Awesome performance at TEDx that took place in Beirut on November 2012.

Please give it a try, and let us know in the comments section how you like it.

You probably came across that message while reading you Gmail emails on the Internet Explorer 8 browser.

You might want to try and download the newly released Internet Explorer 9

How most Lebanese politicians sound to me.
Image from Buzz’s ad: خَلّي الجَوّ ولعان

That’s it, I am emigrating!

Oh my, what a beautiful country

Are you in what-a-mess-I-cannot-take-it-anymore team,
or in the great country  team?

Let the voting begin

Unlike most other tutorials that focus on the literal written Arabic (with ubiquitous words like شُكراً Shukran and عَفواً Afwan) that is not exactly close to the spoken dialect spoken in Lebanon, this app aims to teach you the Lebanese-Arabic dialect.

Unlike other Arabic language tutorials, this iPhone/Android app focuses on teaching the Lebanese dialect

Oh wait…

If you live in any of the countries listed below, here is a sample of recent events… it is pretty bad:

 Tripoli – 14 May 2012:

“Tension has been rising between Tripoli’s Sunnis, who support the Syrian opposition against the government of President Bashar al-Assad, and supporters of the Syrian government including Tripoli’s Alawite community.
The arrest of Shadi Almawlawi, a young Sunni sheikh, triggered the armed clashes. “

 And in Beirut, one week later:

اشتباكات مسلحة في طريق الجديدة بين مسلحين مقربين من تيار المستقبل وعناصر من التيار العربي قرب مبنى الهندسة في جامعة بيروت العربية،
على خلفية مقتل الشيخ أحمد” عبد الواحد شمالي لبنان بنيران حاجز جيش لبناني.”

Yet, most news across the world are turning a blind eye.
Why is that? The tourists are already scared away anyway.

Here is an overview of randomly selected online newspapers:

Our journey starts on the American continent:

US » CNN

CNN… nothing there

Meanwhile in Canada:

In Australia maybe? » The Sydney Morning Herald

The Europeans surely must have heard of something!

Germany » Die Tagesschau

Scroll down a little bit (a lot actually) …

A story about breast implants, nothing about the war yet…

Perhaps in Italy? » Corriere della Sera

Gay penguins, ducks, and cheating wives, I feel smarter already

Netherlands » Nederlandse Omroep Stichting

Spain » El País

The BBC must surely cover it…

Nothing on the front page…

 Almost there:  BBC » World News » Middle East

Ouf that was not easy!

Euronews / Middle East?

No Lebanon-related stories above the fold.

Most news agencies reported on the Egyptian polls, Bin Laden’s doctor, and Facebook’s IPO.
What about us?

PS: The recent events are covered by fellow bloggers: Blog Baladi, Ink on the Side, Plus 961, A Separate State of Mind, Words of Action.

Not so fast! Despite the widespread devastation, it took 6 days to repair the Great Kanto Highway in Naka.

This Japanese engineering feat is amazing, when you consider that repairing archaic roads in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, consists of re-aligning blocks of concrete.

Picture it, a Canadian city with a “metro area” of 9,417.88 km2 is where I currently live. Not a bad size city if you ask me… pretty close to the full size Lebanon actually. It seems to be governed very well… I mean traffic runs smoothly and safely, snow is removed on time (usually), people follow the laws, and jobs for anyone who is actually trying to find a job. Oh, did I mention that the city council is ALWAYS functioning effectively and properly? Now picture this: my Canadian city is very small compared to the 9,984,670 km2 which encompasses the whole Canadian country… and guess what? They’re governing all that land, with all those 35 million people remarkably well. – Seif