11/03/2010 Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri has plans for a second visit to Damascus in the beginning of April after an official state visit to Germany on Saturday.
 
The announcement was made during Wednesday's cabinet session in which Hariri told the ministers of his plan to visit the Syrian capital and urged them to review old deals between Lebanon and Syria and propose new agreements as needed.
 
The announcement of Hariri's Damascus visit apparently came to silence recent media reports that claimed relations between Hariri and the Syrian leadership have deteriorated following remarks made by the Lebanese premier which reportedly upset Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
 
The cabinet, meanwhile, approved a proposal by the Higher Judicial Council to name two active members among its ranks and appoint one additional member to the Justice Council.
 
"There were no appointments," Information Minister Tareq Mirti told reporters following the cabinet session. "There were some reservations but discussions did not take a long time," he added.
 
Those who expressed reservations were ministers Elias Murr, Jebran Bassil, Charbel Nahhas, Abraham Dedeyan, Adnan Sayyed Hussein and Mona Ofeish. Nevertheless, Council approved the nominations.
 
Cabinet will hold an extraordinary session at Baabda Palace later Thursday to discuss a mechanism for appointments.