Mind Soup

Tobacco control legislation will come into effect in Lebanon on September 3rd, 2012. As usual, the Lebanese government will implement random laws without studying the effect it will cause on society and the economy. Don't get me wrong, I am not against the smoking ban, but it should not be like this. This law that was approved is out-dated and comes back from the early 1900s and is technically very strict that I doubt it will even be properly enforced. What's mainly wrong with this law is that it does not allow for smokers to have specialized places to go to. It is also incomplete as it sets the stage for poor implementation, corruption and a non-negligible negative effect on the country’s tourism and hospitality sectors. The figures and infographics below are prepared by The Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants in Lebanon and are part of a study conducted by Ernest & Young in Lebanon. It makes you think twice before following the tobacco ban law blindly. UPDATE...

The “Coalition for the Protection of Women,” is a group of Lebanese citizens who refuse the perpetuation of the violence against women under the protection of existing antiquated laws. They stand by the women of their country, who have been raped, beaten and those who have decided that oppression and discrimination under the guise of law is no longer acceptable. As such, they are calling on the parliamentary subcommittee chaired by MP Samir El-Gisr to halt its subversive activity related to amending a draft law to protect women from conjugal violence originally proposed by the Kafa Association in 2007. The committee has come under significant political pressure from special interest groups who seek to amend the law to ensure that it is ineffective and inapplicable. These amendments have rid the original text of its specificity by expanding it to the rights of children, elderly, men thus maintaining the imbalance of the Lebanese legal code vis-à-vis women. In light of this grave ...

photo source   Today, the Lebanese Parliament endorsed a law that bans smoking in public or closed spaces. After years of debate on whether this law should be implemented, it has finally become a reality. Non-smokers have been overjoyed today with the news filling up the social timelines with their expressions of approval. The law also bans any sort of tobacco advertising and promotions and considers them as an illegal act. These include all sorts of advertising media such as billboards, magazine ads, and TV commercials. The law also prevents any tobacco companies from sponsoring events and concerts. In addition to that, all tobacco packs should now depict a pictorial warning of the dangers of smoking that should cover at least 40% of the package. Fines will be imposed on citizens who are caught smoking in public or individuals who violate the smoking ban. Hotels, however, will be able to assign 10-20% of their rooms to smokers. Companies will b...

Photo by Naharnet Every week while on my way back to my home-city in the South of Lebanon, I pass by an infamous area called Ouzai.This area is getting more hideous week by week due to the cramming of construction that is going on there. This construction, as you might have guessed, is as illegal as most of Dahye and the South. It seems that Hezbollah is gradually taking over the place. A common trend is fulling constructing a one-floor building (with painting it and occupying it) and then continuing to construct more floors. This way they can claim that the building has been there for a while and not brand new (not that it would make much sense). What's even more irritating is that they are even taking the law into their own hands there. Members of Hezbollah start asking for IDs of people they think are suspicious, as if they are the ruling power in Lebanon. Kinda reminds of stories my parents used to tell me during the Lebanese Civil War where different political groups...

Bahrani Blogger Ali Abdelemam GLOBAL VOICES ADVOCACY : Ali Abdulemam, a leading Bahraini blogger and Global Voices Advocacy author, was arrested earlier today by the Bahraini authorities for allegedly spreading “false news” on BahrainOnline.org portal, one of the most popular pro-democracy outlets in Bahrain, amidst the worst sectarian crackdown by the government in years, and accusations of a supposed “terror network” involving several political and human rights activists. The BahrainOnline portal is censored in Bahrain. He sent an email earlier today mentioning that he got a call from the Bahraini national security just before his arrest, then arrested him and alleged that he was trying to flee. Reportedly the Bahraini government has a long track record of using torture against dissidents http://bit.ly/9kZyJQ and their TV has been broadcasting hateful sectarian messages to justify its crackdown Ali was arrested before also for content published on his portal, and he contri...

