BEIRUT — Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai warned on Sunday from Rome that Parliament "cannot continue to deliberately delay and manipulate the election of a head of state." Rai's remarks come as the country is experiencing its first dual executive power vacuum, with no president and without a fully empowered cabinet. Rai spoke on Sunday during a festive Mass in the Church of Saint Maron in the Pontifical Maronite Institute in Rome. He described the country's independence day, which falls on Nov. 22, as a "sad day," adding that "in the absence of a president, the state disintegrates, the internal unity is shaken up, the separation of powers is disrupted, chaos spreads, and the political, economic, social and living crises worsen, as is happening."

Parliamentary quorum

The head of the Maronite church criticized in his Sunday homily the decision by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to conclude parliamentary sessions dedicated to electing a new president after the first round of vote when some parties' MPs leave, slashing the quorum — two-thirds of MPs — Berri argues is required to continue the session. MPs failed for the seventh time on Thursday to elect a successor to Michel Aoun, whose term as president ended on Oct. 31. Each time, MPs from Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement and their allies have left Parliament either ahead of or following a first round vote, torpedoing quorum, and disabling the session from continuing. "Regardless of the custom that states that a quorum of two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives is required in the session to elect the President of the Republic, we must not forget the legal principle that says: 'There is no custom contrary to the constitution," Rai said. Rai claimed that "Article 49 of the constitution stipulates the election of the president by two-thirds of the votes in the first session, and in the next and subsequent sessions by absolute majority (half plus one)," questioning the reason behind "clos[ing] the first session after each poll and disabl[ing] the quorum in the next session, contrary to Article 55 of the internal rules of the Parliament."

By Story by Daniel Stewart — msn.com — Dozens of women rallied in front of the Lebanese parliament building at Place de …

by Tim Stickings -- thenationalnews.com -- Lebanon’s former president Michel Aoun had to be persuaded to put on a raincoat when French special forces spirited him out of the country in 1991, a French officer has revealed. Mr Aoun — who left office a second time last month after reclaiming power in 2016 — was whisked away in a secretive mission after taking refuge in the French embassy. He headed into exile after losing a violent power struggle at the end of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. Lebanon's parliament fails to elect president in fifth electoral session But he appeared to have second thoughts after French special forces arrived on a beach to take him to safety. “One of the biggest difficulties we had at the time was getting General Aoun to put on a rain jacket,” said rear admiral Bertrand de Gaullier des Bordes, who led a French commando unit. “I think it was probably a pretext for him to not leave Lebanon, but he didn’t want to put on the sea clothing. “Eventually he did, and it was very useful for him because the sea was a bit tricky when we left and it was very wet.”

The rear admiral’s recollections came as part of a new exhibition on the history of the French special forces. He said the 1991 operation involved “everything you see in special forces films”, with an armoured car waiting as French troops with lights and radios pulled up to the beach. The rescue mission was arranged with the French embassy where Mr Aoun had taken sanctuary in 1990, following his defeat by Syrian and Lebanese forces. Mr Aoun, now 89, feared for his safety after surviving at least one assassination attempt and was granted asylum by France, the former colonial power in Lebanon. Reports at the time described decoy cars being used to lead potential witnesses astray while Mr Aoun was driven to the beach at dawn. Smuggled away to France, he lived in exile until 2005 — before returning to Lebanon and eventually winning the presidency.

By Eric Santos -- msn.com -- One of the big upsets of this World Cup came on November 22nd with the victory of Saudi Arabia against Argentina. Lionel Scaloni’s men went into the match on an unbeaten streak of 36 games and went ahead thanks to a penalty from Messi, but after the break, and after a much-noted half-time talk by coach Hervé Renard, the Saudis managed to turn the game around and record a famous victory that delighted Mohamed bin Salman, the country’s crown prince and one of the richest people in the world.

The footballers of the Saudi Arabian national team are now dreaming of qualifying for the round of 16 at the World Cup in Qatar, but while they are savoring this much-heralded victory they are going to receive a spectacular gift from the delighted Crown Prince. The 37-year-old from Jeddah is closely following Saudi Arabia’s participation in the World Cup in Qatar and personally congratulated the team members for winning their debut against all the odds, but he is so delighted that he has gone one step further and presented his beloved footballers with a gift valued at almost 500,000 dollars. The Crown Prince, according to CNN, has decided to give a Rolls-Royce Phantom, the basic model of which costs around $460,000, to each of the players who beat Argentina as a thank you for their performance and as a motivational tool for the next match, which they will play against to Poland. A decent result in that game and Saudi Arabia could achieve a historic qualification for the round of 16.