Tony Badran writes in today's Daily Star: The Syrian regime would seem to be right on program. That much was clear from the assassination of parliamentarian Antoine Ghanem on Wednesday, six days before Parliament is scheduled to meet to elect a new president. The assassination was, regrettably, predictable and carried a number of messages, both to the Lebanese and to key international players involved with Lebanon. The response by the March 14 coalition and the international community must be... Read Full Story
El DJ Antoine Clamaran acaba de publicar el videoclip oficial de “ Reach For The Stars “, segundo sencillo extraido de su álbum “Spotlight”
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The upcoming election of the President of the Republic and the lethal assault against the Member of Parliament Antoine Ghanem have once more put Lebanon in the spotlight. Arabmonitor focussed on this issue in its talks with Karim Pakradouni, chairman of the Kataeb, the Phalange Party, a historic political force in Lebanon sustained mainly by the Maronite community. What prospects are there for an agreement to be reached from now until 23rd October, over the name of a candidate for the... Read Full Story
Nicholas Blanford writes in CSM: An anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker was killed Wednesday in a large car-bomb explosion in east Beirut, just six days before parliament is scheduled to elect a new president. The death of Antoine Ghanem, a Christian parliamentarian, may delay the election, which has already aggravated a bitter year-long political dispute between pro- and anti-Syrian factions here. Mr. Ghanem died along with at least nine other people when, according to Lebanese officials, a car... Read Full Story
Walid Shoucair writes in Al-Hayat: With each assassination targeting Lebanon, certain people - including those of the Lebanese opposition - are quick to highlight the state and security forces' responsibility for exposing the perpetrators in a clever attempt to turn a blind eye to the intentions and goals of such operations. This comprises a campaign to turn people's attention away from bids to alter the balance of power through murder, to foster an acceptance of such methods and to place the... Read Full Story
The FT's Ferry Biedermann reports: “Every time he goes out we all watch the television, listen to the radio, listen for the sound of a bomb. When he comes home it’s, oof, a relief,” says Anne Franjieh of her husband Samir, a member of parliament for Lebanon’s ruling anti-Syrian March 14 movement. Security is topmost in her mind in the aftermath of the killing on Wednesday of Antoine Ghanem, the fourth anti-Syrian MP to die in an attack since the elections in May 2005. Mr Franjieh’s name has... Read Full Story
FT reports: Lebanon’s parliament failed on Tuesday to choose a new president after a boycott by opposition MPs denied the anti-Syrian majority the required two-thirds quorum for a vote. The presidential contest brings to a head the long simmering crisis between the anti-Syrian government and the opposition that started in November last year when Hizbollah and its allies pulled their ministers out of the cabinet. Both the opposition and Emile Lahoud, the current pro-Syrian president, have... Read Full Story
Naharnet has this report: Phalangist MP Antoine Ghanem was assassinated by a powerful blast that ripped through his car in east Beirut's Sin el-Fil suburb Wednesday in what appears to be bloody scheme to strip the March 14 coalition of its parliamentary majority just six days before a scheduled session to elect a new president. A 40-kilogram strong car bomb explosion shattered Ghanem's black Chevrolet Sedan as it drove in the plush suburb, killing him and eight other people, including his... Read Full Story
SANA have this. Is it strange that it was merely a 'media source' rather than a Syrian offical that that condemened the killing of an MP yesterday in 'brotherly Lebanon'? DAMASCUS, (SANA) - A media source on Wednesday strongly Condemned the explosion which claimed the lives of the Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem and other Lebanese citizens in Beirut . "This criminal act targets the efforts and endeavors exerted by Syria and others to achieve the Lebanese national accord," the source told SANA... Read Full Story
