President, PM await Aoun's answer to latest proposal

BEIRUT: Prime Minister-designate Fouad Siniora and President Michel Sleiman were still awaiting a response from Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) leader Michel Aoun on Thursday after the latest package of cabinet portfolios offered to his party, sources close to the premier told The Daily Star. The sources said that contacts between the prime minister's office and the FPM leadership "have not stopped" since the package was put forward during a meeting between Siniora and Aoun confidante Gibran Bassil on Wednesday. MP Ammar Houri of Siniora's Future Movement told The Daily Star that the FPM had yet to respond to the "new ideas" - which he would not describe in detail - proposed by the prime minister. "The situation in the afternoon was less optimistic than it was in the morning," Houri said. Sources close to Parliament Speaker... [read full story]