The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the Lebanese Information Center on Monday hosted a presentation in Washington DC by prominent Lebanese journalist May Chidiac.

The presentation, held at the Woodrow Wilson Center Headquarters, was titled “The Political Situation in Lebanon with an Eye on What is Happening in Syria.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Tuesday that despite the tensions in the Arab world, which he said are only temporary, the stability in Lebanon will not be affected.

Addressing the government formation process, he stated after the movement’s weekly meeting: “There is nothing new to report in the cabinet formation.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Tuesday that a new Lebanese government will not bolster the Lebanese state, but it will instead support the March 8 camp “that likes to call itself a Resistance.”

He said: “We have not recognized it as a Resistance as no law has been approved in parliament to officially call it so.”

In collaboration with the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) and Canal France International (CFI), the Agence France Presse Foundation on Wednesday began a training program to promote local coverage of stories related to development.

The two-year media development program was inaugurated in Beirut on Tuesday by AFP chairman and chief executive Emmanuel Hoog, Lebanese acting Information Minister Tareq Mitri, UNDP's Lebanon representative Robert Watkins, CFI director Etienne Flatte and AFP Foundation director Robert Holloway.

Iraq’s ambassador Omar Barazanji on Tuesday expressed frustration over reports in al-Akhbar newspaper which he described as interference in the country’s internal affairs and incitement against violence.

Barazanji accused the daily of publishing information that increase tension in Iraq.

The Director General of the Foreign Ministry and head of the Foreign Ministry delegation to the Ivory Coast Haithan Joumaa meanwhile told the National News Agency from Accra airport that Abidjan airport was now secure.

He said on Tuesday that air traffic has been returned to normal allowing MEA to set up direct flights to the Ivory Coast capital.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held talks Monday night with the Vatican Foreign Minister Dominique Mamberti as part of his trip to the European country, which started on April 11.

On Tuesday, the patriarch met with Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.

Two people were killed in a car accident in Jal el-Dib in early morning Tuesday.

The accident took place when the driver lost control of his car crashing in the Jal el-Dib bridge, killing him and his companion.

Bahrain expelled 5 more Lebanese citizens on Monday, As Safir newspaper said, raising the total number of those asked to leave the kingdom to 24.

But Lebanon’s Ambassador to Manama, Aziz al-Qazzi, told LBCI TV network on Tuesday that only 19 Lebanese have so far been expelled from Bahrain without any justification.

A war of words between Lebanon's pro-Western and Iranian-backed camps has sparked fears of a backlash in the Mediterranean state over a "cold war" between Shiite Muslim Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.

"This war of words is further evidence that the Lebanon's internal crisis is intrinsically linked to a regional showdown," said Fadia Kiwan, head of the political science department at Saint Joseph University in Beirut.