All the Beirut news.

I keep hearing rumors that IKEA will be opening in Lebanon and I hope they do. It’s really weird why they aren’t open yet but I desperately need to get a kitchen for my new apartment and everything I’ve seen so far is priced more expensive than a brand new Beemer. IKEA, where are you?

The Iranian charge d'affairs in Cairo has been summoned by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to explain recent comments attributed to the Islamic Republic's foreign minister, in which he criticized Palestinian leaders taking part in the direct peace talks between Israel and the

The United States, including Lakers star Lamar Odom, blew out Iran score-wise in the basketball game between the two teams in the FIBA World Championship in Istanbul on Wednesday with an 88-51 victory over the Islamic Republic.

Certains (nouveaux) amis de son (nouvel) entourage ont demandé à notre collègue Jean K de la Nation Libanaise, de ne plus signer de son vrai nom ses articles sur notre blog.
La raison ?
Sa récente nomination au poste de secrétaire général d'un parti politique. Sa nouvelle position serait incompatible avec sa liberté d'écriture sur la toile. Soit !
Etrange paradoxe dans la vie publique qui vous oblige à ne plus être vous-même !

I heard it in the morning on Radio One and just read it on autoblog:
“Following a series of high-profile fires in its new 458 Italia, it is rumoured by US car blog Jalopnik that Ferrari will today announce a recall of all 458 Italia models worldwide to fix the problem.”
And to think i asked Marie-Claire to let me drive the car and was even considering buying it (yeah right!).

If there were doubts that the rivalry between Syria and Hizbullah has reached new levels of complication, then consider the recent statements by the Parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, and the Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Berri and Jumblatt seemed to be reading from the same songbook when they declared recently (Jumblatt in his weekly Al-Anbaa editorial) that one had to distinguish between the work of the tribunal and any indictment it might issue. This was subtle, but not so subtle that the public failed to miss that both men were effectively rejecting the view expressed by Hizbullah’s secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, that the institution itself was an “Israeli project.”

Apple announced a slew of new products, including an updated Apple TV that will make a play for cable and Netflix; an entire new line of iPods; and a refreshed version of iTunes. All of these are geared toward a singular vision of a new Apple, which produces the world’s most beautiful boxes and interfaces [...]

Commemorating the 32nd anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Al-Sadr – the founder of the Shiite Amal Movement, Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri mentioned work will soon begin on Litani River project. According to the Kuwait News Agency:
The project aims to construct a canal, a tunnel and a pipeline to carry the waters of the river from Lake Qaraoun in the Beqaa Valley to 76 southern towns at a 800 meter high baseline.

That’s how emergency care practitioner William Berkley describes the regular scene of drunks Brits on the streets of Plymouth hitting, falling and fighting with each other:

انطباعي الأولّي – انطلاقا من قراءة رد السيد مالك أبي نادر على “مقالتي” أنه بمثابة استذكار للوقائع لاينفيها بل يؤكدها – أنه فعل متسرع يؤكد فيه صاحبه بالوقائع ما حاول أن ينكره بالصياغات اللغوية وبالتلطي وراء أصول الاتهام وفقه المحاكمات. وقد زادت دهشتي من هشاشة ما قرأت، بعدما تأكد لي أن ما سمي ردا قد خضع لموافقة جهة مسؤولة في التيار العوني بدليل نشر هذا النص على موقع التيار الالكتروني الرسمي تحت عنوان “رد التيار الوطني الحر على حارث سليمان”.

On my way to Russia last week, i had two hours to waste at the Beirut Duty Free so i walked around checking out stores. Next to the Tumi bags stand, i was checking out a jewerly shop, forgot its name though, when i spotted a weird that was displayed. It was a cross with skull heads on each side and looked like something heavy metal or death metal people might wear.
Now that might not look bizzare in other countries, but it is quite strange to find such crosses in Lebanon unless they have some religious meaning that i am missing.

La genèse du conflit israélo-arabe est à voir dans le double langage de l’Empire Britannique dès 1916,
Abordons un peu la situation de l’époque, puisqu’elle impactera bien entendu, la délimitation des frontières entre le Liban, la Syrie – sous influence française – et la Transjordanie qui passera elle, sous influence britannique.

The Lebanese National Basketball team continued its humiliating streak and lost to Spain by 34 points (91-57) tonight and is therefore out of the world championships that are being held in Turkey. Spain is a very strong team and the world champion, but the Spaniards weren’t at their best at all since the start of the tournament and lost two games already.
Why did Lebanon lose by that much?

When he came over to the radio for a chat and live performance, my friend Paed Conca brought this CD with him. Double CD, actually. The first side contains two tracks: one by Japanese guitarist Takumi Seino, and another by Paed and Raed Yassin (as PRAED), playing a bass (and other things as well, I’m [...]

Varouj is an incredible Armenian restaurant located in a tight backstreet of Bourj Hammoud in Lebanon. The place is tiny on the inside with only 4 tables and the restaurant is run by a father and son, the son cooks while the father takes care of the guests. Anyone who’s watched the Seinfeld episode with the soup Nazi will feel right at home in Varouj because the father is Lebanon’s version of the soup Nazi.

Avant d’aller au bureau ce matin, après trois semaines de vacances un peu ratées mais quand même bien méritées, je suis passée au supermarché  du coin, à proximité de mon lieu de travail.

Has anyone noticed the hand dryers in the City Mall bathrooms? They have Dyson AirBlade’s installed which are incredibly powerful and very fun to use. Next time you pass by City Mall you have to try them out. [YouTube]