President Michel Suleiman called on the competent security and judiciary authorities to exert efforts to implement stricter food safety measures, the National News Agency reported on Saturday.

“If security is a priority, then the citizens’ health and their right to eat safe food is sacred,” Suleiman said.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel visited Roumieh prison on Saturday where he presented checks to inmates whose jail sentences were complete and who also cannot afford their bail.

He revealed that future steps will follow this one at other jails in Lebanon.

The Earth Day celebrations that are set for March 30 will take place at the Beaufort, or Shqeef, Castle in southern Lebanon, reported the National News Agency on Saturday.

Abdul Malek Sukkariyeh, the media coordinator of the rally, announced that the Lebanese army had officially permitted the staging of event.

The head of the takfiri network that has been recently discovered in Lebanon is currently residing in the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, reported Voice of Lebanon radio on Saturday.

Jamaa al-Islamiyya official Bassam Hammoud told the radio that Abu Mohammed Toufic Taha is controlling three al-Qaida cells in Lebanon and he works for Majed al-Majed, a Saudi member of the terrorist group.

Daylight-saving time will begin in Lebanon at midnight where clocks should be set an hour ahead as per a decree issued by cabinet earlier this month.

The move will put Beirut 3 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour announced that Lebanon must help Syria end its crisis because it is a “sister state” with which “we share special and historic ties that cannot be abandoned,” reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

He told the newspaper: “Lebanon will not recognize the Syrian National Council.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat demanded on Friday that the ruling Assad family in Syria be removed from the country.

He said: “Anyone who believes that a settlement can be reached with the Assad family is crazy.”

Hizbullah members prevented overnight the army and security forces from inspecting an arms shipment in the western Bekaa, reported MTV on Saturday.

It explained that the army and security forces in the region of Khirbet Qanafar sought to approach a truck loaded with weapons for the party, but the Hizbullah members prohibited them.

The head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s Defense Office Francois Roux warned against measures that may affect the tribunal’s credibility, reported As Safire newspaper on Saturday.

He told the newspaper that the failure to hand former General Security chief Jamil Sayyed documents related to the false witnesses file may harm the STL’s credibility.

The Minister of Administrative Development Mohammed Fneish announced that his ministry is ready to begin the proceedings to appoint the members of the recently-approved authority tasked with administering the oil sector, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

He told the newspaper that he is prepared to carry out the necessary contacts with the Energy Ministry on Monday to this end.