Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stated on Tuesday that the case of the dispute between the security forces and caretaker Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas has taken “its normal legal course.”
He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: “OGERO Telecom was initially placed under the management of Orient Radio and it was later placed under the Telecom Ministry … and therefore its functioning falls under the ministry’s authority.”
Full StoryPhalange Party leader Amin Gemayel condemned on Tuesday last week’s incident at a Telecommunications Ministry building at al-Adliyeh, describing it as “unacceptable.”
He stressed after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri: “Blame in this issue cannot be made based on media reports.”
Full StoryPalestinians will march on Israel's borders from neighboring Arab states on Sunday to mark the 1967 Six Day War, a top Fatah commander said, calling on the United Nations to protect the protesters.
"We, who hope to return to our lands in Palestine, are planning a peaceful rally this Sunday" at the Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian borders with Israel as well as the Gaza Strip, Fatah commander in Lebanon Munir Maqdah told Agence France Presse.
Full StoryLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea praised on Tuesday Internal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi, saying that the ongoing campaign against him “is targeting the last free position in the Lebanese state.”
He demanded during a press conference an end to the campaign against him, noting: “His tenure at the Interior Ministry contributed to the international investigations for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and uncovered tens of Israeli spy networks.”
Full StoryInternal Security Forces chief Major General Ashraf Rifi stated that he has not yet looked into the President Michel Suleiman’s demand for legal action to be taken against him following his refusal to abide by caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s order to evacuate a Telecom Ministry building last week.
He told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Tuesday: “I have not examined his demand and I don’t know what it’s based upon.”
Full StoryMarch 14 lawmakers have accused Speaker Nabih Berri of putting the speakership in confrontation of not only the March 14 forces but also the Cedar Revolution after he said it took Lebanon back 60 years on the democratic level.
In remarks to An Nahar daily on Tuesday, the sources warned that Berri was making attempts to put on the agenda of a parliamentary session on June 8 the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Lebanon’s commitment to it.
Full StoryLebanese security sources have denied media reports that several people were arrested in connection with the roadside bombing that targeted a UNIFIL convoy in southern Lebanon last week.
The sources told As Safir daily published Tuesday that neither Lebanese nor Palestinians were in the custody of any security or military apparatus.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat denied that his latest stance from Hizbullah was aimed at requesting a “political asylum back to the March 14 forces,” As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“I am frustrated and depressed. I gave up,” Jumblat said.
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman agrees with Premier-designate Najib Miqati on the need to avoid the formation of a one-sided cabinet so that it does not clash with the West and mainly the Obama administration, As Safir daily said Tuesday.
Suleiman does not mind that Miqati forms a balanced government in which the new parliamentary majority would get 19 ministers while the centrist bloc that includes the president, the PM-designate and MP Walid Jumblat would get 11 ministers, the newspaper said.
Full StoryPremier-designate Najib Miqati seems to have resumed consultations aimed at forming the new cabinet after meetings with the different representatives of March 8 leaders came to a standstill almost two weeks ago.
Miqati met with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh on Monday night. The two officials later held another round of talks in the presence of Berri’s aide MP Ali Hassan Khalil and the assistant of the Hizbullah leader, Hussein Khalil, An Nahar daily reported.
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