The cabinet did not discuss the thorny issue of civil marriage during its session on Wednesday, the information minister announced, although more than 50 marriage contracts are awaiting approval at the Directorate General of Personal Status.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had on Tuesday declared that the issue would be discussed from outside the cabinet's agenda after coming under the fire of the civil society.

The Maronite Patriarchate denied on Tuesday reports claiming that Bkirki has a list of candidates for the presidential post.

The Patriarchate stressed that it didn't interfere and will not intervene in the “game of names.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has suggested the one-year extension of President Michel Suleiman's six-year tenure, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Al-Rahi made his proposal during talks with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri in Paris last week, the daily said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi backs the candidacy of former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud for the presidency, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

According to the daily, al-Rahi informed officials ahead of his trip to the Vatican last week that he adopts Baroud's candidacy based on surveys carried out by Bkirki.

President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati have voiced their support for Interior Minister Marwan Charbel’s proposal on the parliamentary electoral law, the minister told An Nahar in remarks published on Sunday.

Charbel made his statements after holding talks on Saturday afternoon with the president and premier on the various proposals on the electoral law.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel denied on Thursday that the investigators of the U.N.-backed court probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri requested the fingerprint records of some Lebanese citizens.

“What some media reported that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon investigators requested the fingerprints of some Lebanese, is not true,” Charbel told al-Manar television.

Former Interior Minister Ziad Baroud has been appointed by the Tunisian authorities to oversee its parliamentary elections, reported al-Anbaa newspaper on Sunday.

It said that he was appointed to the post because he has enough experience in organizing elections seeing as he oversaw the staging 2009 Lebanese parliamentary elections that included the supervision of a number of international monitors.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel reportedly froze a decision by Internal Security Forces chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi to promote more than 400 officers.

Al-Akhbar daily said Saturday that Charbel ordered a freeze on the promotion of the 400 policemen to sergeants.

President Michel Suleiman has said the containment of the deadly clashes in the northern port city of Tripoli last week were “a sign that the cabinet is capable of preserving stability,” stressing that its lifespan depends on the level of its performance.

In his first interview after the formation of Premier Najib Miqati’s government, Suleiman told An Nahar daily published Tuesday that the Tripoli “test succeeded in (enabling the cabinet) to hold a grip on the security situation."

Ziad Baroud, who relieved himself from his duties as caretaker interior minister, will not resume his duties, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said that Baroud will not take back his decision as long as the current situation remains the same. It noted that caretaker defense minister Elias Murr will be the acting interior minister when he returns to the country during the weekend.