Nicolas Jebran

Nicolas Jebran started designing clothes for famous Arab stars such as Majida Al Rumi and Hayfa Wehbeh from Lebanon, Asala Nasri from Syria and Mona Zaki from Egypt.

After winning at second place in Studio El Fan back in the nineties, he decided to make a better name for himself, so he focused on his creativity and talent and soon made a name for himself in the fashion business industry.

His Haute Couture Fashion Collections have been followed by millions around the world. In 2011, Nicolas dressed Katy Perry for her performance at the TV-Week Logie Awards in Australia.

Nicolas Jebran says that he will soon dress Lady Gaga and that she already has some of his work in her closet.

We wait to see his new collection for the year 2012, we believe it will be amazing as ever.

Katy Perry corset style dress by Nicolas Jibran – Australia 2011

Nicolas Jibran Collection 2011

Nicolas Jibran Fall Collection 2009/2010

Beirut Jazz Festival

The Beirut Jazz Festival 2011 is the 4th return of this Jazz Festival taking place around the end of September 2011.

The program of the festival with days and entertainers is as follows:

30 Sept 2011 – Rabih Abou Khalil group
1 Oct 2011 – Phillipe El Hajj Quintet
6 Oct 2011 – Chucho Valdes
8 Oct 2011 – Marcus Miller

The Jazz shows start at 8:30 pm everynight.

Here are some of the Videos from previous Beirut Jazz Festivals.

Where do we go now? Nadine Labaki movie

“Where do we go now?” is a 2011 Lebanese film, which was shot between 18 October 2010 and 18 December 2010.

The cast was made out of amateurs that stood in front of the camera for the very first time. For months, Beirut streets were plastered with hundreds of handbills and posters encouraging amateurs to audition for the casting of the movie. Nadine is the only professional actress among the cast.

Nadine follows a number of village women from different religious backgrounds who work together to save their village from fights.

In May 2011, Nadine received an award for her second movie during the Cannes Film Festival.

In Sept 2011, The movie received the TIFF audience award which was founded in 1978 and has a reputation of being of one of the first steps in the awards trail.

The TIFF festival attendees voted for Nadine and her movie as the winner of the award. Lebanese Canadian director and actress Nadine Labaki received a $15,000 prize. Rasha Salti, festival programmer, accepted the award on her behalf since, Nadine was in Europe when the award was announced.

Lebanese Director Maroun Baghdadi

Maroun Baghdadi was born on the 21st of January 1950, He passed away on the 11th of December 1993. Baghdadi studied law, and history before he discovered himself as a director. He worked alongside American director Francis Coppola and together they made many french movies which were successful in France.

His debut film was released in 1975 and was entitled Beirut Oh Beirut (aka Beyrouth Ya Beyrouth). Since that year, Maroun made many movies and short films which left a special mark in the Lebanese cinema, such as: Ninety, The Martyr and Wispers.

In 1982 he made a memorable movie called Little Wars (Houroub Saghira), which played at the Cannes Film Festival.

His final movies include Out of Life in 1991 and The Girl in the Air in 1992.

MTC Touch Lebanese Mobile Provider

On the 1st of June 1 2004,  MTC Group (now known as Zain Group) one of the leading mobile operators in the Middle East and Africa, was given a four-year license agreement from the Lebanese government to operate one of the two existing mobile telecommunication networks.  MTC Touch was the brand given to run this operation inside the Lebanese territories, the name remains the same which the mother company changed to Zain.

The MTC Touch quality of service is good after-all since the mother company has experience in running such business models since 1984.  Mobile communications in Lebanon in general has been and is still expensive in comparison to many other neighboring countries.

MTC Touch does provide a special pay-as-you-go plan for tourists and visitors to Lebanon who intend to visit for short periods of time. Special MTC Touch Recharge cards with pins can be purchased at reasonable prices which can be hooked up to any GSM mobile.

Weather in Lebanon

Winter  in Lebanon: The winter weather in Lebanon is not that harsh, rainy most of the days, but temperatures are always above zero. The only problem with the winter weather in Lebanon is humidity. This makes the weather feel very cold at times, even if the temperature is not that low. In addition, the homes in Lebanon are not equipped for cold temperatures, they are built with brick/stones which normally releases the heat quickly.

