Introduction to the evening news 27-03-2012

It seems that the electricity issue has been settled; sources told LBCI that the concerned authorities will resort to the electricity-generating ships but for a certain period of time that is less than the one suggested earlier, until the two power plants are ready.            

Tomorrow’s cabinet session is expected to make this settlement public after the electricity crisis almost cracked the government, sparking a discord between the prime minister and his ally, the minister of finance. It also almost caused a dispute between the Grand Serail and Rabieh, as Energy Minister Gibran Bassil hinted today from Rabieh: we will not stay in the government without productivity; electricity concerns all Lebanese.        

In Syria, the most important update today was the disclosure of the six points of envoy Kofi Annan’s plan approved by the Syrian government. The plan included most importantly halting the killing and the right to demonstrate.          

U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process said that credible estimates put the total death toll since the beginning of the uprising to more than 9,000 while the U.S. ambassador to Syria announced that Human Rights violations in Syria amount to “crimes against humanity”.        

In the field, tensions reached the Lebanese Kaa region.