4 members were elected at the Lebanese Bar Association, 2 of which (Amal Haddad and George Baroud) are from the minority and 2 ( Toufic Noueiri and George Jriej ) from the majority. 65 % of the members participated in the election
Information Minister Tarek Mitri circulated today a draft of the ministerial statement to the committee members in charge of finalizing the statement.
The issue surrounding Hezbollah arms is the main point of disagreement between the majority and the minority. Obviously Hezbollah wants to keep its arms while the majority wants these arms to be in the hands of the state
Hezbollah’s Sheikh Nabil Qaouq accused the U.S. of intervention in the ministerial policy statement and insisted that the statement should confirm Lebanon’s right to resistance
The problem is that these arms are no longer considered resistance arms because they were used against the Lebanese people. The May 2008 occupation of the West Beirut by Hezbollah and the failed attempt to occupy Mount Lebanon are a solid proof that these arms have been used against the Lebanese people .Hezbollah also used these arms to occupy downtown Beirut to bring down the government in the period between November 2006 and May 2008
According to analysts if it was not for these arms Hezbollah would not have been able to dictate its own terms to Prime Minister Saad Hariri during the government formation process
Sunday
11;00 pm Palestinian officials said Sunday they are considering a unilateral appeal for United Nations Security Council recognition of a state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
10;pm United Nations: Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon observed a 24-hour fast in solidarity with a billion hungry people worldwide, his spokesperson Marie Okabe has said.
9:20 pm NYT: Rudolph W. Giuliani, mayor of New York at the time of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said on Sunday that the Obama administration’s decision to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the attacks, in a civilian court in Manhattan would unnecessarily cost millions of dollars for security, create legal advantages for the defense and symbolically deny that the United States is at war with terrorism.
9:00 pm US President Barack Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev say they still plan to have a replacement nuclear arms reduction treaty ready by the end of the year.
8:15pm Minister Sayegh told Future TV : I will participate tomorrow in the meeting of the committee charged with drafting the ministerial policy statement , after meeting with PM Hariri
7:40 pm Al-Manar: Public Works and Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said on Sunday that the Hezbollah arms issue should be discussed in the National Dialogue and that it cannot be resolved in the Ministerial Statement, stressing the importance of keeping dialogue on the issue open.
7;17 pm Al-Manar: Energy Minister Gebran Bassil said the Ministerial Statement will be based on the Hezbollah-Free Patriotic Movement Memorandum of Understanding, the presidential oath and the 2008 Ministerial Statement.
5:30 pm After Iran rejected a proposal by the West to send its enriched uranium abroad in exchange for reactor fuel, the presidents of the US and Russia form a united front to warn the Tehran government over its response.
5:25 pm VOL: The ministerial policy statement will focus on the economy and may not get into the issue of Hezbollah arms since this will be dealt with during the dialogue talks
5:05 Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel calls Amal Haddad to congratulate her on being named
president of the Beirut Bar Association after the withdrawal of Kataeb candidate George Jriej and told her she can count on his support
4:35 pm AP: US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she has no problem with Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to try in New York City five alleged terrorists involved in the Sept. 11 attack
4:30 pm Barack Obama, the US president, has told Myanmar's military government to free Aung San Suu Kyi, the country's jailed pro-democracy leader
4;20 pm Reuters: US steps to renew sanctions and seize a New York skyscraper linked to Iran show that President Barack Obama is no better than his predecessor George W. Bush, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday.
4:15pm Amal Haddad was named president of the Beirut Bar Association after the withdrawal of George Jriej.
3:15pm Minority-backed candidates Amal Haddad and George Baroud and majority-backed candidates Toufic Noueiri and George Jriej won the Bar Association elections.
2:35pm Future News: March 14 alliance wins Dental Association elections 5-0 and Dr. Ghassan Yared was elected president of the association
1:35pm MP Sami Gemayel from Kfar Zibian: I urge Gen. Michel Aoun not to deny his past or the resistance, which he was a pioneer in. I also call on him to cooperate with other Christian parties.
1:00pm The first round of voting to elect members of the Bar Council and the Pension Fund ended with an agreement to postpone for 30 minutes the election of a Bar chief.
11:59 French President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered to host a Middle East peace conference in Paris in talks with Israeli, Syrian and Palestinian leaders last week.
11:56 Sheikh Nabil Qaouq: U.S. intervention in the policy statement is an attack on the Lebanese. Ministerial Statement to confirm Lebanon’s right to resistance
11:27 Ad-Diyar: president Suleiman informs Secretary General of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council Nasri Khoury that border demarcation will be hot topic in upcoming period
11:21 Syrian Newspaper Al-Watan reported on Sunday that Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun would visit Syria soon, adding that such a trip could take place before Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s visit to Damascus.
11:03 Feltman: Support for Lebanon will not be at Syria’s expense
10:42 MP Farid al-Khazen to Future News denied that FPM leader Michel Aoun plans to make a visit Syria.
10:15 Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir presided over Sunday mass in Bkirki and politics was absent from his sermon.
10:15 Dental Association elections to elect president and 14 members begin at BIEL
10:00 MP Samer Saadeh to Voice of Free Lebanon: The Phalange Party is still committed to the principles of March 14 and is in constant coordination with the majority forces, but has reservations about the administrative work of the alliance.
9:21 Former PM Salim Hoss: Yemen crisis requires active intervention at the highest levels.
8:17 VOL: A police patrol seized two pistols among other items stolen from the Tripoli office of member of Lebanon First bloc MP Khodr Habib.
08:07 Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat : Minister Sayyed Hussein said that it is “possible” for Lebanese parties to reach an agreement through dialogue to integrate Hezbollah’s arms within the state’s authority, adding that such a step is the main objective of the national defense strategy.
8:00 Beirut lawyers will elect a new bar chief and 4 members amid fierce competition between the majority and the Opposition.
07:28 Minsiter Sayegh: Kataeb supports securing stability in South Lebanon based on 1701
07:24 An-Nahar: Minister Mitri submits a draft of the Ministerial Statement to committee members
Saturday
9:30 pm Egypt snatched a last-gasp goal to secure a 2-0 victory over Algeria on Saturday and force a play-off against their opponents%
