All the Beirut news.

Some of you already know that I rarely do politics on this blog especially with the situation where we find ourselves in (at last read it was something along the lines of we are doing a crappy job in government and not working hard enough so we’ve decided that we will no longer meet to do any work until we promise to do work – and let’s not forgot that unless we are allowed to do our work, we will bring down our own government hoo-ha). But I just had to bring up this Naharnet moment:

New York City, USA
Thanks to Olivia Alabaster and Lauren Hamra for the link to this New York post:
It may look like a scene out of downtown Beirut, but it’s actually lower Manhattan.

The Lebanese Immigrant Statue (apparently there are 12 around the world) has been defaced in a park in Australia:
A $60,000 Preston statue celebrating Lebanese immigration has been defaced with racist and sexually gratuitous graffiti. The statue, unveiled at Preston’s Ray Bramham Gardens in November, pays homage to the “thousands of Lebanese migrants that have settled in Victoria and, in particular, our Darebin community”.
Tony Yacoub, president of The World Lebanese Cultural Union Australia and New Zealand, said the graffiti was “terrible” and action was needed to stop it happening.

Christchurch, New Zealand
Having survived the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the Carson family defend their choice to leave the city behind for Nelson:
It’s a long road ahead, Mr Andrew Carson says, but they’re of an age where they’re not prepared to hang around waiting for a chance to revive their earthquake-shattered Mt Pleasant home.