A meeting was held on Thursday between several ministers from the Hizbullah-led March 8 forces as a follow-up to talks earlier in the week aimed at restoring the crippling relations between the Free Patriotic Movement, Hizbullah and Amal.

Al-Liwaa daily said that Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who represents Speaker Nabih Berri’s Amal movement in the cabinet, Minister Jebran Bassil, who is loyal to FPM chief Michel Aoun, and Hizbullah leader’s aide Hussein Khalil held the talks.

Maronite leaders meeting in Bkirki stressed on Friday the importance of real partnership and equality between Muslims and Christians.

They said in a statement: “This issue transcends demographic and political considerations and neglecting it will threaten Lebanon’s national unity.”

President Michel Suleiman has signed a decree to promote 24 colonels in the Internal Security Forces to the rank of brigadier general but excluded the head of the ISF’s Information Branch, Col. Wissam al-Hassan.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel announced Thursday that al-Hassan’s promotion will take place in accordance with a decree to be issued on January 1, 2012 after having completed six years in service.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed relief on Friday over the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon through the Higher Relief Council.

“I have already said that the payment will not be from the state’s budget and this is what happened… there might be other hidden issues related (to the funding) that will be unveiled soon,” Berri told An Nahar.

Federal authorities blamed Lebanese financial institutions Thursday for wiring more than $300 million into the United States in a money-laundering scheme they said used the U.S. financial system to benefit Hizbullah.

The U.S. government said in the lawsuit filed in a Manhattan federal court that it seeks nearly a half-billion dollars in money-laundering penalties from some Lebanese financial entities, 30 U.S. car buyers and a U.S. shipping company. It also said it's entitled to claim their assets as forfeitable under U.S. money-laundering laws.

Three men who plotted a suicide attack against an Australian army base because they believed Islam was under threat from Western nations were sentenced Friday to more than 13 years in prison.

The men — Australian citizens originally from Somalia and Lebanon — were convicted last year of conspiring to plot a terrorist attack against Holsworthy Barracks, an army base on the outskirts of Sydney. Officials said the group planned to send a team of men with automatic rifles into the base in a bid to kill as many soldiers as possible.

Former premier Saad Hariri on Thursday stressed that Hizbullah needs to “understand the country is more important than their weapons.”

Asked by a Twitter user whether he had any short-term or long-term plans concerning the disarming of Hizbullah, Hariri said: “Very simple, they need to understand the country is more important than their weapons.”

The U.S. administration on Thursday placed Saleh al-Qarawi, a senior Saudi member of the Lebanon-based Abdullah Azzam Brigades, on its blacklist of global terrorists.

The move freezes any assets held by Qarawi in the United States and bans Americans from doing business with him.

The Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), Major-General Alberto Asarta Cuevas on Thursday called on Lebanon and Israel to “prevent violations of (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1701, including ground violations, air violations and the presence of unauthorized armed personnel in the area of (UNIFIL) operations.”

Asarta voiced his remarks after chairing a regular tripartite meeting with senior officials from the Lebanese and Israeli armies at the U.N. Position at Ras al-Naqoura crossing.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hoped on Thursday that the people of the Middle East, “who are currently enduring wars and conflict”, would soon witness peace and stability.

He said during his Christmas and New Year address: “We look forward with you to the birth of the real and stable Arab Spring, which is based on democracy and the diversity of its religions and cultures.”