All the Beirut news.

[Picture from the DailyStar]
The draw put Lebanon at the bottom of the group and ended its chances to qualify to Brazil in 2014. I honestly lost hope in Lebanon Football the second I heard about the match-fixing scandal.
I only feel bad for the few decent players, our great coach Theo Bucker and of course the fans.

Here’e a fancy way to squeeze some lemon – especially when you have a lunch or dinner party and want to impress some friends. Put half a lemon or lime slice pressed with the Press Art lemon and lime squeezer yields approximately the same amount of juice as half a lemon pressed by hand, saving »more...

Last summer, I remember trying Sweet Tea at the Souks. The location, the overall all set up was mesmerizing – a great escape within the city of Beirut itself. Owned by Chef Yannik Aleno, Sweet Tea sadly closed down, but the same location can still be enjoyed giving way the recent opening of The Garden, »more...

[YouTube] Original Video Uploaded by Nemr
LBC Blogs posted LBCI’s response to the incident Lebanese Comedian Nemr Abou Nassar talked about few days back.
An honest answer from LBC and I agree with them that Nemr should not have dramatized the matter that much. Mistakes do happen.

Many of you rightfully expect LBCI’s transparent and honest answer to Mr. Abou Nassar’s video.

[YouTube]

“It is still hard to describe how it feels to have won the Indy 500,” Kanaan said. “It is something that I have always wanted to have that I have worked so hard for over the years. It was very special.” [Source]

Tony Kanaan is a Brazilian driver of Lebanese Descent. I am not a big fan of Indy 500 races but I remember seeing Kanaan’s name since ever. His best results so far were second spot in 2004 and twice third spot. He was also the driver that had led the most laps without winning before the race, with 221 laps.
Thanks Rachid

The other day my car was in the shop, and I realized how long it had been since I used public transportation in Lebanon. Back when I used to take taxi services and buses, it used to cost 500LL per bus ride and 1000LL per taxi service ride. Today, it’s more like 2,000LL for a service and 1000-1500LL for a bus ride. Still though, it is markedly cheaper than filling up your own gas, given that their “tankehs” are subsidized after they went on strike a couple of years ago and left us normal people to pay the hefty price of gasoline.

Dolce Farfalla The bald and the beautiful - Dolce Farfalla is sticking with cancer patients while emphaszing how stylish it is to be different out of solidarity. I have no idea what prompted the move or if we are in some cancer awareness month, but the initiative is laudable for sure.
And on a totally unrelated note, there was this interesting one too:

... From this....

To this...

We often think about a nuclear apocalypse, an asteroid hitting us or robots taking over when the question of what the greatest threat to mankind is. Truth is though, the biggest threat to our existence has and will probably always be a tiny protein coat filled with DNA or RNA: a virus. With our cheap antibiotics, soap and awareness, it’s easy for us to forget that what killed people more than world wars and crusades (edit: and any other war for whatever each of you worship), was the flu.

Writing means a lot to me. I write a lot. A small portion of what I write goes public on the pages of this blog, other websites, magazines and newspapers. I feel that one of the defining characteristics of being human is being able to speak, write and read. I was fortunate to grow up speaking, reading and writing three languages, and each language has broadened my horizon deeply.

Picture via Siestke
As promised, here’s my first post on how to spend a full day in Lebanon. Just to be clear, all the places I am mentioning are ones that I’ve been to already and would recommend to friends and tourists usually. No one’s paying me to post about them.
Day1: Madfoun (Batroun) –> Keserwan (Maameltein) or Amchit –> Harissa –> Jbeil-Byblos –> Beirut (Optional)

In the absence of official statistics, Information International published the result of a research determining the number of Lebanese living in Lebanon and their distribution according to regions. The research showed that the number of Lebanese living in lebanon is estimated at 3.7 million – 3.8 million people. The largest registered number of Lebanese are in Mount Lebanon and North Lebanon.

Turkey's prime minister Tayib Erdogan has called protestors "Extremists, looters and bums" alleging that their uprising has been linked "arm-in-arm with terrorism."

Have a look at these videos from Istanbul this weekend and see what you think.

These were shot by my good friend photojournalist George Haddad on Sunday. You can see more of his photos and videos here.

La Veranda is located in the region of Bois des Arcades where many supposedly fine restaurants are located. Considered to be one of the good places in town, was the first place I tried during my visit to Algeria. Upon arrival, my thoughts were: “Am I at an after hour night club or a restaurant?” »more...