and wounding over 30( mostly civilians ) . The owner of the Renault car that was used in the bombing was arrested yesterday and is being interrogated

The incident was condemned by all the Lebanese rival leaders and by the international community

In other developments:

- The process of removal of the political banners and posters from the streets of Beirut is nearly complete. It could be expanded to greater Beirut and ultimately throughout the country.

- The activity by the Maronite League which is pursuing a road map of reconciliation continues

- The parliament continued its debate of the electoral law and adopted several amendments yesterday . Speaker Nabih Berri postponed the next session till Wednesday October 8th

- Elsewhere the biggest news yesterday was the rejection of the $700 billion bailout bill by the US house of representative . It was voted down 228 vs 205. As was expected the US market plunged sending Dow 778 down and Nasdag nearly 200 down ...this was the biggest single day drop in the past 2 decades

- But Egypt celebrated yesterday the rescuing of the hostages .Egyptian and Sudanese troops, backed by European commandos, swooped down in helicopters Monday to rescue a tour group that had been kidnapped in Egypt and taken on a 10-day dash across the Sahara to the frontier of Chad. The hostages included five Germans, five Italians, one Romanian and eight Egyptian guides

Tuesday

22:20 Sheikh Qabalan declared Wednesday October 1 as the first day of Eid el Fitr

16:45 Salloukh returned from New York after participating in the UN General Assembly meetings . He said the trip of president Suleiman to the US was very successful and that Lebanon regained the initiative in foreign affairs

16:10 The number of people killed in the Tripoli explosion has risen to 7 after citizens Mohammad Mustafa Orsly and Antonios Boutros died from their wounds

15:01 MP Butros Harb: The evolving situation that bothers Syria , Syria has contributed to its creation in Lebanon . It is not permissible to bet on a new security role for Syria in Lebanon

14:55 Tarabay: There is a national need to push for the success of the Christian reconciliation . We want the political game to return to its normal level and for these reconciliations to prevent any tension, especially in the north following the Bsarma incident

14:53 Khurais : The reconciliation I Beirut is proceeding in a positive manner and we hope this will help the dialogue

14:36 The international highway linking Tripoli to Beirut and Koura through Bahsas remains closed , but may be opened in the direction of Koura by Thursday

14:30 Tripoli is calm and the traffic is very light and the bus that was bombed yesterday is still there awaiting the conclusion of the investigation

12:36 Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir said on Tuesday, after a meeting with President Michel Suleiman at Baabda : "I hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations would improve." He called on the people of Lebanon to forge a national reconciliation, and he called on leaders to use respectful language in their speeches.
Sfeir said he hoped the Maronite community would achieve reconciliations, similar to those undertaken by other confessions and parties, and he added that Bkirki had previously called for reconciliation but that some Maronite leaders had not accepted the invitation, but stressed that Bkirki would continue making efforts to reach agreement and reconciliation among the Maronite community.

11:00 The number of people killed in the Tripoli explosion has risen to 6 after citizen Mohammad Mustafa Orsly died from his wounds

07:22 Al Hayat security sources denied that the bomb was inside the car that was parked near the bus that exploded yesterday in Tripoli

07:03 Berri postponed the next parliament session till Wednesday October 8th

06:34 Cardinal Sfeir will head to Rome at the end of the week to attend a meeting of the cardinals at the Vatican

06:09 French Source told As safir ; Any interference by Syria in northern Lebanon will return matters to the zero point

05:56 Al Akbar : The Syrian leaders see a link between the Islamist extremists on the Syrian - Iraqi borders and the northern Lebanese Syrian borders
05:33 Assad called Suleiman to condemn the Tripoli explosion

05:22 The owner of the Renault car that was most probably used in the Tripoli explosion is a soldier and has surrendered to the security forces

Monday

23:11 Berri postpones the parliament session for the debate over the electoral law until Wednesday

22:50 Ban Ki Moon condemns the Tripoli explosion and expressed hope that this incident will not affect the ongoing dialogue

22:17 Italian government declares its support for the Lebanese government and people and condemns the Tripoli crime

21:43 Minister Hariri apologized for not being able to rec

Tags: breaking news