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5 Brothers Arrested in al-Nabaa over Killings of Taxi Drivers

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Tuesday that five brothers were arrested in a raid on an apartment in al-Nabaa over the attacks on 11 people, mostly taxi drivers, in the past three months.

During a press conference, Charbel gave the details of the arrest that took place at 1:30 am and said the investigation into the killings was underway.

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Business Leaders Meet on Tuesday to Discuss Labor Minister’s New Proposal

Business leaders will hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ proposal to correct the minimum wages.

As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday that the business leaders will reject the proposal because it didn’t include adding the transportation allowance to the basic salary and the wage hike didn’t respond to the figures released by the Central Statistics office.

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Opposition Coordinating Positions before Parliamentary Session, Might Boycott

The March 14-led opposition is seeking to unite its position before a parliamentary session aimed at raising questions to the cabinet on Wednesday as the rift widens over Lebanon’s position at the Arab League meeting on Syria.

The opposition clearly objects the fact that the parliamentary agenda didn’t include any inquiry over the cabinet’s stance at the Arab League meeting, opposition sources told An Nahar newspaper on Tuesday.

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West, Gulf Dissatisfied with Lebanon as High-Ranking Official Defends ‘Inevitable’ Decision

Western countries were disappointed while Gulf nations have expressed deep discontent over Lebanon’s stance from an Arab League decision on Syria, diplomatic sources said.

Western diplomatic sources told several newspapers in remarks published Tuesday that the Western disappointment lies in not only Lebanon’s vote against the suspension of Syria’s membership in the Arab League but also on the statement made by its delegate during the meeting of the Arab committee.

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Miqati Seeks to Contain Repercussions of Lebanon’s Stance from Syria

Premier Najib Miqati has launched a series of meetings with diplomats to contain the repercussions of Lebanon’s vote against the suspension of Syria from the 22-member Arab League.

Sources close to Miqati told An Nahar daily on Tuesday that the prime minister is trying to explain the Lebanese stance, stressing to the diplomats that Beirut’s decision is not targeted at Arab countries but is only aimed at protecting Lebanon.

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Lebanese Man Arrested by Mistake over Wrong U.S. Terror Warrant

A federal terrorism case arrest warrant mistakenly gave the name, address and driver's license number of the Lebanese-American head of a popular Arab-American group, leading to his wrongful arrest, a suburban Detroit police chief said Monday.

Dearborn police arrested Ali Hammoud on Friday night. He was released Saturday after the FBI found he was the wrong man.

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Shukur, Alloush Heated Debate Erupts into On-Air Fistfight

A heated debate between Baath Party leader Fayez Shukur and Mustaqbal Movement official ex-MP Mustafa Alloush erupted into a verbal clash and a fistfight during a live talk show on MTV on Monday.

As the two were arguing over the Syrian crisis, Shukur repeatedly asked Alloush to refrain from describing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a “tyrant”, “criminal” and “liar”.

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Hizbullah Denies Claims Linking It to Bahrain 'Terrorist' Cell

Hizbullah on Monday denied as “totally baseless” allegations by Bahraini MPs linking the party to a suspected "terrorist" cell recently busted in Bahrain.

“No one knows if the individuals arrested by the Bahraini authorities were members of a military cell or if the cell had military objectives as claimed, and the whole thing could might be one of the fabrications of the authoritarian al-Khalifa regime,” Hizbullah said in a statement.

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Jumblat: STL a Fait Accompli, National Interest Requires Funding It

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday called for tackling the thorny issue of the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a “new, serious and calm manner.”

In his weekly column in his party’s mouthpiece Al-Anbaa newspaper, Jumblat stressed that he totally understands “Hizbullah’s reservations over this tribunal,” but noted that “the STL has become a fait accompli.”

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Bellemare Prepared a Successor from Day 1 to Secure Orderly Probe Progress

Naharnet Exclusive Report – Leidschendam:

The pace of work at the Office of the Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon appears to be dynamic, coherent and organized despite Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s absence from Leidschendam over the past few weeks due to health problems.

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