A five story building collapsed in Beirut’s Ashrafieh neighborhood of Fesouh on Sunday 2 were reported dead so far and 11 wounded .

The search continues

Salam reportedly suffered minor injuries

The civil defense has urged the residents to stay away from the building .

The head of the Red Cross also told LBC: We urge the residents to stay away from the building to allow us to evacuate the people and take care of them.

Several people were taken to hospitals for treatment including one new born baby and a woman.

30 people reportedly were in the building when it collapsed

Lebanon’s minister of Interior Marwan Charbel is at the scene

Update: MTV reported that at least 10 were wounded
MTV reported that several bodies were found under the rubble

The mayor of Beirut arrived at the scene with MP Michel Pharaon

Four wounded were rescued from under the rubble. One of them was identified as Jack Jaarah.

According to MTV, the five-story building, erected in the 1960s, collapsed due to cracks in its walls that came as a result of bad weather conditions. The building is located on Al-Mitran Atallah Street in the Fesouh neighborhood of Ashrafieh.

MP Nadim Gemayel arrived at the scene of the collapsed building to ensure that all the wounded receive the proper treatment. He urged all hospital to receive all the wounded and treat them on emergency basis.

NNA reported seven injuries so far . NNA also reported that in addition to Lebanese , Sudanese and Egyptian nationals resided in the building

Health Minister Al Hassan Khalil arrived at the scene and urged hospital to receive all the wounded and treat them on urgent basis at the Lebanese government’s expense.

The body of Ann Mary Abdel Karim (15) was found under the rubble.
A committee was formed by PM Nagib Mikati to investigate the collapse of the building and to find out who is responsible , the Health minster said.

President Michel Suleiman reportedly also headed to scene of the incident but this could not be confirmed

Death toll rose to 2

NNA reported that an engineering team is inspecting the two adjacent buildings and has asked the authorities to evacuate them

Another injured resident Antoinette Abdel Karim (16) was found and taken to a hospital in nearby Gemayzeh for treatment

Speaking to MTV by telephone, Journalist Tareq Karam, an Ashrafieh resident, described the scene as “scary.”

Update : One dead and 8 injured according to the most recent reports

Update: NNA reported that four members of Tanious Farhat family ( From Jezzine district ) are still unaccounted for and the search for them continues

Update: Interior minister Marwan Charbel told reporters : Two were found dead and 11 wounded as a result of the collapse of the five -story building

Update: president Michel Suleiman arrived at the scene of the collapsed building

Suleiman earlier today called for boosting efforts in order to rescue the people trapped under the building

Air passenger traffic fell in the first week of August from a daily average of 15,000 to 7,000 which is in excess of 50 percent less than traffic recorded for the same period in the month of July.

On the other hand more people are departing. The daily average of passengers departing from Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut was at 10,600 in the first week of August compared 7,000 to 8,000 passengers in July.

Local travel agencies and several airline companies say the number of bookings indicate that a sizeable number of Lebanese want to return to the country at the end of August in order to spend the Eid el-Fitr at home.

Trouble erupted after a Beirut-bound Middle East Airlines plane, with 230 passengers aboard, had to abort a 5pm take-off on Thursday, having already missed its original 1pm departure slot.

With the Airbus A330 not given another slot until around 7.30pm, disgruntled passengers argued with crew, raided the galleys and started ‘pushing and shoving’, name-calling and engaging in ‘fisticuffs’, said witnesses.

A Lebanese woman passenger was said to have suffered ‘heart palpitations’, and a male passenger needed to be given oxygen.

Up to eight police officers boarded the plane at 5.50pm but there were no arrests after the fracas and flight ME 202 eventually took off for Lebanon, apparently with all passengers still onboard.
Speaking from Beirut, one London-based businessman explained how trouble broke out, saying: ‘The atmosphere was very tense and a middle-aged man told the crew member he was an idiot.

‘And that was when the pushing and shoving began. The captain came out once and I told him he had failed in his duty, to which he replied I should fly the plane.’

Another passenger, legal translator Jordan Lancaster, 45, compared the chaos to Lord Of The Flies, the novel about a group of schoolboys who descend into savagery when a plane crash leaves them marooned on an island.

