Lebanon Update

The Daily Star is reporting on the conflicting statements coming out of cabinet-formation negotiations with sources close to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri expressing optimism and  Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea accusing Hezbollah of hindering the process.  Future Movement spokesman Maarouf Daouk denied reports that Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri headed for the first time, since his appointment as premier-designate, a meeting of the Future Movement bloc.

At the same time minority sects  are clamoring for more representation in the government.   A group Syrian Orthodox, Syrian Catholic, Coptic and Latin Christans, who currently have one seat designated for them in Parliament, are asking “what prevents increasing the number of ministers to 32 and seeing the representation of Syrians and Alawis? Why shouldn’t ministries be rotated between the sects, without there being a veto on one of the country’s sects?” On Sunday, the Syrian community organized a small but angry protest at its continued lack of representation in most state posts.

In a related story, Zahle MP Elie Skaff has promised to revive the Popular Bloc, which was originally formed in the 1950′s, to create a “party where Sunnis, Shiites and Christians can all be together.”

Free Patriotic Movement official Adonis Akra, a political science professor at Balamand University, has been charged by the Publications Court with impugning the reputation of the Lebanese Army and the judiciary in his book entitled “When my Name Became 16.”

Lastly, lawyers in Tripoli observed a strike after one of their own was physically accosted by the Internal Security Forces.