Lebanon postpones talks to name PM

Lebanon has postponed talks on the appointment of a new premier until next Monday, amid deep divisions among the country’s political parties.

Lebanese President Michel Sleiman was scheduled to open two days of meetings with parliamentary groups to name a new prime minister on Monday.

“After assessing the positions of various parties in Lebanon … President Michel Sleiman has decided to postpone parliamentary consultations until Monday, January 24 and Tuesday, January 25, 2011,” read a statement released by the president’s office.

A US-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is set to submit indictments in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

US-sponsored STL prosecutor Daniel Bellemare will submit his findings in the case to a pre-trial judge on Monday, according to Lebanese officials.

The charge sheet will not be made public until pre-trial judge Daniel Fransen has reviewed and approved it.

Hariri and 20 other people were assassinated on February 14, 2005, when explosives equal to around 1,000 kilogram of TNT were blown up in downtown Beirut.

The US-sponsored court was set up some two years later to look into the deadly incident.

Unconfirmed reports say the court will most likely issue an indictment against some Hezbollah members.

Hezbollah, however, rebuffed the allegations, describing the court as a part of dangerous projects against the resistance movement.

Earlier, Hezbollah Secretary General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said the movement and its allies would not back Hariri as prime minister.

He declined, however, to name the opposition candidate for prime minister.