All the Beirut news.

The Fouad Boutros Highway (Image courtesy of Save Beirut Heritage)
According to NowLebanon, the controversial Fouad Boutros Highway project was given the green light and will kick off in few weeks time. As per Save Beirut Heritage, the Fouad Boutros highway project will destroy 28 heritage landmarks, endanger 30 more, and uproot thousands of meters of lush green spaces in the Ashrafieh, Hekmeh and Mar Mikhail neighborhoods.

More coffee table literature can never hurt, and with these coasters, that’s literally true. Mark the Plot is a set of coasters features the cover artwork of 8 iconic fiction books like Lolita, Pride and Prejudice… this will satisfy your love of books as well as add a great touch to your set of coffee »more...

Located in the Bekaa is a small village called Jdita, known for its fertile land, stands an old house built on the remains of a wine cellar. The house dates back to the Bronze Age and carries the rich history behind Château Nakad. With a passion for wine making, combined with the rich soil of the »more...

Here is a series of pictures just published by Save Beirut Heritage, which is campaigning to stop what it says is the imminent demolition of some 30 heritage buildings for the Fouad Boutros highway project.

Also at stake is the clearing of a wide swath of some of Beirut's last undeveloped green spaces. The works could endanger dozens more old buildings, SBH claims.

SBH says it had proposed a park, but that plan seems to have been rejected.

More to come...

UPDATE: I've just spoken to the lead engineer and he says the project will begin "in about a month."

The below infographic was published yesterday by touch Lebanon showing the mobile OS breakdown on their network. Unsurprisingly, Android accounted for 50% of the devices, followed by Symbian and Apple iOS.

Blog post will be updates tonight.
The post MOT to Put an End to Illegally Imported Devices in Lebanon [An Infographic] appeared first on Abir Ghattas.

Upgrading your cinema experience has lately become a trend in Lebanon. An idea which started with Grand Cinemas in their ABC Dbayeh branch has soon expanded to all other companies with the birth of CineMall’s VIP followed by the fully premium Empire Sodeco and now, VOX Gold Cinemas, the new kid in town,  that’s is »more...

Picture from Maya Zankoul

I don’t know who Pamela el Kik is to be honest, nor which shows or movies she took part in but what I know is how the bus managed to get across the mid-road separator and hit her car. It may not be the driver’s fault this time but someone should discipline these reckless bus drivers that are endangering their passengers’ lives and our lives as well.

Telecom minister Nicolas Sehnaoui is in the news every day it seems, either launching new initiatives or defending past ones.
Today he was responding to allegations by MP Ghazi Youssef--of the rival Future Movement--who had accused him of "stealing" millions during the deployment of 3G and other projects.
The accusations were rubbish lies, he said, and Youssef and his FM cohort "didn't want the country to advance."

Picture by Marwa at Eat Amore cafe in Verdun
They charged them for the Nescafe as well as the mugs lol!
Thanks Sam!

Good news travels fast in Lebanon, announced quite literally from the rooftops with fireworks. But the urgent whisper of bad news travels even faster.
We know we are in the right place because there is a hearse in the road at the foot of the apartment building. We don’t need to ask which entrance. It is marked by a man in stiff black, the driver maybe, who stands guard at the bottom of a flight of steps. He is surrounded by half a dozen cellophane-wrapped bouquets which lean awkwardly against the wall. The flowers are real enough but they are grimly preserved, completely sealed behind a plastic cover. They look out of place, spilt on the grey paved floor, an accident.

This fascinating accessory is perfect for those who love planting but live in an apartment. I guess now you can have your own small garden with the Chalkboard Wall Planter hung on the wall… Let’s pick some mint leaves for today’s lunch… Bring your wall to life with a stunning vertical herb garden. This planter »more...

Walking along Mar Mikhael street, you can’t but magically be driven towards the rich aromas coming out of a new modern bakery, Tartine Bakery. Hidden behind a tree, a huge window display is decorated with deliciously looking pieces of bread in many shapes and forms. The freshly painted walls in coral color frame the large »more...

I’ll be nothing, that’s what I’ll be
I’ll be the limbs breaking on the ice
I’ll be desire melting onto itself
I’ll be the longing that possesses me
That I’ll never possess

I’ll be nothing, that’s what I’ll be
I’ll be the vicious hope that rides me to death
I’ll be just another breath, another step
To nowhere

(originally posted on December 06, 2004)

I got my hands on this information and I completely trust the sources. They’ll remain anonymous, so will the writer of this article that was supposed to be published in a newspaper I believe, but didn’t because of the headache it would cause with the Murr family.
لقد ترددت الاشاعات حول مسألة وقف بث برنامج “أنت حر” على شاشة الMTV الأسبوع الفائت، وتداول اللبنانيين على وسائل التواصل الإجتماعي العديد من الروايات من تباين في الأراء، إلى خلافات سياسية، وحتى مشاكل مالية. ولكن في خاص (…)، وعبر مقربين من جو معلوف وال-MTV وعائلة المر، علم أنا صلب الموضوع هو مزيجٌ من العمل الانتخابي وخلافاً بين غبريال المر ونجله ميشال غبريال المر.