Israelis warn of imminent Hizbullah attacks
JERUSALEM: Hizbullah is planning a string of heavy assaults on Israel’s northern border in the near future, Israel Public Radio said Tuesday, quoting the head of Israel’s military intelligence.
Speaking at the Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, Major General Aaron Zeevi Farkash warned that the expected attacks were intended to make Israel respond with force, thereby escalating the tense situation, the radio said.
Farkash also said that Iran and Syria were increasing military aid to Hizbullah, and that Syria had provided the resistance group with weapons from its own arsenal.
Earlier Tuesday, the Israeli daily Haaretz published a report, citing senior military sources, which said Hizbullah would “try to exploit any opportunity that comes along ... to bring about a general conflagration.” ­ AFP

Court begins new trial of alleged collaborators
The Military Court of Cassation began the retrial Tuesday of three people whose conviction earlier this year of collaborating with Israel sparked criticism by Christian opposition groups.
One of the convicted, Tawfiq Hindi, adviser to former Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, denied the accusations, saying his preliminary deposition was “fabricated” and made under pressure.
He also denied that he met with Israeli officials and that he traveled to Israel.
Journalist Antoine Bassil also told the court that his preliminary deposition was made under duress, adding that he did not work with any Israeli official knowingly.
However, Bassil admitted that he entered the then-Israeli-occupied border region to seek employment at a radio station owned by Israelis.
The court then questioned journalist Habib Younes, who denied that he collaborated with the Jewish state and that he traveled to the zone to cover a story.
The decisions of the Military Court of Cassation cannot be appealed.

Group slams ‘silence’ of panel on wartime missing
The Committee for the Wartime Missing and Disappeared called for Thursday to be the deadline for completing a report that will include complaints made by families of those who lost loved ones during the civil war.
A statement issued by the group Tuesday denounced “the silence” of the committee charged with receiving complaints, which is chaired by Minister of State for Administrative Development Fouad Saad.
The committee was formed last year to look into complaints lodged by families of missing people.
The committee urged the report to state the number of missing persons who are still alive, their whereabouts and measures to release them and the identities of those who are dead.
It called upon the committee to announce the obstacles hindering the completion of its work and measures that it intends to take to remove such obstacles.

France promises to help with Francophone summit
France has officially asserted that it will support Lebanon on the political, economic and cultural levels to make the ninth Francophone summit a success, according to a statement issued Tuesday by the Culture Ministry.
The Francophone summit is expected to be held in Beirut in October 2002, following a one-year delay.
French President Jacques Chirac’s international vooperation affairs adviser, Maurice Ulrich, affirmed during a meeting with a Lebanese delegation headed by Culture Minister Ghassan Salameh that Chirac would attend the summit in person.
Tuesday’s meeting in Paris focused on ways to promote the summit and bilateral relations, the statement said.
Salameh also met in Paris with his newly appointed French counterpart, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, to discuss the development of cultural cooperation, particularly the preservation of historic heritage and the coproduction of films.
Aillagon is expected to visit Lebanon in September, the statement added.

President honors leading Arab lawyer
President Emile Lahoud presented the secretary-general of the Arab Confederation of Lawyers, Farouq Abu Issa, with the National Order of the Cedars Tuesday in recognition for his support for Lebanon during Arab and international assemblies.
The event took place during a meeting held between Lahoud, Abu Issa and the Beirut Bar Association president, Raymond Shedid, to discuss regional developments.
Shedid praised Abu Issa’s role in upgrading the confederation and improving its efficiency.
He added that the association’s main aim was to see Arab governments ratify the Rome Statute establishing an international criminal tribunal to prosecute war crimes and other crimes against humanity.
Abu Issa expressed his appreciation for the honor, saying: “It increased his love and appreciation for Lebanon, the country of national resistance and the model to be followed by whomever wishes to free his territories and promote the sovereignty of his country.”

Tawhid calls for measures to cure economic ills
The Islamic Tawhid Movement called Tuesday for radical reforms to bring the country out of the critical economic crisis and stabilize the political environment.
On the fourth commemoration of the passing of its former leader, Sheikh Said Shaaban, the movement issued a statement, vowing to continue fighting, resisting and supporting the oppressed everywhere,  “especially those in Palestine.”
“Lebanon will not reach safety unless it goes on a radical reform policy that starts at the top of the pyramid and continues
on downward,” the statement said.
The statement also said that the country’s economy was in “the emergency room, breathing artificially” and called on senior officials to pull the country “out of the abyss.”
“There is a polluted atmosphere that aims at destabilizing security and stability, and we ask officials to correct situation with honesty and reason.”

Former Tyre MP dies of heart attack
Former Tyre MP Youssef Hammoud died Tuesday at the age of 75 after suffering a heart attack.
Hammoud suffered the heart attack while at a coffee shop in Beirut died on the way to the American University Medical Center.
Hammoud, who first worked in Nigeria, returned to Lebanon in 1972 and won the parliamentary elections for a seat in Tyre, which he held on to until 1992.
He was among the first to call for the establishment of a Ministry for Emigrant Affairs. He retired from political life after the 1996 parliamentary elections.
Condolences can be paid before and after the funeral at his home in Jwayya.

Ex-detainees’ group denounces government inaction
The Follow-Up Committee for the Support of Lebanese Detainees in Israeli Prisons on Tuesday denounced the government’s neglect of Lebanese detainees in Israel compared with Kuwait’s concern for its own prisoners in Iraq.
In a statement, the committee asked why Lebanon did not follow in the steps of Kuwait and learn from a sister nation how to follow up the detainees’ case.
It also questioned why the government has failed to launch international campaigns to recover its detainees from Israeli prisons.
The committee’s call came following a visit Monday by National Committee of Kuwaiti Prisoners director Salem Sabah al-Salem al-Sabah to Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud to discuss the release of Kuwaiti prisoners from Iraqi prisons.
Two years have passed since the withdrawal of Israeli forces from South Lebanon, yet Lebanon has maintained its silence, the statement said, adding that the issue should be acknowledged as humanitarian, not linked to a prisoner swap.