Giving the Daily Mail an account of the unrest as it unfolded, she said: ‘People are hysterical. The crew have given up trying to explain the situation to people, and it has ended up in fisticuffs. Several men are also arguing with the captain. This guy in his 50s is so worked up he is being given oxygen.’

As Miss Lancaster gave her account from the cabin over the phone, a male cabin crew member was heard over the intercom system telling passengers: ‘If any of our crew have been rude to you, we apologize for that. We need passengers to hold their horses and calm down.’

Another passenger described the situation as ‘a mutiny’.

The airline said it did not disembark the passengers because it was hopeful of getting a take-off slot and did not want to miss it.

The plane had been taxiing along the runway at 5pm with a view to taking off when the control tower told the plane that it could not because of bad weather en route.

Middle East Airlines’ UK and Ireland manager Naima Kassir said the flight took off at around 8pm and arrived in Beirut five hours later without further incident, adding: ‘Some passengers were in transit from Canada and must have been tired. They got abusive and intimidated the crew.’

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘We were called at 5.50pm to a Middle East Airlines flight at Heathrow Terminal 3 following reports of a disturbance. There were no arrests.’

Heathrow airport operator BAA said that altogether about 50 departures and 29 arrivals were called off because of high winds and thunderstorms. A spokesman said the schedule was expected to be ‘running fine’ today.

The Daily Mail

A young girl asks for money from a driver in Beirut

Coming from outside of Lebanon and seeing the images of these desperate yet fearless children begging in the streets is heartbreaking. However, after spending enough time here, you come to realize that these children might be part of a begging network and because of this you begin to dismiss them by avoiding eye contact in hopes they will stop tapping at your car window until that light turns green. At this point, these children have become part of the cluttered ‘décor’ that makes up the streets of Lebanon.

Drivers have adapted to these images and occurrences, therefore, so has the government but ignoring this issue will not make it go away, it has only contributed to the ever-growing social problems here. We must ask ourselves what chance at a future does a child have when he starts his life in the lap of his beggar mother who is using him as a ploy to incite sympathy from passer-bys? What role will this child play in our society when he becomes an adult after being programmed his whole life to lie, manipulate, beg and steal to survive? We will find out the hard way when it is no longer suitable to ignore.

It is estimated that there are over 100,000 child workers in Lebanon, approximately 20% are Lebanese and the rest are of foreign or mixed origin. Every one of these children should be in school learning how to read instead of in the streets learning how to beg. No child should be exposed to life on the streets with the risk falling into the wrong hands and something must be done about it.

Most of us have evolved into realizing that counting on the government to do something will get us nowhere. The Ministry of Interior will not intervene without a complaint filed on behalf of the child’s parents, disregarding the fact that in most cases it is the child’s parent(s) that put them these situations.

However, there are a number of other solutions for this problem such as NGOs, adoption and schooling; yet, they receive little or no support. The NGOs that have been authorized to deal with these children lack funding but if they were able to secure the proper funding, these children would have a place to sleep at night, not based on the condition of whether they brought back enough money for the day. These children will also have the chance to feel protected and to develop properly; necessities their parents are unable to provide. In some cases, these kids are orphans and because the adoption process in Lebanon is complex, they may always remain orphans for the rest of their unfortunate lives. Since only Christian institutions in Lebanon recognize adoptions as a legal convention, it limits the possibility to provide a loving home for a child and vice versa. Finally, there should be legal enforcement of mandatory schooling regardless of background, social class or income. Schools teach a child discipline and encourage them to be positive contribution to society rather than a delinquent.

If we focus on these solutions rather than avoiding the problems, every child could have a chance at a normal childhood, something they are entitled too. However, if we continue to pretend these children do not exist or think there is nothing we can do about it, we will end up paying for the consequences tomorrow because we have not addressed this issue today.

In the area of Achrafieh now called Sodeco, once known as Nasra, there sits a gorgeous ruin. Hidden behind the tarpaulin announcing future plans for the structure, the Barakat Building, also known as the Yellow House, is a rare piece of Beirut architectural history.

The Barakat Building is one of Beirut's most emblematic structures, one that epitomizes both the city’s history and the ravages of the Lebanese Civil War.

