The cabinet is back on track as Prime Minister Najib Miqati revealed on Friday that it will convene again, considering it a fresh start to rectify relations with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun.

Miqati told As Safir newspaper that the cabinet will meet at 9:30 a.m. on Monday at the Baabda Palace.

The al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc stressed on Friday that Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun lost on three fronts when the March 14 lawmakers withdrew from a parliamentary session the day before.

Al-Mustaqbal sources told An Nahar that Aoun lost Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, failed to win support for a $5.9 billion cabinet spending bill, and witnessed the removal of the Value Added Tax on red and green diesel, a move rejected by Energy Minister Jebran Bassil.

President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Najib Miqati signed on Friday a decree appointing Judge Salim Jreissati as the successor of former Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, the National News Agency reported.

Miqati and Suleiman signed the decree at the Baabda Palace, a day after Nahhas officially resigned.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed regret at the withdrawal of the March 14 opposition MPs from a parliamentary session on Thursday, saying he adjourned the meeting over his keenness on national cohesion.

“I am not satisfied with what happened even if the democratic game allows lawmakers to withdraw from the session,” Berri said in remarks published in Beirut dailies on Friday.

Senior Lebanese and Israeli military officials held a meeting on Thursday in Ras al-Naqoura under the supervision of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

UNIFIL Commander Maj.-Gen. Paolo Serra headed the meeting intended to boost security measures along the Blue Line and to halt any violations by both parties.

Tashnag Party MP Hagop Pakradounian on Thursday stressed that the relation between his party and MP Michel Murr was more than a mere political alliance, describing it as a “deep friendship at the national and political levels.”

For his part, Murr noted that the relation “went through some bumps” during the 2009 parliamentary elections, describing the rift as “a summer’s day cloud.”

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel said on Thursday that ending “statelets” and “closed security zones” would help build the Lebanese state.

He said: “Lebanon’s sovereignty cannot be established without eliminating the possession of illegitimate arms.”

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements on Lebanon, saying that its existence will not be affected by his remarks.

He added in a statement: “Lebanon is the only country to have defeated Israel militarily and the Jewish state is still recovering from it.”

Some 1.3 tons of spoiled meat have been confiscated by Consumer Protection Directorate patrols, reported the National News Agency on Thursday.

It said that the meat was discovered in a warehouse of a commercial establishment in the industrial zone in al-Fanar region in Metn district.

A Srilankan maid killed her employer on Thursday at her house in Bourj al-Barajneh in Beirut, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the maid at first beat Nehmat Munthir, 70, several times with a flower pot before stabbing her several times with a knife.