• 'March 14 Alliance' are expected to convey to Speaker Berri in a visit at 2 PM today their concurrence to participating in the consultative talks. During the visit, 'March 14' will also demand introducing amendments to the agenda, otherwise the group would take the prerogative of adding any subject that has a bearing on the issue of forming a national unity government. In the same context, Berri's visitors reported him as saying that in the framework of discussing the issue of the unity government other related subjects could be discussed, including the issue of the presidency. Noteworthy in this context was a statement made yesterday by Hezbollah's MP Hussein Hajj Hassan in which he said that "if a national unity government is not formed, the March 14 team will  bear the political responsibility for any political crisis that might occur in the country."
  
  
• Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea expressed the view that re-arming the Lebanese Forces would be an act of 'treason'. He also expected in an interview with Reuters that turmoil in Lebanon may spill into the streets as Hezbollah and its allies campaign against the anti-Syrian government, but without sliding into civil war.
  
  
• US Secretary of State Condaleezza Rice, in an interview with LBC, said that the American Administration is receiving information that some forces might be planning to carry assassinations in Lebanon, adding that in case more specific information are received, the Lebanese government will be promptly notified. Responding to another question in the context of an interview conducted by May Chidiac in Washington, Rice said, "we have heard of people seeking to destabilize the government of Prime Minister Siniora, and carry new murders to terrorize the country. It is no big secret that there are great fears as to what Syria might attempt to re-occupy Lebanon." Rice further said that "disarming militias in Lebanon is the duty of the Lebanese government in accordance with resolutions 1559 and 1701."

An-Nahar

• Amin Gemayel, after Jumblat, will be out of Beirut on Monday. Conveying the matter to Speaker Berri, Gemayel suggested naming a representative to act on his behalf in the consultative talks due to be held in the Lebanese Parliament at 11 am next  Monday. Sources close to the anti-Syrian Majority and the Lebanese government explained that the absence of Jumblat and Gemayel from the meeting should not be viewed as a stance taken against Berri's initiative, as their travel abroad was planned long before that.
  
  
• Circles close to Speaker Berri explained that the consultative meeting agenda was "the best one can arrive under the circumstances." Adding, they said that what is important is "the attitude of the participants." Meanwhile, sources close to the 'March 8 Forces' said the group will not abandon their demand to possess the annulling third in the new government they are seeking to form, threatening to resort to the street to press this demand as "there is nothing to lose." Responding, the 'March 14 Alliance' affirmed that there are lots to do before arriving at what the 'March 8 Forces' want with regard to the annulling third.
  
  
• EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived in Beirut Friday as part of a regional tour aimed at reviving the stalled Middle East peace talks. Solana started his activities by visiting the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in Bkerki. Solana, who arrived from Israel, is scheduled to start his official talks in Lebanon on Saturday by meeting Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh,  Speaker Nabih Berri and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora before heading to southern Lebanon to meet with the head of UNIFIL troops stationed there, General Allain Pillgrini of France. Upon arrival, Solana announced that the non-inclusion of President Lahoud in his program was not   intended as a boycott , but was rather due to his heavy schedule.
  
  
• US State Department Director of Foreign Assistance Randall Tobias, in Lebanon on a two-day visit, announced his country's pledge to rebuild the Mdairej bridge in Lebanon, the highest in the Middle East, which was damaged by Israeli bombs during the war this summer. Tobias also said the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), will pay an estimate of 20 million dollars in repairs. Funding for the Mdairej bridge project is part of a US commitment of 230 million dollars in post-war aid to Lebanon.
  
  
• Change and Reform Bloc member MP Farid Khazen declared after visiting Patriarch Sfeir in Bkerki that General Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) will not descend to the street once the 15-day period set by Speaker Berri for the consultative talks are over, explaining that any attempt to change the government should be through democratic means.

