The U.N. Secretariat denied reports that it has information about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon or the date of the indictment’s release, An Nahar reported on Saturday.
The U.N. Secretariat spokesman said: “We have received reports published in Lebanese media regarding the release of the indictment. We confirm that the STL is an independent body and that the secretariat has no information about the indictment or its date of release.”
Full StoryThe United States has informed parties involved in the formation of the government that it had “vetoed” giving Hizbullah and its allies four main portfolios, al-Liwaa daily reported Thursday.
The newspaper said that the vetoed ministries include the interior, defense, justice and telecommunications portfolios.
Full StoryPremier-designate Najib Miqati has said that he “irrevocably ruled out the formation of a technocrat or de facto government” and reiterated that he rejects turning the cabinet into “provinces.”
Miqati confirmed to his visitors that several formulas have been suggested to end the government deadlock but blamed the large number of conditions for the delay in the formation of the cabinet.
Full StoryThe March 8 forces led by Hizbullah are mulling to replace Premier-designate Najib Miqati with another personality, al-Liwaa newspaper reported Wednesday.
Sources told the daily that mainly Hizbullah and Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun are planning to find a candidate for the premiership who is neither a March 14 foe nor unwanted by March 8.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat denied that his latest stance from Hizbullah was aimed at requesting a “political asylum back to the March 14 forces,” As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday.
“I am frustrated and depressed. I gave up,” Jumblat said.
Full StoryHizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has held more than one meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad to discuss reform in Syria, al-Akhbar daily reported Monday.
The newspaper did not say when the talks were held.
Full StoryThe March 14 forces and Hizbullah have engaged in a war of words over the “militia practices” in the facility affiliated with the telecommunications ministry in Beirut’s Adliyeh area on Thursday.
The March 14 general-secretariat said in a statement on Saturday in reference to Hizbullah that “the militia” which turned its arms against the Lebanese during the May 7, 2008 events and carried out a “coup” against Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government in January this year “does not have the right to accuse anyone of making a coup against the state and its institutions.”
Full StoryHizbullah parliamentary sources said Saturday that Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has blamed Hizbullah for the government deadlock out of his keenness on the quick formation of the new cabinet.
The sources said that they accept his remarks because they know that he has “good intentions.”
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has confirmed that he blamed Hizbullah for the cabinet impasse out of his keenness on the resistance and its achievements.
In a statement posted on his party’s website, the Druze leader admitted to saying that Hizbullah did not want the government to be formed and was putting Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at the forefront.
Full StoryU.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday condemned a bomb attack near the Lebanese southern city of Sidon that seriously injured two Italian peacekeepers, pledging to "bring the perpetrators to justice."
"I condemn the attack on the U.N. peacekeepers which happened today in Lebanon," Ban said in a statement. "It is all the more deplorable because today is the International Day of the United Nations Peacekeepers."
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