by Rita Daou, AYHA, Lebanon (AFP) – As night falls on remote villages in eastern Lebanon that border Syria streets and alleyways bustle into life as a small army of pick-up trucks, mules and cars are readied for action. Loaded up with whisky, bread, metal and other goods, drivers head for the dirt roads that zig-zag through nearby hillsides and valleys to deliver loads to fellow smugglers across the border before returning with staples such as heating oil, laundry detergent and vegetables.
"We work from around 9:00pm until dawn," said one 46-year-old smuggler who asked to be identified only by his initials of M.Z. "We leave home in our pick-ups, cars and even mules loaded with alcohol and other products." M.Z., who has plied the trade for decades, said smugglers from both sides have specific meeting points along the mountainous border. "Once we get to a meeting place we wait for Syrian vehicles loaded with products and we make the exchange very quickly," he added.
Smuggling between Lebanon and Syria goes back to when both countries became independent in the 1940s, sharing a 170-kilometre (105-mile) long border that has never been officially delineated. "The Lebanese economy has depended on a parallel economy for ages," said Fares Ishtay, political science professor at Lebanese University. "Salaries in both countries are very low and people depend on undeclared goods to survive." He said that although hashish used to be the main contraband, other products, not considered illegal as such, have now become hot items.
BEIRUT (AFP) – A mutiny at Lebanon’s largest prison in Rumieh during which prisoners took seven warders hostage ended peacefully early Friday, a security official told AFP. "The prisoners handed over the seven warders they were holding hostage and returned to their cells after having negotiated and handed over demands to the chief of internal security, Antoine Shakuri," the official said requesting anonymity.
By Ferry Biedermann, 
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent, BEIRUT (Reuters) – Empty seats are proliferating in Beirut’s political theatre of the absurd, symptoms of a deep malaise that has crippled Lebanese government institutions, damaged the economy and fuelled fears of renewed civil war. 
by Hassan Jarrah 
Two members of the Christian Phalange Party in Lebanon have been shot dead at the opening of a new office in the town of Zahle. It is not clear who was behind Sunday’s shooting, which injured three others. The Lebanese army has been heavily deployed in the town, and funerals are to be held on Tuesday. 
By Zeina Daccache, Two condemned prisoners residing in a high security Lebanese prison and participating in the drama therapy sessions taking place inside the facility since February 2008 recently described their experiences with the following metaphors: "Prison is a microcosm of the outside world; it holds all kind of people, from differing religious communities and from differing regions throughout Lebanon and consequently belonging to different political parties. In prison, absurdly as it sounds, one learns how to reconcile with the other before returning to the biggest prison: the Lebanese society, (IF, we ever return to it)" – E.F., a Lebanese Christian from Mount Lebanon. 
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday joined fellow US diplomats in marking the 25th anniversary of the bombing at the US embassy Beirut which killed 52 people on April 18, 1983. "Even when the tragedy of April 18 was followed by further attacks on our Marine barracks later that year, on our embassy annex in 1984, and still others beyond that, the terrorists never broke our will," Rice said during a ceremony at the State Department. "It is in continuing to champion the cause of a democratic Lebanon that we pay greatest honor to those who died and those who suffered on that day." The attack by the Islamic Jihad Organization, which US officials have said was a forerunner of Hezbollah the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shiite militia, was at the time the deadliest attack ever on a US diplomatic mission.
Thu Apr 17, 8:35 PM ET , WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President George W Bush on Thursday accused Iran and Syria of undermining democracy in Lebanon and renewed his support for the embattled government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora. The United States will continue to stand with the Lebanese government and the Lebanese people as they struggle to preserve their hard-won sovereignty and independence, endeavor to provide justice for victims of terrorism and political violence, and continue to seek the election of a president committed to these principles," Bush said in a written statement.
