Pharaon: Consensus talks with FPM hit a dead end

Lebanese Minister of State Michel Pharaon said in an interview with As-Safir newspaper published on Saturday,that negotiations with the Free Patriotic Movement aimed at reaching a consensus on Beirut’s municipal elections seem to have hit a dead end. (more…)

War is hell: Lebanese art in Washington, DC

“Convergence: New Art From Lebanon” is billed as the first large retrospective of contemporary Lebanese art outside Lebanon in decades.

Egyptian FM: The scud missile story is a big lie

Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit who is currently visiting Lebanon called reports that Syria supplied Hezbollah with Scud missiles a “big lie” and described the charge as “sheer provocation”.
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Abbas: No Palestinian state with temporary borders

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday he rejects the establishment of a Palestinian state in temporary borders, in an apparent response to media reports that Israel is trying to revive the proposal.

Instead, Israel and the Palestinians should resume serious negotiations on the terms of full Palestinian statehood, Abbas said, adding that such talks should wrap up within two years. (more…)

U.S.: Syria providing broader range of missiles to Hezbollah

Syria is providing a “wider array” of missiles to Hezbollah, a US diplomat said Friday, stopping short of accusing Damascus of supplying Scuds to the Lebanese Shiite group. (more…)

Lebanon DM: Intelligence Hasn’t Spotted Any Scuds

Following his meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri, Defense Minister Elias Murr stressed during a chat with reporters Friday that the Lebanese Army’s intelligence has no information about Scud missiles crossing into Lebanon as Israel claims.

“There’s no info about this topic whatsoever,” Murr said

“We had no previous information and the army’s intelligence hasn’t revealed anything about this topic,” he added. (more…)

Analysis: Lebanon’s confused secularism

The author says the confessional system in Lebanon has failed, but if secularism is to succeed we need to add clarity to the language surrounding it.

Mitchell says U.S. wants Mideast solution soon

U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell told Israel and the Palestinians on Friday that President Barack Obama wants a comprehensive peace deal to be a reality “soon, not in some vague and distant future time.”

In a busy first day of meetings on his latest shuttle mission — amid strains between Israel and its closest ally — the Washington envoy underlined to both sides Obama’s determination to see a solution to the Middle East conflict. (more…)

Lebanon arrests a man on charges of spying for Israel

The Intelligence Bureau of the Internal Security Forces arrested a Lebanese man in the southern town of al-Khiyam on charges of spying for Israel.

French JM: France denounces all violations of Resolution 1701

French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie arrived in Beirut on a two-day visit during which she will meet with a number of officials. (more…)