The cabinet agreed on Tuesday to cancel the waste management bids that were presented on Monday, during an extraordinary session that witnessed the withdrawal of Hizbullah, Free Patriotic Movement and Tashnag ministers over what Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil described as a “farce.”
The government agreed to dedicate 100 million dollars to set up a temporary dump in the impoverished northern region of Akkar.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri on Monday demanded the “reevaluation” or “total annulment” of the winning waste management bids, citing the “high prices” that were proposed.
“The bids must be reevaluated due to the high prices and the major burden on the treasury or else they should be totally annulled,” said Berri in remarks carried by state-run National News Agency.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement denied on Monday accusations that its members stirred riots during the latest anti-trash demonstration held in downtown Beirut.
“Some media outlets have been claiming that Amal is involved in an attempt to stir strife and have accused the movement's members of seeking to stir riots to shove it in the latest events,” Amal's press office said in a statement.
Full StoryThe online group calling itself "You Stink” on Monday called for a Saturday demonstration to demand the annulment of the waste management tender whose results were announced earlier in the day by the environment minister.
The movement “salutes all Lebanese who flocked to the Riad al-Solh Square over the past days to respond to the authorities' aggression,” it said in a statement recited by the activist Marwan Maalouf during a press conference.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri has said it is the right of the people to make their voices heard over the waste crisis but the problem lies in the presidential vacuum which stops short of forming a new government.
According to An Nahar and al-Joumhouria dailies published on Monday, Berri told his visitors that “when the parliament is absent and can't play its role and hold (anyone) accountable, then it's only natural for the people” to act this way.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri condemned the ongoing paralysis of cabinet, urging those behind it to end their obstructive practices, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday.
He said in an address to those powers, which he left unnamed: “You should cease such practices that have obstructed the lives of the people and manipulated their future.”
Full StoryPrime Minister Tammam Salam is expected to call for a cabinet session next week for “refusing to give up to paralysis,” his sources said Friday.
The sources quoted Salam as saying that “giving up to the logic of paralysis” is not part of his “dictionary.”
Full StoryPrime Minister Tammam Salam has warned that the state would “collapse” if Baabda Palace remained vacant and the cabinet crisis was not solved, As Safir daily reported on Thursday.
“I have told Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif that (Tehran's) lauding of the (Lebanese) government and its head should be interpreted with bringing a consensual president or else Lebanon would collapse and be destroyed,” Salam said, according to As Safir.
Full StoryGeneral Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has said that he discussed with Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun ways to resolve the cabinet crisis.
“The door is not closed. There is a possibility to find a solution,” Ibrahim told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Thursday.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri has denied that he was no longer eager to call for an extraordinary legislative session amid reports that the parliament would convene to approve the promotion of army officers.
“This is not true. I haven't made any such statement in the past days,” Berri, whose remarks were published in local dailies on Wednesday, said about the extraordinary session.
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