Spring in Lebanon: The spring weather in Lebanon is very beautiful, it is warm and normal both days and nights. However during the last couple of years, the spring temperature has been higher than normal suggesting a trend to what the summer temperatures are.

Summer in Lebanon: While Summer weather is supposed to be good too, the last couple of years has witnesses an excess heat which as described by many Lebanese as Unbearable. “We have never seen such high temperatures in our lives” says one frustrated Lebanese. The temperature during the summer of 2010 has reached highs of 40 degree centigrade which is considered a temperature that you only see in the Gulf of the desert.

Autumn in Lebanon: The Autumn weather used to be as beautiful as Spring, however since 2008, the autumn passes by very quickly as the temperatures during Autumn of 2009 and 2010 remains steady like a summer weather.

In order to check the current temperatures in Lebanon, the Beirut Airport has a special team which monitors the temperatures and gives specific details about the current and upcoming weather conditions in Lebanon.

Best Month to Visit Lebanon: (updated 2011)
April – May is the best period to visit Lebanon.
October – November is also a good period if you can not make it in May.

If you would like to check the Lebanese Google Search engine, make sure you visit the official regional website of google in Lebanon by going to: Google.com.lb

The Lebanese version of Google, displays results most relevant to Lebanon and the Lebanese websites. While the results still show International websites, the focus and the search results are more in favor of Lebanese content and Lebanese websites.

Lebanon just like many countries in the middle east is awaiting for the presence of Google on its land.

Nawal Al Zoghbi Lebanese Singer

Name(s): Nawal Al Zoghbi – Nawal El Zoghby

Occupation: Singer

Date of Birth: 29th of June 1972 (Lebanon)

Marital Status: Divorced in 2008 from Elie Deeb.

Background: Nawal first appeared in Studio El Fan, a singing and talent show directed by Simon Asmar in 1988. Her debut album was entitled Yehyati Andak and was released in 1992. She sang a famous duet with Wael Kfouri and they both were the stars on the nineties.  Nawal career in music spans over 21 years. Nawal was married has three children from her marriage with Lebanese music producer Elie Deeb which ended in divorce in 2008.

Education: Unavailable

Albums:

• Khalas Samehit – 2008
• Yama Alo – 2006
• Einik Kaddabin – 2004
• Elli Tmaneto – 2002
• Tool Omri – 2001
• El Layali – 2000
• Maloum – 1999
• Mandam Aleik – 1998
• Habeit Ya Leil – 1997
• Balai Fee Zamany – 1995
• Ayza El Radd – 1994
• Wehyati Andak – 1992

Titles & Awards:

• Murex D’or Award: Best Female Lebanese Singer of the year 2004.
• Ranked 5th on the list of Sexiest and Most Desirable Arab Women in 2009.

Israeli and Syrian withdrawal and the disarmament of the militant organizations was agreed upon. However, the war ended in the favor of the Syrians as it gave Syria the authority to protect the defenseless nation. This was further cemented on May 20th, 1991 with the signing of the Lebanese Syrian treaty of cooperation where Lebanon was to be economically and politically dependent upon Damascus.

This unfair conclusion of the conflict can be drawn from two events. With the loss of Iran as an American ally and the Iraqi oil fields damaged from the war, the United States depended more heavily on the oil from Saudi Arabia. The Saudi royal family was uncomfortable with the fact that their ally was the patron of the regional adversary of the Islamic nations. It was not a coincidence that the delegates met in Saudi Arabia to discuss the end of the war. The American and Saudi delegation supported a treaty that allowed Syria rather than Israel the upper hand in Lebanon. Also the American administration allowed the Lebanon-Syria cooperation treaty to pass as the Syrians promised to support the coalition forces in the Gulf war. The placement of Syrian authority in Lebanon did not resolve the inherent conflict between the Maronite and the Muslim factions. The chance for peace in Lebanon was missed as small scale violence between Christians and Muslims continued in the war torn country.