Egyption President Hosni Mubarak MIND SOUP : An Egyption lawyer has filed a lawsuit again the Egyptian Minister of Justice Mamdouh Merhi and others accusing them of misleading the Egyptian people by hiding the truth. The lawyer, Hamed Sayed Makki, claimed in the case memo that the minister has been hiding the death of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. What's more interesting, or maybe unbelievable, is that he believe that Mubarak has been dead since 2004 while winning the past elections in 2005 (a year after his alleged death). According to Horiyatna radio station, the lawsuit said that this is a "local and international scam to fool us about Mubarak's life." The source revealed more detail about his alleged death. It said that Mubarak has passed away in Germany on the 16th of June, 2004 while undergoing an operation to remove a cancerous tumor from his ear. The lawsuit adds that Mubarak underwent this operation secretly, and after the surgery, the doct...

A son stabbed his 100-year-old mother in the neck then told his brother "I've just gone mad," a court has heard. Hannah Fitzgibbon lived in Stepney with her son BBC : Michael Fitzgibbon, 62, admitted the manslaughter of Hannah Fitzgibbon at the Old Bailey. She died from a stab wound to her neck at the terraced home they shared in Stepney, east London in February. Fitzgibbon denied murder and the prosecution accepted his manslaughter plea on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The unemployed former black cab driver was initially charged with murder. But prosecutors accepted a plea to the lesser charge after psychiatrists agreed he was suffering depression of "moderate severity" as well as the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said: "This is a case in which the defendant stabbed his mother when she was 100 years old. Deteriorating health "This occurred at a time when it seems that in fact th...

Annahar's Hiyam al-Kosayfi Photo Credits: Youtube/AnnaharTV MIND SOUP : Journalist for the Lebanese daily Annahar, Hiyam al-Kosayfi, expressed her anger about being denied wine in a hotel restaurant in Down Town Beirut during Ramadan. This hotel which was "founded by a Maronite Christian and blessed with sacred water by a priest" has made it a policy not to serve any form of alcoholic beverages during the month of Ramadan, where Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset on food, drinks, and sex, and usually abide strictly to Islamic Law during this month. According to al-Kosayfi, she said the that waiter recommended a good bottle of wine, but then embarrassingly apologized and took back the wine glasses from the table after realizing the policy. The (Christian) writer and her crew made a fuss about this incident until a manager approached them and offered to serve them wine in blue tinted glasses, as not to alarm the Muslim customers who were having breakfast (iftar)...

AP : A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals in the country whether they could damage a man's spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man with a cleaver and paralyzing him, the brother of the victim said Thursday. Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralyzed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than two years ago. He asked a judge in northwestern Tabuk province to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker under Islamic law, his brother Khaled al-Mutairi told The Associated Press by telephone from there. He said one of the hospitals, located in Tabuk, responded that it is possible to damage the spinal cord, but it added that the operation would have to be done at another more specialized facility. Saudi newspapers reported that a second hospital in the capital Riyadh declined, saying it could not inflict such harm. Administrative offices of two of the hospitals and the court in Tabuk were closed for the Saudi weekend beginning ...

YAHOO : If you want to avoid the worst-paying college degrees, think twice before choosing a college major that involves children. Included among the 20 worst-paying college degrees are elementary education, special education, social work and child and family studies. That's the conclusion of the latest annual study of college degrees by Payscale, Inc. that compiled starting and mid-career pay for dozens of college majors. Child and family studies earned the honors as the worst-paying college major. The average graduate earns a beginning salary of $29,500. What's equally discouraging is that the salary of someone in this field will barely budge after 15 years in the profession. Food is another common theme for students who major in the worst-paying college degrees. Students who earn degrees in horticulture, dietetics and the culinary arts are more likely to end up struggling financially. College Degree Starting Pay Mid-Career Pay 1. Child and Family Studies $29,500 $...

PC WORLD : Saudi Arabia has ordered the suspension of Research in Motion's BlackBerry service as of Friday, as it does not meet current regulations, according to the country's telecommunications regulator. The suspension will cover all services, including e-mail and instant messaging, said an official from the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), who requested not to be named. He did not specify what were the current local regulations that BlackBerry did not comply with. The CITC has meanwhile instructed three mobile service providers in the kingdom to discontinue the BlackBerry service, the official said. These are Etihad Etisalat, which uses the brand name Mobily, Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Zain Saudi Arabia. The operators had been asked over a year ago to ensure that the BlackBerry service complied with local rules, he said. RIM's BlackBerry service has come under scrutiny from regulators in other countries as well. BlackBerry's s...

