Prime Minister Najib Miqati hoped on Friday that the various political powers will succeed in overcoming obstacles in the government’s performance ahead of cabinet’s upcoming session on Wednesday.
He remarked: “All factions will inevitably reach a solution to the government spending dispute.”

Two people were kidnapped in separate incidents on Thursday night, one in the southern city of Sidon and another in the Bekaa town of al-Qaa, reported the National News Agency on Friday.
It said that unknown assailants kidnapped Basma al-Sabaa from her car in Sidon.

A Lebanese army team in cooperation with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon set demarcation points in the border town of Kfarkila to prevent Israel from infringing on Lebanese territories, An Nahar daily reported Friday.
The newspaper said that the move was aimed at preventing the Israeli army from encroaching on Lebanese land while constructing a one-kilometer-long separation wall.

A huge part of a carpet factory that was engulfed in flames in the coastal town of Safra, north of Beirut, collapsed on Friday after its outer walls cracked from the force of flames.
The collapse of “Byblos” factory’s western front came after firefighters cleared the area following the partial cracks in the walls.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat hinted on Friday that members of his parliamentary bloc would reject a partial settlement to the controversial extra-budgetary spending if the issue was discussed at parliament again.
In a remark to As Safir daily, Jumblat said: “We have previously said that we reject partial solutions and settlements.”

Senate Republicans demanded answers Thursday from the Justice Department and Pentagon for why a Hizbullah suspect accused in the death of five U.S. soldiers was transferred to Iraqi custody before being charged with war crimes.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee wanted assurances U.S. officials would seek to keep Ali Musa Daqduq behind bars, even as an Iraqi court ruled the Hizbullah commander be released over lack of evidence.

Premier Najib Miqati is exerting every effort to guarantee a cabinet consensus on the $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending of 2011 to avoid an embarrassment after the discussion of the issue was postponed for the second week in a row on Wednesday.
Sources close to Miqati told An Nahar daily published Friday that the solution to the spending crisis continues to face obstacles but hoped that a session set by the PM for next week would give him enough time to find an exit to the bickering between the cabinet’s different members.

Lebanese officials have slammed Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat for criticizing army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji as a person with limited capabilities.
In remarks to As Safir daily published Friday, the unidentified officials stressed that the army has made a series of achievements whether in southern Lebanon or other areas and has prevented Israel from encroaching on Lebanese territories during its construction of a separation wall on the border.

The United States is urging Lebanese banks to take "extra" caution in handling financial transactions with Syria, to prevent the Assad regime and its supporters from stashing money abroad, a senior Treasury official said Thursday.
"We want to be as careful as possible that the regime, its cronies, its allies that may be trying to shield their assets might not be able to do so," said David Cohen, the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has warned that the abduction on Monday of Father Walid Gharious in the Bekaa Valley “might jeopardize civil peace.”
In an interview with CNNArabic, Geagea strongly condemned the kidnap operation, stressing that the case “must not be wrapped up through the approach of consensual security, because consensual security implies that the state has ceded its powers to local organizations, which would destroy the state and violate the coexistence charter.”
