Beirut – Lebanon’s anti-Syrian ruling "March 14 Forces coalition" started Friday its first official convention with the aim of declaring a comprehensive political platform for the country. The convention also marks the third anniversary of a massive demonstration often credited with stoking the international pressure that brought an end to Syria’s 29-year military presence in Lebanon following the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri in 2005.
The grouping’s secretary, former MP Fares Soueid, said the coalition would extend its hand to all other parties in Lebanon in a bid to overcome differences and unify national ranks. Speaking on behalf of the ruling coalition’s different parties, Soueid announced the March 14 Forces’ first "political declaration." "Together for the salvation of Lebanon, together for defending our right to live, together for living peacefully in a sovereign, democratic, and modern state," read the declaration’s opening lines. The declaration focused on four major points; national unity as a precondition to true independence, protecting state sovereignty through restructuring state institutions and restricting the possession of arms to the state exclusively, protecting independence through redefining the concept of resistance in a way that conforms with national criteria, and safeguarding independence by restructuring Lebanon’s role and relations in the Arab world. Soueid stressed that national unity could only be achieved by creating a civil state that develops the idea of true citizenship at the expense of clientalism and sectarianism. Soueid said Lebanon’s sovereignty could not be protected without restricting the possession of arms to the state. Damascus must stop treating Lebanon as if it is a district of Syria," Fares Suaid, a key coalition figure, told around 2,500 people at a conference in Beirut to mark the anniversary.
According to organizers, the convention entitled "Spring of 2008" will try to define the coalition’s political objectives, a feature that has been largely absent from Lebanese politics – both before and after the Syrian withdrawal. The March 14 coalition came into existence in the wake of the assassination of Hariri, who was killed in a massive bomb blast at a seafront area of Beirut along with 20 other people on February 14, 2005.
by Khalil Fleyhan, BEIRUT (AFP) – Syria on Thursday officially invited Lebanon to the Arab summit, a move seen as a bid to ease tensions with Arab countries who had hinted they might boycott the meeting should Beirut be excluded. The Syrian invitation was addressed to Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, but there were doubts on whether he would accept.
By Mike Sergeant, Their faces are covered in dirt. Their hands are tough and grimy. Their eyes have been hardened by years of adult labour. Lebanon’s child workers lost their playfulness a long time ago. According to some estimates, up to 100,000 children – some as young as eight years old – work in Lebanon. The problem is getting worse because of the long-running political crisis in the country, and growing economic uncertainty here. Stroll down some of the inner city streets in Tripoli and you can see young boys sawing, painting, hammering and welding. During what should be school time, there are children hard at work in almost every workshop, garage and cafe. 
by Rana Moussaoui, BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanese women may be known as the Arab world’s most liberal but they are by no means the region’s most liberated considering antiquated laws that reduce them to second-class citizens. "The law in this country still considers a woman as being inferior," complained sociologist Rafif Sidaoui. From domestic violence to rape to adultery, the rights of women often fall by the wayside in this multi-confessional sectarian society, nonetheless deemed avant-garde in the mostly conservative Middle East. "One of the absurd laws on the books allows a rapist to be exempt from prison if he marries his victim," said Ezzat Mroue, vice-president of the Women’s Rights Committee (WRC). "A few years ago, there was a major scandal when a young man, who was after his cousin, kidnapped her from her university," she added. "He raped her and then brought her before a sheikh who married them. "The result was that he was not guilty in the eyes of the law," Mroue said.
March 2008 (IRIN) , 
BEIRUT: The Association of Lebanese Industrialists (ALI) plans to file a lawsuit against the government for failing to protect local industry against unfair foreign competition, the head of the group said on Monday. "We have had enough. The government must understand that local industry can no longer stay in business if the free trade agreements are not respected by Arab countries," Fadi Abboud told The Daily Star.Lebanese industrialists argue that most Arab states that have signed free trade agreements with Lebanon subsidize the cost of energy, which is essential for the manufacturing sector.
CAIRO (AFP)–U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice defended the deployment of a U.S. warship off the coast of Lebanon, saying it was designed to show Washington’s readiness to defend its allies’ interests."As to the American military presence, the U.S. exercise a military presence in the region and it has for a very long time," Rice told reporters in Cairo at a news conference with her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit. "It is simply to make very clear that the U.S. is capable and willing of defending its interests and the interests of its allies. That is really all that is happening there," she said.
