Spotlight
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Lebanon
Aoun stresses state role, floats initiative for negotiations with Israel
President Joseph Aoun on Friday said that Lebanon "has grown tired of the state's absence" and "the Lebanese have grown exhausted of the projec...
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Lebanon
Haykal calls on Lebanese to trust army despite 'slanderous campaigns'
Army chief Rodolphe Haykal called Friday on the Lebanese to trust and support the army as they have always done, amid American and domestic pressur...
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Lebanese activists on Monday launched a social media campaign to express outrage and solidarity with anti-government protesters who lost eyes after being hit by rubber bullets fired by riot police.
The activists posted pictures of themselves covering one eye under the Arabic hashtag “Our Revolution Is Your Eyes”.
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Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab held talks Monday at his residence with Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh, Hizbullah secretary-general’s political assistant Hussein Khalil and Speaker Nabih Berri’s political aide Ali Hassan Khalil.
LBCI television said the meeting “did not achieve tangible results in terms of resolving the obstacles delaying the government’s formation.”
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Lebanese security forces overnight detained an American freelance journalist on suspicion of broadcasting live footage of the central Beirut clashes to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
In a statement, the State Security agency said the U.S. citizen was at the scene of the protest near the parliament building, a location from which someone was broadcasting live to the Israeli paper.
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Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri lamented “obstructions” hindering the government formation while the crisis-hit country seems heading towards an “unknown” future.
Hariri said in a tweet that his “government has resigned in order to form a new one to address the popular demands, but for over ninety days obstruction continues while the country heads towards the unknown and the group concerned with the formation is taking its time to discuss the kind of government” they desire.
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The central bank of Lebanon on Monday denied reports claiming that investigations have identified the names of individuals reportedly involved in “suspicious money transfers abroad when Lebanon’s banks were closed at the start of protests, LBCI reported on Monday.
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After the most violent weekend in three months of street protests, several roads were blocked on Monday and schools were closed in several areas around the country.
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A security meeting will be held at Baabda Palace on Monday after a weekend of rare violence that wounded hundreds, amid reports that outgoing Prime Minister Saad Hariri refuses to take part considering that a political solution best addresses the issue.
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Security forces on Sunday fired rubber bullets, tear gas, pepper spray and water cannons at stone-throwing protesters in central Beirut, a day after almost 400 people were injured in the fiercest clashes yet in the protests that have been rocking the country since October 17.
At least four people were injured by rubber bullets, including Al-Jazeera reporter Ihab al-Oqdeh and al-Jadeed cameraman Mohammed al-Samra.
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Prime Minister-designate Hassan Diab on Sunday met with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace.
Diab left without making a statement after the 90-minute meeting, after media reports said that the cabinet line-up could be announced on Sunday.
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Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Sunday called on the parties forming the new cabinet to speed up the process in order to "calm the popular storm," as he urged protesters hailing from Tripoli and the North to shun violence and preserve "Beirut's dignity."
“We feared for Beirut yesterday, but as usual, it has stitched the wounds of its sons from the ranks of the security forces and protesters and removed from its face the remains of anger, rioting and the smoke of blazes,” Hariri tweeted, referring to Saturday’s fierce clashes in Beirut between protesters and security forces.
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