World Lebanon launches new quest for PM

Lebanese President Michel Aoun officially launched consultations Thursday to find a new prime minister, nearly a month after the previous appointee failed to form a government.

© - To unlock desperately needed Western aid, Lebanese President Michel Aoun must designate a new prime minister capable of persuading the country's myriad of confessional factions to approve a government committed to reform

The frontrunner is none other than Saad Hariri, who already held the position twice and resigned a year ago under pressure from an unprecedented protest movement demanding a complete overhaul of Lebanon's political system.

Lebanon, Israel to start landmark maritime border talks

Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war, begin unprecedented talks sponsored by the UN and Washington on Wednesday to settle a maritime border dispute and clear the way for hydrocarbon exploration. Following years of US shuttle diplomacy, Lebanon and Israel, this month said they had agreed to begin UN-brokered negotiations, in what Washington hailed a "historic" agreement. The talks, which will be held at the headquarters of UN peacekeeping force UNIFIL in the Lebanese border town of Naqura, come weeks after Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab nations to establish relations with Israel since Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994.

Lebanese President Michel Aoun officially launched consultations Thursday to find a new prime minister, nearly a month after the previous appointee failed to form a government. The frontrunner is none other than Saad Hariri, who already held the position twice and resigned a year ago under

Crisis-hit Lebanon ’s next prime minister, the third in a year, will have to spearhead reforms and battle corruption, President Michel Aoun said yesterday. Aoun was speaking at a televised news conference a day before his scheduled consultations with MPs to name Lebanon ’s new premier.

The presidency announced on social media that Aoun had begun meeting the representatives of the parliamentary blocs to decide on a nominee.

A relatively unknown diplomat, Mustapha Adib, was nominated in late August following the resignation of his predecessor Hassan Diab's government in the aftermath of a deadly explosion at Beirut port.

Adib had vowed to form a cabinet of experts, in line with conditions set by French President Emmanuel Macron to help rescue the corruption-ridden country from its worst ever economic crisis.

He faced resistance from some of the main parties however and threw in the towel nearly a month later, leaving Lebanon rudderless to face soaring poverty and the aftermath of its worst peacetime disaster.

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