Speaker Nabih Berri hailed the role that Tehran is playing in Lebanon, saying that thanks to Iran's presence there is no longer unilateralism in the world.

"Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Islamic republic of Iran is playing that unique role," Berri told IRNA news agency. "That's why its influence is not only felt in Lebanon but thanks to Iran's presence there's no longer unilateralism."

Sources close to Premier Saad Hariri ruled out a possibility to hold a cabinet session before New Year after Speaker Nabih Berri reiterated that the government should have the final say on the issue of false witnesses in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's murder case, al-Liwaa daily reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that President Michel Suleiman, Berri and Hariri discussed the possibility of holding a cabinet session between Christmas and New Year on the sidelines of a Christmas concert at Baabda palace on Sunday.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah have accepted the Saudi-Syrian initiative in all its details, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that all sides involved in the agreement between Damascus and Riyadh to solve the Lebanese crisis, primarily Hariri and Nasrallah, were informed about the deal.

The United Nations reiterated that it continues to support the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying the court is working in a "methodical and responsible manner."

"We believe that the tribunal is doing its work in a methodical and responsible manner, and we will support the decisions that they take as they proceed," Acting Deputy Spokesperson for the U.N. Secretary-General Farhan Haq said about Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei's remarks on the tribunal.

The United States slammed Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his rejection of any ruling by the international tribunal investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Khamenei "does not have the authority over the tribunal. It was convened by the United Nations," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

French Ambassador Denis Pietton said Wednesday that he reiterated to Premier Saad Hariri French commitment to support and provide equipment to the Lebanese army.

After meeting with Premier Saad Hariri at the Grand Serail, Pietton said he delivered to the prime minister a letter from his French counterpart Francois Fillon in which he reiterated Paris' commitment to help the Lebanese military.

The March 14 general-secretariat defended on Wednesday Premier Saad Hariri's proposed solution to the controversial issue of false witnesses and said the March 8 forces' insistence to allegedly reject legal answers to the problem will be faced by stiff insistence to refuse blackmail.

"March 8 forces' insistence to reject all legal and constitutional solutions" to the false witnesses issue will be faced by March 14's "insistence to reject blackmail," the general-secretariat said following its weekly meeting.

The Justice Palace in Baabda was evacuated on Wednesday after receiving a bomb threat.

Local media quoted security sources as saying an anonymous person called shortly after midday to inform there is a bomb planted in the Justice Palace in Baabda, 11 kilometers east of Beirut.

A group of 281 cadets completed on Wednesday the U.S.-funded Basic Cadet Police Training Course and joined the ranks of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), a U.S. Embassy press release reported.

It said the graduating police cadets completed a ten-week, "state-of-the-art" training program taught by American and Lebanese instructors, focusing on "the latest policing and law enforcement skills and the application of these skills to specific law-enforcement situations."

Security agencies protecting Prime Minister Saad Hariri are using advanced Israeli equipment that detects hostile forces several kilometers away, Israel Radio reported Wednesday.

It quoted Israeli police as saying that the equipment functions in waves that are difficult to track and block.