Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Thursday that Lebanon respects the ambitions of the people in neighboring countries to achieve freedom but said Beirut won’t interfere in their internal affairs.

“The transitions in the Arab countries had high costs at all levels,” Miqati said during a conference on the Middle East.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi travelled to Turkey on an official and pastoral visit on Thursday, saying he would discuss there the situation of Maronites in Cyprus.

He kicked off the visit with a meeting with President Abdullah Gul in Ankara.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil signed on Thursday the weekly update of fuel prices after companies refused to distribute oil to gas stations thus averting a crisis in the country.

Bassil had decided for the second week to delay the signing of the weekly update for fuel prices by a day.

A U.S. district-court judge has awarded insurers $9.4 billion after entering a final judgment against Hizbullah in a lawsuit over the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that left almost 3,000 people dead.

U.S. District Court Judge George Daniels in the Southern District of New York said Hizbullah must pay the damages to insurers that sought to recoup payments to business and property policyholders for losses from the attacks.

The parliament will hold a general discussion session in April to assess the governments’ performance.

MP Marwan Hamadeh said on Wednesday, after the weekly meeting between Speaker Nabih Berri and lawmakers, that the three-day session will be held on April 11-13 or after the Easter holidays on April 18-20.

An Indian citizen faces 75 years in jail in the United States after being found guilty by a Manhattan federal court of plotting to sell weapons to Hizbullah.

Patrick Nayyar, 48, was found guilty of five counts related to the support he attempted to provide to Hizbullah after a week-long jury trial before U.S. district judge Robert Sweet.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil said Thursday he agreed with Premier Najib Miqati that no party emerged as a victor or vanquished during a cabinet session that saw the approval of power-generating vessels and the construction of electricity plants.

The government averted a crisis during its session at Baabda Palace on Wednesday after it approved the leasing of the ships for a maximum of three years to produce 270 megawatts and the construction of 1,500-megawatt power plants.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed on Thursday that he decided to boycott the Syrian regime once and for all, whether President Bashar Assad remained in power or he resigned.

“I’d rather end my life while I am at a rift with the Syrian regime,” Jumblat told As Safir newspaper.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati hailed on Thursday the cabinet session that was held at the Baabda Palace, saying that it was able to avert a crisis over a dispute on the power-generating vessels.

“We’ve stressed that we want to provide Lebanon with electricity and simultaneously preserve the public money,” Miqati said in comments published in An Nahar.

The cabinet has approved draft-laws to conduct an audit on extra-budgetary spending made between 2006 and 2010 by the governments of ex-Premiers Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri.

The approval came during an eight-hour session held at Baabda Palace under President Michel Suleiman which also witnessed a solution to the controversial electricity plan.