All the Beirut news.

One of my all time-favorite spots to drive in Lebanon is the coastal road linking the villages of Batroun, Monsef and Barbara.

credit: beirutwalls.wordpress.comI’ve read what @LeNajib and @ElieFares wrote regarding the Huff article: “ Thank You, Beirut. Your Friend, Dubai.” and I have two things to say.

The United Nations has been unable to secure authorisation to visit Syria and determine if chemical weapons were used in fighting last March near Aleppo, and in Homs and Damascus. However, in a letter to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, France and the United Kingdom have affirmed that soil samples and interviews with victims led them to believe that such weapons were used.

It’s still too early to tell whether Hezbollah will succeed in its bid to clear the area of Qusair of Syrian rebels, in that way assuring Syrian regime control over the passage between Damascus and the coast, via Homs, and between the coast and Lebanon’s Hermel region.

The average interview time on Men El Ekhir is around 10 to 12 minutes I guess, so why exactly would Pierre Rabbat and his team allocate 22 minutes for someone they just want to make fun of?
This guy, Kassem Boutah or The Arab Eagle, previously appeared on Arabs Got Talent and failed miserably.

إنها منطقة عجلتون الكسروانية، حالها كحال بقية المناطق التي حصلت فيها عمليات بيع أراض إلى الأجانب وإلى الخليجيين.. وإذا كانت الكميات فيها أقل، إلا أنّ مساحة الأراضي التي بيعت الى الخليجيين تخطت الـ3000 متر المسموح بها في القانون… “النشرة” تفتح ملف العقار الذي يحمل رقم 1661 في تلك المنطقة، بعدما أثارت في الأسابيع الماضية قضية بيع الأراضي في التعزانية ودلبتا والكفور والعيرون وفتقا وساقية المسك. هنا، عقار كبير شيّدت عليه منازل بيعت جميعها الى الخليجيين. وفي هذا السياق توضح مصادر “النشرة” أن “من كان يملك هذا العقار هو لبناني ويملك مساحة واسعة من الاراضي، وقد قام بتشييد منازل صغيرة باعها الى الخليجيين”.

Apparently, all that separates a salafist from a hipster is a pair of sunglasses and a hoodie.

Tajaddod Youth
Ever see those movies were the average joe runs for office and wins? Well that's not so easy in Lebanon where candidates must pay at total of 8 million LL ($5,300) just to enter the race.

First candidates must deposit over 6 million LL in a 'campaign account' and then fork over 2 million LL in election fees.

Here's a screen shot of the official document:

I just came across this cool project called “Instabeat” by professional swimmer Hind Hobeika.
Hind is a former swimmer who used to train with the American University of Beirut’s swimming team and recognized the need for a monitoring device to track hear rate during her practices. So she came up with Instabeat, a device that is designed to fit any pair of swimming goggles to tracks a swimmer’s heart rate, caloric burn, and number of laps.

Daily Star

Thank you National News Agency for making our day more bearable for once. Maybe our slippery friend has some recommendations for the Lebanese cabinet, which has still not been appointed. 

Boston holds a special place in my heart. For a long time, I
called it my earthly heaven. It's where I matured intellectually and
emotionally, and where I started to shed my faith in man-made religion. 
 You will never see me defend religion on this blog,
especially not Islam, the religion with which I grew up.  Religions, in my opinion, deserve to be
deconstructed and treated as man-made constructs, put in the context of history
and never, ever, allowed to transpose values from a day long gone, to the
present.

Boston holds a special place in my heart. For a long time, I
called it my earthly heaven. It's where I matured intellectually and
emotionally, and where I started to shed my faith in man-made religion. 
 You will never see me defend religion on this blog,
especially not Islam, the religion with which I grew up.  Religions, in my opinion, deserve to be
deconstructed and treated as man-made constructs, put in the context of history
and never, ever, allowed to transpose values from a day long gone, to the
present.

Photo via Ziad Abbout