Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on Thursday the March 14 camp to resolve issues that it and the March 8 forces “agree need to be resolved”, such as the electoral law, spoiled food scandal, and spread of drugs at schools.

He said during a student graduation ceremony: “Extending the hand to the other does not mean eliminating them, but rather delaying in addressing controversial issues.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Thursday the need for the Lebanese authorities to remove all arms within and outside Palestinian refugee camps.

He told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3): “If we are forced to wage a battle similar to the one at Nahr al-Bared, then so be it.”

Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas revealed on Thursday that those detained for violating the “food safety” measures will be tried.

“We are seeking to tighten the penalties against them, through extending their imprisonment term and raising the fines,” Nahhas told voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis arrived in Beirut Thursday morning on a two-day official visit to meet with senior Lebanese officials, the National News Agency reported.

The FM held a meeting with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail and separately with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace.

The owners of gas stations and tank trucks held a sit-in outside the energy ministry on Thursday to protest rising oil prices during a planned one-day strike.

Around 100 oil tank trucks also parked on the Emile Lahoud highway from the Sayyad roundabout all the way to the ministry headquarters and Karantina, causing bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati described on Thursday the cabinet session at the Baabda Palace as “productive,” also expecting the parliamentary session to go on “smoothly.”

“The legislature that will convene on Thursday will be calm and productive, particularly after the extra-budgetary spending was withdrawn from discussions,” Miqati told al-Liwaa newspaper.

A dispute between President Michel Suleiman and ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, forced the president to wrap up the session held at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday, As Safir newspaper reported.

Change and Reform bloc ministers called on renewing three months the mandate for head of the Center for Educational Research and Development Leila Fayyad, while Suleiman insisted on renewing another year for her, on Thursday.

The U.S. State Department has hailed the efforts exerted by March 14 opposition political leaders to maintain security and expressed support for a new era in Lebanese-Syrian relations.

“We support Lebanon’s political leaders’ efforts to maintain security and to prepare for the day when a democratic government in Damascus will usher in a new era in Lebanese-Syrian relations,” said the State Department on the occasion of the anniversary of the 2005 Cedar Revolution.

Minister of Transportation and Public Works Ghazi al-Aridi stressed on Thursday the importance of “flexibility” in resolving the telecom data dispute as the security agencies had made achievements in the past by obtaining this data.

“President Michel Suleiman tackled the issue during his speech (at the cabinet session on Wednesday at the Baabda Palace), and the obstacles blocking the army from obtaining the (telecom) data,” Aridi told An Nahar newspaper.

An Ethiopian domestic worker, who was caught on tape being beaten by a man outside her country’s general consulate, has committed suicide at a psychiatric hospital.

The National News Agency said Wednesday that a consulate representative was at a police station in Beirut checking on how to file a lawsuit against the owner of the woman’s employment agency, when Antelias police said Alem Dechasa, 33, hanged herself using her bed sheets.