You’re busy, we get it. No sweat. Here’s what you missed this week.
Assad Intimidation Tactics Raised During STL Testimony (Image via Politico)
On November 17, Marwan Hamadeh appeared before the court and gave his testimony to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), the international tribunal investigating and prosecuting the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Hamadeh told the international investigator: “The day Mr. Hariri met with President Assad, I was meeting at Mr. [Walid] Jumblatt’s residence in Beirut with Bassem Sabaa and Ghazi Aridi. We saw that Mr. Hariri’s motorcade was back by 1 p.m., which meant that the meeting in Damascus was pretty short. We saw Mr. Hariri, who looked tired. He was sweating. He told the four of us that President [Emile] Lahoud was to be re-elected or ‘he will have to pay a high price’. He reported President Assad saying to him, “I will break Lebanon on your and Jumblatt’s heads.’”
It’s been pure agony browsing all the hilarious posts related to the “Share A Coke” campaign by Coca-Cola. But the wait is finally over. Share A Coke is now in Lebanon! Anyone reading this outside of Lebanon is either rolling their eyes or laughing at us, but as long as I have a Share a Coke with Shalashtein, I don’t care.
Slaughterhouses Shut Down Over Violations (Image via Daily Star)
Looks like the health minister means business. Last week, a number of restaurants in violation of health regulations were called out for their poor food handling, and now slaughterhouses are being shut down. Slaughterhouses in Tripoli, Saida and Beirut that have violated health regulations will stay closed until they fix issues such as delivering meat in refrigerated trucks and learning to hang the animals after slaughter instead of piling them on the floor.
Israel to Demolish Homes of Palestinian ‘Attackers’ (Image via Daily Star)
Israeli officials plan to demolish the homes of four Palestinian men, including two assailants who killed five people in a synagogue earlier this week.
Relatives of Palestinian officials said that demolition notices had been handed out, after Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he would step up home demolitions as a punitive measure in the wake of a series Palestinian attacks on Israelis this month.
Parliament Raise Request Denied (Image via Moulahazat)
According to a report in Lebanon Debate this week, some members of parliament had the audacity to demand a raise after they elected themselves to a new term earlier this month. Had Speaker Nabih Berri named the extension a “new” term, every MP would have received a 65% increase in their long term pay. That means every parliament member would be getting an extra 7,000,000 LL per month! Multiply that by the number of MPs and you get 10,750,000,000 LL.
