Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told relatives of victims of last year's attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria that those responsible for the killings "will pay the price."

Netanyahu's office said Wednesday in a statement that the head of Israel's counterterrorism bureau told the victims' families in his name that "Israel will do everything so that those responsible for the crime will pay the price."

The Maronite Bishops council noted on Wednesday that the civil marriage debate in Lebanon should be approached from constitutional and religious perspectives, saying that this form of union was addressed in the constitution.

It said: “Those who marry in a civil union must complement it was a religious ceremony.”

The European Union now faces the difficult task of dealing with demands to designate Hizbullah as a terrorist organization after Bulgaria announced Tuesday that the Lebanese party was behind a bomb attack in July that killed five Israeli tourists and one Bulgarian.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement that the EU should “respond robustly to an attack on European soil.”

Kidnappers are demanding a 3-million-dollar ransom in return for freeing a Lebanese businessman abducted in the southern city of Tyre, the National News Agency and Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) reported on Wednesday.

NNA said that Najib Youssef, 66, was heading on Tuesday afternoon from his house in Bourj al-Shamali in his four-wheel Cadillac to a land he owns in Abou Aswad when several gunmen took him away.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi is expected to hold a mass on St. Maroun day in the northern city of Tripoli, media reports said on Wednesday.

Al-Rahi will head to Tripoli on Friday afternoon as the mass will be held at St. Maroun Church.

The head of the defense office of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Francois Roux, hinted on Wednesday that the trial of Hizbullah members accused of involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri could be delayed.

In remarks to several Beirut newspapers during his visit to the Lebanese capital, Roux said Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen had set March 25 as a provisional date.

The residents of the eastern town of Arsal formed on Wednesday a committee to hold talks with senior officials following a deadly ambush of an army patrol, media reports said.

The committee, according to Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3), will meet with Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji, President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati in light of the recent attack that left two army soldiers and a suspect dead.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati renewed on Wednesday his condemnation of the Arsal clash, calling on all sides to cooperate in handing over the assailants to the judiciary, while hoping that the national dialogue would be resumed.

He said: “We are obligated to reassure the people and not issue political statements, which some sides believe will increase their popularity, that only serve to widen the divide between the people.”

Speaker Nabih Berri advocated on Wednesday the adoption of an electoral draft-law referred by the government to the parliament after al-Mustaqbal made a new proposal that its critics said limited the representation of Christians in the legislature.

LBCI TV said that Berri referred al-Mustaqbal's draft-law to the government to study it pending its referral to the joint parliamentary committees.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea urged on Tuesday the residents of the Bekaa town of Arsal to hand over the suspects in the killing of Major Pierre Bashaalani and First Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman.

"Despite the imperfections in the administration, the security forces and the judicial bodies, Lebanon is a democratic state and there are other references in the country,” Geagea said in an interview with Future Television.