Jumblatt -Aoun coordinating activities in Municipal election

Ad-Diyar: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun are coordinating mechanisms for municipal elections through joint committees in several towns in the Mountains.

Khoury: Lebanese-Syrian border demarcation committee to meet soon

New TV:   Secretary General of the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council Nasri Khoury said that Syria maintains its position on agreeing to demarcate its borders with Lebanon starting in the north, however, it rejects demarcating the borders at Shebaa Farms, since the area is still occupied. Khoury said the committee tasked with border demarcation will meet soon to proceed with the matter.

Suleiman to meet Obama in December

Al Hayat: President Michel Suleiman is expected to visit Washington next month for talks with U.S. President Barack Obama and other top officials to discuss bilateral ties and U.S. military assistance for Lebanon. Suleiman official 4 day visit is expected to take place starting Dec. 10

Sayegh: The government not united on issue of Hezbollah arms

Social affairs Minister Salim al-Sayegh told Future TV: The government is united on all clauses except for clause number 6 which deals with resistance (Hezbollah) and arms.

Russia says a bomb caused the deadly train derailment

Russian authorities say terrorists planted a device on the tracks that detonated under the high-speed Nevsky Express carrying more than 650 passengers from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

Zardari gives up control of Pakistan’s nuclear arms

The embattled president of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, has handed control of the country’s nuclear arsenal to his prime minister in an attempt to boost his popularity.

Situation with Iran resembles build up to the invasion of Iraq

Five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council have now joined forces against Iran. China and Russia had previously resisted taking action against Iran have now joined forces with Britain, France, Germany and the United States. This looks so much like the build up to the invasion of Iraq with harder sanctions on the horizon and followed with what could inevitably be military action. Source: The Palestine Telegraph

Qabbani : We should first eliminate political sectarianism from our hearts and minds

“Future,” MP Mohammad Qabbani told OTV “that the formation of the committee for abolition of political sectarianism will not abolish political sectarianism, but will examine the method of how to gradually eliminate it,” and stressed “the necessity of eliminating it from our hearts and minds before eliminating it from the laws.”

Lebanese American man kills 4 relatives in Florida

Authorities in Florida were searching on Saturday for Paul Michael Merhige, 35, a Lebanese American man police said opened fire on his family after Thanksgiving dinner and killed four people, including his pregnant sister and a 6-year-old cousin who was sleeping in her bed.

Customs revenues on the rise, up 83% in 2009

Customs revenues reached $1.53bn in the first 10 months of 2009, up 83% from $837m in the same period last year, Byblos Bank’s Lebanon This Week stated. Custom revenues reached $165.8m in October 2009 compared to $156.5m in September and to $104.8m in October 2008.

The Port of Beirut continues to be the main point of customs receipts, accounting for 89% of the total in October 2009, and was followed by the Hariri International Airport with 5.8%, the Port of Tripoli with 2.5%, and the Masnaa crossing point with 1.8%. Overall customs receipts reached $2.68bn year-to-October when including revenues from the value-added tax that totaled $1.15bn over the covered period. Source: iloubnan.info