By FRANCESCO BONGARRÀ — arabnews.com — ROME: Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati will visit the Vatican on Wednesday to meet the Pope, …

  المشكلة الاقتصادية ليست تقنية بل هي سياسية والعلة الاساسية في الفساد الاكبر المتمثل بخرق الدستور والشغور الرئاسي المتكرر وامتداد فترات تصريف …

by thearabweekly.com -- KUWAIT CITY--Kuwait continues to up its punitive measures against Lebanese nationals on its soil in a way that shows that this escalation is directly backed by Saudi Arabia. The kingdom, informed sources told The Arab Weekly, wants the Lebanese political class to realise that their coordination with the Shia Hezbollah movement will carry a heavy cost. Saudi Arabia, the sources added, will increase pressure and is ready to deal painful blows in its diplomatic crisis with Lebanon, starting with punitive measures taken by Kuwait, which hosts a Lebanese community of more than 50,000. Kuwaiti newspapers Al-Qabas and Al-Rai reported on Thursday that prosecutors in the country have detained 18 people suspected of financing Lebanon’s Hezbollah group. Al-Qabas said the prosecutor ordered the detainees to be held at the central prison for 21 days while investigations continue into alleged “membership in a prohibited party, money-laundering and spying.”

Local media reports also said that Kuwait had asked 100 residents and their families to leave the country because of their links with Hezbollah. Most of these asked to leave, the reports noted, are of Lebanese nationality, with some of them hailing from Iran and Iraq. Informed Kuwaiti sources also said that the targeted group is limited, with all individuals known to the Kuwaiti security apparatus. The next move, however, will include another list of those linked to Hezbollah’s support networks, based on discoveries by Kuwaiti security probes carried out in full coordination with the Gulf security services, particularly those of Saudi Arabia. A Kuwaiti source told The Arab Weekly that the next phase will be marked by stiffer restrictions on the activities of Hezbollah sympathisers. The source added that Kuwait is serious about dismantling the support networks of the Lebanese Shia group, whether in the form of direct donations or funds transferred by charities that succeeded in deceiving Kuwaitis, especially from the Shia sect, using religious and humanitarian campaigning to cover up Hezbollah’s secret agenda.

by AFP — Iraq has summoned its cultural attache in Beirut for an investigation into the alleged sale of “hundreds” of fake …