Press Digest for Monday March 30, 2015

3^min

The following are summaries of today's major stories published in the Arabic press. LBCI does not edit press digest articles for content, giving English-language readers insight into the various views expressed in newspapers across the Arab world.

Speaker Berri says Hezbollah-Future dialogue stable

“Dialogue between Hezbollah and the Future Movement has proved to be a national need and has reached stability,” Speaker Nabih Berri told his guests on Sunday.

“All parties are adamant on proceeding with dialogue regardless of their escalatory rhetoric,” Berri was quoted as saying by Al-Joumhouria newspaper.

“The upcoming dialogue session will be held Thursday in Ain El-Tineh,” Speaker Berri added.

An-Nahar: Lebanese communities in Gulf countries ‘living in fear’

Sources told An-Nahar daily on Monday that “Lebanese communities in the Gulf and organizations representing them have sent letters to the Lebanese authorities expressing their fear in the wake of Hezbollah Secretary General’s latest speech”.

“During the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, the Lebanese foreign ministry was informed that nationals in Gulf countries fear that the latest speech of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah may yield negative repercussions against them,” the sources said.

“The Lebanese communities also stressed the need to take formal action in order to preserve their interests,” the same sources concluded.

Bogdanov says Russian mediation to elect Lebanese president ‘ongoing’

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov stressed on Monday that his country backs efforts aiming to hold the long-delayed presidential elections in Lebanon.

“Russia hasn’t stopped its mediation efforts with the aim of electing a new Lebanese head of state,” Bogdanov told An-Nahar newspaper.

He added that contacts are being held with the two rival camps, i.e. the March 8 and 14 coalitions, urging them to elect a president the soonest possible.

PM Salam lauds Arab summit as ‘special and exceptional’

Prime Minister Tammam Salam told An-Nahar newspaper on Monday that officials who attended the Sharm El-Sheikh summit did not ask him about the latest speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

In an interview with Al-Joumhouria daily, PM Salam added that the Arab summit was “special and exceptional in general, in light of the rapprochement between Arab states”.