The new dispute between Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and President Michel Suleiman on the sixth Maronite minister in the new cabinet began to take its toll on the country’s political stability.
Consultations aimed at forming the government have lately hit the new snag of the sixth Maronite minister, whom Aoun refuses to be from Jbeil or Kesrouan to avoid being marginalized in the 2013 parliamentary elections.
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman and Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri have given their consent to a proposal to hold an extraordinary cabinet session to renew the mandate of Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh, An Nahar daily said Wednesday.
The newspaper reported that Suleiman and Hariri accepted such a proposal as an alternative to Speaker Nabih Berri’s call to hold a parliamentary session that in addition to the mandate’s renewal has 48 other items on the agenda.
Full StoryThree wounded Syrians arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday via an illegal crossing at the country's northern border with Syria, one of whom died in hospital.
"Three wounded Syrians were evacuated from their country late Tuesday via the unofficial crossing of Umm Jamee in the Wadi Khaled region" in northern Lebanon, a security official told Agence France Presse.
Full StoryBahrain's national carrier, Gulf Air, said on Tuesday it will resume flights to Lebanon suspended in March after Hizbullah slammed the kingdom's crackdown on mainly Shiite protesters.
The carrier said flights will resume on Sunday as the peak season of travel from the Gulf region to Lebanon starts.
Full StoryThe Mustaqbal bloc stressed on Tuesday the need to form a new government, saying that it is the best way to solve the problem of the impending vacancy in the Central Bank governor position.
It said in a statement after its weekly meeting headed by former Premier Fouad Saniora: “Until a Cabinet is formed, no authority can appoint itself as a substitute for another authority seeing as that would be a constitutional violation.”
Full StoryFree Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun announced on Tuesday that progress has been achieved in the government formation process, adding however that he does not understand the reasons for the ongoing delay in the formation.
He said after the movement’s weekly meeting: “I have stated before that there is a conspiracy to obstruct the authority in Lebanon.”
Full StorySin el-Fil Official School held on Tuesday a ceremony in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation after the completion of renovation that cost more than $200,000.
During the opening ceremony, U.S. ambassador Maura Connelly stressed on the importance of education and being able to provide a safe and healthy place to learn.
Full StoryThe Justice Ministry building in Beirut was partially evacuated on Tuesday after a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The Internal Security Forces searched the building using sniffer dogs but found no bomb. The threat caused panic, however.
Full StorySecurity forces on Tuesday reopened the road where a deadly fuel tank explosion ripped through a gas station near Beirut’s Adliyeh area a day earlier.
Television footage showed traffic was back to normal at the road after removal of debris.
Full StoryThe March 14 forces are accusing Speaker Nabih Berri of seeking to revive the confrontation between them and the March 8 coalition by insisting on holding a parliamentary session on Wednesday.
An Nahar daily on Tuesday quoted March 14 parliamentary sources as saying that Berri’s “unconstitutional” move would pave way for a bigger conflict than the existing dispute between the two sides.
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