The signing of the final contracts for equipping the Lebanese army with French weapons might take place “next week in Beirut, not in France,” a media report said Friday, as Prime Minister Tammam Salam met French President Francois Hollande at the Élysée Palace. “After the contracts are signed, the file will be sent to […]

  BEIRUT: Disputes within the Internal Security Forces have prevented the agency from spending a portion of its budget for the past two months, Al-Akhbar reported Saturday.  The local paper said that the head of the ISF’s central management, Brig. Gen. Asaad Tufaili, protested that a portion of the budget, classified as secret spending, only […]

  Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Audeh stressed on Friday the importance of unity and coexistence in Lebanon amid the ongoing developments. “A new page has opened with a golden chance for us to fortify our unity, which safeguards our independence and sovereignty,” Audeh said during a mass at the St. Demettrius Church in […]

khazen.org  offers its deepest condolences to President Michel Sleiman @SleimanMichel for the passing of his Mother جوزيفين الكلاب

khazen.org remembers the great leader Gibran Tueni. Today Marks the 10th Anniversary of his assasination and still No Justice! We pray for the criminals to be brought to justice!     Lebanese deputy member Gebran Tueni speaks during an interview in this file picture shot November 28, 2005     Anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker Gibran […]

by Sara Hussein

Lebanon’s southern city of Sidon is best known for its Crusader castle and ancient market, but a more modern landmark has marred its Mediterranean shoreline for decades—a towering "mountain" of trash.

In the summer, reeking fumes hung over the city, and fires broke out at the dump. Rubbish washed out to sea reaching Cyprus, 260 kilometres (160 miles) away in the Mediterranean, and was pushed across the city by winter storms.

But now an ambitious project is putting an end to the towering nightmare, transforming it into a seaside park that local officials hope will inspire others dealing with Lebanon’s many dumps.

"We were talking about… a trash mountain right next to houses," said Mayor Mohamed al-Saudi, who came to office in the city of 200,000 pledging to deal with the dump.

"It’s gone from a 58-metre (190-foot) trash mountain to an eight-metre green mound… We’ve cleaned up the sewage, and the trash mountain is gone."

The project began with the installation of a seawall around the eyesore site and the coastline to the south, preventing waves from impeding work or taking rubbish out to sea.

Then the site was closed to further deliveries, with the city’s waste going to a new processing facility further south.

  BEIRUT: Health Minister Wael Abu Faour expressed disappointment Wednesday over what he said was the "unfortunate" state of Lebanese civil society, highlighted by its lack of support for his food safety campaign. It is sad "that civil society has reached this state whereby it did not come out with a position on the food […]

  Prime Minister Tammam Salam said on Wednesday that France will sign over the weekend the final agreement to equip the Lebanese army with the weapons and ammunition it has ordered, as he lamented the “insufficient” international support for Lebanon. Salam spoke upon his arrival to Paris on a four-day official visit during which he […]

  TEL AVIV: Israel’s military said on Wednesday it was exploring the possibility of cooperating with the Lebanese army to counter jihadi militants, even though the two countries remain technically at war. But any coordination is almost certain to be rejected in Lebanon, where Israel is by and large considered an enemy among all religious […]