Berri heads Sunday to Turkey

Lebanon Speaker Nabih Berri will head to Turkey on Sunday with a parliamentary delegation for an official state visit, the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Saturday

During his visit Berri is expected to meet with high-ranking Turkish officials, including President Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Speaker Mehmet Ali Chahine. (more…)

Berri defends Suleiman over resistance clause

Speaker Nabih Berri defended President Michel Suleiman , following their meeting at the Baabda palace over the clause on the Resistance that was crossed out from the statement issued after the national dialogue session. (more…)

Berri: defense strategy is strictly a Lebanese issue, Arabs should not be involved

National dialogue talks are scheduled to resume Tuesday at the Baabda palace amid tension between the majority March 14 coalition and the Hezbollah-led Opposition over the agenda of the talks.
The main item of the agenda is the defense strategy but many members of the March 14 alliance are insisting that the disarmament of Hezbollah should also be included in the agenda. (more…)

Berri urges Arab Leage to reject call for indirect talks with Israel

Speaker Nabih Berri’s office issued a statement on Friday urging the Arab League to reject the Arab foreign ministers approval of the resumption of indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks.
He said “the League should follow the examples set by Lebanon and Syria in rejecting indirect negotiations with Israel.”

Syria was conducting indirect negotiations with Israel , but the negotiations came to halt after Israel invaded Gaza. (more…)

Al-Manar: Hariri to meet with Nasrallah and Berri reps

Al-Manar TV station has reported on Friday that Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri will meet later this evening with the representatives of Amal Movement leader Speaker Nabih Berri ( MP, Ali Hassan Khalil) , and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ( Hussein Khalil).

Parliament votes against lowering voting age to 18

The Lebanese parliament failed to adopt a draft law on lowering voting age from 21 to 18. While many MP’s vocalized support for the amendment, 66 abstained from voting. MP Marwan Hamadeh told the Voice of Lebanon radio station on Monday that he supports linking the draft law to lower the legal voting age to granting Lebanese living abroad the right to vote from their countries of residence. He added that the granting Lebanese emigrants the right to vote is as important as allowing Lebanese youth to cast their ballots.

“Abstaining from voting [on the draft law pertaining to lowering the legal voting age] is not to drop the proposal, rather it is to maintain the voting rights of Lebanese youth and emigrants,” Hamadeh said.

Youth activists held a sit-in in Riad Solh square to call for lowering voting age.

Speaker Berri adjourned the parliamentary session until 6:00 p.m. 15 other draft laws were adopted.

Berri calls on Lebanon to boycott Libya’s summit

Speaker Nabih Berri called against Lebanon’s participation in the upcoming Arab League summit in Libya, during a speech on Wednesday to a medical conference at Beirut Al-Zahraa Hospital.
Berri accused Libya of being behind the 1978 disappearance of Lebanon’s Shiite leader Imam Moussa Sadr.
Berri also urged all Arab leaders to avoid participating in the summit and giving political cover to Libya.
We and our partners who gathered for the February 14 commemoration of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri wish to build a new state, Berri said. However, he said that the journey to build a new state begins with eliminating political sectarianism.
The speaker called the elimination of political sectarianism a national duty, reiterating his call to form a national committee on the issue. We do not wish for one sect to dominate over the others, the speaker said, adding, “We want all 18 sects to dominate.”
He said that in order to build a new state, the Lebanese should admit that the sectarian system has failed.
He also blamed corruption on political sectarianism, saying, “Some parties try to attain more privileges than others to serve their own interests.” Berri called for the building of a modern country, in which no party has veto power.
Berri warned Israel against any new aggression saying Israel would only lose the war and will fail to split Lebanon or create a rift between the Resistance and the Lebanese army.
Berri also called for exploring the oil and natural gas reserves off the Lebanese coast to help pay off the national debt.
berri also called for establishing a crises committee to handle disasters .
“In light of the crash of the Ethiopian plane, I call for establishing a committee to manage disasters,” he said.

Speaker Berri’s delegation to visit Hariri’s grave

A delegation from the Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc, representing Speaker Nabih Berri will visit the grave of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri at martyrs square in downtown Beirut on the eve of February 14, the 5th anniversary of his assassination the Central News Agency ( CNA) has reported today.
CNA also reported that other March 8 officials will also visit the grave, but will not participate in the commemoration.

Israeli FM tells Hariri: Hezbollah killed your father

During an interview with Israel’s Army Radio, Israeli ultra-nationalist Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday fired back at PM Saad Hariri over his BBC interview.
“As prime minister, he’s simply a hostage of Hezbollah, which has veto power in his Cabinet,” Lieberman said
“Hezbollah killed his father, former premier Rafik Hariri,” added Lieberman.
Asked whether there might be a new war involving Lebanon and Syria, Lieberman said: “I very much hope not.”
Speaker Nabih Berri addressed the escalation in Israeli threats against Lebanon, Syria, and the Palestinians during his Wednesday’s weekly discussions with the MPs.
Answering a question on the remarks of Lieberman and his accusation that Hezbollah assassinated former premier Rafik Hariri, Berri described the accusation as “desperate.”
“After that statement, we became confident that you have an essential role in assassinating the unity of Lebanon,” Berri told Lieberman.
Lieberman may have been referring to the May 2009 report of the German Der Spiegel magazine in which it revealed that Hezbollah was behind Hariri’s assassination and not Syria.

Berri meeting Assad in Damascus

Lebanon’s Speaker and Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri is meeting Syrian President Bashar al Assad in Damascus..
Amal along with General Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement are key allies of the Iranian and Syrian backed Hezbollah group. .

According Syria’s SANA Berri update Assad on the most recent development in Lebanon and the improvement in Syrian-Lebanese relations