While Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri expressed hope on Friday for the prompt formation of a cabinet, he refrained from setting any time-table for the process as complications appear to go beyond the distribution of ministerial portfolios.Hariri, who has been striving

A high-ranking judicial source denied on Friday that Lebanese authorities had received any Egyptian request demanding that Hizbullah's secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, join the 26 suspects being trialed by the Egyptian Supreme Court of Emergency State Security.Twenty-six suspects, including

Shiite religious figures hit back on Friday to accusations made by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir that Hizbullah was serving Iran's interests over Lebanon's, saying their weapons helped liberate the south from Israeli occupation.Sheikh Afif Naboulsi, the head of the south

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has canceled a visit to Spain next week amid alleged disagreements between the two nations over the command of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).Barak was scheduled to meet Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis

The last barrier to government formation remains a purely domestic squabble largely over divvying up Christian cabinet shares, in a rare break with the paradigm of Lebanon's political woes stemming from the interference of outside powers, a number of analysts

The US Special Coordinator for Lebanon warned on Friday that any further security breaches from Lebanon and Israel could lead to a resumption of hostilities between the two nations.Michael Williams' statement voicing concern over Tuesday's exchange of rocket fire across

The brother and the attorney of Sarah Andree Bejjani who was murdered at a New York hotel in September visited Lebanese Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar on Friday to discuss developments in the case. Bejjani's attorney, Arlette Bejjani thanked Najjar for

The Middle East's most powerful Islamic political movement is undergoing a leadership struggle as young, more moderate activists try to push the Muslim Brotherhood to soften its fundamentalist ideology and become a more democratic force.The direction the Brotherhood takes could

Jacques Chirac will be the first former French president to be tried for corruption, officials said Friday, after charges from his years as mayor of Paris returned to taint the twilight of his long career.Chirac stands accused of giving political

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday met Washington's Middle East envoy ahead of a meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aimed at reviving the moribund peace talks.Netanyahu told Senator George Mitchell he hoped his discussions with the

Iran insists on simultaneously exchanging its low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel produced overseas, the state news agency said Friday, calling the demand a "red line" that will not be abandoned.The condition undermines the basis of a UN-backed plan demanding Iran

Eight-year-old Stephanie is not afraid of deportation. Her teacher told her not to be. But like hundreds of Israeli-born children of illegal foreign workers, she faces the prospect of being expelled from the only home she's ever known.Some 1,200 Asian

The US Senate Banking Committee on Thursday approved a sweeping package of economic sanctions aimed at Iran, one of many efforts by lawmakers to compel Tehran to freeze its suspect nuclear program.The panel, led by Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, voted

I would like to make a brief comment about the American government and Iran's nuclear issue - The American government has said (crowd interrupt, chants of slogan: Death to America). Well done to the brave and wise people of Iran

Muslim clerics slammed Iraqi authorities in their Friday prayer sermons over massive bombings last week, as a top US general warned that he expected insurgents to plan more spectacular attacks.Among Baghdad's critics was Sheikh Abdel-Mehdi al-Karbalai, a representative of Iraq's

Paul and Rachel Chandler, a retired British couple who sailed to exotic locales aboard their 38-foot yacht, said in one of their last cheery messages they would likely be "out of touch for some time." After disappearing for a week,

Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said Friday he expected Western powers to make a push for the settlement of the 35-year Cyprus conflict at the end of the year."Without international attention, the Cypriot Turks and Greeks cannot resolve this

The United States would have sought the extradition of the Lockerbie bomber if it had known the Scottish government was planning to release him, the American ambassador to Great Britain said on Thursday.Libyan agent Abdel-Basset al-Megrahi, convicted of the 1988

African leaders Thursday adopted proposals on how to resolve a six-year conflict in Sudan's Darfur region, which include the creation of a hybrid court to try perpetrators of atrocities in the province.The conflict has claimed up to 300,000 lives and

EU leaders on Friday reached a compromise deal on how to help developing nations tackle climate change, but without putting a figure to Europe's contribution, officials said."We have an agreement," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, at the end of