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Spain Adopts Wait-and-See Approach On Cabinet Decisions

The Spanish ambassador, Juan Carlos Gavo, reiterated on Tuesday that the Lebanese government should include all political parties and respect Security Council resolutions.

Following talks with Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, Gavo said: “I reiterated to Gemayel our stance from the formation of the cabinet, which should represent all political parties.”

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Bassil Says March 14 was Transformed into a ‘Subversive Opposition’

Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil slammed what he called the “subversive opposition” of the March 14 forces, accusing them of committing “national treason.”

Bassil said speeches made by March 14 officials during ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s sixth assassination anniversary in BIEL on Monday were a sign that the coalition was putting conditions that contradict with March 8 stances.

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Ashton in Beirut on Wednesday to Inquire About Lebanon’s Commitment to Tribunal

The European Union's top diplomat Catherine Ashton will visit Lebanon on Wednesday as part of a broader Middle East trip, a source at Lebanon's foreign ministry told German Press Agency dpa.

She is due to meet with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Caretaker Minister Ali al-Shami during her four-hour visit.

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Seven Men, Including 2 Lebanese, Charged in NY with Conspiring to Aid Taliban

Seven men, including two Lebanese citizens, were charged with selling drugs and weapons in an effort to help the Taliban fight U.S. troops overseas.

Posing as representatives of the Taliban, cooperating witnesses for the Drug Enforcement Administration approached the men in Ghana last June, asking to set up a drug relationship, prosecutors said. First, the cooperators asked if they could buy large amounts of cocaine, according to court documents. Then, they asked if the men could set up safe places in West Africa to store heroin on its way from Afghanistan to the United States, Canada and Europe.

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No Cabinet this Week as Miqati Sees Positive Signs in March 14 Speeches

Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s circles said speeches made on ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s sixth assassination anniversary had some positive signs that are “consistent with Miqati’s approach.”

The circles told An Nahar daily in remarks published Tuesday that the speeches of Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri, Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and former minister Mohammed Abdul Hamid Baidoun at the BIEL rally were consistent with Miqati’s “conviction on the need for dialogue and moderation.”

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Clinton Accuses Hizbullah of ‘Hijacking’ Democracy

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused Hizbullah of hijacking Lebanon’s democracy and stressed that only the Lebanese state should have monopoly on military power.

“There are many ways that a democracy can be hijacked,” Clinton told al-Arabiya Arab TV network in an interview aired Monday.

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U.N. Chief Reiterates Support for STL on Hariri Murder Anniversary

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reiterated Monday his support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the Lebanese people, on the sixth anniversary of the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.

"As Lebanon marks the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attack that took the lives of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others, the Secretary-General stands with the people of Lebanon in commemorating the life and achievements of Mr. Hariri and renews his condolences to the families of the victims of this crime," the U.N. chief said.

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Baidoun: Political Shiism Must Correct Its Mistakes, Lebanon Can't Have Two Armies

Former minister and AMAL Movement defector Mohammed Abdul Hamid Baidoun on Monday called on "political Shiism" in Lebanon to "correct its mistakes."

Speaking at a ceremony organized by the March 14 forces to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri, Baidoun said: "We have said more than once that the Resistance (Hizbullah) considers its weapons sacred and that a majority of the Lebanese considers the (Special) Tribunal (for Lebanon) and justice sacred."

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Hariri on Feb 14 Anniversary: We Won't Accept a State Ruled by Arms under Resistance Alibi

Outgoing premier Saad Hariri on Monday stressed that the March 14 coalition would not agree to the rise of a Lebanese political system ruled by the influence of weapons "under the pretext of resistance" against Israel.

"When we had agreed in the (previous) ministerial Policy Statement on the equation of the people, the army and the Resistance, it was because we believe that the State embraces everyone," Hariri said at a ceremony organized by the March 14 forces to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the assassination of his father, ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

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Gemayel: Majority Emerges from People's Freewill, Not Gun Muzzles

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Monday noted that the Cedar Revolution has called for freedom, sovereignty, and independence, "but today it is also striving for justice and truth."

"In the name of the martyrs of freedom and dignity, we refuse to make further concessions," Gemayel stressed during a ceremony organized by the March 14 forces to commemorate the sixth anniversary of the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.

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