Anonymous sources
Daily Star - Lebanon
New Cabinet awaits 'final touches' - Daily Star - Lebanon
A source close to Mikati told The Daily Star that the prime-minister designate held two lengthy telephone conversations with the president after his meetings at the Parliament. Earlier, Mikati told reporters his meeting with Aoun has broken the ice on ...
Hezbollah tightens security in Beirut suburbs - Daily Star - Lebanon
BEIRUT: A recent unprecedented three-day security clampdown by Hezbollah in Beirut's southern suburbs uncovered at least two car bombs, according to local residents and sources close to the party. Hezbollah has made no formal ...
Tug-of-war moves to Parliament - Daily Star - Lebanon
Despite a very slim chance for a quorum, a source close to Berri told The Daily Star Tuesday that the speaker was proceeding with his call to convene Parliament Wednesday. According to the source, the position of Progressive Socialist Party leader MP ...
Syrian lesbian blogger detained: websites - Daily Star - Lebanon
Three armed men seized Abdullah, in her 20s, off a street and loaded her into a car bearing a window sticker supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to a friend with her at the time, who did not wish to be identified on the blog post. ...
Results of E. coli tests to take several days - Daily Star - Lebanon
BEIRUT: Several days will be needed before laboratory tests on cucumbers and other vegetables available in local markets can determine if they are contaminated with E. coli, a government official said Thursday. The director general of the Economy ...
Mistrust abounds as Bahrain to lift emergency law - Daily Star - Lebanon
An opposition figure who requested anonymity described the backlash by the authorities against Shiites as “bedouin revenge,” adding that the collective punishment inflicted on the majority community, including the detention of women, reflects a nomadic ...
US presses Lebanon to sever ties with Syria: report - Daily Star - Lebanon
Lebanese officials and a Western diplomat, who requested anonymity, said a recent visit by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffery Feltman to Beirut was aimed at persuading Lebanese officials to distance themselves from Syria, ...
Mikati still waiting for Cabinet lists - Daily Star - Lebanon
Aoun upheld his tough demands, including his insistence that his bloc be allotted five Cabinet seats for Maronites out of his share of 10 portfolios, a source close to the formation talks said. The Cabinet formation crisis has reached an unacceptable ...
External forces impacting situation in Lebanon - Daily Star - Lebanon
The same sources said that FPM leader Michel Aoun had not received any “signals” on the new attempt to form a government from Mikati or the political aides of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Speaker Nabih Berri, Hussein Khalil ...
Judicial source: Lebanese deny knowledge of arms sent to Syria - Daily Star - Lebanon
The Lebanese judiciary cannot pursue any action on the accusations of arms smuggling that came out of the televised confessions, the source said in reference to the interviews, which were broadcast Sunday on Syrian state television, of two alleged ...
Support grows for Lagarde as IMF chief - Daily Star - Lebanon
“With you, it's never off the record,” she said Monday when one reporter asked her to comment off the record about her possible candidacy. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has yet to formally nominate Lagarde or even speak about the possibility ...
Renewed Cabinet talks make no headway - Daily Star - Lebanon
“The only link between Mikati and Aoun is Hezbollah,” the source said. The March 8 source said that Friday's visit to Beirut by US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and North African Affairs Jeffrey Feltman did not affect the Cabinet ...
Sunni-Alawite fault line tries to maintain a stay of calm - Daily Star - Lebanon
“We exported sectarianism to Syria, it spread from here to there and not vice-versa,” said a resident of Jabal Mohsen, who refused to give his name, when asked whether he feared that the turmoil witnessed in Syria could extend to Tripoli. ...
New EU sanctions target over 100 Iranian firms - Daily Star - Lebanon
“Many of the firms are fronts” set up in Europe and “the individuals targeted are their managers,” said an EU diplomat who asked not to be named. “The idea is to increase the pressure on Iran and to prevent the circumventing of existing sanctions,” ...
Boat show floats Lebanon's luxurious potential - Daily Star - Lebanon
“We already have a boat here; I don't know if we're going to buy another one, ask my husband,” said a woman, who refused to give her name. Denise Boumachar, a member of the Jounieh municipal council, said she came because she was very interested in ...
Omani youths vow protests over slow job creation - Daily Star - Lebanon
But a government official said some jobless were being choosy over the jobs they accept while others left lower paid private work for more lucrative government jobs. “We have some who would not accept jobs in places such as the armed forces, ...
Furious Batroun residents wading through water woes - Daily Star - Lebanon
One woman, who declined to give her name, said the well has been there for decades. “We know the well is supposed to be used for irrigating this land here, but we have suddenly found ourselves living in an industrial zone – the trucks come and go, ...
Cabinet formation paralyzed - Daily Star - Lebanon
“The course of the current dialogue signals that there are some, deliberately or indeliberately, who want the current stagnation to continue as if the country is in a state of solid stability,” the source said, apparently referring to Aoun, ...
Case of missing Estonian cyclists remains shrouded in mystery - Daily Star - Lebanon
“These men were simply mercenaries carrying out orders from above,” said a source familiar with the case who did not wish to be identified. A previously unheard of group, Haraket al-Nahda Wal-Islah (Movement for Renewal and Reform), ...
Mystery over case of missing Estonians in Lebanon - Daily Star - Lebanon
"These men were simply mercenaries carrying out orders from above," said a source familiar with the case who did not wish to be identified. A previously unheard of group, Haraket Al-Nahda Wal-Islah (Movement for Renewal and Reform), ...
Bkirki's Muslim-Christian meet to tackle need for dialogue - Daily Star - Lebanon
BEIRUT: The need to support dialogue among Lebanese parties will be the focus of a Christian-Muslim summit set to take place Thursday at the Maronite patriarchate in Bkirki, a source close to the church told The Daily Star. ...
Cabinet riddle almost solved - Daily Star - Lebanon
A source close to Mikati said the prime minister-designate consulted with Sleiman on “new ideas” to end the rift over the Interior Ministry portfolio. “There is nothing final yet concerning the Cabinet's formation. Matters are good and positive but the ...
Lebanon forecasts 2.5 pct growth in 2011 - Daily Star - Lebanon
The mandate will be signed by Tuesday, said the sources, who declined to be identified because details of the transaction have not been made public. Lebanon had asked 20 banks for proposals to refinance the eurobonds maturing this month as borrowing ...
France expels 14 Libyan diplomats - Daily Star - Lebanon
“The decision [to expel them] was taken some time ago, but there was a process to follow,” said a French diplomat, who asked not to be identified. “Many of these people were using their status as diplomats as a cover.” France and Britain are pressing ...
Berri persuades Mikati to hold off on de facto Cabinet - Daily Star - Lebanon
... Minister-designate Najib Mikati to put off plans to announce a Cabinet during the weekend come what may, pending a new round of consultations to break the three-month-long deadlock, a source close to the government formation talks said Thursday. ...