Musa calls for reducing pollution at Environment Day ceremony
During a ceremony held Tuesday to commemorate International Environment Day at ESCWA, Environment Minister Michel Musa called for reducing pollution, which is “destroying the environment.”
ESCWA’s executive secretary, Mirvat Tellawi, who was representing UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, indicated that economic development, social progress and environmental protection constituted three solutions for saving the planet.
Tellawi said that the main environmental problems which the Arab world suffers from were desertification, water pollution and poverty.
Musa declared that national, regional and international preparations for holding the International Summit for Permanent Development in Johannesburg, South Africa between Aug. 26 and Sept. 4, were still ongoing.
He added that Lebanon would submit during the summit a report detailing the country’s economic, social and environmental achievements between 1999-2002.

Motorist under guard after killing 1, maiming another
A 20-year-old man driving a BMW on the Zouk Mikail-Aintoura road in Kesrouan ran over a policeman early Tuesday morning, killing him instantly and then seriously injuring an electricity worker after losing control of his car, the police said.
The driver, identified as Fadi George Jarrouj, then headed for the nearby Cedars Hospital in Jal al-Dib for treatment of his injuries, which included a concussion.
The electricity worker, who was repairing damage to a power line in Zouk, was rushed to Our Lady of Lebanon Hospital in Jounieh, where doctors amputated both his badly injured legs.
Jarrouj was placed under guard at the hospital after the Mount Lebanon public prosecutor’s office ordered his detention.

Batroun rehabilitation project close to kicking off
The Batroun municipality reached a final consensus Tuesday to modify the town’s master plan, previously refused by property owners since it inflicted damage on their property and estates.
The Urban Planning Department’s director-general Joseph Abdel-Ahad participated in the meeting held by Batroun’s mayor Marcelino Harak, Environment Ministry director-general Berj Hadjian and several others including Frederic Husseini, director-general of antiquities.
Participants agreed on modifying the plan to satisfy land owners and preserve citizens’ rights.
Later, participants at the meeting visited the town and the old souq where the municipality will begin rehabilitation efforts.
In all, 3,200 square meters of the town are expected to be rehabilitated.
The municipality received LL563 million in funding from the World Bank to execute such projects. Harak indicated that the meeting was fruitful, adding that works for the first phase of restoring the old souq would begin by the end of July.

LU teachers criticize officials for not addressing concerns
The Lebanese University Teachers’ League on Tuesday complained that the government had failed to tackle teachers’ concerns.
In a statement issued following a meeting, the teachers at the university said that “all senior officials, especially Fouad Siniora, have declined to set an appointment with the teachers to discuss their grievances.”
The league added that the finance minister was due to meet with the school’s dean and members of the university council on Tuesday, “but failed to show up” for talks and did not “give an excuse for his absence.”
The teachers also accused the minister of failing to pay hospitalization and school contributions in a timely manner.
In a related development, instructors at the university who have planned to teach on a full-time basis are expected to hold a press conference Wednesday at the Press Federation to explain their grievances.

Frem urges correct treatment of industrial waste in Zouk Mosbeh
Industry Minister George Frem on Tuesday urged the Zouk Mosbeh municipality and industrialists to treat industrial waste properly.
Frem held a meeting at his office with a delegation from the Zouk Mosbeh municipality and the Industrialists Association in Kesrouan, where he called for tree-planting campaigns at the entrance to the Kesrouan region.
Frem also called for protecting the environment in the area, based on a study by the ministry entitled Industrialists are the friends of the environment and industrial buildings embellish the environment.

Monot Street closed Friday morning for promenade
Monot Street in Achrafieh will be closed to vehicle traffic for three hours from 7am Friday morning to mark World Environment Day.
Environment Minister Michel Musa, Beirut Governor Yacoub Sarraf, area mukhtar Michel Nasr, and beauty queens are due to promenade along the street.
The minister and his party will begin the walk from the Circus club and proceed to the end of the street before making their way to Saint Joseph University. A police band will also play and area restaurants are to provide decorations.

Polish poet to be commemorated at convent museum
A museum will be inaugurated Wednesday in Mar Mtanios Convent in Ghazir to commemorate the Polish poet Jule Souvlaki, who lived in the convent for several years.
The inauguration details were discussed Tuesday during a meeting of Culture Ministry director-general Andre Sader, director-general of antiquities Frederic Husseini, Polish Minister of State for Cultural Affairs Alexandra Ykobovska, and Polish Charge d’Affaires Lydia Milka.
The meeting focused on preparations for the conclusion of a bilateral agreement for cultural cooperation between Lebanon and Poland. Ykobovska indicated that Poland was very interested in carrying out a cultural project with Lebanon as soon as possible.
Discussions also included the study of a mechanism allowing Poland to recover stolen state-owned cultural properties from Lebanon.

Cocodi Bridge resurfacing will result in traffic diversion
The Interior Ministry announced Tuesday that the Council for Development and Reconstruction will be resurfacing the Cocodi Bridge later this week.
Work on the road leading from Khaldeh to the Cocodi Bridge will start Thursday at 3pm and will be completed Sunday at 7am.
Traffic heading from the Cocodi Bridge to Khaldeh will be diverted to Ouzai starting Monday at 6am and until Thursday, June 13, at 6am.
All citizens are asked to respect traffic signs and follow the instructions of Internal Security Forces personnel.

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