Rear Admiral Luiz Henrique Caroli of Brazil assumed command of the Maritime Task Force (MTF), the naval component of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in a ceremony Thursday aboard a ship at Beirut Harbor.

The first Naval Force to be part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL-MTF has been deployed at the request of the Lebanese government to assist the Lebanese Navy to help prevent the unauthorized entry of arms or related materiel by sea into Lebanon. MTF has been working jointly with the Lebanese Navy to that end.

The task of Premier-designate Najib Miqati to form the new government has become more difficult as President Michel Suleiman continued to hold onto the interior ministry portfolio which Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun is demanding as part of his share in the cabinet.

Speaker Nabih Berri’s sources told As Safir daily that the speaker stressed to Miqati during their meeting on Wednesday to speed up the government formation process. However, Miqati’s sources said no major progress was made in solving the deadlock over the interior ministry.

Head of the syndicate of gas station owners Sami Brax confirmed that stations will sell their reserves on Thursday but won’t provide consumers with gasoline the next day if the energy ministry fails to release the weekly update of prices.

“We will sell what’s left of gasoline at stations but there won’t be gasoline in the market starting tomorrow,” Brax told Voice of Lebanon, Voice of Freedom and Dignity, radio station.

The March 14 forces will reportedly announce their official stance not to participate in the new government in the next 48 hours, paving the way for Premier-designate Najib Miqati to form a one-sided cabinet.

Caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb told An Nahar daily in remarks published Thursday that “nothing encourages (us) to participate in the cabinet particularly that the other team’s stance from the March 14 principles is not clear.”

Lebanese authorities arrested the leader of the Bahraini opposition Haq movement after arriving at Rafik Hariri international airport on Tuesday, An Nahar daily said.

Hassan Mashaima was arrested after Lebanese authorities discovered he was wanted by Bahraini Interpol, the newspaper said Thursday.

Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Wednesday denied media reports that he has submitted his resignation to the Holy See for "political reasons."

In an interview with OTV in the Vatican on the sidelines of a ceremony to unveil the statue of Saint Maroun, Sfeir said: "They're free to say what they want, but the real reason is that I have reached the age of 90."

House Speaker Nabih Berri held talks on Wednesday with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati on the process of forming a new government.

The meeting, held at Ain al-Tineh in the presence of the speaker’s political adviser MP Ali Hasan Khalil, also addressed local and regional developments.

Lebanon’s ambassador to Australia said there were no Lebanese victims in the deadly earthquake that struck one of New Zealand's largest cities on Tuesday.

The foreign ministry said Wednesday that Ambassador Jean Daniel informed it that no Lebanese were injured or missing in the quake that hit the city of Christchurch.

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday the “bloodbath committed by the regime of Libyan President Moammar Gadhafi against Libyan citizens demanding normal political freedom and rights.”

It called on in a statement after its weekly meeting “the Arab and international communities to take all measures to protect the Libyan people and guarantee their national and humanitarian rights.”

Protests sweeping the Middle East have given new impetus to Lebanese youths who have launched their own revolt on Facebook in a bid -- albeit improbable -- to bring down Lebanon's confessional system.

Using slogans popularized by protesters in Tunisia and Egypt, several pages urging the Lebanese to bring down the Mediterranean country's confessional "regime" or calling for a "day of wrath" against confessionalism, corruption and poverty have appeared recently on the social networking site.