Because it is located along what came to be called the Green Line – the demarcation line separating “Muslim West Beirut” from “Christian East Beirut” – the structure came to be a favorite snipers’ nest during the 1975-90 Civil War.

The Yellow House emerged from that era severely damaged, seemingly fit for nothing but demolition so the land could be redeveloped – the fate of so many Beirut-area historic buildings.

But activists tried to save the Barakat Building from this fate.

Architect and preservation activist Mona Hallak dedicated 13 years of her life to saving this building from destruction and to preserve it as an important part of Beirut’s cultural history and memory. She wrote articles, lobbied politicians with petitions and organized demonstrations in front of the Barakat Building.

The building was very special when it was first erected, sometime in the 1920s, Hallak said, since its design marked it as an “avant-garde building.”

Erected on the corner of the Damascus Road and today’s Rue Eliyas Sarkis, the building forms an L-shaped structure, whose “elbow” was left open on its first and second floors.

Rare in the early 20th century, such a structural void was seen to be a modern innovation, Hallak added, since “every room had a front view onto the streets. So, there was a visual access to everyone living in the Barakat Building.”

Kozah elaborated on Aftimos’ construction in 1932 and added the concrete colonnade, nowadays heavily scarred by war damage, on the building’s southern face. This colonnade is not only aesthetically pleasing; it is characteristic of a transition (from stone to concrete) in local materials and building techniques.

As noted, the Yellow House’s function changed dramatically during the Civil War. After 1990, the most important thing about the building seemed to be how much its plot of land was worth to developers.

Between 1997 and 2003, Hallak fought to convince the government that it should expropriate the building, in order to facilitate it being re-made into a public space. After many campaigns and petitions, the Lebanese government finally acquired the Barakat Building.

Since 2008, the Yellow House has experienced a renaissance. Once doomed to destruction, it is now set to be transformed into Beit Beirut, a Museum and Urban Cultural Center scheduled to open in 2013. The objective of this project is to valorize the city’s architectural heritage with a memorial to the Civil War.

Beit Beirut will not be “a space dedicated to the dead,” said Youssef Haidar, the project’s architectural consultant, “but a memorial to [human] exchange and debates on history.”

This project is the fruit of cooperation between Beirut and Paris, who signed their first pact of friendship and cooperation in 1993. Renewed in 2006, this partnership centers on the architectural heritage and culture of Beirut. The Barakat Building was chosen to symbolize this alliance between both cities.

Architect Habib Debs, who also played an active role in efforts to preserve the structure, told The Daily Star that “for the last century, the concept of a museum [has] evolved a lot in Europe and in the U.S. And we are trying to bring that same vision to Lebanon, with the idea of opening our country to the world.”

In Haidar’s view, this project has a significant civil society aspect.

The citizens taking part in Beit Beirut wanted it to be more than just a museum, he said. They wanted it to be a space for memory, exchange, debates and exhibitions, all related to the city’s history.

The building’s first floor, he said, will be dedicated to artifacts and symbols of the war years that were found in the ruined building. Here, Najib Chemali, a dentist, left all his belongings during the war. His dentist’s chair and the remains of his clinic have been kept by experts and will be exhibited.

The same is true of the snipers’ nest and the bunkers they built in the building, then abandoned after the war.

On the other floors of Beit Beirut, visitors will find a restaurant, a boutique selling replicas of museum pieces, an auditorium (for conferences and debates), a space for workshops (presently envisioned to be dedicated to questions of memory and history and the like), and an 800-square-meter exhibition space.

Haidar says Beit Beirut will have three main axes. “First, a museum about Beirut’s memory. Second, a space on the history of the city, centered on the Civil War period. And third, a platform focusing on the question of urbanism to inform the visitors.”

“The commercial aspect of the project is very limited,” Haidar insists, adding that all revenues will be used to maintain the building and the museum.

Beit Beirut and The Daily Star

And the title goes to … Ziyad Baroud, minister of Interior and Municipalities … applause? This title could be added to Baroud’s collection, but he should perhaps take a closer look at it since it is not as notable as the others.

