Lebanon will on Monday lift a ban on the import of vegetables from Europe imposed in the wake of the recent deadly E. coli outbreak, caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan announced Sunday.

Hajj Hassan reassured consumers about the safety of vegetables in Lebanon, noting that vegetables “are subjected to laboratory tests on a periodic basis.”

Around 30 people held a sit-in outside the Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut on Sunday shouting slogans in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said that the small crowd later dispersed without any clash with police.

Two armed parties clashed in Beirut’s Shiyyah neighborhood at dawn Sunday, the state-run National News Agency reported without identifying the gunmen.

It said armed fighters from two parties exchanged fire with automatic rifles in Shiyyah’s al-Tayyar street at around 3:00 am.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi prayed on Sunday that the holy spirit would enlighten the minds of politicians so that they learn that responsibility comes with servitude.

During his sermon at the seat of the patriarchate in Bkirki, al-Rahi hoped that the holy spirit would “enlighten officials to realize that responsibility means dedication to serve.”

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc has said that alleged attempts by the March 8 forces to call to task former finance ministers are a “media and a political advertisement."

The bloc’s sources told An Nahar daily in remarks published Sunday that they “haven’t seen in the history of constitutions or parliaments in the world that a parliamentary committee has held accountable former ministers.”

Sources close to President Michel Suleiman ruled out on Sunday the formation of the new cabinet in the next few days as Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s sources said he hasn’t yet received the names of the candidates of the Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah.

The Baabda palace sources told Ad-Diyar daily that Miqati was still seeking to remove the obstacles hindering the formation of the cabinet.

High-ranking March 14 sources have said that the March 8 coalition backed by Hizbullah was seeking to keep the political vacuum in Lebanon in an effort to help the Syrian regime at the security level.

The sources have expressed fears that a decision to keep the vacuum was aimed at “keeping the freedom of movement on the ground in case the situation in Syria deteriorated to the level that requires a security support from Lebanon.”

French Ambassador Denis Pietton has hinted that Speaker Nabih Berri’s calls for parliamentary sessions to renew the mandate of the Central Bank governor are unconstitutional.

In an interview published by An Nahar daily on Sunday, Pietton said: “With respect to the renewal of Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh’s mandate, the authorities of institutions should be respected on the basis of separation of powers.”

MP Ahmed Karami has unveiled that he told his ally Premier-designate Najib Miqati that he should be a priority in getting a cabinet seat after Hizbullah and the Amal movement backed bringing Faisal Karami to the new government.

The lawmaker told Kuwait’s al-Seyassah newspaper in remarks published Sunday that “Miqati doesn’t have a problem in giving a seat to Faisal Karami.”

Hizbullah has officially informed resigned Minister Adnan Sayyed Hussein that it was backing off from its promise to allot to him a portfolio in the new cabinet, al-Mustaqbal daily reported Sunday.

The newspaper said that the Shiite party had promised Sayyed Hussein to either give him the foreign affairs or information portfolio when he announced his resignation from Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government in January.