The head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora held talks on the parliamentary elections with Phalange Party chief Amin Gemayel, reported the National News Agency on Tuesday.
It said that the two officials addressed electoral law discussions and the need to hold the elections, scheduled for June, on time.
Full StoryDirector of the Chamber of Commerce for Mount Lebanon and Beirut Mohammed Shuqair called for round table talks between the Syndicate Coordination Committee and the Economic Committees to study the problematic wage scale issue in light of the escalatory measures taken by the SCC, As Safir daily said Tuesday.
“I call upon the SCC to hold talks with the Economic Committees and form a joint commission to study the wage scale from various aspects,” Shuqair told the daily.
Full StoryPrime Minister Najib Miqati is holding onto his stance from the so-called Orthodox Gathering electoral draft-law, reiterating his rejection to the adoption of the proposal, media reports said on Tuesday.
Sources close to the premier pointed out in comments published in al-Joumhouria newspaper that he informed officials that he will not attend any parliamentary session set to vote on the Orthodox proposal.
Full StoryEnvoys of President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati are expected to present to various political factions a new version of the hybrid electoral draft law, reported the daily An Nahar Tuesday.
It said that Suleiman's envoy, former Minister Khalil al-Hrawi, and Miqati's envoy, Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas, are set to hold discussions with the factions on a law that sees the election of 68 MPs based on the winner-takes-all system and 60 based on the proportional representation system.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri defended his parliamentary electoral law proposal, saying he is willing to assume the responsibility of its consequences, reported As Safir newspaper Tuesday.
He told the daily: “I proposed the hybrid draft law, the outcomes of which are unknown and based on constructive vagueness.”
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat adopted on Tuesday the electoral draft-law proposed by the government as he revealed that his party is carrying out negotiations with al-Mustaqbal Movement to reach common ground over the matter.
“We are carrying out discussions based on the electoral draft-law proposed by the cabinet and we might reach an agreement between the March 8 and 14 coalitions over the matter after modifying it,” Jumblat said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.
Full StoryMaronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged Lebanese politicians on Tuesday to resign if the 1960's electoral law was adopted in the upcoming elections, pointing out that the talks he will hold with Russian officials during his trip to Moscow will discuss peace in the Middle East.
“We salute Russia's calls for drawing an end to wars in Lebanon, Syria and the region,” al-Rahi said upon his arrival to Moscow.
Full StoryHasan Awada, the municipal chief of the southern town of Yaroun, was wounded on Monday when a blast ripped through his car as he was driving it in the Tyre area of al-Housh, state-run National News Agency reported.
Security forces immediately cordoned off the area and launched an investigation into the incident, NNA said.
Full StoryLebanese leftist militant Georges Abdallah, who has been jailed for nearly three decades in France, on Monday declared a hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, the Lebanon-based, pan-Arab television al-Mayadeen reported on Monday.
More than 4,000 Palestinian prisoners staged a one-day hunger strike on Sunday to protest the death of Palestinian inmate Arafat Jaradat.
Full StoryPrime Minister Najib Miqati revealed that all aid being sent to Syria is purchased in Lebanese markets, stressing again on the cabinet's policy of disassociation towards the neighboring country's events.
"Lebanon's economy has certainly been negatively affected by Syria's conflict particularly in the fields of tourism and transportation,” Miqati told CNN in an interview that aired on Monday according to the PM's office.
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