Prime Minister Najib Miqati concluded on Thursday his visit to Italy by holding talks with Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, who hailed the Lebanese government for its policy of disassociation from regional crises.

He said after the meeting: “The Italian government believes it is necessary for Lebanon to continue on disassociating itself from the Syrian conflict.”

Maronite Partiarch Beshara al-Rahi warned on Thursday against political divisions among the Lebanese and said the country's economic crisis had dangerous repercussions.

In his opening statement of the Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops held in Bkirki, al-Rahi lamented the lack of dialogue and said the political crisis has further widened the gap among the different parties.

President Michel Suleiman hoped on Thursday that the Syrian people would be able to hold dialogue in order to reach an agreement over “acceptable political solutions” to their crisis.

He expressed “Lebanon's keenness to avoid the country the repercussions of the conflict.”

Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch rejected on Thursday a settlement made between Interior Minister Marwan Charbel and Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui concerning providing it with the text messages (SMS) circulated among the Lebanese, As Safir newspaper reported.

“The settlement would compromise the secrecy of the investigation and expose to others the identity of the suspects,” a security source told the newspaper.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said on Thursday that the March 14-led opposition rejects to pay the price for any government change by compromising on the electoral law that will be adopted in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

He criticized in comments published in An Nahar newspaper attempts to lure the opposition to attend the national dialogue session set to be held on January 7.

Several Lebanese men arrested in a deadly ambush in the Syrian town of Tall Kalakh will not be handed over to Lebanese authorities and will be tried in Damascus instead, An Nahar daily reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said that around three of the armed men, who mostly hail from North Lebanon, were arrested in the ambush made by Syrian regime forces last week while 14 of them were killed as they infiltrated Tall Kalakh to fight alongside the Free Syrian Army.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed on Thursday that he would have stepped down from his post if he didn't fear accusations of being “weak” and evading his responsibilities.

“I presume I have enough experience to be able to deal with the security challenges adequately,” Charbel said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Deputy Speaker Farid Makari is planning to stay in France until next April over recent threats made against him, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

Al-Liwaa said that Makari, who is a member of the March 14 opposition alliance, “has decided not to return to Beirut at this stage.”

Palestinian youths in Lebanon suffer from marginalization from an early age, and nearly half of these refugee children drop out of secondary school, a survey published on Wednesday showed.

"It is striking that only 53 percent of Palestinian children in Lebanon attend secondary school," Soha Bsat Boustani, spokeswoman for the U.N. children's fund (UNICEF) in Lebanon, told AFP.

The Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar announced on Wednesday that he will not be returning to Lebanon from a trip to Europe after he has allegedly received death threats.

Radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) said that the northern Mufti has been advised to stay abroad, in fear of an assassination attempt against him.