Speaker Nabih Berri snapped back at former Premier Saad Hariri on Monday rejecting accusations that Syria and Iran have brought down his government.

Hariri said Saturday that "enormous" pressure from outside Lebanon was to blame for the collapse of his cabinet earlier this month.

More than 200 people rallied outside the Egyptian embassy in Beirut on Sunday, calling for the resignation of embattled President Hosni Mubarak as protests in Egypt raged for a sixth straight day.

"Mubarak is an Israeli puppet," and "Gamal, tell your father that the Egyptian people hate him," protesters chanted during the student-led demonstration in Beirut.

The first Middle East Airlines plane carrying 170 Lebanese nationals who were evacuated from Egypt arrived in Beirut Sunday afternoon, state-run National News Agency reported.

It said MEA planned to make two more trips to Cairo tonight to bring home more Lebanese nationals wanting to leave Egypt.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said Sunday that the party’s political stances that were discussed during a general assembly meeting will be unveiled in a statement.

Talking to reporters following the meeting at the Beau Rivage hotel, Jumblat said: “There is nothing new to say. The results of the meeting will be announced in a statement.”

A prominent Arab-Israeli human rights activist was sentenced to nine years in jail on Sunday after pleading guilty to spying for Hizbullah, an Israeli court official said.

Ameer Makhoul was convicted last October of espionage and aggravated espionage on the basis of a plea bargain in which the prosecution dropped a charge of assisting the enemy in time of war.

Prime Minister Designate Najib Miqati and the March 8 forces are making strong efforts to distribute portfolios among the alliance’s members excluding the March 14 forces, An Nahar daily reported Sunday.

The newspaper said that former Minister Naji Boustani would most likely have a portfolio from President Michel Suleiman’s share in the government. Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is also seeking to bring back Jebran Bassil and Charbel Nahhas to the cabinet, it said.

Lebanon’s ambassador to Cairo Khaled Ziade has informed Caretaker Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami that Lebanese citizens in Egypt were unhurt following violent demonstrations against the Mubarak regime.

Shami’s office said in a statement that the Caretaker foreign minister was following up closely the situation of the Lebanese community in Egypt.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati met with more than 10 ambassadors in the past two days amid a report that he informed them about his rejection to compromise on any political issue.

Pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat quoted Western diplomatic sources as saying on Sunday that Miqati told the ambassadors that “he didn’t intend to compromise on any political file.”

Prime Minister designate Najib Miqati has stressed he won’t form a cabinet before exerting all efforts to include March 14 members in the new government.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Sunday, Miqati said he would form a technocrat government that would include independent political figures with good ties with all sides if al-Mustaqbal bloc and the rest of the March 14 forces refuse to participate in the cabinet.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Frances Guy on Saturday held talks with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati.

After the meeting, Guy said she conveyed to Miqati London's hopes that the upcoming government would continue to respect Lebanon's commitments to U.N. Security Council resolutions, especially UNSCRs 1701 and 1757.