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Miqati Proposes to Suleiman, Berri STL Clause as March 14 Warns against Ambiguous Wording

Premier Najib Miqati has informed President Michel Suleiman and Speaker Nabih Berri about his vision on the clause of the international tribunal in the cabinet draft policy statement, informed sources said Saturday.

While the sources refused to give details on Miqati’s proposed formula, they told al-Joumhouria daily that the prime minister asked both Suleiman and Berri to study his proposal and give him their remarks.

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March 14 Slams Nasrallah’s Speech: Hizbullah Dominates Cabinet

The March 14-led opposition slammed Hizbullah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s speech, saying the way PM Najib Miqati was nominated confirms that the cabinet was not formed in Lebanon.

“The coup on (former PM Saad) Hariri’s cabinet … confirms that the appointment and formation of the government was not Lebanese at all,” March 14 sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

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U.S. Embassy Denies as 'Empty Accusations' Nasrallah CIA Infiltration Charges

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's charges that the Central Intelligence Agency had infiltrated his group in Lebanon were "empty accusations," a U.S. embassy spokesperson said Friday.

"These are the same kinds of empty accusations that we have repeatedly heard from Hizbullah," the spokesperson told Agence France Presse shortly after Nasrallah made the allegations in a televised speech.

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Nasrallah Slams U.S. Embassy as 'Den of Spies': 2 Hizbullah Members Confessed to Spying for CIA

Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday announced that members of his party had confessed to being CIA agents and accused arch-foe Israel of turning to the U.S. spy agency when it failed to infiltrate his Iran-backed group.

In the first such acknowledgment of infiltration since the group's founding in the 1980's, Nasrallah refused to disclose the identities of the two party members but said a third case was under investigation, slamming the U.S. embassy in Lebanon as a "den of spies."

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Eight Wounded Syrians Arrive in North Lebanon

Eight wounded Syrians were hospitalized in northern Lebanon Friday after entering the country through an illegal crossing at the border with Syria, a Lebanese security official told Agence France Presse.

"Eight Syrians with gunshot wounds were evacuated from their country via the unofficial crossing of al-Qusair in the region of Akkar" at Lebanon's northern border with Syria, the official said on condition of anonymity.

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Dar al-Fatwa Rejects Domestic Abuse Law

Lebanon's highest Sunni Muslim authority on Friday rejected a bill aimed at protecting women against domestic violence and marital rape, saying it would lead to the demise "of the family as in the West."

"Islam is very aware of and concerned with ... resolving problems of poor treatment ... but this should not happen by cloning Western laws that encourage the breakdown of the family and do not suit our society," Dar al-Fatwa said in a statement on its website.

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Military Team to Visit U.S. after Confidence Vote to Stress Commitment to U.N. Resolutions

Well-informed military sources have ruled out the possibility that the U.S. might decide to halt military assistance to the Lebanese army following the letter sent by the Congress to President Barack Obama’s administration in this regard in response to the formation of the new Lebanese cabinet, the Central News Agency reported Friday.

“A high-ranking Lebanese military delegation will visit Washington after the government gains (parliament’s) confidence … to provide the necessary clarifications and stress Lebanon’s commitment to the applicable international principles, resolutions and laws,” the agency noted.

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7 People Charged with Killing Soldier, Civilians in Tripoli Gunfight

Government Commissioner to the Military Tribunal Judge Saqr Saqr on Friday charged seven people with engaging in a deadly gunfight in the northern port city of Tripoli a week earlier.

Saqr Saqr charged the seven suspects with forming armed gangs, exchanging gunfire with unlicensed arms, and killing a soldier and several civilians.

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Report: STL Clause to Be Settled Only after Miqati-Nasrallah Meeting

Premier Najib Miqati does not intend to make any suggestion on the clause of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in the draft policy statement before holding talks with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, al-Mustaqbal daily reported Friday.

The final decision on the controversial clause is awaiting a meeting between Miqati and Nasrallah, the newspaper said.

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Bomb Scare at Baabda Justice Palace

The Justice Palace in Baabda was evacuated on Friday after a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax, media reports said.

The National News Agency said that a call was made on Friday morning threatening to blow up the building while Judge Faisal Haidar was holding judicial hearings.

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