• In a celebration marking the entry of 215 new members to the Kataeb party ranks, Party leader President Amin Gemayel previewed the party's history since the Seventies.Then stopping at the current political situation in Lebanon, Gemayel talked about the 'quadripartite alliance formed between Hezbollah, Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement, Iran and Syria", describing it as expressive of outside allegiances.
  
  
• Syria appointed a team of lawyers to assess UN reports on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, Shafee Abdullah a prominent Malaysian lawyer said Friday. Commenting, The New Straits Times Friday said Shafee's first report criticised Mehlis' findings and said the United States and Israel stood to gain if Syria was blamed for Hariri's murder.It also said Hariri's death could not be in Syria's interest, as it was the most obvious way for it to lose influence in Lebanon, the newspaper said.
  
  
• Lebanon's National Liberal Party , in a statement issued Friday, rejected the time span specified by Speaker Berri for discussing the national unity government and the election saying that "accepting this would be an act surrendering to those who intended it as a Trojan horse in the context of threatening to resort to the street."

As-Safir

• Solana meets with Sfeir in compensation for not meeting with Lahoud. Solana will also visit Beirut's Southern Suburb (Dahia).
  
  
• Consultative consultations are due to take place on the specified date and in accordance with set agenda, unless foiled by the level of representation.
  
  
• Defiant Lahoud tells Rizk: "I will not take delivery of the international tribunal draft from you. I would rather receive it officially from the United Nations itself!"
  
  
• Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to As-Safir: Paris III conference will be delayed to the second half of January. We expect zero growth, 7 percent inflation in 2007. Lebanon will also have to pay the sum of US$ 9 billion to settle due debts in 2007.
  
  
• FPM scores victory in 9 out of 11 schools in the Jesuit University student elections. Lebanese Forces gets two, and Hezbollah registers a notable presence despite the loss of its candidates.

Ad-Diyar

• Ongoing race between consultations and field preparations for the explosion.
  
  
• Decision to overthrow government postponed pending outcome of consultations.
  
  
• Indicators do not point to holding the consultative meeting on Monday. A 'March 14' delegation visits Berri and asks him to amend the agenda as the US ambassador insists on discussing the issue of disarming Hezbolllah.

Al-Balad

• Rice considers disarming Hezbollah a Lebanese affair, affirms there is no deal at the expense of Lebanon. Berri: Amending the government is now ripe and should be cultivated. Geagea expects non-destructive turbulances.
  
  
• Former MP Fares Souaid: Supporting Berri's initiative prevents him from moving to 'March 8'... and vice versa.
  
  
• Higher Isalmic Shiite Council Deputy Chief Abdel Amir Qabalan: If no consensus over Berri's initiative is reached, let us resort to a referendum.
  
  
• Hezbollah: 'March 14' attempting to foil Berri's initiative.
  
  
• Deputy Speaker Farid Mekari: Berri's initiative may add another crisis to Lebanon's political situation.
  
  
• Former MP Naasib Lahoud: The 15-day period may not be enough.
  
  
• Former Minister Wiaam Wahhab: There is no meaning to a government without a salvation program.
  
  
• For fear of reaching bilateral deals at the expense of resolution 1701, Israel hurried to create a problem with the German peacekeepers before an understanding between the two country's defense ministers is reached.
  
  
• Change and Reform Bloc member MP Farid Khazen said, "we seek to change the government on the basis of its performance, and the issue of descending to the street  is not under consideration."

Al-Akhbar

• Bush: Support Siniora or else...
  'Majority' seeking to disrupt the 'consultative meeting' by absentia. Berri reiterates there would be no amendments to the agenda.
  
  
• Jesuit University referendum: FPM first.

Al-Siyassah

• 'March 14': No compensation prizes to Assad and Hezbollah, and if they want to cash on their 'victory', let them seek that from Olmert, not from Siniora.
  
• Iran Revolutionary Guards, Palestinians massing on the Lebanese border, and Syria is enhancing its forces and rockets to support its allies.

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