French Ambassador Denis Pietton hoped on Wednesday that the cabinet would resume its functions in implementing reforms after Premier Najib Miqati suspended the government sessions over his accusations that ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun were being unproductive.

“After what I’ve heard from Aoun, I hope that the government would resume its work and activities in implementing reform,” Pietton said after meeting with the FPM chief in Rabieh.

The March 14 General Secretariat noted on Wednesday that last week’s February 14 ceremony commemorating the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri marked an important development in the March 14 forces’ mission to assert Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty.

It called in a statement after its weekly meeting for devising a new “unified project that under the name of Lebanon’s salvation.”

Israel's Ambassador to the U.N., Ron Prosor, has warned the Security Council that Hizbullah’s alleged powerbase in western Africa is growing, the Israeli Ynetnews website reported Wednesday.

"Israel is particularly concerned over Hizbullah's use of the area as a base of terror operations,” the site quoted Prosor as saying. “Criminal initiatives bolster Hizbullah's efforts to create sleeper-cells in the area.”

A speeding car killed a priest on Wednesday morning as he was crossing the highway in Dbayeh, north of Beirut, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the Red Cross collected the body parts strewn around the crash site and on both sides of the highway. The agency identified the priest as Father Youssef al-Khoury.

Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ resignation came as a surprise to Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who was hoping that he would sign the decision taken by the cabinet over the transportation allowance decree.

Nahhas “refuses the compromises” made by Aoun’s Change and Reform parliamentary bloc, his sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday.

Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan confirmed reports that the parliamentary majority forces were seeking to garner majority support for a draft-law proposed by him to authorize the cabinet to set the transportation allowance.

The draft-law “is a solution and guarantees the (continued) work of the cabinet, Kanaan told An Nahar daily published Wednesday despite reports that Speaker Nabih Berri could withdraw the draft-law and another one drafted by opposition al-Mustaqbal MP Nabil de Freij from the agenda of the session if the resignation of Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas was not sent to Premier Najib Miqati ahead of the session.

Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned to Thursday a parliamentary session set to discuss several draft laws, a day after Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas submitted his resignation to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun for refusing to sign the controversial transportation allowance decree.

While parliament discussed several issues during its Wednesday session, it did not tackle the two main draft laws that would determine the fate of the transportation allowance.

Police in Azerbaijan have arrested an unspecified number of people linked to Iran and Hizbullah suspected of planning attacks in the country, Azerbaijan’s state television said Tuesday.

State broadcaster AzTV, quoting the National Security Ministry, said police had detained people linked to Iranian intelligence services and Hizbullah who intended to stage attacks on foreign citizens in the country.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s position on the March 14 ceremony last week that marked the seventh anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, saying that he undermined the people of Lebanon.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The negativity that marked his speech only exacerbates the division between the Lebanese.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun revealed on Tuesday that he has not yet decided whether he will accept Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ resignation.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “The dispute over the transportation allowance is now between us and Nahhas.”