Saturday
20:52 FPM chooses Michel Tueni for Greek Orthodox parliamentary seat in Beirut
20:50 President Michel Sleiman said that he was optimistic about Lebanon’s future. He told Future News television on Saturday that everything accomplished throughout the last few months, including security stability, cooperation of the constitutional institutions as well as remarkable progress in countering terrorism has proven that Lebanon is on the right track toward sustained peace.
Sleiman, who is to visit Rome and the Vatican in the coming days, said that he would respond to the invitation of Saudi King Abdullah and would participate in the Conference of Religions which is to occur in New York on November 11, 2008.
19:00 Fighting occurs on Afif al-Tibi Street, in Tariq al-Jdideh, Beirutbetween citizens from al Afif al-Tibi and youths driving motorcycles from Barbour Street. Army deploys and contains the incident.
18:10 Security forces arrest murder suspect and dozens of wanted persons in security campaign in Bekaa. Security Forces in Ras Baalbek along with the intelligence services continued their security campaign in Bekaa and arrested a man, 31 years old, whose initials are A.S., who has been wanted for committing murder. He was carrying fake identification, with a passport photo, under the name of Ali Khodr Shoueib.
On the third day of the security campaign, the authorities reported the following results: 85 wanted persons arrested, 342 legal warrants applied, 929 traffic tickets organized, and 450 legal records and violations applied.
17:25 Police arrested a man wanted on criminal charges as part of a security campaign in east Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
15:42 President Michel Suleiman: The situation is getting better on both the security and economic fronts; and reconciliations have made a great headway.
15:30 Several people were arrested and three truckloads of hashish were confiscated in raids carried out at farms in Baalbek.
15:05 A bunny toy in a handbag deserted on a side street sparked panic of weary citizens in Beirut's eastern suburb of Jamhour, assuming the "suspicious" object was a bomb. A police sapper, after checking the bag, decided to open it, but only after the site was cordoned off for safety reasons. The relaxed sapper pulled the bunny toy out of the bag and waved it to civilians who watched from a distance. The owner of the bunny toy, however, could not be immediately identified.
14:00 Prime Minister Fouad Siniora holds a meeting with US Ambassador Michele Sison at the Grand Serail.
13:45 Three Lebanese citizens and a Syrian were arrested in north Lebanon on charges of forging official documents.
13:25 “Geagea has shown more intelligence than Franjieh in dealing with the reconciliation efforts, and if Franjieh rejected reconciliation then I think he is going to lose public support, because the public are looking for [reconciliation] to take place,” March 14 General Coordinator and former MP Faris Soueid said.
Soueid said elections must be held in a single day because he feared that if a certain party sensed a loss at the beginning of the voting process, then “it may wage another May 7-style attack.”
Soueid says Hezbollah is preventing state building. Soueid said, in an interview with LBC television on Saturday, that the international community was exerting pressure on the Syrian regime to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon.
“I don’t think the Syrian regime would risk confronting the international community,” Soueid said.
12:08 A suspected explosive device was found in front of al-Iman school in the southern city of Saida on Saturday morning. The Lebanese army cordoned off the school and evacuated all pupils. The army then detonated the device at 11am.
11:33 Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said that his visit to Iran was designed to “consolidate our friendship with its leadership, as Iran is a regional power.” Aoun addressed a student delegation in Rabbiye on Saturday, where he said that “we are living in a period where lies, false analysis of events and bribes prevail.”
“When we believe in a certain cause, we should gather as much support to it as we can,” he added.
10:48 Al-Mustaqbal news network reported that the explosive ordinance found near al-Iman school was an old device.
10:41 The Lebanese army will detonate the bomb found near al-Iman school in Saida at 11am
10:30 Ex-MP Faris Souaid said Hizbullah is blocking state rise because we call for reactivating the armistice accord with Israel while it wants war with Israel.
10:23 The army has cordoned off the Iman school and began evacuating its pupils in order to diffuse the bomb
10:06 Al Manar television reported an explosive device was found in front of the al-Iman school in the southern city of Saida.
09:19 Change and Reform bloc MP Ghassan Moukheiber speaks to Free Lebanon radio. "All Lebanese parties are causing controversy around various issues in order to exploit them in the upcoming elections," he said.
Moukheiber added, "new alliances will arise after the next elections, and I hope they will serve the interests of the state,” he said.
Tags: Diplomatic relations, Iran, Lebanon, source: Lebanon Files, source: Naharnet, source: Now Lebanon, Syria, Ya Libnan
