The military tribunal issued the death sentence on Thursday against 26 individuals for their involvement in the 2011 abduction of the seven Estonian cyclists.

The tribunal had charged 29 suspects for being involved in the crime, as well as a number of others committed in Lebanon over the past year.

A box containing explosives that were not rigged for detonation was found in the area of Jeitawi in the Beirut neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh on Thursday.

The National News Agency said the box that was found at the entrance of Zeidan building contained a rocket, a digital clock and TNT templates.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri noted on Thursday that the living conditions in Lebanon have greatly deteriorated in the past year, blaming the current government for the poor situation in the country.

He said via Twitter: “The 2013 parliamentary elections will surely change” this reality.

Speaker Nabih Berri warned on Thursday against the ambush set for regional countries, saying that their economic and political powers are being scattered.

“Division is increasing (among the regional countries) and they’re turning into nations governed by the power of arms,” Berri said at the opening of the Languages Faculty at St. Joseph University (USJ).

Lebanon’s public transportation sector held a nationwide strike on Thursday with some drivers blocking streets with burning tires in the northern province of Akkar.

The sector decided to hold the strike between 5:00 am and 12:00 pm after the government failed to place ceilings on the price of gasoline sold to drivers.

Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri hailed efforts exerted by Lebanese officials to detain two members of an “Arab gang” that abducted two Saudi nationals on the outskirts of Beirut, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported.

Asiri confirmed that the two Saudi nationals Tawfiq and Abdullah al-Shaqaqeen were kidnapped and tortured for eight days and are currently receiving medical treatment at the American University of Beirut Medical Center.

Western security sources warned that the situation in Lebanon is “very delicate” as they fear that it would turn into a conflict arena between international and regional powers, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Thursday.

“Suspected extremist groups could be plotting attacks in Lebanon on foreign interests that are playing a critical role in the Syrian crisis,” the report said.

The cabinet is once again showing signs of division among cabinet members but this time on the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending of 2011 that has seen centrists criticizing March 8 majority members for pressuring President Michel Suleiman into signing the bill after parliament failed to approve it.

During a cabinet session held at Baabda palace on Wednesday, the ministers loyal to Hizbullah, Amal and the Free Patriotic Movement exerted pressure on the president to use his constitutional authorities by resorting to article 58 of the constitution which allows him to issue a bill deemed urgent by the government after the failure of the legislature to approve it.

President Michel Suleiman reiterated on Thursday that he rejects to sign any decree that contains “legal and constitutional violations,” shrugging off demands by the March 8 forces to approve the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending of 2011.

In remarks to An Nahar daily, a day after the government tackled the issue, Suleiman said: “I won’t sign the decree because it includes legal and constitutional violations.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati began a two-day official visit to Belgium on Wednesday by meeting his Belgian counterpart Elio Di Rupo.

The meeting, which was attended by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas, tackled “bilateral ties between Lebanon and Belgium, the situation in the Middle East region, the role of the U.N. forces stationed in southern Lebanon and the Belgian participation, in addition to facilitating the entry of Lebanese tourists and businessmen to Belgium.”