Just like our Lebanese ministers today, Napoleon carried his selfishness so far that it was not easy to persuade him on any issue that did not concern himself. Napoleon was also responsible for the bloodshed on the battlefield while Baroud is also being held responsible for the bloodshed on the battlefield of traffic we face every day. When Baroud became minister in 2008, one of the first things on his agenda was to ease the burden of traffic, yet, here we are in 2010 and traffic has become quite the epidemic keeping Lebanon with a record for the worst traffic and accidents in the Arab world.

Although, I appreciate Baroud being outspoken on this dilemma by quoting facts and figures, and I got a kick out of seeing him leading the hajiz (security checkpoint) in Achrafieh at 1:30 am, realistically these gestures are not making a difference. Raising the fines of infractions 300 percent is really not a deterrent, especially when some of us have wasta (clout) and others simply cannot afford it. Baroud could have been a good representative of the people but he simply got sucked into the Lebanese system that is too complicated to beat, so he had no choice but to join them. So it may not be fair to ask him to take full responsibility for the issues concerning traffic, especially considering the government’s weak support system.

Therefore, while we wait on traffic reforms to be implemented, crashes and deaths resulting from crashes are being recorded daily in Lebanon. So at this point, we have three options: 1. Do nothing and accept things for the way they are. 2. Wait on the government to do something. 3. Take matters into our own hands. Obviously the first two options have never taken anyone anywhere.

Now instead of relying on the government or one man to make a difference, it is time for us to set the records straight. Perhaps the traffic here represents Lebanon and the character of most people in Lebanon: fast paced, chaotic, impatient with quick reactions and tempers. So first and foremost, we all need to SLOW DOWN; excessive speed is a factor in one third of all fatal crashes. Slow down and relax, leave five minutes earlier than usual and don’t stress when you get stuck in the inevitable aj’a (congestion) because we all know in Lebanon, if you are late then you are on time and if you don’t show up then you are late.

Second, obey the officer in army fatigues smoking his cigarette and directing traffic, he is placed there when the traffic lights (sometimes out) are not helping with the gridlock and be patient with him since he is working with aggressive drivers in our summer’s heat.

Third, make sure your car’s maintenance is up to date. The accident in early September that killed a family of five in Damour village occurred when their four-wheeler overturned after one of its tires ruptured, lives that could have been spared due to simple maintenance. Importantly, pedestrians should always have the right of way; pay attention to people walking on the side of the road or crossing the street and let them pass, they are no match to a three-ton vehicle. Also, don’t forget to wear your seatbelt, instead forget the excuses as to why you can’t wear it because over 60 percent of people killed in accidents were not wearing theirs.

Lastly, when using a cell phone either put the Bluetooth on or hang up and drive and wait until you are at a full stop to read/send that SMS or BBM. Distracted drivers account for 98 percent of most automobile accidents which also happens to be the leading cause of death for people under the age of 35.

These are just a few of the steps we can take as responsible drivers to ensure somewhat safer roads but to increase the probability of safety, the government should help us by taking the following steps:

* The process for obtaining a driver’s license should not be lenient (wasta or no wasta) and should not be made available for purchase.

* A hajiz should be studied and carefully setup. The September accident on Jiyeh road killing six people and injuring more than 10 was partially blamed on the hajiz for being in the middle of the highway and also excessive speed.

* Lebanon needs more overpasses and underpasses, more traffic lights that always function, street lights on dark roads and officers with proper training that follow through on traffic regulations.

Finally, just like the advertisement from Label 5 says, “Be Different. Respect Traffic Laws,” especially by not drinking and driving. If we do our part, hopefully it will motivate the government and others to do theirs. Quite possibly our Napoleon could be better known for leading us into a victory of safer roads that will allow for the smooth flow of traffic and less stress on our streets, in our cars and our lives.

Diana Nemeh has a love/hate relationship with Lebanon. She loves Lebanon because it is a beautiful country with so much contradiction and an unlimited amount of potential. She hates it because the unlimited amount of potential is never used for its beauty but only to contradict it.

Here, splayed across one of the plywood walls that surround proliferating construction sites is the logo for Norman Foster’s architectural firm, announcing a trio of residential towers. There, on a billboard down the street from the glitzy Buddha Bar is the signature bald head of the French architect Jean Nouvel, who’s creating a complex called, modestly, The Landmark.

