DAILY SCOPE: Al-Akhbar to STL: «Do Whatever You Can Do!»

Zeinab Daher/Fatima Haydar

LEBANESE DAILIES:

Newspaper Headlines:

AN-NAHAR:

Insinuations of swift solution to rubbish crisis tomorrow

Salam rebuffs mediations with any side

AS-SAFIR:

Russians kick off raid on Nusra, Ahrar Al-Sham

US political shelling against Turkish invasion cannons

AL-MUSTAQBAL:

The government returns next week

Newspapers on Tuesday addressed the resurging waste crisis in the absence of practical solutions in the near future. It also focused on the cabinet crisis after the boycott of FPM ministers.

In the international court dossier, al-Akhbar Newspaper and its editor-in-chief were penalized after they were indicted with contempt of the court.

Meanwhile, there had been talks about the danger of financially blacklisting Lebanon.

As-Safir: Al-Akhbar to STL: "Do Whatever You Can Do"!

Commenting on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's [STL] decision, as-Safir newspaper wrote that the STL "triumphs", on its own way, on its single role to uncover the crime of assassinating PM Rafiq al-Hariri.

According to the daily, the tribunal hides from the core of the case, to re-attack the freedom of opinion and publishing and the sacred right of media in any country in the world to expose any local or international law violation.

The STL decided on Monday fining al-Akhbar newspaper's fellow Editor-in-chief Ibrahim al-Amin to 20 thousand euros and Beirut News Company to 6000 euros.

This comes as the court's judge responsible for cases of insulting, Nicola Lettieri, convicted them of insulting the tribunal, hindering justice and curbing the court's ability to protects its data and witnesses.

Under the decision, al-Amin will be obliged to pay the fine by the end of September, in which the final decision whether to stop or resume the case would be made.

As-Safir further learned that the court's prosecutor, American lawyer Kenneth Scott, decided to request resuming the punishment after he previously demanded imprisoning al-Amin for two years with a fine of 75 thousand euros and 100 thousand euros for the Beirut News Company!

However, al-Akhbar doesn't seem to be resuming the case, as its Editor-in-chief has been always reiterating that he is not concerned with the tribunal nor with its decisions.

For his part, fellow Pierre Abi Saab posted on his Twitter account Monday evening: "We tell the American colonialism and its tails in Lebanon that our freedom is worth more than all the gold on Earth, and we won't be terrified by any fine imposed on us... Let them do whatever they can do!"

Al-Akhbar: Finance and Budget Committee Session: Waste Not to Be Lifted Soon

The Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee Monday did not come out with a summary related to any prospective solution to the waste crisis, al-Akhbar Newspaper said.

Head of the Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan said that the Commission is scheduled to meet tomorrow with the concerned union of municipalities, in an attempt to find solutions that "take into account the administrative decentralization".

Kanaan pointed out to the pressure on the approval of thermal decomposition bids lingering in the Council of Ministers as garbage accumulated in the streets for the seventh day in a row.

A week has passed since the municipality of Bourj Hammoud and the Armenian Dashnak party had barred access to the temporary site for storing the garbage in Bourj Hammoud "until the implementation of the government's trash plan is completed."

In the meantime, the Kataeb's refusal to complete the Bourj Hammoud landfill project, which began more than two weeks ago, is escalating.

On Monday, attention was directed towards the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee to come out with a solution that would stave off the risk of accumulated wastes and toxins.

Meanwhile, as the meeting ended, Head of the Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan announced the beginning of the search for reconciliatory views, which means the extension of "talks" adding to the extension of the crisis.

So what was discussed by the Commission Monday?

According to Kanaan, the parliamentary committee refuted the Cabinet's decision taken last March regarding the government's plan for the management of solid household waste as it monitored irregularities and malpractices in its application.

The Armenian Party justifies its decision to close the road saying that the government did not comply with what it promised.

Sources in the Committee quoted the party as saying: "We were told that the landfill will receive what is produced from the sorting of 1,200 tons of garbage from Metn, Keserwan and a section of Beirut, and thus exhausts would be landfilled; but what is happening is landfilling without sorting, this is what transformed the lot into a landfill."

In this regard, Kanaan said: "We have to control and safeguard the application of the ministerial decree", pointing out that the ministerial decision "is no longer sanctified, and we can modify the waste plan".

An-Nahar: Government Impasse Awaiting Berri's Speech and Return of Salam

On the other side, an-Nahar considered that the political scene is freezing waiting what the Speaker Nabih Berri would announce during the Amal Movement festival on the 38th anniversary of absenting Imam Musa Sadr and his companions.

Conversations and consultations regarding the governmental problem seems on hold awaiting the return of PM Tamam Salam Wednesday from his vacation abroad.

Issues are also stuck waiting the positions that would be made after the Tuesday weekly assembly of the Change and Reform Parliamentary Bloc led by General Michael Aoun.

An-Nahar learned that communications with PM Salam aiming at mediation with the Free Patriotic Movement were held in the last 24 hours.

However, he rejected it on the base that there is no conflict with the movement. It is rather a conflict between the movement and other political parties.

Hence, he is not ready to change himself from a judge into a party. He further stressed that he is keen on the government to save legitimacy, and he is not ready to get engaged in clashes while his mission is to save the country.

Salam also held those who want to shake the governmental situation responsibility for the ongoing deterioration.

On the presidential crisis, Future MP Serge Torsarkissian's visit to General Michael Aoun for the first time was distinguished. The visit came under an individual and personal initiative that seeks starting a new era with General Aoun.

Source: al-Ahed News