Abu Mohammed Toufic Taha, the head the takfiri network that has been recently discovered in Lebanon, is one of the most active members of al-Qaida in Lebanon, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday.

It said that he is also in constant contact, through the internet, with al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri from whom he receives orders and directions.

The appointment of the head of the Higher Judicial Council is still a point of contention between Lebanese officials as President Michel Suleiman confirmed that the candidate proposed by Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi will not be suggested before the cabinet during its session on Wednesday.

“The candidate suggested by Qortbawi concerning the head of the HJC will not be discussed during the cabinet meeting,” Suleiman told An Nahar newspaper.

The army intercepted two vehicles carrying arms in the Bekaa border town of al-Qaa and detained four Lebanese and six Syrian nationals, local newspapers reported on Wednesday.

An Nahar daily said that the army discovered a van and a pickup truck that were carrying arms and confiscated a number of machine guns, grenades, and a grad rocket.

The head of the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan slammed Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi’s report on the extra-budgetary spending of the governments of former Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri, saying that he omitted various forms of revenue, such as grants and donations.

He told As Safir newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday: “It appears that the report is aimed at allowing a settlement to be reached over extra-budgetary spending.”

The cabinet is scheduled to convene on Wednesday with a crowded agenda with the electricity crisis expected to top the discussions.

An Nahar newspaper reported that Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, Health Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's advisor Hussein Khalil held a meeting on Wednesday night to coordinate the stances before the government session.

President Michel Suleiman stated that he refuses to take sides in the government dispute over resolving the electricity crisis, reported the daily An Nahar on Wednesday.

He told the daily: “I believe that Premier Najib Miqati took the appropriate stand because he found the cost of Energy Minister Jebran Bassil’s proposal to be too high.”

Speaker Nabih Berri announced that the AMAL Movement ministers will take “the appropriate stand that will serve the Lebanese people” regarding the various pending issues in Lebanon, reported the daily An Nahar on Wednesday.

He told the daily: “I will not intervene in the dispute, but I will wait a week or two before I make my stand.”

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc on Tuesday hailed the document issued last week by Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood, saying it stressed the Islamist movement’s “commitment to a civil, democratic and pluralistic state in Syria that is based on the rotation of power.”

“This document which stressed the importance of equal relations between Lebanon and Syria based on mutual respect … represents an advanced political document with a distinctive Syrian flavor that resembles the documents issued by (Cairo-based) Al-Azhar,” Sunni Islam's highest seat of learning, the bloc said.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil rejected on Tuesday the abandonment of his proposal to lease power-generating ships in order to end Lebanon’s electricity crisis, saying that such a measure would lead to a “catastrophe” in Lebanon.

The minister said during a press conference after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “A solution, which we think is logical and fair, lies in leasing the vessels and constructing new power plants.”

A safe belonging to late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has been found in Lebanon, media reports said.

A civilian found the safe in a piece of land behind the Golden Plaza Hotel in Beirut’s southern suburbs.