Deans and professors of a number of Lebanese universities have concluded a visit to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, announced the STL in a statement on Wednesday.

The visit, which lasted from 7 to 9 May, included discussions with STL President Judge Sir David Baragwanath, as well as other senior tribunal officials.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday that the government needs to adopt a new approach in order to tackle the various pending issues in Lebanon.

He said: “The continuation of the government’s current performance is unacceptable.”

The Lebanese army complained to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon on Wednesday over Israel’s removal of the barbed wire at the Fatima Gate in the South.

It issued a strong complaint to UNIFIL over the incident, which has left the border between Lebanon and Israel completely open and exposed to violations from either side, reported National News Agency.

Defense lawyers before the U.N.-backed court probing former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri's murder sought Wednesday to have the tribunal's creation declared illegal and unfit to judge their clients.

Lawyers for Salim Ayyash -- one of four men wanted for trial in connection with Hariri's car bomb death in 2005 -- asked "the trial chamber to find that the establishment of the court was not legal."

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday the government’s failure to cater to the needs of the Syrian refugees in Lebanon, accusing it of imposing a military and security siege against them.

It announced in a statement after its weekly meeting that it will lead a delegation to visit the town of Arsal later this week “in order to break the siege and reject the government’s decision to distance itself from the refugees’ needs.”

A 70-year-old Lebanese woman was killed on Wednesday in a cross-border fire in eastern Lebanon’s al-Qaa village, the National News Agency reported.

Halima Suleiman Krombi was shot in the head and taken to Hermel state hospital, NNA said. But she later died from her wounds.

Premier Najib Miqati warned on Wednesday that the path to democracy is not an easy task, saying Lebanon is still improving its democratic system despite being a harbinger of freedom in the Arab world.

At the opening of the 27th ministerial session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Miqati said: “The uprisings and the popular movements demanding democracy are part of the historic development in the Arab region.”

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has determined that 58 of the 73 victims of the February 14, 2005 attack who applied to do so can now participate in the Ayyash et al. proceedings, announced the STL in a statement on Wednesday.

“Fransen has reviewed the 73 victim applications he has received, 15 of which were deemed to be incomplete,” it added.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat will enter in an alliance with the March 14 forces in the upcoming 2013 elections, As Safir newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Sources told the daily that Jumblat’s meeting with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman during his latest visit to Beirut focused on the upcoming 2013 polls.

President Michel Suleiman is reportedly fed up with the pressure exerted on him to sign the controversial $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending bill and the campaign launched against him by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun.

Baabda palace visitors told An Nahar daily on Wednesday that Suleiman was “fed up” after Aoun reiterated his accusations that the president was causing a paralysis in state institutions by refusing to sign the bill.