THE NIGERIAN GUY FROM THE OLD SOUK

He was right. Part of me didn't want to believe him. "Lebanon is a beautiful country, but the politicians are killing it". B totally agreed. We found him in the old souk in Byblos. Sitting in front of a shop on a chair. A thin black guy smiling. He called us in. "People don't buy anything when they come to this place unless they come to my shop", he jokes. He was right. I instantly found something to buy. The shop was a mess. The way I like a shop to be. Dusty. Clothes and bed covers and table covers and souvenirs and anything you can imagine. On a shelf at the back I found the keffiyah I wanted for a friend. B started to speak to the guy. That why he entered the shop in the first place; to find out more. "Where are you from?" "She's from Romanian and I'm Lebanese. Where are you from?" "Nigeria. But I'm married to a Lebanese woman." "Cool. Is this your shop?" "No. I work for somebody. Find anything you like?" The man kept smiling, happy I had found something to buy from his place. I bought two keffiyah. Just 10 000 Lebanese pounds. Around 7 dollars. The guy went out to another shop to bring me the change for a 20 000 banknote. "you know, you have a beautiful country, but the politicians are killing it", he told B as he came back. And we left to the coffee shop across the street to have a sandwich and a cappuccino. "You're gonna write about this guy, won't you?" "Mhm."

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They're fighting again in Beirut. Here's the Naharnet live coverage.

9:50pm Clashes in Beirut's Kourniche Mazraa district between opposition and majority and the army intervenes.
9:45pm Clashes reported between the Hizbullah-led opposition and majority supporters in the Beqaa Valley village of Taalabaya.
9:29pm Beirut MP Ammar Houry pleaded with president Suleiman to rescuse civilians in the capital from attacks by Nasrallah's partisans.
9:27pmAt least 16 people were wounded by gunfire from Nasrallah's followers.
8:24pm At least two people were wounded by pro-Nasrallah shooting in Beirut and admitted to Maqassed hospital.

B told me like 20 minutes ago they started the firing again. Man, I really hoped they would stop. The people really believed that electing a new president would stop the fighting. And here come Nasrallah to ruin everything once again.