The Court of Cassation on Thursday said it is the only authority eligible to look into recusal requests against Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, media reports said.

Noting that the investigative judge "can be dismissed," the Court stressed that it is up to it to take such a decision and not to the Judicial Council, reversing a ruling by Judge Imad Qabalan in this regard, al-Jadeed TV said.

Technical negotiations with the IMF are almost over, Deputy Prime Minister Saade Shami

said Thursday, after meeting with President Michel Aoun in Baabda.

The UK's COP26 Regional Ambassador for the Middle East and Africa, Janet Rogan, ended a two-day visit to Lebanon this week. This was her first official visit to the MENA region since the 26th U.N. Climate Change Conference concluded in Glasgow earlier this month.

Pope Francis urged Thursday all Lebanese to cooperate in order to save their country and give it back its role “as a model for dialogue and convergence between East and West.”

The pope said after meeting with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Vatican that he will pray for Lebanon.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will visit Egypt and Turkey, after meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, informed sources told an-Nahar newspaper.

Al-Liwaa newspaper meanwhile said that Miqati might also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron in Rome.

From November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to December 10 , the International Human Rights Day, the United Nations System in Lebanon, the Sexual and Gender-based Violence Taskforce (SGBV TF) and the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) are joining forces, for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, to urge actions to end and prevent gender-based violence in the country, the U.N. said on Thursday.

According to the latest estimates, nearly 1 in 3 women aged 15 years and older, around the world have been subjected to physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner, non-partner, or both, at least once in their lifetime[2]. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated all the risk factors that increase violence against women and girls, while reinforcing many of the root causes such as gender stereotypes and harmful social norms. As examples, findings from 2021 indicate that online sexual harassment and blackmailing of women nearly doubled during the COVID-19 lockdown in Lebanon. The Internal Security Forces have reported “a clear and significant increase of domestic violence incidents” during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the Government of Germany through KfW Development Bank have signed agreements in support of Palestine refugees in Gaza and Lebanon, amounting to a total of EUR 25 million.

The additional funding will build on previous German-supported efforts in the reconstruction of the Nahr el-Bared Camp in Lebanon after its destruction as the result of clashes in 2007 and where approximately 20,900 people are still expected to return to. "The EUR 10 million contribution will enable approximately 192 families to return to 269 residential units," UNRWA said in a press release, adding that "business owners will re-open their shops in 31 newly reconstructed retail units."

Josep Borrell, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, and EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Development from 24 Member States have co-authored an op-ed marking the first anniversary of the EU Gender Action Plan III and the International Day to eliminate violence against women.

Naharnet exclusively publishes the English-language version of the op-ed below, as received from the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon:

President Michel Aoun on Wednesday lamented the presence of “systematic campaigns that are based on lies and aimed at political assassination.”

The President, however, stressed that he is determined to “try and make the necessary change, no matter the challenges.”

UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti has dismissed what he called “unsubstantiated allegations,” after al-Mayadeen TV mentioned UNIFIL’s naval force in a report about the Beirut port blast and the ship that carried the huge quantity of the explosive ammonium nitrate substance.

“Some recent media reports speculating on the activities of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force (MTF) in the context of the tragic Beirut port explosion of 4 August 2020 have made unsubstantiated allegations with disregard to UNIFIL's mandate and the way the MTF operates,” Tenenti said in response to a question by state-run National News Agency about the report.