Fairuz MIND SOUP : News of Fairuz, the famous Lebanese legend, being banned from singing in Lebanese territory has emerged to the news scene recently, and it has been discussed on several sites and blogs. As the usual hype surrounding celebrities is filing the place, it seems that many fans of Fairuz are angry and disappointed about such news, and instinctively taking her side. However, what they don't know or don't care about is that Fairuz is violating Lebanese law by signing songs from plays that are copyrighted, without sharing the profits with the rightful owners. The Rahbani sons have launched a lawsuit against Nohad Haddad (Fairuz) because she is unwilling to share the profits of her concerts (that she sings copyrighted songs from plays) with the copyright holders. In a press release issued by the Rahbani sons on Wednesday, they claimed that Fairuz is trying to "delete the Rahbani brothers (Mansour and Assi) from the music scene." The brothers deni...

NAHARNET/AP: Gaza's Hamas rulers have banned women from smoking water pipes in cafes, calling it a practice that destroys marriages and sullies the image of the Palestinian people. The ban marks the Islamist militant group's latest effort to impose their Islamic lifestyle in the seaside strip on an often resistant public. While Islamic law does not technically ban women from smoking the traditional tobacco-infused pipes, tradition frowns upon the habit. Hamas frequently mixes its strict interpretation of Islamic law with conservative Gaza tradition, and over the weekend, the two dovetailed to produce the smoking ban. "It is inappropriate for a woman to sit cross-legged and smoke in public. It harms the image of our people," Ihab Ghussein, Hamas interior ministry spokesman, said in a statement released Sunday. "Many women who smoke in public were divorced when their husbands saw them, or found out about them," said Hamas police spokesman, Ayman Batn...

GUARDIAN : A French property tycoon enraged at his government's plans to ban women from wearing the full veil in public has promised a fund of €1 million ($1.4 million) to help any Muslim who is fined for wearing the niqab in the street. Rachid Nekkaz, a businessman of Algerian origin who ran a short-lived campaign in the 2007 presidential elections, has already put €200,000 into a bank account aimed at bailing out women who fall foul of the new law. He said the ban, which was approved by the lower house of parliament on Tuesday and goes to the Senate in September, is ''anti-constitutional'' and could put France on a slippery slope towards greater intolerance. While he has no problem with an idea mooted by MPs of banning the full veil in state areas such as town halls and post offices, he is vehemently against a law that applies to women simply walking down the street. ''I am very, very sensitive to when people start playing around with instituti...

MIND SOUP : I am very sure that a lot of you agree with me that the most annoying thing on Lebanese television is these stupid little commercial programs where a supposedly modernized "doctor" is trying to sell the viewers a bunch of herbs that can mysteriously get rid of most diseases, weight loss or whatever disorder the audience might be interested in. What's more annoying is that you not only find them on one television channel, but on several (such as Aljadid - previously "New TV", NBN or what I like to call "Nabih Berri Network", Manar TV, and even Tele Liban, among others) Well, guess what? According to the Daily Star , the Lebanese government (more specifically the General Directorate of General Security) has declared on Monday that advertisements for such medical herbs are now prohibited by law. The directorate based its decision on Law number 90 of June 3, 2010, which prohibited media outlets from advertising for medical herbs and othe...

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Lebanese bloggers were able today to postpone the Lebanese E-Transactions Law. According to SMEX,org , the vote on the E-Transactions Law was postponed for one month, sent back to committee for revision. After many long awaited years and after many opportunities and money wasted the Lebanese are finally getting their e-transaction law. But instead of cheers and hallelujah, the online community is greeting this law with a big big gloom and anger. This law, if passed, will take us backward in time and will drive all foreign investments away. [...] This is simply like looking up to a light at the end of a very dark long tunnel only to find out that the source of this light is a burning fire that you can’t even avoid. ( link )                                                            ...