AFP 

Intelligence services brought in former MP Hassan Yaacoub for questioning around 11:00 am local time (0900 GMT) on Thursday as part of their investigation into the brief kidnapping of Kadhafi, the security source said.

Kadhafi, who resided in Syria, was kidnapped on December 11 in Lebanon's Bekaa valley near the Syrian border, but was freed by police hours later.

Earlier this week, Lebanese authorities charged Kadhafi with withholding information about the disappearance of revered Shiite cleric Mussa Sadr, who vanished in Libya in 1978.

According to the security source, investigators discovered that Yaacoub had orchestrated an elaborate scheme to seize Kadhafi from Syria and bring him to Lebanon.

by Joseph A. Kechichian, Senior Writer Gulf news

Beirut: As anticipated by Al Nahar newspaper a few days ago, the leader of the Marada Movement, deputy Sulaiman Franjieh, formally announced his candidacy for the position of president of the republic on Thursday evening during a scheduled interview on “Kalam Al NAS with Marcel Ganem” on the LBCI channel.

The  interview, drew praise from the Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt.

Jumblatt praised the interviewee, opining that Franjieh was “realistic” and wrote on his Twitter account: “His interview was frank and steered away from the empty political slogans of some officials.”

Natasha Bertrand

In his annual marathon news conference Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin referred to Russia's intervention in the Syrian civil war as a military "exercise" for Russia's "air forces, air defense," and "intelligence."

"We did not start the war" in Syria, Putin told reporters during his end-of-year news conference from Moscow, according to a translation by the state-sponsored news agency Russia Today.

He added: "We are just conducting separate operations, using our air forces, air defense, intelligence. This is not a serious burden for the budget ... It's hard to imagine a better exercise [for the Russian forces]. So we can train there [in Syria] for a long time without any serious harm to our budget."

Associated Press