All the Beirut news.

I’ve always thought Lebanese food is so underrated, and this video is just a proof of how fascinating is our cuisine to foreigners (in addition to showing the positive image of Lebanon for a change!). Great work by Bethany Kehdy.

Al Akhbar
The former minister Charbel Nahhas is being sued by the head of supermarket chain Spinneys for defamation.

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."

It is a fact that the notion of a clash of civilizations, first popularized by the American academic Samuel Huntington, is more relevant than ever in the minds of many people. Especially when it concerns Muslim-Western relations, there is a view that Muslim and Western values are incompatible. And yet Huntington’s argument that after the Cold War conflict would be defined not by ideology or economics, but by cultural differences, was prophetic as culture has become the principle basis for differentiation, even if it is often viewed in far too static a way.

Six years ago, Lebanon's telecom minister promised that the country would enter the knowledge economy "through the front door."

Lebanon Slowly Glimpses Its Blazingly Fast Future
Published in Bold Magazine, May 2013 

Fiber laid in mount Lebanon in late 2011; the final completion date remains unclear.

By Habib Battah

Hilarious!

Nadine Moussa, left, is one of 49 candidates who claim to have won a parliamentary seat by default. 

Parliamentary elections are not expected to take place until later this summer--if then-- but dozens of independent candidates are already declaring victory.
This is because the raging dispute over the country's electoral law has left a curious loophole in the electoral process, where legal experts and independent candidates are claiming a series of wins by default.

According to Naharnet, a truck loaded with sweets worth around $15,000 was robbed by unknown thieves on Sunday night in Akkar.
Thieves robbed on Sunday night a van loaded with candies and sweets in the town of Zouk Halba in the northern region of Akkar, reported the National News Agency Monday.
It said that the van was loaded with almost 15,000 dollars worth of sweets upon the robbery.
It was later found on the side of a main highway in Akkar devoid of its products.

From my Royal Jordanian flight home yesterday. 

I just noticed many people are complaining about incorrect readings they’re getting for their 3G usage  following the upgrade that touch did for their plans.

To my knowledge, there’s some order to all security forces forbidding them from using small motorbikes when wearing their uniform, to stop giving a bad image about them to the society. It’s about time it gets enforced because this guy is taking it a bit further!

via WTF! Only in Lebanon

I’m not sure when was this video taken, but it pretty much explains why Lebanese football and sports in general is failing miserably. The video shows the Nejmeh Sporting Club fans chanting for their team then suddenly cheering for Syria and Bashar El Assad proving one more time that every sports club in this country is destined to be associated with a certain political view, political party, sect, etc…
This by the way kind of reminds me of the golden days of Lebanese basketball when Riyadi’s crowd (mainly muslims) used to chant for Syria while Sagesse’s crowd used to chant for USA! And I would never be surprised if Lebanese fans of European football teams get divided following their sects and parties one day.

Looks like the dolphins that were spotted a while ago are still hanging around our sea. The below photos were posted by Virgin Radio a couple of days ago, with Zouk Power Plant showing in the background of one of them.

This is a speed test from the free wifi zone at Amman airport, provided by ISP Zain.

Let's compare this to the speeds in Beirut airport which only offers 30 minutes of free wifi from leading Lebanese ISP, IDM.

Waiting...