The European Union urged Iran on Monday not to use violence against those protesting against disputed presidential elections and called on the authorities to look into complaints of irregularities.
Amnesty International said that at least 170 people were arrested Saturday as supporters of Iran's opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi protested the results that declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a 62 percent majority. There were many complaints of fraud and vote-rigging by supporters of Ahmadinejad's defeated rivals, specially since all polls prior to the election pointed to a close race between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad .
While in Lebanon we had on June 7 election day over 150 International observers monitoring the polls, In Tehran, they didn't allow any International observers on June 12 presidential election
There is democracy and democracy . In Iran the Wilayat al Faqih type rule only allows candidates chosen by the supreme Iranian leader to run in the elections. The supreme leader also favors hard line Islamists and this is why he is supporting the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against reformists such as opposition leader Mir-Hossein Moussavi
Monday
08:15 pm MP Harb told MTV : the persistence of the opposition regarding the obstructing third will disrupt the country and could torpedo the national reconciliation talks
08:02 pm Future TV; 3 million Iranians protested today in Tehran and one of them was killed by the local police
07:34 pm Nasrallah : Netanyahu's speech frustrated the moderate Arabs that were betting on Obama's success in reaching a settlement within the next few years
07:22 pm Ali Hassan Khalil told NBN : The formation of the cabinet and the naming of the premier will depend on the consultations among the pillars of the opposition to be followed by consultations with the pillars of the majority
4:35pm MP Michel Murr filed a lawsuit against ( Aoun's) OTV station for fraud and encouraging disobedience. The Syriac Orthodox archbishopric also filed a lawsuit against Father Elias Akari for embezzlement of funds and fraud.
04:20pm Jumblatt: Netanyahu's position reconfirms that Israel has no intention of reaching a settlement , and he is setting a dangerous stage for the middle east as a whole
04:15 pm MP Aoun discussed with US ambassador Sison the results of the visit
of George Mitchel to
04:00 pm Future : former Iranian president Khatami will continue to oppose the election of Ahmadinejad until new elections are announced by the government
04:00 Former president Amin Gemayel: Our experience with Berri as a speaker was not successful . He added : We support Hariri as the new premier
03:15 pm Minister Gebran Bassil said : "We will be able to continue what we started at the ministry.. . There is no going back on what we have Achieved so far. According to political observers Bassil and all the FPM ministers that ran for election were defeated by March 14 candidates , which shows lack of confidence in their abilities to govern.
03 :10 Al Hayat : Berri said it is MP Saad Hariri's "natural right" to become prime minister, adding that he backed the Mustaqbal movement leader's nomination by consensus.
2:20pm LF leader Samir Geagea: We are for giving veto power to the president. There is no problem with Speaker Nabih Berri but we have our point of view on how to run the parliament.
1:45pm President Michel Suleiman said Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest speech calls on Arabs for more unity and safeguarding the spirit of the resistance.
1:35pm Judge Saqr Saqr indicted Colonels Mansour Diab and Shahid Toumiyeh on charges of spying for Israel.
1:34pm Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh headed to Gabon accompanied by a ministerial delegation to represent Lebanon at the funeral of President Omar Bongo.
1:15pm Gemayel rejected Israeli PM Netanyahu’s latest stance. His speech on solving the refugee problem outside Israel means Palestinians can’t return to their country. The national dialogue should come up with work plan to fight naturalization.
12:20 pm MP -elect Suleiman Franjiyeh, a member of General Michel Aoun 's change and Reform block, once again attacked Christian spiritual leader Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. Franjiyeh said he will stay under the wing under of Bkirki's 'decent" clergymen, because a patriarch 'comes and goes."
12:15pm Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar after meeting a delegation from the Higher Judicial Council: The international tribunal is not politicized and there is no fear on it. There is a need to settle the legal status of some inmates in Roumieh prison.
12:00 pm Netanyahu said : "If we get this guarantee for demilitarization ( of Palestinian state) and necessary security arrangements for Israel, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, we will be willing in a real peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said. "Netanyahu's speech closed the door to permanent status negotiations," senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said. "We ask the world not to be fooled by his use of the term Palestinian state because he qualified it. He declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, said refugees would not be negotiated and that settlements would remain."
11:50 Assiyasah newspaper , Kuwait : Lebanese army chief Brigadier General Jean Kahwaji said Lebanon has busted a key Al-Qaeda cell network that was plotting attacks in a number of Arab countries. "We busted a huge network of Al-Qaeda," Kahwaji said and added : The Al-Qaeda cell was plotting to "destabilize Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Gulf countries including Kuwait."
11:37 Pakradonian told OTV: we have no disputes with general Aoun and we will not withdraw from the dialogue talks . The numbers we attained during the election was as previously predicted .
This was in reference to leaked reports that Aoun is outraged because of the election of Michel Murr and Sami Gemayel and he is blaming the Armenians .
11:22 Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan: Our discussions with Solana were friendly and we have stressed to him that any negotiation that doesn’t include the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homeland will be rejected . "We will not allow any negotiation to be at Lebanon's expense" he added
11:30 MP Boutros Harb told LBC: We reject combining the election of the speaker and formation of the cabinet in one basket. The March 14 alliance will deal positively with Berri’s nomination.
11:18 Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir told members of the March 14 electoral list " Zahle is in our heart": We said what we said before the polls because we saw that things were heading in the wrong direction. We hope things would be better in the future.
09:37 Al Rai newspaper : The opposition wants to make up for its defeat in the election by extending the validity of the Doha accord
8:30 MP Michel Moussa ruled out the possibility of combining in a single basket the election of a speaker and the cabinet formation. "The speaker should be elected first and then officials would discuss the issue of the cabinet."He said
7:40 MP Akram Shehayeb told VOL: Everyone agrees that the constitution has the final say. There is no division in the March 14 forces. Speaker Nabih Berri is the only candidate for the speakership.
Sunday
05:13 pm MP Maurice Fathel ( father of MP elect Roberth Fathel) died 6 days before the end of his term
04:55pm Hariri told Egyptian TV: Consultation regarding the formation of a cabinet continue within alliances and up till now the PM designate has not been named
04:54pm Egyptian Prime Minsiter after meeting PM Siniora: Egypt reaffirms its support for Lebanon's stability and unity
04:34 pm The Lebanese army announced that 4 Israeli jets have violated the Lebanese airspace. It is expected that the Lebanese government will submit a complaint to the UN security council since this violates UNSCR 1701