Amid strict security measures and a heavy deployment of troops, Beirut’s Martyrs Square on Sunday was once again the scene of two rival yet peaceful demos supportive and critical of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Speaking at the anti-Assad rally, Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir, Imam of Sidon's Bilal bin Rabah mosque, condemned the international community’s refusal to intervene in Syria to end its crisis.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said that Lebanese security forces and the army will deploy en masse in downtown Beirut on Sunday amid planned sit-ins by pro- and anti-Assad regime demonstrators.

In remarks to LBC TV station on Saturday, Charbel said: “We will allow anyone wishing to demonstrate to go down to Martyrs’ Square tomorrow.”

Constantine Nicolaou is a Ruby on Rails coder with an exceptional background. He completed a BA in Management Information Systems studies at Haigazian University, Lebanon where he co-founded, designed and published a business and informatics magazine (BE-News). During his studies and in addition to working as a sys-admin and web developer for Saint Mary’s Orthodox College, he started surfcampus.com, an academic social portal for Lebanese students.

Seeqnce interviewed Costa a few months ago and early this week we had a short chat again.

A 22-year-old Syrian was arrested for the murder of the owner of a money exchange shop in the southern port city of Sidon, the National News Agency reported Tuesday.

NNA said that the assailant, Nasser al-Fares, stabbed to death Mohammed al-Natout, 66, and fled after stealing $5,000 from him at dawn Tuesday.

Three men have stabbed a Pizza Hut delivery driver and robbed him of LL250,000 in the town of Hadath in Beirut, the National News Agency reported Monday.

NNA said that Alaa Safwan, 23, was delivering a pizza on Sunday night when three men in a silver Nissan Tida intercepted his motorcycle.

A teenage boy died and his parents and four siblings were hospitalized for smoke inhalation after a fire swept through their house in the southern town of Dhour al-Ghaziyeh, the National News Agency said Thursday.

Fourteen-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim al-Hajj passed away while his parents Ibrahim and Nuha, his brothers Ali and Wehbe and sisters Nadine and Zahra were taken to hospital, NNA said.

Speaker Nabih Berri continued on Monday to insist on not mediating in the cabinet crisis, saying Premier Najib Miqati’s decision to suspend government sessions was “unjustified.”

“I hold onto my decision not to act as a mediator on the government crisis because Miqati’s decision on the suspension of sessions is unjustified,” Berri told As Safir daily.

An Electricite du Liban bill collector has claimed that two gunmen stole more than LL4 million from him in the area of Rweiss in Beirut’s southern suburbs, the National News Agency reported Friday.

NNA identified the bill collector by his initials as A.Y.

The March 14 leadership decided following days of consultations to mark the anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination on Tuesday Feb. 14 at the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center, An Nahar daily reported.

The newspaper said Friday that the coalition’s leaders also agreed to hold a mass rally at the Martyrs Square in downtown Beirut on March 14.

The plan of two masked gunmen to rob a bank in Beirut’s southern suburbs went down the drain on Tuesday after the manager and employees set off the alarm, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the armed thieves entered the Fransabank branch of Burj al-Barajneh in broad daylight and ordered the staff to hand them the cash.