Gasoline prices dropped on Wednesday for the second week in a row after a sharp rise in fuel prices in the past weeks.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil signed the weekly fuel price updates that witnessed a LL700 drop after another LL200 decline last week following a record-breaking LL40,000 for the 98-octane graded fuel.

The government’s ability to allow Lebanese expatriates to vote in the 2013 parliamentary elections is being questioned despite approving a mechanism proposed by Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour.

A ministerial source told the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper that the cabinet is not ready to accomplish the necessary steps that would allow the expats to vote.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon denied on Wednesday media reports that the mission is mulling to move units and equipment to Syria to help the U.N. observer team there.

“Media reports that UNIFIL is studying the possibility of transferring some units from Lebanon to Syria and mainly tanks are not true,” UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Zahi Zeidan vows he won't back down as he stands in his bomb-shattered restaurant and oversees workers carrying debris out of dining rooms where on a good night patrons are usually drinking and dancing.

"They targeted us because we serve alcohol," said Zeidan. "Selling alcohol is my right. This is my country and I will not accept that people dictate to me what I work."

Hizbullah on Tuesday condemned the two bombings that rocked the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib on Monday, saying they were “part of a destructive, subversive plot aimed at eradicating any chance to reach a solution that would rescue Syria from the current crisis.”

“These bombings that sowed death and destruction in a peaceful Syrian city seeking security and stability cannot be the work of a political opposition that wants the welfare of the country and its citizens, but rather criminal bombings aimed at undermining stability and raising tensions in the framework of implementing the conspiracy that is targeting Syria and the region,” the party said in a statement.

The head of the General Labor Confederation Ghassan Ghosn confirmed on Tuesday the general strike scheduled for May 3 in protest against the government policies regarding living conditions in Lebanon.

He announced on the occasion of Labor Day: “We will no longer remain silent over a government that is seeking to impoverish its people.”

The Internal Security Forces intelligence bureau detained on Tuesday a four-member gang on charges of providing people with fake visas to European countries from Lebanon.

The ISF launched a probe to expose all those who are involved in the case in order to refer them to the competent judiciary.

A senior official in the Free Syrian Army denied that the army has any links to the ship that was intercepted by the Lebanese navy on Friday on suspicion that it was smuggling arms to Syria, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Tuesday.

The unnamed officer instead blamed the Syrian regime for being behind the ship.

Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman arrived in Lebanon on Tuesday for talks with Lebanese leaders.

Feltman is accompanied by a U.S. delegation comprising top Senator Joe Lieberman, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee and also sits on the Armed Services Committee. Lieberman met in Riyadh Monday with Saudi King Abdullah and other senior officials as part of a Middle East tour to discuss the Syria crisis, his office said.

The head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Defense Office Francois Roux stated that he holds talks with various government officials whenever he visits Lebanon, reported the daily An Nahar on Tuesday.

He told the daily that he is open to meeting other political officials in order to explain to them the role of the Defense Office and STL.