Chef Ramzi dies, Parliament boycott, beachgoers warned: Everything you need to know to start your Monday

Celebrity Lebanese chef Ramzi Choueiri passed away yesterday, a post on his Instagram account confirms. Chef Ramzi, well-known across the Arab world, became a household name in Lebanon after presenting a live television cooking show on Future TV from 1994 until 2010. According to his website, the chef has obtained four Guinness World Records: for the largest servings of hummus, tabbouleh, falafel and fatteh. The last record, the website adds, was gained alongside children with special needs, whom he worked with as the CEO of the Al-Kafaat foundation.

MPs from the Forces of Change and the Lebanese Forces, alongside some independents, announced they intend to boycott today’s scheduled Parliament session, set to discuss public sector salaries and the 2023 budget. Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri scheduled the session on Thursday, the same day the joint parliamentary committees approved draft laws allocating lines of credit for the 2023 budget and public employees’ compensation. Parliament’s mandate to legislate amid the presidential vacuum has repeatedly been called into question. The MPs boycotting today’s session reiterated their view that Parliament’s function should be restricted to electing a president, which as of last Wednesday it had failed to do 12 times since the start of the election period, two months before the end of Michel Aoun’s term on Oct. 31. Though dozens of MPs’ have announced that they will boycott legislative sessions, Parliament passed a law extending municipality officials’ mandates months before their expiry, amid difficulties in financing municipal elections.

State telecom provider Ogero on Friday confirmed it had received funding to purchase fuel after weeks of controversy and fears of widespread outages. Caretaker Telecoms Minister Johnny Corm confirmed to L’Orient Today that Ogero had received $13.25 million. A Finance Ministry spokesperson claimed the funds were transferred on May 2, weeks before concerns arose over the depletion of Ogero stations and a potential countrywide telecoms outage. The Telecoms Ministry, meanwhile, claimed it could not access the funds from the central bank due to complications arising from a 2019 law.

The Civil Defense yesterday warned beachgoers against dangerous swimming conditions off the Lebanese coast due “high waves and dangerously intense sea currents.” A source at Civil Defense told L’Orient Today that all Lebanese beaches are experiencing intense sea currents. Two days after rescuing a swimmer off Raouche last month, a Civil Defense team retrieved the body of a second man who drowned while swimming there. The National Council for Scientific Research on Thursday released its annual report containing water quality assessments of 37 public beaches, reassuring beachgoers that 60 percent of surveyed beaches are safe.

The United Arab Emirates lifted a temporary visa ban on Lebanese nationals, caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib told Reuters on Friday. Bou Habib said Lebanon’s Ambassador to the UAE told him the ban, in place for weeks due to unspecified “security reasons,” would be lifted last Friday. As of Friday, online visa request systems had not been updated to lift the ban, a travel agent told Reuters.

German media outlets claimed that hundreds of Lebanese nationals were arrested on Friday in the western Germany city of Essen, where a suspected blood feud erupted in a “collective brawl,” the German official news agency, DPA, reported. DPA did not provide any information about the nationalities of those involved in the brawl, but conveyed police suspicions that it was linked to “clan crime.” DPA reported that the clash did not end before dawn Saturday, requiring several hospitalizations. German tabloid Bild, however, claimed Friday that hundreds of members of rival Lebanese and Syrian organized crime “clans” had “attacked each other with clubs, knives and machetes.”

In case you missed it, here’s our must-read story from over the weekend: “Tabbouleh: From forbidden fruit to national favorite”

Compiled by Abbas Mahfouz