Thanks to a couple of years of relative stability, this Middle Eastern capital is building like the Pharaohs. But the boom has come at a cost. Older buildings, full of wonderful Arabian details, have been demolished. People on five-figure incomes have been priced out.

Fortunately, there is an antidote. When the personality of the city starts to feel stifled by steel and glass, I often catch a taxi and tell the driver the one word that embodies all that is most dynamic, inspiring and authentic about Beirut: Hamra.

Long the center of intellectual life and leftist politics before the 1975-1990 civil war, this neighborhood of venerable six-story apartment buildings, leafy university campuses and teeming street life has been undergoing a renaissance of its own. A spate of new book-lined Wi-Fi cafes, contemporary art spaces, cozy bars, and eclectic music clubs are helping re-establish Hamra as the city’s most progressive, happening corner.

All along the diverse main drag, Hamra Street, fully black veiled Shiite Muslim matrons drift past dolled-up, miniskirted Christian women, and purveyors of Koranic literature share the pavement with slick bookshops selling French-language interior design tomes.

To find some of Hamra’s more interesting characters, you might begin by visiting the two-year-old Galerie Tanit, which has joined the older Agial Art Gallery in raising the profile of Hamra as a contemporary art center.

On an August afternoon the walls were decorated with several of large collages by Zena el-Khalil, a 34-year-old author and top Lebanese artist who has lived next to Hamra for years and rhapsodized about the neighborhood in a memoir, “Beirut, I Love You.”

In Ms. Khalil’s art, cut-outs of Lebanese, Syrian and Israeli characters and icons have been feminized with loads of glitter, fake flowers and rainbows. Plastic pistols have been covered in girly pink paint. But the superficial silliness of the works belie Ms. Khalil’s intelligence and compassion.

“I take objects of violence and aggression and über-masculinity and I kind of take them in and spit them out into my world, which is filled with love and beauty and peace,” Ms. Khalil said. “Death is a few steps away. And so I think that you develop a kind of humor or irony when you live in a situation like this, and it helps you get through life.”

Ms. Khalil offered a quick tip upon parting: Try some of Hamra’s new generation of cafes. For the Birkenstock brigades, the hangout of choice is Bread Republic, a two-year-old bakery and cafe that hosts a small outdoor farmer’s market on Tuesdays. For the creative set, the new hub is T-Marbouta. Like a java-junkie speakeasy, the space is hidden away on the second level of a humdrum shopping mall (the Pavilion Center) in a ramshackle side street primarily frequented by old Lebanese women eager to snap up cheap plastic shoes.

Within the dark cafe, Gauloises cigarette smoke drifted among the paintings by local artists, exhaled by bespectacled grad students and media types who tap the keys on their MacBooks. The music of Fairouz, the great Lebanese diva, filtered quietly from the sound system.

“From the beginning, T-Marbouta has sought to be politically and socially engaged,” read the manifesto on the menu, in English. “An open cultural space where all could come to socialize, read, meet, surf the net, and discuss issues of the day.”

Hala Alsalman, a 32-year-old Canadian-Iraqi documentary filmmaker, sat on a vintage couch next to the cafe’s separate library, which has film screenings on Monday nights and offers an impressive buffet of books, CDs and DVDs.

She was in Beirut to document the rebuilding of the old, destroyed synagogue in downtown Beirut as part of a film project about Jews in the Middle East. Beirut’s Jewish community has dwindled to fewer than 100 people, she said, but the synagogue project has nonetheless won partial funding from Solidaire — the development corporation in charge of rebuilding much of Beirut’s downtown — and the green light from Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim militant organization and political party.

Read the complete article at NY Times

Around 150 Lebanese men and women marched late Saturday in Beirut’s downtown area to pay homage to the memory of the old buildings and houses that used to represent Beirut’s heritage and protest against further destruction.

“We are walking today holding candles hopefully to shine light on the damage being done to Beirut’s old heritage,” said Alfred Cochrane, one of the participants. His family owns several Ottoman-era mansions in Beirut.

The march took place in the old neighborhood of Gemmazyeh, where old houses are being destroyed to make way for modern buildings.

According to the organizers “every one of those houses which are being destroyed has a story to tell.”

“By demolishing those old houses they are destroying our memories,” Cochrane said.

