The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee has said Hizbullah may have hundreds of operatives based in the United States as several former officials raised fears on the rising threat of the party to U.S. security.

During a hearing Wednesday with former government officials testifying,

The cabinet on Wednesday approved the appointment of the six members of the authority tasked with administrating the oil sector.

During a session at the Grand Serail, the cabinet also decided to accept military vehicles and equipment donated to the Internal Security Forces by the U.S. embassy, and called for “keeping the army away from political bickering,” Information Minister Walid al-Daouq announced.

Machinegun rounds, flares and percussion bombs were fired from the Syrian side of the border towards the stream of the Grand River on Wednesday, some of which landing in the northern Lebanese town of Bani Sakhr in al-Bqaiaa region, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported.

“Machinegun volleys struck several homes, causing no casualties, as a bomb landed in a grove,” NNA quoted residents as saying."

March 14 youth organizations strongly condemned on Wednesday the Antonine Fathers University incident in which students performed Muslim prayers against the wishes of the university administration that did not comply with their request to dedicate a prayer room for their needs.

The organizations called on all secondary schools, universities, and academic institutions to suspend classes on Thursday between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m. in protest against Tuesday’s incident.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stated on Wednesday that he was not informed that the Bkirki meeting that was supposed to be in April has been postponed.

He said: “We are still awaiting the outcome of the efforts of the follow-up committee that is studying the parliamentary electoral law.”

For three long weeks, Murhaf was stuck in Homs' notorious Baba Amr district, in central Syria. By the time he got to hospital in Lebanon, like many others, he had to undergo an amputation.

The 30-year-old is among a growing number of Syrians wounded in the violence sweeping their country and losing limbs for lack of proper medical care, especially in opposition strongholds targeted by regime forces.

A family of six narrowly escaped with their lives on Wednesday after a part of their house collapsed in the town of al-Hallousiyeh in the southern city of Tyre, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the head of the family, Qassem Mounis, was awaken at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday by the sound that he likened to an explosion to discover that parts of the house’s main room had crumbled.

The heads of the Beirut and Tripoli Bar Associations announced that lawyers would hold a one-day strike on Monday to protest the failure to appoint a new head for the Higher Judicial Council.

Nuhad Jabr and Bassam al-Dayeh said Wednesday that lawyers will suspend their work as “a first step that would be followed by more escalatory measures if the cabinet does not appoint” the HJC’s head.

The parliament ended on Wednesday a prolonged debate on the transportation allowance by approving a draft-law based on the two proposals made by MPs Ibrahim Kanaan and Nabil de Freij.

The two lawmakers proposed separate draft-laws set to legalize the transportation allowance.

A parliamentary approval to reduce the prison year to nine months on Wednesday was accompanied by protests by inmates in Roumieh prison, who held 17 Internal Security Forces members hostage.

The controversial issue of reducing the prison year to nine months was submitted to voting and 51 lawmakers approved the decision.