Spotlight
General Prosecutor Judge Hatem Madi stressed on Monday that the judiciary is awaiting Lebanese lawyer Rashad Salameh to file a lawsuit against al-Mustaqbal lawmaker MP Oqab Saqr to tackle the issue, voicing his rejection to look into the matter ahead of any action by the lawyer.
“We will take the necessary measures when the lawyer files the alleged lawsuit,” Madi said in comments published in An Nahar newspaper.

An explosion at a suspected Hizbullah munitions depot shook the outskirts of the southern town of Tairharfa at dawn Monday, causing material damage only, media reports said.
According to the reports, the blast went of in an abandoned henhouse belonging to a man from the Haidar family. They said it was used as a storage facility for arms and ammunition.

The Lebanese state is considering a U.S. request to establish a telecommunications station on its territories amid fears that it would jeopardize security in Lebanon as it might transfer data to Israel, As Safir newspaper reported on Monday.
According t the daily, the Parliamentary Information committee, which will meet on Tuesday, is expected to tackle the request until Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui returns to Lebanon and informs the committee about its details.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati mocked the March 14 opposition alliance for thinking that the parliamentary majority is “Santa Claus” and would present the government's resignation as a gift.
In remarks to As Safir daily published Monday, Miqati said his government has succeeded in thwarting several plots aimed at targeting Lebanon's stability despite its inability “to mark big scores due to this difficult stage.”

The March 14 alliance is expected to hold a new meeting soon to tackle the negotiations with Speaker Nabih Berri and the upcoming stage, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Monday.
According to the daily, the opposition's meeting will focus on discussions held with Berri over the possible ways to reactivate the meetings of a parliamentary subcommittee tasked with studying the disputed issues concerning a new electoral draft law.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday called on the rival March 14 forces not to await the return of former prime minister Saad Hariri to Lebanon “via the Damascus airport,” saying they must instead end their boycott and take part in drafting a new electoral law.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi criticized on Sunday Lebanese politicians for failing to agree on fateful issues such as a new electoral draft-law ahead of the polls next year.
“It's a shame … that political parties have suspended (attempts to find) solutions to fundamental national causes such as a new electoral draft-law other than the 1960 law, the formation of a new cabinet and holding elections on time,” al-Rahi said in his sermon.
The kidnapper of Lebanese pilgrims in Syria said he will not release the men unless the Syrian government sets free two prominent opposition figures and Lebanon frees all Syrian activists in government custody.
Amar al-Dadikhi of the North Storm brigade, also known as Abu Ibrahim, claims to have 1,300 armed fighters and a network of cross-border contacts, said the New York Times.

Security forces contained an incident during which several men assaulted a Palestinian and forced him to walk naked in a street in the northern city of Tripoli, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported on Sunday.
It said several men from Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood tortured Ahmed al-Mdallali, a Palestinian, and then forced him to walk naked in the street for allegedly working with the Arab Democratic Party.

Syrian authorities handed over to Lebanon on Sunday the bodies of four fighters killed in an ambush by regime troops in the town of Tall Kalakh in the second round of such transfer.
The bodies, which were transferred in four ambulances from the Arida border crossing in northern Lebanon, were identified to be as that of three Lebanese - Mohammed al-Ayyoubi, Ahmed Nabhan, Bilal al-Ghoul - and Palestinian Mohammed al-Hajj.
