Round Up 9-12-2009
Al-Akhbar
Titles
Bored in parliament
Baghdad chokes on its own blood
News
The first of the parliamentary sessions dedicated to discuss the Ministerial Statement was held yesterday, and the sessions are expected to be prolonged today and tomorrow. Nineteen MPs took the floor yesterday in a double session that was almost eventless were it not for the disagreement between Speaker Nabih Berri and MP Elie Marouni.
PM Saad Hariri said that "we are before a difficult test, a test of the citizens' confidence in the state and constitutional institutions. This government has one and only option, Mr. Speaker, and that is to succeed."
On his part, General Michel Aoun preserved his opinion during yesterday's session limited to the subject of political sectarianism. Aoun said that he does not agree with the title of "committee for the abolition of sectarianism," offering instead "the preparation committee for the abolition of sectarianism."
The bloody blasts that hit Baghdad yesterday left 600 causalities in attacks that are similar to the "bloody Sunday and Wednesday," which targeted government facilities.
As-Safir
Titles
Hariri stresses the difficulty of the test, and "we have no option but to succeed"
The confidence vote session: The Ministerial Statement is contradicted by its own majority
Syria and Iran slam the blasts [in Baghdad]; the [UN] Security Council demands international cooperation with the Iraqi authorities
Baghdad again: Bodies torn apart and pools of blood ... and government institutions brought to shreds
News
Article 6 of the Ministerial Statement and the Resistance were targeted by a potent attack led by Lebanon First MPs, especially the March 14 Christians.
Some Future Movement MPs said they understood the "reservations" on the resistance-related item. Leadership sources within the opposition said that this was as close as can be to a "disgused reservation."
The Loyalty to the Resistance bloc will supposedly divulge its position on these reservations in an "important" address due to be delivered today.
Yesterday was added to the list of black days in Baghdad over the past six years. The sole difference was that the death count escalated to a staggering 127 victims, whereas 513 others were wounded.
An-nahar
Titles
The Foreign Affairs Ministry receives the demands for legal assistance from the Syrian Embassy in Beirut
"Israeli" sources predict a pullout from Ghajar within days
News
On the first day of the confidence vote sessions, Prime Minister Saad Hariri emphasised that "this government was not formed only to witness afterward the obstruction of political life and of any objective debate on its Ministerial Statement."
An-Nahar has learned that the Syrian requests for legal assistance had been "dealt with," these requests were officially delivered yesterday by the Syrian Embassy in Beirut to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to informed sources, this development proves that the Syrian judicial and political authorities have coordinated this move following earlier claims that the two authorities had a separate position on that issue.
Lebanese sources close to Damascus told An-Nahar that the Syrian leadership "was taken by surprise with the requests for legal assistance and expressed their annoyance with these requests and their unsuitable timing," saying that "the issue was a purely judicial one."
"Israeli" daily Haaretz reported that "Israel" and the United Nations will attempt to reach an agreement handing over security in the northern section of the Ghajar Village to UNIFIL by the end of January.
