during its meeting on Thursday
The other focus is the agreement reached in Egypt between PM Siniora and Egyptian president Mubarak on the importation of 200 MW of electricity from Egypt and natural gas for the Lebanese power plants . Lebanon suffers daily blackouts and this could offer a partial solution to these blackouts.
The other focus is the security situation in north Lebanon and the fear that this violence could expand to Ain el Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp
Sunday
21:20 Arslan told New TV: The Council of Ministers meeting reflected the recent positive atmosphere and I hope that this will be reflected on the parliament .The subject of Hezbollah is a major national issue and can not be dealt with in the manner in which some tried to follow
20:20 Najjar told "LBC": There should be no political interference in the subject of Lebanese detainees in prisons. We should leave the investigation take its course in the case of those convicted in terrorist activities .
20:03 Salloukh of "LBC": the joint commissions between Lebanon and Syria should intensify their effort to reach solutions to all outstanding issues and there are things that must be resolved before the issue of border demarcation .There are more than 100 convicted Lebanese in Syrian prisons
19:40 Sources: MP Bahij Tabbara president will meet soon to present his view on the expansion of the dialogue, the old basis that determines who should attend prevents Amin Gemayel , Mohamed Safadi, Michel Murr and Ghassan Tueni from participating in the dialogue ,because they don’t represent 4 members of the parliament
19:38 Sources: Speaker Nabih Berri suggested that the president should expand the dialogue to include the president , the prime minister , The parliament speaker , former prime ministers , Opposition and loyalists and neutral leaders, but the president was not interested in the idea and preferred instead that the pro-government forces and opposition should name 5 to 7 individuals from each side to participate in the dialogue
19:38 Al Manar TV: Preparatory Committee for Dialogue at the Baabda Palace is chaired by Nazim al-Khuri and is comprised of seven people, four of whom are from the Republican Palace, including Khouri, the other three are academics and they are: Issam Suleiman, Adnan Hussein, Walid Mubarak
18:56 Al Arabiyeh TV: Public debt in Lebanon has reached 44 billion dollars, an increase of 8 percent
18:55, Minister of Finance Mohammed Shatah: The public debt in Lebanon is up in relation to the GNP and we are trying to increase the size of the economy and the economic growth in the real estate and tourism sectors. There is pressure on the Treasury from the price of fuel and subsidy of the electricity sector which will cost the state two billion dollars annually
17:22 Arabic: Iran launches rocket carrying the first sputnik domestic production
16:35 Syrian ambassador to Washington Imad Mustafa: No plan for President Assad to visit Lebanon, this does not mean that there is lack of desire or intention> We have chosen to ignore those that vilified him for the sake of both countries .
15:45 MP Boutros Harb: It is not permissible to build a state within a State
14:51 President Suleiman received a telephone call from PM Siniora and briefed him on his visit to Cairo
11:57 Israeli Cabinet decided to release 200 Palestinian prisoners on Sunday in line with the implementation of the indirect prisoner exchange deal with Hezbollah
11:40, retired Brigadier General Elias Hanna criticized during an interview with LBC the " obvious Lebanese intelligence failures that led to the continuation of bombings and specially the latest bombing in Tripoli"
11:25 Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad: The time of trilateral and other types of agreements is gone and we want a well balanced and capable state to provide services to the citizens of this country and to address their needs
10:55 minister Shatah : The protection of Lebanon and its security should be a Lebanese and Arab concern . The Arab League will participate in the dialogue talks . Getting gas and electricity from Egypt will reduce the burden on citizens, but nothing is free
10:28 Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in a sermon Sunday said in response to speeches by some politicians : Our values are in a steady decline
10:17 MP Walid Jumblatt during a tour of the province of Iklim el Kharroub: This is not an election campaign visit . I will be launching may campaign with the march 14 alliance . I have no idea how the security forces evaporate: We currently have a security force of 20,000 and soon will be 50, 000 . The army is not fully equipped because our friends are concerned that the arms could fall into the hands of Hezbollah
09:54 "An-Nahar:" There are rumors that preliminary agreements on appointments of the top military and security forces have been reached , but decisions were postponed after the emergence of reservations on some names
09:47 Minister Elie Marouni : The dialogue talks will start in October . The issue of the security appointments has not come up yet in the cabinet discussions . We will not accept the burying of the issue of the missing Lebanese and those in Syrian jails
09:01 The meeting for discussing the memorandum of understanding between Hezbollah and the Salafist group has been temporarily postponed . Salafist Sheikh Safwan al Zuhbi said their battle with Hezbollah is a losing battle militarily and for this reason they need to focus on the international framework pointing out that Future movement come to terms with Hezbollah and this could leave the Salafi groups with a black eye
08:34 Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah eddine Bashir will arrive this evening to Beirut and plans to meet with president Suleiman, PM Siniora, speaker Berri and FM Salloukh
08:12 The cabinet will meet on Thursday to decide on the diplomatic exchange with Syria
08:00 Fouad al Saad told Al Anwar newspaper : Since the regional situation has not stabilized yet , I don’t think the violence is over in Lebanon and I expect we will face more assassinations and explosions
07:40 Al Hayat : During its last special meeting the cabinet discussed the media situation and some ministers called for controlling the media while some other ministers felt that it is up to the political leaders to calm down the media situation
07:15 Hesham Youssef told Al Hayat : Arab league chief Amr Moussa may come soon to Lebanon, since the league expressed interest هشام يوسف لـ"الحياة": موسى قد يسافر الىin attending the dialogue talks
07:00 Presidential sources told al Balad newspaper : The Lebanese Syrian relations are open for discussing any issue . The summit set the bases for future dealings
06:30 An Nahar : The final link for connecting Lebanon to the Egyptian power grid via Jordan and Syria was accomplished yesterday duringthe meeting between Siniora and Mubarak
05:45 An Nahar : The issue of security appointments and specifically the appointment of the army chief may or nopt be on the agenda of the Thursday cabinet meeting . Discussions o this issue are ongoing between the concerned parties
06:20 "Al-Nahar": Diplomatic exchanges between Lebanon and Syria to be signed Thursday by the cabinet . The decree requires the signature of the president , the prime minister and the foreign minister . The decision on army and security appointments may not take place next week as discussions still ongoing in this regard
Tags: Assad, Government, Hezbollah, March 14 Alliance, Prisoners, source: Now Lebanon, source: Ya Libnan, Suleiman, Syria
