BEIRUT // Saad Hariri, Lebanon's prime minister designate, yesterday described efforts to resolve a week-old political crisis that has hampered efforts to form a national unity cabinet as "good", leaving some hope that Lebanon could have a functioning government before the start of Ramadan at the end of the month.
Mr Hariri had been close to forming a cabinet after brokering a compromise with the Hizbollah-led opposition on allowing a minority veto of controversial legislation last week when a key ally announced he was leaving the coalition to chart an independent course. The defection of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt last week from the so-called "March 14" coalition sparked a nasty series of fights over whether he was actually joining the opposition alliance, or if he should still be granted his share of three seats in the 30-member cabinet.
Although Mr Jumblatt never indicated that he would vote with the opposition he helped defeat in June's parliamentary elections, many of his former allies accused him of treachery and the ensuing controversy threatened to derail Mr Hariri's efforts. But after Mr Hariri returned from an unscheduled holiday in the south of France, he immediately began a series of meetings with his allies and opponents to attempt to restart the cabinet talks. After the meeting, both men claimed their differences had been resolved and that Mr Jumblatt continued to support the cabinet allocation formula brokered with the opposition. The deal allows the majority 15 seats on the cabinet, 10 seats to the opposition and five seats will report directly to the president Michel Suleiman, who many see as a neutral figure.
"I stressed to premier-designate Hariri my full support for the formation of the cabinet based on a formula he deems appropriate," said Mr Jumblatt to reporters as he left Mr Hariri's palatial Beirut home. He added that he supported the 15-10-5 formula and respects the choices of the Lebanese voters, which was interpreted as support for the majority to continue to attempt to form a government. The fear that Mr Jumblatt might vote with the opposition would have dramatically reduced Mr Hariri's margin in parliament, making the formation of a functioning government difficult. But with Mr Jumblatt apparently willing to co-operate, Mr Hariri's supporters said the new challenge was the extravagant demands by Gen Michel Aoun, a leading Christian politician in the opposition movement.
Mr Aoun has demanded seats consistent with his performance in the popular vote, in which he won more support than any other single Christian party. Despite having rejected this demand, which would have given him seven seats on the cabinet, Mr Hariri is currently negotiating with Mr Aoun over who will control Lebanon's highly dysfunctional, yet incredibly lucrative, telecommunications ministry. It is these demands, say Mr Hariri's supporters, that have stalled the talks even more than the drama associated with Mr Jumblatt's defection.
"I'm expecting the formation of the government to be done before the end of the month of Ramadan," said the MP Ahmed Fatfat, a Hariri loyalist. "The obstacle in forming the government is only the high demands made by [Aoun]. The meeting that took place last night between Hariri and Jumblatt was positive and opened new horizons for the next stage of forming the government."
mprothero@thenational.ae
Company%20Profile
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RACE SCHEDULE
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday, September 29
First practice: 7am - 8.30am
Second practice: 11am - 12.30pm
Saturday, September 30
Qualifying: 1pm - 2pm
Sunday, October 1
Race: 11am - 1pm
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The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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MATCH INFO
Qalandars 112-4 (10 ovs)
Banton 53 no
Northern Warriors 46 all out (9 ovs)
Kumara 3-10, Garton 3-10, Jordan 2-2, Prasanna 2-7
Qalandars win by six wickets
If you go
The flights
The closest international airport for those travelling from the UAE is Denver, Colorado. British Airways (www.ba.com) flies from the UAE via London from Dh3,700 return, including taxes. From there, transfers can be arranged to the ranch or it’s a seven-hour drive. Alternatively, take an internal flight to the counties of Cody, Casper, or Billings
The stay
Red Reflet offers a series of packages, with prices varying depending on season. All meals and activities are included, with prices starting from US$2,218 (Dh7,150) per person for a minimum stay of three nights, including taxes. For more information, visit red-reflet-ranch.net.
Biography
Her family: She has four sons, aged 29, 27, 25 and 24 and is a grandmother-of-nine
Favourite book: Flashes of Thought by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Favourite drink: Water
Her hobbies: Reading and volunteer work
Favourite music: Classical music
Her motto: I don't wait, I initiate
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
England-South Africa Test series
1st Test England win by 211 runs at Lord's, London
2nd Test South Africa win by 340 runs at Trent Bridge, Nottingham
3rd Test July 27-31 at The Oval, London
4th Test August 4-8 at Old Trafford, Manchester
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Singham Again
Director: Rohit Shetty
Stars: Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Ranveer Singh, Akshay Kumar, Tiger Shroff, Deepika Padukone
Rating: 3/5
Results
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
Draw
Quarter-finals
Real Madrid (ESP) or Manchester City (ENG) v Juventus (ITA) or Lyon (FRA)
RB Leipzig (GER) v Atletico Madrid (ESP)
Barcelona (ESP) or Napoli (ITA) v Bayern Munich (GER) or Chelsea (ENG)
Atalanta (ITA) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)
Ties to be played August 12-15 in Lisbon
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Fifa%20World%20Cup%20Qatar%202022%20
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