Naharnet
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Jumblat: Adopting Proportional Representation in Electoral Law Will Reproduce Period of Hegemony

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat questioned on Monday the insistence to adopt proportional representation in the parliamentary electoral law.

He noted in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “Such a law will, in one way or another, help reproduce the era of hegemony in Lebanon, which will therefore be rejected by all the Lebanese people.”

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Clinton Telephones Suleiman, Praises his Call for Democracy in Political Practice

U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton telephoned on Monday President Michel Suleiman to praise his speech at the Arab League summit that was held in Baghdad in late March.

She lauded his call to implement democracy in political practice and expressed her country’s support to such an end.

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Google Workshop and Careers Networking Session in Beirut

Google and the IE Alumni Association invite AUB alumni and MBA students to a panel workshop and careers networking session on the topic of empowering SMEs in Lebanon through web-based technologies entitled "Deploying Technology to Empower SMEs in Lebanon". It will be held on Friday, May 4 at the Hotel Bristol and will feature a high-profile panel of tech industry entrepreneurs, including William Kanaan (Google), Maroun Chammas (IDM, Berytech), Hala Fadel (Comgest, MIT Enterprise Forum), and Elie Habib (Riyada Enterprise Development).

Registration Link : http://goo.gl/5Yrq8

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Wahhab: Baqaata Bombing Won't Go without Judicial, Political Accountability

Arab Tawhid Party chief Wiam Wahhab stressed Sunday that the motives behind the bombing that targeted his party’s Baqaata office “have become clear to us,” noting that the incident “will not go without judicial and political accountability.”

“Delusional are those who believe that the Tawhid party is merely a building, an office or only walls, because Tawhid’s beliefs have become deep-rooted in people’s mind and the bombing cannot negate this fact,” Wahhab said, during a meeting with a delegation from the Free Patriotic Movement’s Shouf committee.

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Death Sentence Ordered against 26 Suspects Linked to Estonian Abduction

The military tribunal issued the death sentence on Thursday against 26 individuals for their involvement in the 2011 abduction of the seven Estonian cyclists.

The tribunal had charged 29 suspects for being involved in the crime, as well as a number of others committed in Lebanon over the past year.

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Miqati in Belgium: Govt. Policy on Region Events Achieved Stability in Lebanon

Prime Minister Najib Miqati began a two-day official visit to Belgium on Wednesday by meeting his Belgian counterpart Elio Di Rupo.

The meeting, which was attended by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas, tackled “bilateral ties between Lebanon and Belgium, the situation in the Middle East region, the role of the U.N. forces stationed in southern Lebanon and the Belgian participation, in addition to facilitating the entry of Lebanese tourists and businessmen to Belgium.”

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Majority to Seek Probe into 'Financial Scandals' of Past Governments

The parliamentary majority intends to demand a probe into the “financial scandals” allegedly committed by previous governments, in a bid to hit back at the opposition’s call for a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the issue of power-generating vessels, al-Manar television reported on Wednesday.

Al-Manar said a meeting was held between Speaker Nabih Berri and MPs Mohammed Raad, Ibrahim Kanaan and Ayyoub Hmayyed, during which they discussed the opposition’s call for a commission of inquiry.

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Serra Chairs Tripartite Meeting on Israeli Decision to Construct Patrol Road in Shabaa Farms

The Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major General Paolo Serra, chaired on Wednesday a tripartite meeting with senior officials from the Lebanese and Israeli armies at the U.N. position at Ras al-Naqoura, announced UNIFIL in a statement.

“It was a special tripartite meeting called at the initiative of the force commander and with the agreement of the representatives of the parties to discuss the security situation in the Shabaa Farms area following the Israeli army’s decision to construct a patrol road,” it said.

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Transportation Sector Goes on Strike Thursday

The various land transport unions in Lebanon will go on strike on Thursday morning in protest against the rise in fuel prices.

The strike was supposed to be held last week, but it was postponed at the request of a ministerial committee headed by Prime Minister Najib Miqati, which was seeking to find a solution that would appease the drivers but to no avail.

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Mustaqbal: Hizbullah Seeking to Follow Syrian Example by Defending Govt. Mistakes

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday Hizbullah and its allies’ conduct during last week’s parliamentary session that was aimed at assessing the government’s performance.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “Hizbullah is seeking to follow the example of its Syrian ally through going to extremes in defending the government’s mistakes in the power and telecommunications sectors, among others.”

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