A judicial authority will prevent on Wednesday security agencies from obtaining the telecom data after it extended the deadline until the end of Pope Benedict XVl's three-day visit to Lebanon.

Sources in the authority told As Safir newspaper that giving the complete telecom data to security forces to track crimes violates the constitution and it can't resume.

The joint parliamentary committees convened on Wednesday to tackle the government-approved electoral law.

Media reports said however that the session was later suspended over a lack of quorum when opposition MPs withdrew from the meeting.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati held on Wednesday a meeting with several ministers and security officials to tackle the conditions of the prisons across Lebanon after reports emerged that inmates are gearing up for a revolt to demand a general amnesty.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told reporters at the Grand Serail that the courtroom that is currently being built at Roumieh prison will be completely on October 15, which will facilitate kicking off trials of all the inmates at the facility.

The Syrian regime had considered supplying chemical weapons to Hizbullah as a war between the party and Israel will “only be good for Syria,” the former head of Syria's chemical arsenal told The Times newspaper in an interview published Wednesday.

Major-General Adnan Sillu said he defected from the Syrian army three months ago after being party to top-levels talks about the use of chemical weapons on both rebel fighters and civilians.

The French Foreign Ministry stressed on Tuesday the importance of maintaining Lebanon and Syria's sovereignty and unity.

Spokesman Philippe Laleu said of claims that members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards may be in Lebanon and Syria that Paris condemns all that can harm the sovereignty of either country.

The Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc condemned on Tuesday recent claims that members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were present in Lebanon, saying that they have revealed “the true nature of forces that have claimed to have national affiliations.”

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The so-called Hizbullah arms are in fact Iranian and they threaten the national pact.”

Youssef Beshara, the brother of the head of the Bakeries Association, was released on Tuesday after being kidnapped on Monday.

He was released for a ransom of $400,000, which was paid by his wife at Mar Mikhael church in al-Shiyyah, reported Voice of Lebanon radio.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius cautioned on Tuesday that the Syrian crisis may lead to a regional conflict.

He warned that the crisis may also spread to Lebanon.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun slammed on Tuesday the negative stances against Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah over his call for rallies to protest the anti-Islam film.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc's weekly meeting: “It's unacceptable to criticize whoever calls for calm.”

Shahira Abu Ardeini lost her husband, sister and pregnant cousin in a massacre in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps 30 years ago. She and so many others are still waiting for justice to be done.

"There was no moon that night, so they lit up the sky with flares," said Abu Ardeini, aged 53, her dark eyes framed in deep wrinkles that speak volumes of her pain.