Lebanon
Latest stories
Aoun Says No Elections in March

President Michel Aoun has said that he won’t sign a decree that reschedules the parliamentary elections for March 27. “If I receive it, I will return it for reevaluation,” Aoun said.

Aoun told al-Akhbar newspaper that he will not approve that the elections take place on any other dates than May 8 and May 15. “No one can impose a decree on the president,” he added.

W140 Full Story
Salameh Hands Miqati Auditing Report on His Personal Accounts

Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Friday met with Prime Minister Najib Miqati and said he handed him “a report prepared by the BDO, Semaan, Gholam & Co auditing company.”

“The report was prepared at my request and it includes an auditing of my personal bank accounts and the accounts that have been mentioned in the press for the past year and a half and are the subject of judicial investigations,” Salameh said after the meeting.

W140 Full Story
Kordahi Says Staying in His Post is the 'Sacrifice', Not His Resignation

Information Minister George Kordahi has stressed that remaining in his post is the “sacrifice,” not his resignation.

Speaking to al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Friday, Kordahi said he is “open to any solutions that would achieve the national interest.”

W140 Full Story
Aoun Says ‘No Alliance’ with Hizbullah, Direct Talks Only Solution for Gulf Row

President Michel Aoun has said that he shares with Hizbullah “an understanding not an alliance.”

“Hizbullah respects three main rules: Resolution 1701 (that ended the 2006 war), domestic stability and avoiding any harassment to the ambassadors of countries that designated Hizbullah as a terrorist organization, such as the Americans, British, Germans and Arab countries,” Aoun told al-Akhbar newspaper.

W140 Full Story
Bassil: It's Necessary to Differentiate between Stances of Lebanon, Hizbullah

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has called for “differentiating” between the stances of the Lebanese state and Hizbullah, noting that he had “repeatedly” expressed his “opposition to Hizbullah’s stances” during his tenure as foreign minister.

“Holding us the Lebanese responsible for stance of a Lebanese party aggravates the problem… and failing to differentiate between Hizbullah and the FPM is another problem,” Bassil added, in an interview with Kuwait’s al-Qabas newspaper.

W140 Full Story
39 Palestinians with Lebanese Passports Stranded in Barcelona Airport

A group of 39 Palestinians carrying Lebanese passports were waiting in a restricted area of the Barcelona airport for a fifth day Friday after they refused to board their flight during a stopover because they wanted to request asylum in Spain, the country's authorities said.

Their flight on Monday departed from Cairo and had the Ecuadorean capital, Quito, as its final destination, with scheduled stopovers in Spain's second-largest city and Bogotá, in Colombia, a spokeswoman with the Spanish government's delegation in the northeastern Catalonia region said. Barcelona is the regional capital of Catalonia.

W140 Full Story
Miqati Meets Aoun, Says Cabinet to Re-Convene Soon

Prime Minister Najib Miqati told President Michel Aoun Friday that he will soon call for a Cabinet session and that things will return to normalcy.

For its part, the Presidency said that Aoun has been briefed by Miqati on the work of the ministerial panels and that "it has been decided to resume Cabinet sessions soon."

W140 Full Story
'Hundreds' of Fake Lebanese Degrees Sold to Iraqis  

Iraq has summoned its cultural attaché in Beirut for an investigation into the alleged sale of "hundreds" of fake Lebanese university degrees to Iraqis, including MPs.

"At least three private Lebanese universities are implicated," an Iraqi academic source, who requested to remain anonymous, told AFP.

W140 Full Story
PSP Delegation Met Hariri in UAE

A Progressive Socialist Party delegation led by MP Taymour Jumblat and MP Wael Abu Faour has met with al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in the United Arab Emirates, al-Jadeed television reported.

PSP sources meanwhile told al-Jadeed that the talks were “comprehensive” and that several topics were discussed.

W140 Full Story
Court of Cassation Fails to Take Decision on Port Lawsuits

The Court of Cassation’s general assembly on Thursday finished a meeting on two lawsuits filed against the state in the port case without taking any decision, the National News Agency said.

The meeting, presided over by Court chief Judge Suheil Abboud, tackled two lawsuits filed by ex-ministers who are charged in the case.

W140 Full Story