World
Lebanon’s president names ICJ judge Nawaf Salam as PM-designate

Published
2 months agoon

Lebanon’s newly elected President Joseph Aoun has summoned Nawaf Salam, the head of the International Court of Justice, to designate him as the country’s prime minister after he won the backing of more than half of parliamentarians.
The announcement on Monday reflects the weakened position of Lebanon’s Hezbollah group, which wanted caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati to keep the job, following its devastating war with Israel and the toppling of the group’s ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria last month.
Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from the Lebanese capital Beirut, said Salam’s designation “symbolises a new era” in Lebanon’s politics.
“Salam is a newcomer in politics, but he was the ambassador to the United Nations for many years and he has international experience,” she said.
“He is widely respected as a judge, lawyer and diplomat.”
She added: “Salam symbolises change. He was chosen by opposition and independent MPs, who are pushing for a new political order as he does not belong to the political class that has been governing this country for decades and has been accused of mismanagement and corruption.”
The election last week of army commander General Aoun as head of state, a choice backed by the United States, also showed the shift in Lebanon’s sectarian political landscape, in which Hezbollah had long held decisive sway.
His election ended a two-year power vacuum and revived hopes of lifting war-battered Lebanon out of economic crisis.
The eastern Mediterranean country has been run by a caretaker government since November 2022.
Aoun, a Maronite Christian, held consultations over the choice of prime minister with parliament’s 128 MPs on Monday.
Salam had secured the backing of 78 of the MPs by Monday afternoon, with nine endorsing Mikati.
Under Lebanon’s power-sharing system, the president must be a Maronite Christian, the prime minister a Sunni Muslim, and the parliament speaker a Shia Muslim
Salam’s backers view judge and former ambassador Salam as an impartial figure able to carry out much-needed reforms – in contrast to Mikati, who is regarded by critics as being under Hezbollah’s influence.
MP Georges Adwan of the Christian party the Lebanese Forces said after meeting Aoun and endorsing Salam that it was time for Hezbollah to focus on “political work”.
“The era of weapons is over,” Adwan told reporters.
Hezbollah emerged from a brutal war against Israel this autumn severely weakened.
Under a ceasefire deal, the group must pull its fighters from areas of southern Lebanon near the Israeli border as the national army – until last week under Aoun’s command – and UN peacekeepers deploy there.
AHezbollah also lost a key ally in neighbouring Syria when rebel fighters overthrew al-Assad last month. -Al Jazeera and news agencies
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World
Drug violence in Brussels: House shot at 23 times in Anderlecht

Published
1 month agoon
February 21, 2025
A house in the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht was shot at in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
The shooting occurred at 1:40 a.m. on the facade of a building, composed of a professional room and a dwelling, near Place Lemmens in Anderlecht, the Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office has now confirmed.
Initial reports suggested that the shooting took place on the corner Place Clemenceau, but the scene was later confirmed to be about a ten minutes’ walk away.
The Brussels Public Prosecutor also confirmed that 23 bullet holes and two failed molotov cocktails had been found at the scene. Initial unconfirmed reports suggested 15 shots and one molotov cocktail had been found.
It is not yet known whether there is a link with the shootings that took place in the past few days on Saint-Guidon Square, or with previous shootings at the Clemenceau metro station and in the Peterbos neighbourhood in Anderlecht.
Since the beginning of February, those shootings, linked to the drug environment, have already left two dead and three wounded.
World
Passengers on crashed Toronto plane offered US$30,000 each

Published
1 month agoon
February 21, 2025
DELTA Air Lines is offering US$30,000 (£23,792) to each person on board a plane that crash-landed in Toronto on Monday – all of whom survived.
As it landed in the Canadian city, the plane skidded along the runway in flames before flipping over and coming to a halt upside down. Passengers described their amazement as most of them walked away without injuries.
It remains unclear what caused the incident, which is under investigation.
There were 76 passengers and four crew on the flight, which had travelled from the US city of Minneapolis before making its crash-landing in Canada.
A spokesperson for Delta said the money offer had no strings attached and did not affect customers’ rights.
The plane crew and emergency responders were praised for their quick work in removing people from the wrecked vehicle. The plane’s various safety features have also been credited for ensuring no loss of life.
All but one of the 21 passengers who were taken to hospital had been released by Wednesday morning, the airline said.
Delta’s chief told BBC’s US partner CBS News that the flight crew were experienced and trained for any condition.
The airline’s head Ed Bastian told CBS the plane crew had “performed heroically, but also as expected”, given that “safety is embedded into our system”. He said Delta was continuing to support those affected.
Several theories about what caused the crash have been suggested to the BBC by experts who reviewed footage, including that harsh winter weather and a rapid rate of descent played a role.
One passenger recalled “a very forceful event”, and the sound of “concrete and metal” at the moment of impact. Another said passengers were left hanging upside down in their seats “like bats”.
The cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder have been recovered from the wreckage. The investigation is being led by Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB), supported by US officials.
The accident was the fourth major air incident in North America in a space of three weeks – and was followed on Wednesday by a crash in Arizona in which two people lost their lives when their small planes collided.
Experts continue to insist that air travel is overwhelmingly safe – more so than other forms of transport, in fact.
That message was emphasised by US Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, who told CBS on Wednesday there was no pattern behind the incidents, each of which he said was “very unique”. -BBC
World
Peru declares state of emergency ….following bomb attack against Public Ministry

Published
2 months agoon
January 22, 2025
Peru declared a state of emergency on Monday, following the detonation of explosives attacking the Public Ministry of Trujillo. Monday’s incident marks the second attack in Trujillo this year.
During the emergency state declared by President Boluarte to stop delinquency, the Presidency of Peru stated that “the Armed Forces and the police will take control of the city due to the state of emergency.” The Superior Court of Justice of La Libertad declared its commitment to “not succumb to any acts of violence.”
An unidentified individual posing as a delivery driver attacked the Public Ministry of Trujillo by leaving a package with explosive material that later detonated. Two explosions were detected, one originating from the package, which led to another car explosion.
Public Minister Delia Espinoza said in an interview that initial signs link the tragedy with illegal mining. Espinoza also revealed that days earlier, someone threatened a comptroller working on an organized crime case.
According to Espinoza, these events show that the Minister of Interior makes promises he cannot fulfil, stating, “Constitutionally, the labor of prevention is for the police, there is no police intelligence.” Recent research shows that the disapproval of the current Minister of Interior, Juan José Santiváñez, peaked at 80 per cent in December 2024.
Former minister of Interior Oscar Valdés criticised the low efficiency of the state of emergency because of the intelligence system, arguing that the government failed to address illegal mining and drug trafficking as the real threats to the country.
Illegal mining has been a controversial issue in Peru. On December 1, 2024, the Peruvian Congress extended temporary permits for “informal miners,” which critics argue are a part of systemic corruption that legitimised illegal mining and helped circumvent environmental regulations. In April 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights also found that Peru’s failure to regulate mining activities violated inhabitants’ basic right to a healthy environment.

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