Israel threatens to return Syria to the Stone Age if Hezbollah attacks

Israel has delivered a secret warning to Syrian President Bashar Assad that it will return Syria to the Stone Age in response to missile attacks from Hezbollah

Icelandic ash may hover for days over Europe

The Icelandic volcano that has kept much of Europe land-bound is far from finished spitting out its grit, and offered up new mini-eruptions Saturday that raise concerns about longer-term damage to world air travel and trade.

Facing days to come under the volcano’s unpredictable, ashy plume, Europeans are looking at temporary airport layoffs and getting creative with flight patterns to try to weather this extraordinary event. (more…)

Monitors: Sudan poll fell short of standard

Sudan’s first multi-party elections in almost a quarter of a century have failed to meet international standards, according to foreign monitors.

After almost a week of polling, counting is well underway in Sudan.

However, both the European Union and the Carter Centre, headed by former US president Jimmy Carter, say the presidential, parliamentary and regional elections were beset with irregularities. (more…)

Syria signals U.S. school in Damascus may reopen

Syria has signaled that the American school in Damascus, ordered to shut down two years ago in response to a deadly U.S. raid on a village near the country’s border with Iraq, may reopen, in yet another indication both countries seem keen to take major steps toward improving strained ties.

The timing of the move is intriguing, not least because President Barack Obama’s nominee to become the first U.S. Ambassador to Syria in more than five years, Robert Ford, received majority backing Tuesday in a vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. (more…)

Israel fears US wants to impose peace

Israel’s hardline government is deeply worried that the U.S. will try to impose a Mideast peace deal, that the Palestinians might declare statehood unilaterally

AMAL ,FPM to cooperate in south Lebanon Municipal elections

AMAL and FPM held a meeting in Zahrani to discuss coordination in the South’s upcoming municipal elections. The two sides stressed full cooperation “in order to keep this constitutional juncture in its developmental frame.”

Torsarkissian: FPM not allowed to impose its conditions in Beirut Municipal election

March 14 MP Serge Torsarkissian told MTV television on Saturday that the Beirut MPs will not allow the party that failed to be elected in the 2009 parliamentary elections to impose its conditions on the creation of a candidate list for municipal elections. He was referring to Free Patriotic Movement (FPM)

Torsarkissian said deliberations with spiritual leaders and parties – including the Phalange , the Lebanese Forces, the Henshag and the Tashnaq – over the selection of the 12 Christian candidates for Beirut’s municipal council have already begun. (more…)

Hezbollah MP: U.S. encouraging Israel to attack Lebanon

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayad told AFP on Saturday that US concern over allegations that Syria has been supplying Scud missiles to Hezbollah serves to encourage Israel to attack Lebanon.

“With this position, (the Americans) are encouraging Israel to carry out an aggression against Lebanon that they are trying to endorse at the international level,” Fayad said. (more…)

Analysis: Rethinking engaging Syria

This article reveals how Damascus is taking Washington for a ride, under the noses of the Barack Obama administration and some Congress people

Bishop Rahi: Cabinet should control Hezbollah arms

Maronite Bishop Bechara al-Rahi told Voice of Lebanon on Saturday that the Lebanese cabinet should have control over Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal.
The bishop voiced concern over the party’s armament, and called for a unanimous decision regarding the general use of weapons in Lebanon.