Anti-Syrian journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueni was killed yesterday by a car bomb that exploded as his motorcade passed, a senior police officer said.
Tueni's uncle, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, and the leading Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt blamed Syria for the bombing.
"God have mercy on Gibran and An-Nahar will remain the beacon for freedom," Jumblatt told LBC television, referring to the An-Nahar newspaper of which Tueni was the general manager.
The political leader of the Druse community, Jumblatt said the bombing was intended to silence a voice who had sought those responsible for the February assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
"This is a new terrorism message," Jumblatt said of the killing, referring to Hariri's assassination and the mysterious series of subsequent bombings that have targeted mainly Lebanese opposed to Syrian influence in Lebanon.
LBC and Future television channels, which are allied with Tueni, said he was one of three people killed in the bombing in an industrial suburb of Beirut. Tueni, 48, had only returned to Lebanon on Sunday from Paris, where he has been staying most of the past few months for fear of assassination.
Earlier, a switchboard operator at An-Nahar said "he's all right," but Tueni's wife at the scene of the explosion was in tears. Asked by a reporter whether her husband was hurt, she refused to answer and shook her head as she was led away by police officers.
Police gave no immediate word on casualties, but an AP photographer saw three mutilated bodies after the explosion. At least 10 cars were destroyed, some tossed into a valley in the hilly Christian Mkalles area on Beirut's eastern entrance.
LBC and Future television said a car bomb had been detonated, but police did not immediately say whether the bomb was placed in a car or next to a vehicle.
After Hariri's assassination, Tueni played a prominent role in the leadership of the mass demonstrations that, combined with international pressure, succeeded in forcing Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in April, ending a 29-year presence in the country. He was elected to parliament for the first time in the elections of May and June.
Tueni's grandfather, Gibran Tueni, founded An-Nahar. His father Ghassan Tueni is seen as the dean of the Lebanese press, having turned the newspaper into an institution respected by friend and foe.
DOUBLE-MURDER CASE: The officer told the dispatcher he would check the locations of the callers, but instead headed to a pizzeria, remaining there for about an hour A New Jersey officer has been charged with misconduct after prosecutors said he did not quickly respond to and properly investigate reports of a shooting that turned out to be a double murder, instead allegedly stopping at an ATM and pizzeria. Franklin Township Police Sergeant Kevin Bollaro was the on-duty officer on the evening of Aug. 1, when police received 911 calls reporting gunshots and screaming in Pittstown, about 96km from Manhattan in central New Jersey, Hunterdon County Prosecutor Renee Robeson’s office said. However, rather than responding immediately, prosecutors said GPS data and surveillance video showed Bollaro drove about 3km
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday took to the streets of Spain’s eastern city of Valencia to mark the first anniversary of floods that killed 229 people and to denounce the handling of the disaster. Demonstrators, many carrying photos of the victims, called on regional government head Carlos Mazon to resign over what they said was the slow response to one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades. “People are still really angry,” said Rosa Cerros, a 42-year-old government worker who took part with her husband and two young daughters. “Why weren’t people evacuated? Its incomprehensible,” she said. Mazon’s
‘MOTHER’ OF THAILAND: In her glamorous heyday in the 1960s, former Thai queen Sirikit mingled with US presidents and superstars such as Elvis Presley The year-long funeral ceremony of former Thai queen Sirikit started yesterday, with grieving royalists set to salute the procession bringing her body to lie in state at Bangkok’s Grand Palace. Members of the royal family are venerated in Thailand, treated by many as semi-divine figures, and lavished with glowing media coverage and gold-adorned portraits hanging in public spaces and private homes nationwide. Sirikit, the mother of Thai King Vajiralongkorn and widow of the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, died late on Friday at the age of 93. Black-and-white tributes to the royal matriarch are being beamed onto towering digital advertizing billboards, on
POWER ABUSE WORRY: Some people warned that the broad language of the treaty could lead to overreach by authorities and enable the repression of government critics Countries signed their first UN treaty targeting cybercrime in Hanoi yesterday, despite opposition from an unlikely band of tech companies and rights groups warning of expanded state surveillance. The new global legal framework aims to bolster international cooperation to fight digital crimes, from child pornography to transnational cyberscams and money laundering. More than 60 countries signed the declaration, which means it would go into force once ratified by those states. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the signing as an “important milestone,” and that it was “only the beginning.” “Every day, sophisticated scams destroy families, steal migrants and drain billions of dollars from our economy...
RSS