March 14 led-opposition leaders have held a meeting at Center House to discuss the local situation and to coordinate their stances concerning the upcoming stage, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.

The meeting was held on Tuesday in the presence of Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel, head of the Mustaqbal bloc former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and MPs Butros Harb and Marwan Hmadah and March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid, the daily said.

Speaker Nabih Berri is scheduled to travel to Iran on Friday and later visit Armenia where he will discuss bilateral ties, media reports said.

On Thursday, Berri urged officials to launch efforts to drill for oil and gas in Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone, including the 870-square-kilometer area that Israel says is part of its waters.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has been holding meetings with a number of high-ranking March 14 officials, during which his views have coincided with theirs, reported the Central News Agency on Wednesday.

Sources told the agency that the last of these meetings was held at the residence of one of these figures and it stressed the importance of adhering to centrism during the current phase the country is going through.

Syrian President Bashar Assad stated on Wednesday that Syria is keen on Lebanon’s stability and security, noting that the “painful events” that had taken place in Syria have come to an end.

He said after holding talks with former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss: “The Syrian cities that were targeted in the incidents have started to regain their stability.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Tuesday that Lebanon does not want to intervene in the developments in Syria “because we don’t want anyone to meddle in our affairs.”

He said while meeting with a delegation of Arab ambassadors in New York: “We don’t want to interfere in its affairs because we want to defend Lebanon from any potential repercussions on the country.”

A Lebanese-Syrian gang involved in promoting pornographic movies has been arrested by the Lebanese general security forces, reported the National News Agency on Wednesday.

The group, comprised of a Lebanese national and four Syrians, sold the films on DVDs in various regions in Lebanon, especially in the Jbeil district where it was uncovered.

The March 14 General Secretariat noted on Wednesday that Prime Minister Najib Miqati sought hard during his trip to New York to garner international support for his government through issuing verbal commitments to international resolutions.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is the cornerstone for Lebanon’s civil peace and the rise of a state capable of implementing the law equally among all citizens.”

The Council of Maronite Bishops on Wednesday appealed to Maronites to support the patriarch and urged the Lebanese to join hands and sit at the dialogue table to renew trust in each other.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi believes that “unity is force,” an appeal issued by the bishops following their monthly meeting said. “He calls everyone for dialogue and understanding and rejects the logic of war.”

Hizbullah praised on Wednesday the spiritual summit that was held at Dar al-Fatwa on Tuesday, saying that its concluding statement reflects national principles and protects Lebanon.

It said: “The summit statement is tantamount to a national document that reflects the Lebanese people’s expectations.”

Photographs obtained by Agence France Presse in Libya reveal how Moammar Gadhafi's son Hannibal and his lingerie model wife lived a high-flying party lifestyle during his father's brutal rule.

In the dozens of photographs, found on a laptop belonging to Gadhafi's son and made available by former Libyan rebels to AFP, Hannibal, 36, and his Lebanese wife Aline Skaff are shown partying in European capitals, on a private jet and on a yacht off the Egyptian coast.