Rabih Dagher

You have previously heard about the documentary exposing Lebanese faking their Canadian permanent residency, and this one just adds to it.

Quebec’s healthcare system RAMQ (Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec) is trying to recuperate around $500,000 caused by the illegal use of the system, which made it the largest fraud in RAMQ’s history in relation to illegal use of the medical card. And guess what, the majority of this is caused by Lebanese.

RAMQ has investigated in the recent months around 1,700 immigrants. More than two-third of them, the majority Lebanese, have simulated their presence in Quebec with the help of a fraudulent Lebanese immigration lawyer, the famous now Nizar Zakka. They have obtained a medical card and used it for healthcare services totaling $500,000. RAMQ was only able to recuperate around $42,000 since most of the immigrants do not live in Quebec. The control of this fraudulent activity will not be easy until RAMQ implements its new barcode card.

You can read the investigation report on RAMQ’s official website here.

Quebec's healthcare system (RAMQ) medical card

One by one, Lebanese designers are conquering catwalks across Europe. While many designers in Europe have faced problems due to the economic downturn, Lebanon’s fashion designers have had no shortage of work. They are thriving as the country profits from a year of political stability.

BBC correspondent Natalie Antelava reports below from Beirut on Lebanon’s bid to become the capital of the Middle East fashion world:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

China has just launched the fastest express train in the world on the longest track on earth. At a speed of around 400 km/h, this locomotive is so smooth that even a standing cigarette won’t be toppled. It ran from the central city of Wuhan down to the south coast in a record of less than 3 hours, compared to the 10 and a half hours that it normally used to take.

This is not something new for the Chinese, and if you’ve been to Shanghai then you know what I mean. They have the Maglev train that takes you from Shanghai airport to downtown at a speed topping 432 km/h.

Check out the express train in the video below:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Compare this with the History book in which we used to study in Lebanon.

Danish students could soon be allowed full access to the internet while sitting their final school exams if a pilot scheme goes well. They can use the internet to answer any of the questions, but cannot communicate with each other or with anyone outside the classroom.

More on this in the video below by BBC News:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Chinese meteorologists say they brought about Beijing’s earliest snowfall in a decade, after seeding rain clouds with silver iodide to ease a drought.

The Weather Modification Office sprayed clouds with 186 doses of the chemical to bring rain for the wheat crop, the Beijing Evening News said. But the arrival of a cold front caused heavy snow to fall, disrupting road, rail and air travel. Cloud seeding is often used in China in an attempt to bring on rain. The country’s north is prone to droughts, while the south is often flooded.

Check it out in the video below:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

The internet regulator has approved plans to allow non-Latin-script web addresses, including Arabic, Chinese, in a move that is set to transform the online world.

The board of Icann voted at its annual meeting in Seoul to allow domain names in Arabic, Chinese and other scripts. More than half of the 1.6 billion people who use the internet speak languages with non-Latin scripts. It is being described as the biggest change to the way the internet works since it was created 40 years ago. The first Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) could be in use next year.

More on this in the video below:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

A Hong Kong property developer claims to have set a world record last week for the sale of a five bedroom luxury apartment, at $57m. The five-bedroom home is believed to be Asia’s most expensive property - with each sq foot costing $9,200.

The unidentified new owner from mainland China bought the property in 39 Conduit Road, one of Hong Kong’s most exclusive addresses. The apartment, about 6,000 sq feet (557 sq metres), is on the 68th floor of the building and has views over the harbour. The owner has access to facilities including an aroma spa centre, a fitness room and an outdoor yoga gym.

Property prices in Hong Kong have benefited from mainland China’s booming market, however it has one of the world’s most expensive property markets - with many locals finding it difficult to buy.

Watch the video below by BBC News:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Rami, hats off to you.

‘The man in the Cube’ is a project organized by The League of Independent Activists – IndyACT aiming to raise global urgency on the critical dangers of global warming and to urge world leaders to take fast and effective action against climate change in Copenhagen this year.

‘The man in the cube’ (Rami Eid) represents “the last man on earth” enduring a fierce struggle for survival against climate change effects. He will be living in a transparent 4 meter square cube on Ein El-Mreyseh in Beirut, Lebanon, for 3 days starting October 16th, 2009.

The ‘last man’ simulates the possibility of a dim future for mankind where we failed to act against climate change when we had the chance.

