BEIRUT: Although it probably passed you by, Lebanon was one of many countries to experience an earthquake this week.

A quake registering 3.8 on the Richter Scale hit 50 kilometers off the coast of Sidon at just after 2:30 Tuesday morning. No damage was reported and, according to Ata Elias, assistant professor at the American University of Beirut’s (AUB) Department of Geology, it was in no way related to recent larger tremors.

“The earthquake that happened off the coast of Sidon was very small,” he told students at AUB Thursday.

[Full Article from The Daily Star]

Every civilized country in the world is proud to send their athletes to participate in international and regional competitions and promote the country’s image, with one exception: Lebanon.

My friend was telling me about a friend of his who had been training for months now for the World Junior Taekwondo Championships being held in Mexico. The government barely paid anything for his travel fees, but worse of all, he was asked to withdraw from the first game because his opponent was ISRAELI.

What utter nonsense is that ? What does politics have to do with sports? How will this 16 year old athlete be motivated again after this incident?

I can only imagine the frustration and dissapointment he must have felt. Maybe we are not yet civilized after all.

Article & Caricature by the National.

Anyone who is anyone in advertising has a story about the first time they met Antoine Choueiri.

Ramzi Raad, an industry veteran who was recently named Advertising Person of the Year by the Dubai Lynx Awards, has one of the best.

It was the summer of 1968, in swinging pre-civil war Beirut, and Mr Raad, now the chairman and chief executive of TBWA\RAADCK, was a young advertising executive working for an agency while attending university. One afternoon, his boss sent him on an errand to the magazine where Mr Choueiri worked, called Arab Week, and when he reached the building he was pointed towards a large room with a big balcony.

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As fanatic and extremist as Hassan Nasrallah might appear, he is nothing compared to Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary-General.

This man is favoured by many to succeed to Nasrallah in case the latter is assassinated or removed by The Iranians.

Qassem never misses a chance to undermine Lebanon’s sovereignty, to speak on our behalf, to decide who’s right or wrong and deceive Lebanese with his statements.

Had it not been for the readiness of the resistance, Israel would have waged war on Lebanon yesterday before today.

When did Israel ever wage a war against us without being provoked first ? I think that’s the 1000th time i ask the same question without any valid answers from M8 readers.

“We do not depend on promises but on God and our mujahedeen warriors, and this is what prevents, postpones and delays Israeli aggression,” he added.

And Is God and your mujahedeen warriors that are reconstructing the damage you leave behind everytime you go on one of your adventures?

Qassem called for halting political bickering “to seize the chance of economic prosperity as the whole world observes Lebanon today respectfully and confidently.”

Indeed, Lebanon nowadays is known as a terrorist state and most countries in the world will strip and humiliate every Lebanese tourist before allowing him to enter. Respect indeed !

I spent some time yesterday watching old Sagesse movies back in 1999 when they first won the Asian Championship. I still have goose bumps watching those amazing times.
Those were unforgettable moments for me and many Lebanese and President Choueiri was behind all that. His devotion, commitment, financing and love to the sport and to his people pushed us to the top.

Thank you for everything and may you rest in peace.

Here is Choueiri’s speech during an LF event.

And a short movie remembering the Sagesse team golden years led by Antoine Choueiri and Elie Mouchantaf (Estez el Riyadi) .

Update: Funeral services will take place on Thursday 11th of March in Mar Gerges Cathedral in Beirut at 11 am then will be buried in his hometown in Bcharreh.

14:05 وفاة رجل الاعمال أنطوان شويري بعد معاناة طويلة مع المرض

Antoine Choueiri has passed away around 14:00 today. He was admitted to the hospital lately due to a pneumonia and had many health issues.

For those who are not familiar with this man, Antoine Choueiri dominates the media landscape in the Middle East as a representative of some of the major names in the local industry, including Lebanon’s LBC Sat, the Al Jazeera network, the daily newspaper Al Hayat based in London, the UAE’s Dubai Media Inc and Lebanese publications Al Nahar and Al Safir. [More]

But for us in Lebanon, and specifically the Sagesse fans, he was more known as “President” and as the man who turned the humble and modest Sagesse team into an multi-Arab and double Asian champion. He revolutionized basketball in Lebanon and made it reach international levels of competition. Basketball and other sports today still suffer in Lebanon because of his retirement from sports few years ago.

R.I.P President. You will be missed.

Mario Bassil is playing a key character in the new Hollywood movie : Jack Hunter and the Lost Treasure of Ugarit [Imdb].
He plays the role of a tourist guide for Jack Hunter.

For those who don’t know him, Mario Bassil is a Lebanese comedian and actor. He is mostly known for his “Comedy Night” shows. He is also an artist (Borat-like artist) and has few songs himself.

Mabrouk Mario !

I was forwarded a scanned image of an article published lately in an undentified paper that clearly states that there is oil in Lebanon. I’ve read similar stories in the past but never an official study was released in the news. A Norwegian company in coordination with the ministry of power did this research and confirmed there is oil in Lebanon. This same company confirmed there’s oil 3 years ago as well but the story stopped there.

Here’s another article by a certain Chadi Nachabe on how Oil can be Lebanon’s salvation and its way out of the crisis. To be honest, i believe we should have a capable government and a strong army and good diplomatic ties before going after our own oil, because at the time being, it will only bring us more trouble.