Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil on Friday signed the fuel price list without raising the cost of gasoline to consumers.

A statement issued by the Energy Ministry said Bassil kept gasoline prices of all grades the same.

The Orient has long held a fascination for westerners, conjuring up exotic images from historic lands where few travelers ventured before the advent of trains and steamboats.

As a child in the 1950s French couturier Christian Lacroix recalls the inscription on a monument in the port of Marseilles, "Gateway to the East" was enough to fire his imagination and later inspire his designs.

Central Bank governor Riad Salameh said Friday “the Lebanese Canadian Bank abides by Lebanese laws and international standards,” a day after the Treasury Department accused it of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug profits for a cocaine smuggling organization with ties to Hizbullah.

The bank “receives the absolute support of the Central Bank,” Salameh said.

Israel’s Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a warning to Israeli travelers on Friday ahead of the anniversaries of the assassination of Hizbullah officials Imad Mughniyeh and Abbas al-Moussawi.

The bureau cautioned the public of the increased threat of terror attacks against Israelis abroad, saying they should avoid traveling to Egypt, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania and Venezuela.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon reiterated that Lebanon should respect international resolutions and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

“We had fully supported the national unity cabinet headed by Saad Hariri,” Fillon told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in an interview published Friday.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg has said that Washington “intends to judge the next Lebanese government by its deeds.”

“We will be watching Prime Minister-designate (Najib) Miqati to see whether he makes good on his public pledge to build a broad-based government that represents all sections of Lebanese society,” Steinberg said in a testimony at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Egypt and Lebanon on Thursday.

A meeting between Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb on Thursday signaled the resumption of contacts between the billionaire businessman and the March 14 forces.

Miqati’s circles told An Nahar daily in remarks published Friday that the meeting was “positive” and the cabinet formation process was making progress.

Israel has failed to notify U.N. peacekeepers along the volatile Lebanese-Israeli border of its decision to freeze its plan to withdraw from the disputed village of Ghajar, a U.N. official said Thursday.

"The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has not been notified by Israel of any change in their position on this matter," said Milos Strugar, UNIFIL's director of political and civil affairs.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Thursday noted that "abidance by the Constitution and the Taef Accord is the logical solution during this period."

He stressed that his party supports the implementation of the Taef Accord as well as national partnership.

The U.S. has accused the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank of laundering money for alleged cocaine trafficker Ayman Joumaa, and linked Hizbullah to the bank's illegal activities.

The U.S. Treasury said it would move to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from working with the bank, which it said was tied to Joumaa's international syndicate that laundered "hundreds of millions of dollars monthly" in cash from the drugs trade.