Follow the man in the cube on twitter and his personal blog.

Rami Eid, the man in the cube - themaninthecube.wordpress.com

via IndyACT blog

A human X-ray machine that produces “naked” images of passengers has just started a trial at Manchester Airport. The authorities say it will speed up security checks by quickly revealing any concealed weapons or explosives. But the scanner also picks out the contours of every part of the body, not leaving much to the imagination.

Check it out in the video below by BBC News:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Update (October 25th, 2009): Congratulations to the Lebanese again! We broke the third record for the largest tabbouleh ever made weighing 3557 kilograms!

Update (October 24th, 2009): Congratulations to the Lebanese people! We broke the two records for the largest plate to hold food and the largest hummus plate weighing 2056 kilograms! One more to go!

As part of a campaign to claim the ownership of the traditional dishes from Israel that currently holds those two records, the Lebanese Industrialists Association (LIA) is arranging a special public ceremony to break Israeli records in downtown Beirut on October 24 and 25. The hummus plate will be prepared on the first day, and the tabbouleh the following day. In addition to that, they are trying to break a third record, which is the largest plate itself.

Renowned Lebanese chef Ramzi Choueiri, manager of Al Kafaàt catering school, will be supervising the work of his 250 students at the cooking school in setting the new record of a 5-metre diameter bowl of hummus. The targeted bowl of tabbouleh should exceed 2 tonnes.

Stay tuned for the results!

2009 Largest Hummus Guinnes Record in Lebanon - twitpic.com/photos/arzleb

tipped via Jad Aoun’s Blog

An electric battery-powered unicycle, shaped like a figure eight, has been unveiled in Japan last week. The unicycle unit U3-X, produced by Honda Motor Co, can be steered by leaning in the direction the rider wants to go. The vehicle, which is in the development stage, has a maximum speed of 6 km per hour (3.7 mph) and weighs less than 10 kilos.

Check it out in the video below by BBC News:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

An Indonesian woman has given birth to an 8.7 kilograms (19.2 pounds) baby boy, the heaviest newborn ever recorded in the country, a doctor said Wednesday.

The baby, who is named ‘Akbar’ which in Arabic means ‘Great’, is 62 centimeters (24.4 inches) long and was born by cesarean section last week at a public hospital in North Sumatra province. He’s got strong appetite and the way he cries is very loud. The boy’s massive size was likely the result of his mother, Ani, 41, having diabetes.

Check how big he is compared to other babies in the video below by ITV News:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

And you wonder why the term Lebanese is not very appreciated in the Western world.

It is a shame (at least for me) to bring you this. Last week, a documentary appearing on Radio Canada’s show Enquête exposed the Lebanese faking their Canadian Permanent Residency to seek the Canadian Citizenship. Here is the documentary split into four parts for those who didn’t have the chance to see it:

Part 1:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Part 2:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Part 3:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Part 4:
Get the Flash Player to see this player.

An American University of Beirut (AUB) medical team successfully performed the first “artificial heart” implant in Lebanon, thus saving the life of a 37-year-old man suffering from terminal heart failure, the AUB said in a statement issued on Thursday.

It said the six-hour operation led by two AUB doctors took place at the American University of Beirut Medical Center Aug. 28. AUB deemed the operation “successful” as the patient survived the first critical 72 hours, showing improvements in all his vital signs.

The “artificial heart” implant operation involves the insertion of a device called a Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) that takes over the functions of the left ventricle of the heart, the dominant chamber which is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood via the aorta to the rest of the body. The LVAD used in this surgery is called Heartmate II. It is manufactured by the U.S. medical technology company, Thoratec.

The two AUB doctors, Dr. Pierre Sfeir and Dr. Hadi Skouri, were assisted by a multidisciplinary medical team, including the leading expert on LVAD operations, Dr. Latif Arusoglu, a German surgeon, as well as a clinical specialist, both dispatched by Thoratec.

Lebanon's first artifical heart implant performed at AUB - Naharnet

On Saturday August 29th, the Lebanese village of Ehden entered the Guinness World Book of Records for cooking the world’s largest plate of Kibbeh, which is a traditional dish for which Ehden is famous. Kibbeh is a Levantine Arab/Assyrian dish made of burghul and chopped meat.

