The
following are summaries of today's
major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press
digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight
into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.
PM Najib Mikati told
An-Nahar daily that he hopes the cabinet will reach positive results on the issue of funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). Speaking on the method he will adopt to figure out a solution to the dispute over Lebanon’s share of the STL expenditures, Mikati stressed the importance of working one step at a time. “We have plenty of time to continue our contacts that already are underway.
These contacts are bound to reach positive results that will untie the current knot,” Mikati added. Without making any further comments regarding these contacts, PM Mikati said that he has gotten used to working out of the media limelight.
To prove to the local daily that it is pointless to dwell on an issue before a suitable solution is attained, Mikati said: “Let’s take for example the row over the Syrian violation of Lebanese territories; although I did not take part in it, a solution was reached amongst ministers.”
The daily quoted Mikati as saying that even the parties opposing to funding the STL, namely Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, did not rule out the possibility of finding a suitable solution.
“Sayyed Nasrallah’s stance on funding the STL did not come as a surprise to me”, Mikati said.
An-Nahar learned from Mikati that he met with former PM Saad Hariri in Riyadh where they both were attending the funeral of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz. Mikati said that “it was only natural to shake hands”, declining to further comment.
Kurdish human rights activist Mohammad Saleh Nader told
Acharq al Awsat daily that 10,000 Syrian Kurds living in Bourj Hammoud, a predominantly Armenian area, are to be evicted from their rental apartments. Nader explained that this decision was taken by the Tashnag Party and was the result of the demonstrations staged by the Syrian Kurds before the Syrian Embassy in Lebanon.
Deputy Head of the Kurdish charity organization Mahmoud Sayala told
Al-Mustaqbal daily that Tashnag representatives briefed the Syrian Kurds living in Bourj Hammoud, Dora and Nabaa four days ago of the decision to evict their apartments. Siala added that they gave them until Monday to implement the decision and warned that all who fail to abide by it will have to pay a fine of 3 million LBP.
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper quoted Future bloc MP Khaled El Daher as saying that the decision has no legal grounds, disrupts the State’s authority, violates human rights and is considered an illegitimate forced eviction.
Tashnag MP Hagop Pakradounian told Acharq Al Awsat daily “Residents have been complaining about the distasteful and immoral actions of those tenants and submitted a petition to the party’s leaderships asking them to evict these tenants from the region because of the threat they impose on its security.”
Change and Reform bloc MP Ziad Aswad told
Acharq Al Awsat daily that the decision taken by President Michel Sleiman not to promote Colonel Wissam al-Hassan was the right one, since the promotion should not be based on political or partisan affiliations.
“The Future movement and other political parties should be aware that only the law will be implemented and every one that violates it will be held accountable”, Aswad said.
Lebanon First bloc MP Ammar Houry said that President Sleiman is trying to make a point concerning the promotion of Col. Wissam al-Hassan, being that if he is promoted he will outrank his colleagues.
“In this context I would like to remind everyone of the achievements of Col. Al-Hassan who headed the Intelligence department during the Nahr El Bared war and exposed Israeli spying networks. For all these reasons his and the ISF efforts deserve to be recognized and should be rewarded,” Houry said.
Works and Transportation Minister and former Information Minister Ghazi Aridi told
Al-Mustaqbal daily that the National Media Council does not have any power over websites.
“This matter only concerns the Ministry of Information, because the council only has the right to give advices and cannot make a final decision”, Aridi said. Aridi added that Information Minister can call on the National Media Council to participate in a workshop, organized by the ministry, where it can offer its own suggestions and views.
The daily quoted Aridi as saying: “The issue of live streaming is not included in the audio-visual law, since this technology is very new and did not exist at the time when the law was drafted.”
An-Nahar daily reported that the discussions conducted by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jake Walles were not only limited to the president, the PM or the speaker, they also included Central Bank governor Riad Salameh.
The daily added that the atmosphere prevailing over the banking sector became tensed following the meeting between Walles and Salameh. Sources told the daily that this tension might be due to the fact that U.S. sanctions are looming on Lebanon’s horizon.