Judge Antonio Cassese, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, has set a deadline of June 10 for STL Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare to file a response, if any, to the appeal filed on May 23 by Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, Lebanon’s former General Security chief, against STL Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen’s ruling on the disclosure of more than 270 investigation documents to Sayyed, STL’s press office said Wednesday.
“The Prosecutor shall file a response, if any, to the Appeal by 10 June 2011 and the Appellant a reply thereto, if any, by 22 June 2011,” says Cassese in his scheduling order.
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman stated on Wednesday that the internal developments in Lebanon require the formation of a government and the staging of comprehensive national dialogue.
He said before his visitors that this would help fortify the internal scene against local and regional developments.
Full StoryThe March 14 general-secretariat said Wednesday that the delay in the formation of the cabinet confirms that the March 8 forces lack the courage to admit their failure.
“The non-formation of the cabinet four months after the nomination (of PM-designate Najib Miqati) is a sign of the Hizbullah team’s failure (to stage) a coup on democracy and constitutional institutions,” said a statement issued after the weekly meeting of the general-secretariat.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat addressed the Lebanese on the occasion of Liberation Day, greeting all the “martyrs” and those who fought for freedom.
“Greetings to the thousands of martyrs” who adopted the cause of “the resistance politically, militarily and intellectually,” al-Liwaa newspaper quoted the PSP leader as saying.
Full StoryMilitary sources have appeased fears about a possible attempt by Syrian forces to cross the Nahr al-Kabir in northern Lebanon after an end to the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border with Syria.
The sources denied to An Nahar daily on Wednesday that the Syrian army would cross the border and reach Lebanon. The denial came amid rumors and fears among residents in the area about the possibility of infiltration by Syrian troops.
Full StoryAl-Mustaqbal bloc sources have blamed the parties who were behind the toppling of Caretaker PM Saad Hariri’s cabinet for the current government formation impasse.
“The actual responsibility of the crisis lies on those who toppled Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government and claimed that his presence in Lebanon was hindering the formation of the new cabinet,” sources told An Nahar daily about the March 8 forces.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri is reportedly planning to launch a new initiative to bring the viewpoints of Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun closer.
An Nahar daily said Wednesday that Berri is working away from the media spotlight to solve the dispute between the two officials.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri has said that the current situation will not crush efforts to form the new government saying no one will “surrender” to the obstacles facing the cabinet formation.
“The efforts are still ongoing and the necessity requires us to reach the desired results,” Berri told An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.
Full StoryPremier-designate Najib Miqati has said that he intentionally “turned off the engines” of his consultations to form the new government after Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun sought to bring back to the table issues that the involved parties had already reached agreement on.
According to As Safir daily, Miqati told his visitors that he was still waiting for Aoun to propose the names of his bloc’s candidates to join the new government.
Full StoryIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hailed the "courageous Arab protestors" battling tyranny which has inflicted “the medieval rule of Hizbullah” on Lebanon.
"The brief democratic spring in Iran was cut short by a ferocious and unforgiving tyranny. This same tyranny smothered Lebanon's democratic Cedar Revolution,” Netanyahu said in an address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Tuesday.
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