Around 400 judges held a general assembly Tuesday at the Court of Cassation and decided to carry on with an open-ended strike aimed at protesting “the difficult financial, social and health conditions that Lebanon’s judges are going through,” the National News Agency said.
“Contacts with the officials have not led to any result,” the agency quoted the judges as saying.
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U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka on Tuesday visited the northern city of Tripoli, where she met with local authorities, members of parliament as well as NGOs working to promote reconciliation, capacity-building and opportunities for the youth.
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Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Tuesday vowed to seek the election of a Lebanese president who resembles slain president-elect Bashir Gemayel, who was assassinated in a bomb attack in 1982.
“On the 40th anniversary of your election, our promise to you is to secure the election of a president who resembles you,” Geagea tweeted.
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Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati asked Tuesday caretaker Minister of Public Works & Transport Ali Hamieh to preserve the remaining southern block of the Beirut port silos as a memorial.
Another significant section of the devastated Beirut Port silos had collapsed on Tuesday morning in a cloud of dust, while the remaining southern block is more stable and not at imminent risk of collapse, said French civil engineer Emmanuel Durand, who has installed sensors on the silos.
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Head of the Justice Committee MP Georges Adwan said Tuesday that the government doesn't have an economic plan but is rather taking random and ill-considered steps.
"The customs dollar is part of a non-existent plan," Adwan said, asking how and why did the government choose the rate of LBP 20,000 to the U.S. dollar, while depositors can only withdraw from their dollar savings at a rate of LBP 8,000.
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U.S. department of state spokesperson Ned Price has said that U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein is in touch with the parties in Lebanon and Israel and that a resolution to the maritime border conflict is possible.
Price did not announce when would Hochstein head to Lebanon. "I don’t have any travel for Amos Hochstein to announce at the time," he said in a press conference.
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Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Monday dismissed Israel’s latest warnings over any escalation related to the dispute over offshore gas, as he said that like Lebanon, his party is also waiting for Israel’s response to the latest Lebanese proposal.
“I will not say anything new. We have said everything that we should say. Now we are all waiting. The Israelis are talking a lot these days -- positively and negatively -- but we should wait,” Nasrallah said in a televised address.
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Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab held a lengthy phone call this afternoon with U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein, during which they demonstrated the course of the negotiations between Lebanon and Israel over the demarcation of their sea border, Bou Saab’s press office said.
“Hochstein briefed Bou Saab on the outcome of the latest contacts that he has held with Israeli officials, the last of which took place a few days ago, stressing to him that he will continue his communication with the Israeli officials in the coming days,” the press office said in a statement.
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Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Monday accused rival political parties of subjecting the people to “intentional power cuts” with the aim of “spiting” the FPM.
“Intentional power cuts are a crime that is being committed by the state against its people,” Bassil said in a video posted on social media.
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Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati will meet with President Michel Aoun this week to continue discussions over the government formation issue, MP Ghassan Atallah of the Free Patriotic Movement said on Monday.
“Some parties and foreign interferences have convinced him to cooperate with President Michel Aoun for formation and there are positive indications,” Atallah said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV.
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