U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams hoped on Saturday that the new Lebanese government would be formed within days in order to protect the people, given the changes and unrest in the Middle East.

He said after holding talks with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea that the Lebanese officials should exert efforts to provide the necessary atmosphere to form a new Cabinet.

Lebanese authorities have adopted strict measures in the Bekaa region in order to confront the possible smuggling of weapons to Syria, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Saturday.

Concerned security sources said that owners of arms stores in the Bekaa have received direct orders from the intelligence directorate in the Lebanese army against selling arms to any individual without checking that they are Lebanese.

Bkirki is scheduled to hold an Islamic-Christian spiritual summit on Thursday, the first of its kind since the election of Beshara al-Rahi as patriarch of the Maronite church, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday.

The governmental crisis in Lebanon and the turbulent situation in the region are set to be the main issues of discussion at the meeting, it added.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon remains convinced that the disarmament of armed groups in Lebanon, in particular Hizbullah, can best be achieved through a political process, a U.N. spokesman said.

"He calls on Lebanese leaders to reconvene the national dialogue under the auspices of President Michel Suleiman," the spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Daniel Bellemare, filed an amended indictment on Friday, replacing the indictment of March 11, 2011, to include substantive new elements unavailable until recently.

The Prosecutor does not intend to make further amendments to the indictment, unless ordered to do so by the Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen, said the STL press office in a statement on Friday.

The spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Neeraj Singh stressed on Friday the close cooperation between the Lebanese army and international troops in order to implement U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

He said that the army holds the main responsibility of maintaining security, the laws, and order in the area.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams stressed on Friday the need for the formation of a functioning government “the sooner the better.”

He said after holding talks with Speaker Nabih Berri: “There are many concerns of importance to ordinary Lebanese people that need to be addressed, irrespective of their confession or their politics.”

Radical cleric Omar Bakri, on bail in Lebanon on charges including incitement to murder, has called for prayers to mourn Osama bin Laden in Lebanon and outside U.S. embassies around the world.

"We call on our followers in Europe, Canada and especially Britain to pray for his soul outside American embassies," Bakri, who was based in Britain for nearly two decades, told Agence France Presse.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri hoped on Friday that Lebanon would remain a beacon for democracy and freedom in the Arab world.

He said on the occasion of Martyrs Day: “Since 2004, Lebanon has been plagued with assassinations, the most notable of which took place on February 14, 2005, with the murder of former Premier Rafik Hariri.”

Lebanon Now MP Oqab Saqr has accused Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun of relying on militias on the street to achieve his political objectives.

Saqr told the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah daily in an interview published on Friday that Aoun’s latest statements were “very dangerous.” They give an impression that Premier-designate Najib Miqati is his “employee.”