Saturday
21:10 MP George Adwan : "Christians of March 14 should have same share in government as the Christian opposition." Adwan said there is" no disagreement with March 14 alliance on distribution of portfolios, but allocating the ministries could take couple of days". He said "Siniora also needs to meet all the ministers from both sides before announcing the cabinet , this is why the cabinet will most probably be announced mid of next week"
20:12 Minister Fatfat told al Arabiyah TV : I requested not to be in this new government for security reasons
20:03 Khureis told TV Du Liban: The next phase will witness meetings between the majority and the opposition
19:33 Siniora departs from Ain Tinah after meeting speaker Berri without talking to reporters
19:05 Huge fire in Mansouriyah . The civil defense is trying to to extinguish it
18:42 Siniora arrived at Ain el Tinah to c
18:13 General Aoun decided on the following names for the portfolios allocated to his change and reform bloc: Issam abou Jamra , Deputy premier , Gibran Bassil - telecommunications , Nabil Nicolas- Social Affairs , Allan Taborian - Energy, Elias Skaff-Agriculture
18: 10 President Suleiman will name Ziad Baroud as the minister of Interior
15:50 Siniora from Rabiyah : Aoun and I agreed on the distribution of the ministerial posts and the individuals that will man these posts and I will be soon meeting with them . There are no more obstacles to form the government and I am trying to finalize the formation of the cabinet but not ready yet to announce the date of the birth of the cabinet
15:44 Suleiman is following up on the formation of the cabinet and the Mediterranean summit and met today ministers Salloukh and Fatfat and MPs Itani and Dandashi and delegation of Maronite Bishops
15:04 Siniora may head to Baabda palace within the coming few hours to finalize the government formation
15:04 the government formation will not be declared today , but within the next couple of days depending on the agreement between the opposition and the majority
15:03 the big picture of the government formation has been finalized ( share of each faction ) . The focus now will be on assigning names of individuals to each of the portfolios
14:38 after 90 minutes of discussions Siniora and Aoun were seated at the table to have lunch together
14:32 Berri received a call from AL chief Amr Moussa and discussed the latest developments with regards to government formation
14:20 Berri received a delegation representing the families of the kidnapped Iranians
13:50 Minister Safadi: all the obstacles by the opposition were ironed out and the government will be declared within the coming 2 days
13:18 MP Hassan Khali after meeting speaker Berri: Right from the beginning we decided to give part of our share in the government to our opposition allies and this is what is going to happen
13:12 minister Fatfat told AFP : some realized that the freeze could not go on forever . I expect the formation of the government will be announced most probably today
13:00 Prime Minister Fouad Siniora arrives in Rabiyah to have lunch with Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun.
10:20 LBC: Sources close to the president say the cabinet has been formed and will be announced within hours.
07:30 An Nahar: Geagea expressed interest in the ministry of Justice and the public works
07:15 An Nahar the final agreement gives general Aoun the following portfolios: Deputy PM, communications, Energy, Agriculture and Social Affairs
07:14 according to As Safir : Dr. Zuhayr Mikdashi a Professor of Banking and Financial Systems at University of Lausanne, Switzerland and author of several books may be named as the Finance minister in the new government . He is Muslim Sunni
07:10 According to al Akhbar the allocation of the portfolios has been completed and agreed upon . The opposition and the majority are now in the process of naming the portfolio holders. No problems are expected during this stage
06:58 President Suleiman did not want to specify a birth date for the new government to make sure all obstacles are ironed out . There was hope that Siniora will visit Baabda and share with the president the basket that was agreed on in the new government and in order to declare the formation of the new cabinet . Visitors to Suleiman have reported that he is enthusiastic and optimistic about the birth of the new government very soon. The government is expected to be announced by Sunday July 6, 2008 latest
06:30 As Safir : The final deal between Aoun and Siniora is : Aoun gets the ministry of communications ( which will be allocated to his son-in-law Gibran Bassil ) and the ministry of energy which will be allocated to Allan Taborian from the Armenian Tashnag
party
06:15 As safir : for the first time the minister of interior was revealed . It is Attorney Ziad Baroud , a Christian Maronite who is acceptable to both the majority and opposaition
06:00 The ministerial statement may mention that the resistance has the right to liberate the occupied land
05:54 "As Safir " reported that Gen. Michel Aoun gave his final answer last night to PM Designate Fouad Siniora who decided to accept the invitation of General Aoun for lunch to be held in his honor, saturday afternoon, at al Rabiya. From there he will head to the presidential palace in order to finalize with the president the Government formation> If all goes as planned, the government formation will be announced either Saturday evening or Sunday morning. Follwing which the cabinet will meet to prepare the ministerial statement
Friday
21:18 MP Antoine Zahratold al Arabiyeh TV : The participants at the National Christian Gathering, are addressing the wrong concerns of the Christians .
21:03 Syrian FM Mouallem. Syria decided not to interfere in the formation of the Lebanese government . It is time for the Lebanese to decide on their own on this issue
20:34 European Union ambassador in Lebanon. One of the basic roles of the president is lead the national dialogue
20:01 the president congratulated the Poet and philosopher Said Akl on his 96th birthday
19:34 Speaker Berri cut short his private trip to Canada and returned to Lebanon . He contacted president Suleiman and PM Siniora and received a call from Qatar PM
19:24 PM Siniora received a call from his Qatar counterpart and formal chief Amr Moussa and chaired a meeting to discuss the recent fires in Lebanon
18:09 Some guests started showing up at the Royal Hotel in Dbaye to participate in the "National Christian Gathering," which is being held by the opposition. Key representatives of the Christian community such as the Phalange Party , the Lebanese Forces and many other pro-government factions have not been invited . The organizers are hoping to bring together about 150 Lebanese Christian political, economic and social figures and hope to come out with a unified position regarding the role of the Christians in Lebanon. Few expect any positive results since this gathering is dividing the Christians right in the middle and therefore its resolutions could not be enforced within the Christian community
17:23 Al Markaziyeh : The meeting between PM Siniora and Gibran Bassil was very positive . progress at a steady pace continues
Tags: Breaking News, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Lebanon Files, Qatar, Siniora, source: Now Lebanon, Suleiman, Ya Libnan
