Source: L'Orient Today
Security & Justice
Southern Lebanon Endures Massive Damage: 40,000 Homes Leveled Across 37 Towns
Israeli forces have systematically destroyed entire neighborhoods in southern Lebanon, leveling more than 37 towns and wiping out over 40,000 residential units, according to Lebanon's National News Agency.
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Gaps in Coastal Radar Enabled Israeli Raid in Batroun, Army Commander Says
Lebanon’s army chief, General Joseph Aoun, detailed to Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati how Israeli forces likely exploited gaps in the country's coastal radar system during the recent raid carried out in Batroun. The briefing comes as Lebanese officials seek answers on how Israel’s elite Shayetet 13 unit carried out the landing undetected.
Monday, November 4, 2024
Opinion
The Emptying of Baalbek Is a Moment to Take Stock
“Large numbers of people continue to flee their homes every day, as Israel’s military operations in Lebanon have been going on unabated.” These disturbing words could be from almost any news report about Israel’s invasion of its northern neighbour over the past month. However, they can be found in a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre issued on July 27, 2006.
Saturday, November 2, 2024
A Future Without Hezbollah
At the end of September, when Israel’s campaign to destroy Hezbollah was reaching its height, I met one of the group’s supporters in a seaside café in western Beirut. He was a middle-aged man with a thin white beard and the spent look of someone who had not slept for days. He was an academic of sorts, not a fighter, but his ties to Hezbollah were deep and long-standing.
Thursday, October 31, 2024
Sports
Tottenham Forward Son Heung-min Crowned Asia’s International Player of the Year
Tottenham forward Son Heung-min was crowned as Asia’s International Player of the Year for the fourth time by the Asian Football Confederation at its annual awards ceremony Tuesday.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Real Madrid Launch Investigation into Racist Insults After El Clasico Defeat
Real Madrid has launched an investigation into racist insults directed at players during Saturday’s 4-0 home loss to Barcelona in LaLiga, it said on Sunday.
Monday, October 28, 2024
Tuesday 8 February 2022 16:43:56
Cabinet Rejects Bill that Would Curtail Public Prosecutor's Powers
At a session Tuesday, the cabinet agreed to hold a session dedicated to the electricity file and rejected a bill that would curtail the public prosecutor’s powers, acting Information Minister Abbas Halabi and at a press conference following the meeting. He also confirmed that the cabinet will meet on Thursday at 2 p.m. in Baabda to finalize the draft 2022 budget.
Here’s what we know:
• The government did not approve a bill dating from 2018 to curtail the mandate of the public prosecutor at the Court of Cassation, a role currently held by Judge Ghassan Oueidat. According to several local media outlets, this proposal has been referred to Parliament. The bill in question was presented four years ago by Free Patriotic Movement MP Ziad Aswad, and if passed would remove the public prosecutor’s power to make the final call in cases in which a higher authority in the Lebanese administration rejects the prosecution of one of its employees.
• The cabinet also decided to form a committee made up of the ministers of justice, industry, economy and public works to determine who is authorized to demolish wheat silos in the port of Beirut after the completion of the cleaning phase. The silos were badly damaged in the Beirut port blast in 2020.
• The acting information minister said following the cabinet meeting that “the cabinet decided to authorize the telecommunications minister to negotiate with LibanPost [the company that facilitates postal services in Lebanon] and renew its contract [which expired in 2019 and has been renewed several times since then] until April 30, before launching a new tender.”
• Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday promised to give contract teachers in public institutions “a transport allowance but according to standards,” said Halabi, noting that “the cabinet [on Tuesday] tasked the education minister to set these standards.”
• It was decided that discussion on the electricity file will be carried on after the approval of the draft budget. An article in the original 2022 budget draft noted that Electricité du Liban would get an advance payment of LL5.25 trillion to buy fuel. Energy Minister Walid Fayad was asked to justify the advance payment, before it was decided to separate the electricity and budget plans last week.
