Adonis Diaries

News stories this week

Here’s some of the most important news stories you might have missed from the past week.

1. Citizens Urged to Reduce Water Consumption

(Photo via Daily Star)

The Environment Ministry urged citizens to reduce water consumption on account of the massive decline in rainfall, The Daily Star reported Thursday.

The ministry released a water conservation guide and urged Lebanese NGOs to promote it.

Lebanon witnessed a drastic decrease in rainfall this year at just 40% of the yearly average, raising the threat of possible future drought problems.

(Last year it rained a lot. Still, no water reached the homes and we relied of the water trucks at the cost of $60 per shipment every two weeks)

2. Twenty Five People Arrested After Brawl in Bourj Hammoud

(Photo via Daily Star)

A catcalling incident escalated into an ethnic brawl Saturday in Bourj Hammoud.

According to The Daily Star newspaper, a Syrian Kurdish man made provocative comments to a woman walking with her fiancée, prompting a group of Lebanese and Lebanese-Armenian citizens to try and break into the home of the Syrian-Kurdish man and his four brothers.

As the confrontation escalated, one of the Syrian Kurdish men threw a gas canister, causing one victim to faint. The row ended when security forces intervened. In all, 25 people were arrested.

(Apparently, Syrian refugees rent a room and live 6 in the room)

3. Lebanon Faces Presidential Vacuum

(Photo via Naharnet)

The 5th round of the presidential elections on Thursday ended in failure as lawmakers were unable to reach a quorum to vote (two third of the deputies or 68 of them).

The country’s top Christian spot will remain vacant after President Michel Sleiman leaves Baabda Palace on Sunday.

The session was boycotted by the March 8 alliance, whose members claim that a consensual candidate must be agreed upon first before heading to parliament.

(The March 14 coalition put forth a warlord criminal, Samir Jaaja3, as their preferred candidate to be President. Samir Jaaja3 served a 11-year prison term for assassinating scores of people, including Prime Ministers, and was liberated politically after the withdrawal of the Syrian troops in 2005. Apparently, candidates to the presidential post don’t need to submit  clean judiciary records as members of city councils)

(Read note on the President The Void)

4. Refurbished Sanayeh Park to open on June 1

(Photo via Daily Star)

The Rene Mouawad Garden, commonly known as Sanayeh Park, will reopen to the public on June 1 after a year-long $2.5 million renovation.

A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held on May 31 by the Beirut Municipality and the Azadea Foundation, the retail holding company that funded the renovations. According to CEO Marwan Moukarzel, the garden will remain free and open to the public for 12 hours a day. It will close in the evening.

5. Snake Causes Crash in South Lebanon

A file photo of a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance. (Image via The Daily Star)

Eleven people were wounded in South Lebanon after a mother, identified as Fatmeh Daoud Yassin, swerved the SUV she was driving to avoid a snake in the road.

According to The Daily Star, the vehicle overturned, injuring everyone inside including Yassin’s four children, all between the ages of two and six-years-old.

Also wounded were Amal Rida Nasser, Yassin’s friend, and her three children. Two other unidentified people in the vehicle were also injured.

Note: President Suleiman https://adonis49.wordpress.com/2014/05/30/president-the-void-the-insipid-vacated-palace-warmed-an-empty-chair-and-left-it-vacant-account-in-banks-by-the-millions/