Twenty five women participated in cooking the Kibbe plate, which had an area of 20 square meters and weighed 233 kilograms. They used 120 kilos of mince, 80 litres of olive oil, 80 kilos of cracked wheat, five kilos of salt and a mere kilo of pepper. The event was attended by the Guinness records’ regional representative, Talal Omar, who presented the certificate to Rima Franjieh, the head of the Maydan Institute which organized the festival.

Lebanese Kibbeh in Guinness Book - Joseph Barrak

Update (June 21st 2009): The Lebanese broke the record!!! The new Guinness Book Record is 4475! Congrats.

Take part in making history! Come help Tollab - the Lebanese students’ federation in Montreal - in one of the biggest record breaking events of 2009!

It is within the framework of the annual Lebanese festival in Montreal (held on June 19th, 20th and 21st 2009) that Tollab, in collaboration with MAESTRO travel, aims at setting up a new record for the longest dabke chain ever assembled; an accomplishment that will enter the famous Guinness book of records after being approved by its official representative.

The Federation’s goal is to gather 3500 people at the Marcelin-Wilson Park on the 20th of June, and invite them to dance the Dabke for at least 5 minutes. This event will provide Montreal an international exposure that will highlight its multicultural face, hence uniting all Lebanese and Montrealers of all colors, religions, names or cultures.

The event will take place at 7:30 pm on June 20th 2009 at the Marcelin-Wilson Park, which is located on 11301 boul. de l`Acadie in Montreal, Quebec.

If you would like to participate, there’s no registration beforehand, so you only need to show up for the event.
For more information, you can visit the event’s official facebook page here, or contact Tollab at communication@tollab.ca.

Tollab's 2009 Dabke record in Guinness Book flyer

Canada’s biggest cancer hospital announced that it expanded a clinic that can offer what no other hospital in this country can: same-day breast cancer diagnosis. The rapid diagnostic breast clinic at Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital will be able to provide a patient a diagnosis in a matter of hours instead of the more typical five-week wait.

Patients also receive an immediate treatment plan based on their diagnosis, which explains their treatment options: surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. Women in Canada typically wait weeks for a diagnosis after finding a suspicious lump in their breast. But at Princess Margaret, almost 500 patients have quietly been undergoing rapid testing at the clinic as part of a pilot project that began in the fall of 2006.

More about this in the video below by CTV:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

I’ve been seeing this everywhere in downtown Montreal, so I thought of posting something about it. Bixi is Montreal’s public bicycle sharing system. The $15-million Bixi program was officially launched last Tuesday at city hall, where Mayor Gérald Tremblay took the first ride. It’s the first of its kind to be launched in Canada.

Bixi is a portmanteau word of bicycle and taxi created by Michel Gourdeau. It was conceived and fabricated in Montreal. 3,000 bikes are available for short-term rental from the 300 stations located in Montreal’s downtown core. The bikes, which cost $2,000 apiece, are made of aluminum and are theft-proof, according to their designers. The bikes are very innovative. They contain a GPS chip, and if rented and not returned, they will slow down, and the brakes will lock automatically.

The stations are installed progressively in the spring, starting at the beginning of May, depending on weather conditions. Stations are kept in service until the end of November before being removed from the streets during harsh winter months. Cyclists can subscribe to the service at a cost of $78 for a year, $28 for a month or $5 for a day. The first 30 minutes of each rental are free.

More on the Bixi program in the video below by CTV:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

This post is an exclusive scoop.

If you’re Lebanese and a raver, then you have definitely heard of Gunther & Stamina. They are two brilliant Lebanese DJs who are famous for their long sets (sometimes up to eight hours) every Saturday at b018, Beirut, Lebanon where they hold a residency every week Thursday, Friday & Saturday as main act. And guess what? They are coming to Montreal on May 29th 2009 to play in club Karma!

Gunther teamed up with Stamina (Elias Merheb) in 2005, and since then they became well known in the Lebanese rave scene. Their long sets are blended with the latest underground music from ambient minimal to deep House, progressive, tribal, tech-house and techno. They hold as well a week-end star residency on MixFM, the official number one station in the middle-east, every Friday from 20:00 till 21:00 (Underground sessions is the name of the show).

Update (May 29th 2009): Quoting unconfirmed sources, the Canadian visa was given late to Gunther & Stamina and the show has been postponed to a later notice.