The Association for Protecting Natural Sites and Old Buildings in Lebanon, APSAD, is waging a campaign to create awareness about the city’s fading architectural heritage, which is being destroyed and replaced by Dubai-style skyscrapers.

“Beirut used to be a city of gorgeous mansions and gardens and now it has become a boring heap of high-rises and construction projects,” said Yvonne Sursock Cochrane, 88, founder of the Association for Protecting Natural Sites and Old Buildings in Lebanon (APSAD).

“We are destroying old houses which in other countries no one would dare touch,” Cochrane, whose family owns one of Beirut’s most beautiful Ottoman-era mansions, told AFP.

Of 1,200 old mansions and buildings inventoried in 1995 by the culture ministry, a mere 400 are left, officials say.

APSAD has been calling on the government to reform several old laws to protect and support the owners of traditional houses and buildings.

“The government should help finance the maintenance of historical districts in order to safeguard the historical image of Beirut,” Pacsal Ingea, one of the organizers of the march, said.

Ingea wore a white T-shirt saying: “Save Beirut’s Heritage.”

He stressed that Beirut should maintain its historical image and that laws should limit high rises to areas in direct need of urban development.

Most of Beirut’s old houses have already destroyed in the 1975-1990 civil. Demolition of old houses and building is becoming a daily sight in the city, whose skyline bristles with building cranes.

The resulting high rise modern flats are being built and sold for millions of dollars to Arab businessmen and Lebanese expatriates.

A recent United Nations Development Program report said that in the next decade, 300,000 new buildings will be added to Beirut’s already-crowded urban fabric.

The report added that the city will be left with virtually no public spaces or natural green areas.

Politicians

Architect Fadlallah Dagher, a member of APSAD, said given that many of Lebanon’s politicians also dabble in property, it should come as no surprise that draft legislation to protect the country’s architectural heritage has been sitting in parliament for eight years.

“It’s no secret in Lebanon that a lot of politicians are in real estate and have no interest to safeguard old homes,” Dagher said, sitting in his family villa in Beirut’s traditional neighborhood of Gemayzeh.

“Where there is land, there is money to be made,” he added. “I was once told by real estate developers not to meddle in their affairs and to go elsewhere if I was looking for culture.”

Culture Minister Salim Wardy, who recently set up a hotline for people to report threatened buildings, acknowledged that he had come under intense pressure by politicians and developers to take bribes and turn a blind eye to the destruction.

“We’re simply trying to preserve the identity of our city,” he said. “We’re trying to save what is left.”
More pictures of old houses
AFP/ DPA

Lebanese citizens march for the protection of Beirut's architectural heritage on late Saturday in the Gemmayzeh neighborhood of Beirut

Dubai has been steadily falling in the ranks of the most expensive cities in the world but this year it dropped off the scale of the top 20, the report said.

It came in at 31st, compared with its position of 12th last year.

“Price decreases have been … spectacular in Dubai,” the report by the consultancy EuroCost International said.

Billy Rautenbach, the managing director of The Property Store, said renting a home could take up as much as 70 per cent of a resident’s salary in 2008, while it cost only 20 per cent now.

“Maybe your salary has been cut or your turnover has declined, but the cost of living in Dubai has gone down considerably more,” Ms Rautenbach said.

Rental and sales prices have dropped between 15 and 70 per cent since their peaks. Abu Dhabi moved down one slot to 12th, from its position of 11th most expensive city last year.

The capital has seen its rental rates decline across the board but they are still at a significant premium to Dubai’s vast residential supply.

Shanghai and Beijing also dropped off the top 20 rankings, due to the global housing recession and exchange rate fluctuations.

tourists sunbathe as others swim at the St. George Yacht club in Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon expects nearly 2.2 million tourists in 2010

Ms Rautenbach said Beirut was seeing rents increase because of a sharp undersupply of homes.

EuroCost said four new cities had joined the ranking as their commercial importance increased.

Sydney became the 14th most expensive place to rent, up from its rank of 41st last year, as the Australian dollar appreciated against the euro.

Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo is now the second most expensive city in Africa at 18th, behind Luanda, Angola, which is ranked fifth.

Rio de Janeiro made the biggest jump, to 19th from 71st last year.