Reuters

BEIRUT, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Rival Lebanese lawmakers nearly came to blows on live TV on Monday, shoving and shouting at each other in a vivid illustration of political conflict that is paralysing decision-making and fuelling public discontent.

After arguing for several minutes at a parliamentary committee on public works and energy, one MP threw a water bottle, before scuffling with another. The fight was quickly broken up and the meeting abandoned.

Monday’s altercation began when MP Ziad Aswad, a member of Christian politician Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, objected to corruption allegations raised against the minister of energy – who belongs to his political bloc – by a member of a rival alliance led by Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri.

Naharnet

Pope Francis has reportedly sent a letter to Christian Lebanese leaders appealing for unity to elect a new president and fill the vacuum at Baabda Palace.

As Safir daily on Monday quoted high-ranking sources as saying that the pope sent the letter to the unidentified Maronite officials around ten days ago.

He asked them to “unite for the sake of electing a Lebanese president,” said the sources.

As Safir also quoted high-ranking French diplomatic sources as saying that President Francois Hollande’s visit to Beirut, which was scheduled to take place in October, has been postponed indefinitely.

Azza El Masri – Buzzfeed In the Arab world, traditions and customs have taught us that young people have a responsibility to get married as soon as possible in order to fulfil their responsibility in contributing to society through childbirth and rearing. This prospect for many millennials has become daunting, especially due to economic hardship. […]

Lebanese director Jihane Chouaib’s half-personal, half-fictionalized debut stumbles as it tries to manufacture mystery where emotion belongs.

By Nicholas Blanford

A huge roar erupted from the 100,000 cheering Hezbollah supporters as the Shiite organization’s beaming leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, dressed in a customary brown cloak and black turban, stepped onto a stage decorated in the red, white, and green Lebanese national flag and yellow party banners.

It was May 26, 2000, and Sheikh Nasrallah was in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, a few miles north of the Israeli border, to mark a stunning and unprecedented military achievement. His group of several hundred lightly armed resistance fighters had pushed the Israeli army out of south Lebanon, ending an occupation that had begun 22 years earlier.

The last Israeli troops had left their posts in south Lebanon just two days before.

Kareem Chehayeb

Lebanon is a country that faces a plethora of problems, from the lack of 24-hour electricity and decent infrastructure, to the ongoing refugee crisis to a parliament that’s extended its term twice and no president in office. One would think that an uprising to sort out the country’s many social, political, and economic problems has been overdue for years. That said, a problem that impacted the vast majority of Lebanese, irrespective of their sect, political ideology, or socioeconomic class sparked the “You Stink” protests: garbage. Beirut’s waste management has been handled by Sukleen, a private corporation, for almost two decades. The way they landed that huge responsibility was iffy to say the least. Waste management is a municipal responsibility; however, that portion of funds was taken and given to Sukleen. What was a bottom-up decision became top-down. Moreover, Sukleen’s plan is relatively financially inefficient. The amount of money it requires to treat a ton of solid waste (per ton) is higher than that of many other countries. Politicians from across the political spectrum have also accused of it being corrupt, some even referring to it as “mafia-like.” One of the accusations? That Sukleen sells recyclables for extra revenue.

The U.S. has officially accused a prominent Lebanese businessman of money laundering and drug trafficking along with five other individuals and 11 companies. According to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, four Lebanese, two German nationals and 11 firms were accused of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.

Among them was renowned Lebanese businessman Merhi Abou Merhi for his alleged ties to a maritime network tied To “Joumaa Criminal Organization.”

The Treasury said the Lebanese and German individuals provide support for narcotics trafficking and money laundering activities conducted by Lebanese-Colombian drug trafficker and money launderer Ayman Saied Joumaa, key Joumaa associate Hassan Ayash, and the Joumaa criminal organization, which has ties to Hezbollah.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct 2 (UNHCR) – Tasnim, a 12-year-old refugee girl from Aleppo, Syria, is excitedly preparing to return to school.

"I want to become a dentist. I have always been intrigued by the tools and materials dentists use in their neat clinics. Every time I visited my dentist in Syria, I learned something new," she said.

In 2013, a shell hit her home in Aleppo and Tasnim lost her left hand. Nevertheless, she is determined to pursue her dreams and overcome the obstacles war and flight into exile suddenly threw across her path."I want to keep learning. I want to help children have beautiful smiles," she explained.