MEA insurance and once the treatment is complete if the pilot can continue to fly then he should. In the meantime while being treated they could assign him a desk job or accommodate him some other way. Keep in mind this isn’t a new employee or one just has been with them for a short period of time, we’re talking 30+ years here.

Update: Here is a response from a MEA pilot

First of all i offer our apologies for this delay, and thank you for your support. Believe me when i say it was the only way to get our management to listen. The Lebanese pilots association is not demanding that the captain returns to fly, but they are only asking that this captain get his rights as described by the Lebanese law; receive 2 months full salary and 2 months half salary on sick leave where after that the Lebanese DCA shall decide if he is fit to fly and fully recovered or not. MEA gave him half of what the law says and fired him after 38 years of work during his sick leave in the middle of his treatment (against the Lebanese labor law). Again my sincere apologies and thank you for this support.

Pilots at Lebanon’s national carrier are delaying outgoing flights to protest a decision by the company’s administration to fire a pilot who is undergoing medical treatment.

The pilot in question has been serving the Middle East Airlines for more than 30 years now.

MEA has been trying to rebuild its image as one of the region’s top airlines following years of civil war and the global financial crisis. [Naharnet]

And they are hoping on achieving that by recklessly laying off a pilot because he was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment?

This is a very shameful and immoral decision to take.