Contact Address of Karma Club:
4467 boulevard Saint-Laurent
Montréal, QC H2W 1Z8, Canada
(514) 658-5761

Gunther & Stamina - taken from their facebook page

If you are a Lebanese expatriate and wish to watch MTV Lebanon channel live, you can now do that on my website at www.rabihdagher.com/iptv .

MTV Lebanon (Murr Television) logo

Even though bankruptcy for GM (General Motors) is inevitable, its R&D department teamed up with Segway (the company behind the two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle) to roll out an electric two-wheel, two-seat prototype vehicle in New York on Tuesday. Built for use in congested urban environments, Project P.U.M.A. (for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), as the vehicle is called, combines several technologies demonstrated by GM and Segway. Such technologies include dynamic stabilization, electric propulsion, smart battery management, advanced sensing, and many more.

The vehicle is built to carry two seated passengers at speeds of up to 56 km/h. Its 3-hour electric charge would cost about 0.45$, and it can travel over 50 km on a single charge. Energy consumption is estimated to be roughly equivalent to 200 MPG. Pricing wasn’t announced, but Larry Burns, GM’s VP of R&D and strategic planning, said in a statement that it would cost “one-fourth to one-third the cost of what you pay to own and operate today’s automobile”. GM said it hopes to have the vehicle in production by 2012.

You can visit its official page at the Segway PUMA website.
More details about this in the video below by Pat Foran from CTV:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Good news for the Lebanese wishing to apply for immigration in Canada. Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Minister Jason Kenney announced a couple of days ago that as of March 31st 2009, Lebanese nationals applying to immigrate to Canada may select the visa office in Beirut, Lebanon, as their main point of service.

The prelude of these enhanced services started with last year’s announcement which gave immigration applicants from Lebanon the option to have their interviews conducted in Lebanon rather than Syria. But now, applicants have the choice submit their applications to the Canadian embassy in Beirut, and have their files processed there.

But, Federal Skilled Worker applicants will need to submit their application elsewhere – to the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia, which is the process for all applicants in this class. Canadian citizens and permanent residents sponsoring their family will continue to send their applications to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. On their application form, they will be able to select the office in Beirut as their primary point of service.

Check the press release on the Citizenship and Immigration Canada website.
For a list of FAQ on these enhanced services at Beirut visa office, Click Here.
Visit the embassy website at www.international.gc.ca/missions/lebanon-liban .

Contact Address of the Canadian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon:
First Floor, Coolrite Building, 43 Jal El Dib Highway
P.O. Box 60163
Jal El Dib, Lebanon
Tel.: (011 961 4) 71 39 00
Fax: (011 961 4) 71 05 95 or (011 961 4) 71 05 93
Email: berut@international.gc.ca

Lebanese waiting in front of Canadian embassy - Associated Press

For those of you who do not know, earth hour is scheduled for today from 8:30 pm till 9:30 pm local time. Earth Hour is an international event organized by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), and held on the last Saturday of March each year, which asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change.

Earth Hour began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness. Even Google’s homepage went “dark” on the day Earth Hour took place.

The last couple of years, the trend has been going towards this “green” campaign and climate change. Companies embrace green technologies, and ads target people urging them to save the earth. But this raises a very important question in my mind: “Is it really the earth that we are saving? or are we saving ourselves?”

Earth will still be here, maybe having a different living environment that is not suitable for us as human beings, but it is us who will disappear! I believe all these ads about saving earth should be modified, to reflect the fact that we are saving ourselves! Maybe this would lead to a higher awareness in the consciousness of people. As for me, I am doing my part in this global campaign, as should each one of you.

Vote Earth 2009- Earth Hour by WWF

When new products hit the marketplace, they’re often billed as bigger and better. But in auto showrooms in India yesterday, a different idea with a very small price tag was unveiled. It’s called the Nano, the world’s cheapest car (priced at around 2,500$), and it’s about to go on the market in a country where an automobile is often considered an out-of-reach luxury. Here are some specifications of the Nano: no air conditioning, no air bags, no power steering, and top speed at around 70 km/h.

More about this car in the video below by CTV News correspondent Tom Kennedy:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

It’s the time of the year to do the income taxes, so if you’re ready to start tackling yours, there’s a number of software tools out there. In the video below, Pat Foran from CTV walks you through some of them that range from free to priced ones, desktop to web-based:

Get the Flash Player to see this player.