Caretaker Transportation and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi stated on Friday that there have been no convincing justifications given over the delay in the government formation.

He told Voice of Lebanon radio: “It appears that the team charged with the forming the government does not trust its members … as if they are waging a battle over the distribution of portfolios.”

A leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in the Al-Akhbar newspaper on Friday revealed that Defense Minister Elias Murr had initially rejected a Russian grant of 77 tanks and 50,000 of their ammunition, saying that the Lebanese had no need for them.

The WikiLeaks cable spoke of a December 16, 2008, meeting between Murr and his Russian counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov, during which the Lebanese official explained that Lebanon is in need of MiG fighter jets.

A Middle East Airlines plane landed at Beirut airport on Friday morning bringing 95 Lebanese who have escaped the violence in the Ivory Coast.

The plane had 244 people on board.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has told a U.S. official that Lebanon was in need of hundreds of MiG-29 Russian fighter jets to “threaten Israel.”

In a WikiLeaks cable dated December 19, 2008, Geagea told U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Hale that Lebanese army pilots need a 10-year experience on the jets to confront Israel.

Traces of Iodine-131 from Japan’s nuclear plant were found on low-lying foliage in Lebanon although they don’t pose a danger to human health, said the National Council for Scientific Research.

The small findings have now been confirmed in samples of rainwater and soaked foliage by rain that fell between April 4 and 6, according to CNRS.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri has reportedly said that Russian MiG-29 fighter jets would strengthen the March 14 forces and prevent Hizbullah from overtaking Sunni Western Beirut as it did on May 7.

According to a WikiLeaks cable published by al-Akhbar daily on Friday, Hariri said during a meeting with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Hale on December 17, 2008 that the ownership of MiG jets by the army would most probably complicate Israeli overflights.

Negotiations on the formation of the new cabinet haven’t yet reached the stage of distribution of portfolios amid reports that Premier-designate Najib Miqati is suggesting that Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun get 10 ministers.

“Negotiations haven’t yet overcome the obstacle of distribution of shares,” An Nahar daily quoted sources as saying in remarks published Friday.

The National Struggle Front leader, MP Walid Jumblat, urged Lebanese officials to steer clear of regional conflicts and return to the dialogue table.

“It would be better to stay away from regional conflicts as much as possible and resume dialogue,” Jumblat told As Safir daily in remarks published Friday.

Army and police commandos on Thursday managed to contain a new mutiny by inmates in Lebanon's notorious main prison of Roumieh, less than two days after quelling similar four-day riots at the same jail.

Around 4:00 p.m. Thursday, prisoners at Roumieh's bloc D took two policemen and three workers hostage, prompting security forces to launch an operation to liberate them.

Hizbullah snapped back Thursday at caretaker premier Saad Hariri, who earlier in the day accused Tehran of trying to turn Lebanon and Gulf states into Iranian protectorates.

Hariri’s “provocative stances sincerely echoed U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ latest remarks about the Iranian role in the region,” read a statement released by Hizbullah's media relations department.