Hariri: Israel has nothing else to do but threaten Lebanon

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Tunisian President Zine el-Abidine bin Ali stressed on Friday the importance of moderation, diversity, and dialogue that bind Lebanon and Tunisia.

Hariri stressed after meeting bin Ali in Tunisia the need to strengthen Lebanese-Tunisian ties.

Addressing the issue of drilling for oil in the Mediterranean, Hariri said from the airport at the end of his trip: “Israel has nothing else to do but threaten and intimidate the Lebanese.” (more…)

Iran cancels aid ship to Gaza

Iran will not send a ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza as it had planned to do on Thursday, according to a report from the official news agency of Iran. (more…)

G20: Obama calls for co-ordinated action

US President Barack Obama has called for the G20 to pull together to promote economic growth, saying that world economies are “inextricably linked”.

The president was speaking just hours after US lawmakers agreed the biggest reform of financial regulation since the Great Depression.

Mr Obama is now on his way to Canada to attend meetings of the G8 and G20. (more…)

Israel kills 2 Palestinians in Gaza

Palestinian officials say they retrieved the bodies of two Palestinians killed after Israel bombed a weapons smuggling tunnel overnight on the Gaza-Egypt border. (more…)

Lebanon formulates strategy to monitor borders with Syria

Minister of State Jean Hogassapian announced Thursday an agreement on a “strategic vision” to monitor and control Lebanese-Syrian borders.

Hogassapian spoke to reporters after chairing a meeting at the Grand Serail of the Technical Committee tasked with monitoring and controlling the Lebanese-Syrian borders. (more…)

Natural Gas Deposits: No Free Lunch

By Ghassan Karam
The Lebanese authorities are well advised not to “count their natural gas chicken until they hatch”.

OP-Ed: Resilient Lebanon attracts tourists, money, glamour

Two years ago, Lebanon was reeling from a crisis which brought gun battles onto the streets of Beirut,

Palestinian arrested for ’spying for Israel’

Lebanese police have arrested a Palestinian refugee on suspicion he was spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, a police spokesman said on Friday. (more…)

Jordan, Syria blast Israeli plan to demolish Jerusalem homes

Jordan’s King Abdullah II concluded a brief visit to Syria Thursday, during which he joined Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in condemning an Israeli local planning committee’s approval of a plan to demolish a number of Palestinian houses in East Jerusalem.

The two Arab leaders denounced ‘the unilateral Israeli measures that seek to Judaize the holy city and empty it of its Arab inhabitants, both Muslims and Christians,’ a joint communique carried by the official Petra news agency said. (more…)

Verbal war over gas escalates between Lebanon, Israel

Israeli Minister of National Infrastructures Uzi Landau said his country is willing to use force to protect off- shore natural gas finds after the speaker of Lebanon’s parliament said the fields extended into his nation’s waters.