A Bangkok court ordered on Tuesday a Lebanese-Swedish Hizbullah suspect detained for 12 days for illegally possessing explosive materials.
Thai police charged Atris Hussein on Monday after he led them to a warehouse containing four tons of urea fertilizer and several gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate.
Full StoryPresident Michel Suleiman vowed on Tuesday to resume the National Dialogue and said the success of the Arab initiative to resolve the Syrian crisis falls in Lebanon’s interest.
“I will continue to exert efforts to guarantee all the necessary conditions to resume dialogue between all parties to preserve the safety of the Lebanese” and achieve a national defense strategy, Suleiman told the diplomatic corps that was in Baabda palace for a protocol visit on the occasion of the New Year.
Full StoryPublic Works Minister Ghazi Aridi revealed on Tuesday that the probe in the 2010 crash of the Ethiopian plane off the Lebanese coast, in which all 90 people on board died, points to a pilot error.
“The truth is in the Lebanese report, the pilot is completely responsible for the plane crash,” the minister said during a press conference held at Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International airport.
Full StoryPhalange party leader Amin Gemayel confirmed on Tuesday that he disagreed with his allies in the March 14 forces on the situation in Syria, saying Lebanon had no interest in shoving itself in the internal affairs of the neighboring country.
In an interview with As Safir newspaper, Gemayel said: “We have differences on how to deal with the Syrian issue and this is no secret.”
Full StoryRescuers have recovered 27 bodies from the rubble of a collapsed building in Ashrafiyeh amid fears that 20,000 structures could face a similar fate if the government doesn’t take quick action.
The rescue teams called off the search for survivors on Monday night after only finding bodies throughout the day. The dead included 11 Lebanese and 16 foreigners, Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told Voice of Lebanon radio station on Tuesday.
Full StoryLebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said on Tuesday that the ongoing Syrian crisis poses a threat to the neighboring countries and the region in general.
“The 10-month revolt in Syria, seems endless after President Bashar Assad’s speech… which threatens the neighboring countries and the region,” Geagea said in remarks published in An Nahar newspaper.
Full StorySpeaker Nabih Berri has promised to put a $5.9 billion 2011 spending bill on the agenda of a parliamentary session during an extraordinary round that lasts till March 19.
Ministerial sources told Beirut dailies on Tuesday that cabinet ministers deliberated the issue during a session held at Baabda palace a day earlier.
Full StoryForeign Minister Adnan Mansour on Monday said he was confident that missing Imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions were still alive, upon his return from a several-day visit to Libya, where the three were last seen.
“The Libyan leaders expressed their readiness to closely follow up on the case,” Mansour said in an interview with NBN television.
Full StoryProgressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has warned that revolt-hit Syria might “descend into civil war if the bloodshed continues,” stressing that the Arab peoples “can no longer tolerate autocratic parties and rulers.”
In his weekly column in his party’s Al-Anbaa newspaper to be published Tuesday, Jumblat said: “The Arab peoples can no longer tolerate autocratic parties and rulers, and the freedom fighters and revolutionaries in all countries do not buy anymore the obsolete rhetoric that was used for years to control the masses.”
Full StoryAn Internal Security Forces member was injured in a gunfight with robbers of a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant in the southern city of Sidon at dawn Monday, the National News Agency reported.
NNA said that gunmen had stolen around 10 million liras from KFC and were fleeing at around 3:30 am when they were taken by surprise by an ISF patrol.
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