Jumblatt denies visiting Syria this Saturday

In an interview with Al-Manar television on Friday, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt denied the reports that he may be visiting Syria on Saturday after meeting with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun at his residence in Mukhtara el Shouf.

“I will announce the date of my possible visit to Damascus through a statement or a press conference,” he told Al-Manar.

ET409: Last words of the pilot ‘we’re finished, God have mercy on us’

“We’re finished … God have mercy on us,” were the last words of the pilot of Ethiopian Airlines flight ET409 before crashing into the Mediterranean Sea on January 25, 2010.

Moussa: Israeli aggression on Lebanon is always a possibility

Arab League chief Secretary General Amr Moussa said Friday at Rafik Hariri international airport that the possibility of an Israeli aggression on Lebanon is always there :

“The possibility of an Israeli aggression on Lebanon is always there . All possibilities should be taken into consideration to protect Lebanon,” Moussa told the reporters at the conclusion of his two-day visit to Beirut.

“The possibility of an Israeli aggression on Lebanon is always on. All possibilities should be taken into consideration and to protect Lebanon,” Moussa said at Rafik Hariri international airport at the conclusion of his two-day visit to Beirut.

Asked about Lebanon’s participation in the Libyan summit Moussa replied: “The participation of Lebanon in the summit is not a subject for discussion , the issue is the level of participation and I expect this issue will be discussed in Lebanon within the next few days”

About the disappearance of Imam Moussa al Sadr in Libya he said : “The media is not the place to discuss or resolve this issue ”

The Arab League chief reiterated that the political situation in Lebanon is much better now: “I believe that Lebanon today is much better than it was three or four years ago”, he said

President Suleiman heads to Moscow March 24

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman will be in Moscow on an official visit March 24-26 to meet with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and top officials, the presidential office announced.While in Moscow , Suleiman is expected to hold talks with the Lebanese community in Russia.

Participation in Libya summit up to the president, cabinet says minister

Minister of State Adnan As-Sayyed Hussein, one of 3 ministers that represent the president in the cabinet told Voice of Lebanon that it is up to President Michel Suleiman and the cabinet to decide on the level of Lebanon’s participation in the Arab League Summit scheduled to take place in Libya on March 27-28.
“But we are committed to know the truth behind Imam Moussa Sadr’s disappearance,” he said, adding that such a demand is stipulated in the current Ministerial Statement.
His comment comes after Speaker Nabih Berri, along with other prominent Shiite officials , called on the Lebanese government to boycott the summit, accusing Libya of being behind the 1978 disappearance of Sadr, a Lebanese Shiite leader and founder of Amal Movement
Sayyed Hussein said that that the cabinet did not yet discuss the issue.

Moussa: Arabs would back Lebanon if attacked by Israel

Arab League (AL) Secretary General Amr Moussa says that Arab countries will stand by Lebanon, should it be attacked by Israel.
“If a new attack or aggression is in the process of being prepared, they (Israel) will not get away with it easily,” Moussa said after meeting with the Lebanese Foreign Minister Ali Shami in Beirut on Wednesday.
The AL chief described Israeli threats:
“There are not just threats, but thousands of violations of the border zone and of south Lebanon, which demonstrate that the situation is complex and tense,” Moussa said.

IAEA fears Iran working now on nuclear warhead

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Thursday it feared Iran may be working now to develop a nuclear-armed missile, as Washington warned Tehran of “consequences” for ignoring international demands to stop its atomic program.
In unusually blunt language, an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report for the first time suggested Iran was actively pursuing nuclear weapons capability, throwing independent weight behind similar Western suspicions.
The IAEA seemed to be cautiously going public with concerns arising from a classified agency analysis leaked in part last year which concluded that Iran has already honed explosives expertise relevant to a workable nuclear weapon.
The report also confirmed Iran had produced its first small batch of uranium enriched to a higher purity and had set aside the vast bulk of its low-enriched uranium stockpile for this purpose even though this seemed far in excess of possible civilian needs.Reuters

ET409: Cabinet to release report on the crash next week

Lebanon’s Information Minister Tarek Mitri told reporters following Thursday’s cabinet session that the cabinet will issue next week its comprehensive report on the crash of the Ethiopian Airlines plane of flight ET409 .
Mitri also said the families of the crash victims would be briefed on the reports prior to its release.
“I believe that everyone is prioritizing the concerns and questions of the families of the victims,” he said, adding that Prime Minister Saad Hariri wants to meet with the families of the victims .
The Boeing 737 crashed minutes after takeoff from Beirut International airport on January 25th . All the 90 passengers and crew on board were killed. The 2 black boxes were found and sent to France for analysis

Niger president, cabinet ‘held by soldiers’

Niger President Mamadou Tandja and his cabinet are being held by soldiers after gun battles in the capital, a government source has told the BBC.
Gunfire broke out around the presidential palace at about 1300 (1200 GMT) and continued for 30 minutes, says the BBC’s Idy Baraou in Niamey. BBC

Pakistan captures two more senior Taleban leaders

Pakistan has captured two more leaders of the Afghan Taleban, Afghan officials revealed today, in the latest indication of a new level of cooperation between US and Pakistani intelligence agencies.
Mullah Abdul Salam and Mullah Mir Mohammad were the “shadow governors” of the northern Afghan provinces of Kunduz and Baghlan respectively, running the Taleban’s increasingly powerful parallel administrations there.
They were detained 10 days ago by Pakistani intelligence agents in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s south-western province of Baluchistan, according to Engineer Mohammad Omar, the official governor of Kunduz. Timesonline