Murder of a Lebanese in Venezuela outrages Baysour

Jawad Walid al-Aridi, 22, a Lebanese national was killed in Carúpano a coastal city in the eastern Venezuelan state of Sucre during an attempted robbery, LBC television reported on Saturday evening.

The residents of Aridi’s hometown of Baysour, in Mount Lebanon were outraged (more…)

Aridi , Safadi clash over payments for ministry

Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said on Sunday that he decided to boycott the cabinet sessions “to object to the performance of the Finance Ministry regarding the transfer of funds to his ministry.” (more…)

Aridi: Dr. Zainab Saad more qualified than Adnan as-Sayyed Hussein to head up the Lebanese University

Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi, explained on Thursday why the Progressive Socialist Party ministers in the cabinet, had reservations about appointment former minister Adnan as-Sayyed Hussein as the new president of the Lebanese University. (more…)

Jumblatt: If no deal on STL , we’re going to hell

Progressive Socialist Party ( PSP) leader MP Walid Jumblatt warned that Lebanon is witnessing “systematic deterioration.

He made his remarks during an interview with As-Safir newspaper.

Jumblatt said he had dispatched Cabinet Minister Ghazi Aridi, a PSP member to meet with Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. (more…)

Walid Jumblatt in Syria on an unannounced visit

Walid Jumblatt arrived in Damascus at 4:30pm on Thursday on an unannounced visit.

According to New TV, the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party arrived as the head of Intelligence of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, Col. Wissam Al-Hasan, left the Syrian capital briefly thereafter. Al-Hasan is closely tied politically to Prime Minister Saad Hariri. (more…)

Aridi heads to Syria Saturday

Future TV reported that Transportation and Public Works Minister Gazi al Aridi will head to Damascus on Saturday to continue with the discussions that MP Walid Jumblatt started during his visits to Syria. Aridi is expected to meet with General Mohammad Nassif and several Syrian officials

ET409: Search stopped due to bad weather in Lebanon

The search operations for the victims , debris and voice recorder ( black box ) of the crashed Ethiopian plane was halted due to bad weather conditions according to Future TV
Al Manar TV quoted Minister of Transportation and Public Works Ghazi Aridi said as saying that the investigation committee will issue a report in couple of days and the search will either continue or halted based on the report

ET409 crash: Aridi says advanced submarines will aid in search

Lebanon’s Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi al-Aridi said on Saturday that advanced submarines were on-route to Lebanon to aid in search operations of the Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409 crash.

“We did not expect to discover that 10 kilometers from the Lebanese shore, there are depths that go beyond 1300 meters.” Aridi said
During Friday’s cabinet meeting it was revealed that the company that owns Ocean Alert ( which identified the location of the black boxes ) will be sending soon Odyssey Explorer which has the capability of taking high-resolution photos that will help in recovering the plane’s fuselage from the bottom of the sea .
The minister said the government is dedicated to uncovering the truth behind the plane crash and that the efforts of investigators would uncover answers.
“The best international investigative experts, specialized in aviation accidents, are in Lebanon and are carrying out their technical duties without being influenced by anything,” he added.

ET409 crash: Another submarine will be used to retrieve the black boxes

Lebanon’s Information Minister Tarek Mitri said after Cabinet’s extraordinary session that the black boxes had been detected at a depth ranging from 200 to 1400 meters below the surface of the sea. He also said that the submarine which will be sent to identify the location is to take pictures and to determine the exact position of the boxes adding that another submarine will be utilized to retrieve the boxes from the sea
meanwhile , Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi al-Aridi told New TV on Thursday that search operations to find the Ethiopian plane’s fuselage would continue even if the black boxes are recovered
“The detected vibrations specified the geographical location of the black boxes,” Aridi said,
The truth behind the crash will be revealed to the public, Aridi said.

ET409 crash: Aridi says progress has been made

Lebanon’s Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi revealed Wednesday that some progress has been made in finding the plane’s body and expected positive results by early morning Thursday.

“The search will continue overnight, and we hope to have located the remains of the aircraft by Thursday morning,” Aridi told AFP.

“But the sea bottom is not flat — there are trenches,” he added. “If the wreckage is not located in one of the trenches, we’re going to be needing equipment different from what we are using now.”

“The more the weather improves the better for the search,” Aridi said, noting sunny skies on Wednesday and a calm sea.

Questions have been raised over whether the crash was caused by storms or missiles. The black black boxes will provide the answers according to Aridi.