Energy Minister Jebran Bassil hailed on Wednesday what he called the “positive gesture” of the cabinet to lease power-generating ships to help reduce severe electricity rationing in the country.

“What happened yesterday was a good gesture by the government in terms of reforming the electricity” sector, Bassil said in a press conference.

The March 14 General Secretariat praised on Wednesday the Syrian National Council’s open letter to the Lebanese people, saying that a free and independent Syria’s recognition of a sovereign Lebanon is the only way to rebuild solid Lebanese-Syrian ties based on trust and cooperation.

It said in a letter to the Syrian people: “Democratic change in Syria will mark an historic opportunity for its development and guarantee Lebanon’s independence.”

The Audit Bureau’s acting general prosecutor, Judge Bassam Wehbe, announced on Wednesday that he would issue his review on the initial investigation report on the red diesel scandal within a week and hold accountable those involved in the case.

“The Bureau has informed the premiership about the report that it received from the inspectors’ committee tasked by the Bureau to investigate the case,” Wehbe told the National News Agency.

Customs agents at the Rafik Hariri International Airport thwarted on Wednesday an attempt to smuggle 500 iPhones from Australia, reported the National News Agency.

The iPhones were discovered in the luggages of three Australians of Lebanese origin, who arrived in Lebanon from Australia through Dubai.

The Council of Maronite Bishops urged politicians on Wednesday to safeguard Lebanon amid the swift developments in the region that can have negative repercussions on the country, expressing fears over the continuing land sales to foreigners for financial gains.

Following their monthly meeting headed by Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki, the bishops called for unity among the Lebanese people.

The fate of a protest that the Free Patriotic Movement had called for against severe power rationing was not known on Wednesday although the telecom minister, who is loyal to FPM chief Michel Aoun, said the Lebanese should be ready for a demonstration at any time.

“The citizens should be ready to demonstrate at any moment,” Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui told Voice of Mada without specifying if the FPM would still go ahead with its plans despite the cabinet’s approval on Tuesday of decisions linked to the electricity sector.

President Michel Suleiman said Wednesday that the ball of appointments of civil servants to positions in state institutions was in the court of the cabinet.

“The ball of appointments is in the court of ministers and I disagree with the justice minister on the head of the Higher Judicial Council,” Suleiman said on twitter.

The cabinet agreed on Tuesday to renew the contracts of the two mobile operating companies hours before they expired at midnight, according to newspapers.

Ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat and Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas expressed reservations on the renewal of the contract without referring it to the Audit Bureau.

The Council of Development and Reconstruction began on Wednesday dismantling the metal bridge on the Jal el-Dib highway that links Beirut with the North after warnings the structure could collapse.

Engineer Elie Helou expected the process to take a month, the National News Agency said.

A verbal clash between MP Nabil Nicolas and the head of the parliamentary energy committee, MP Mohammed Qabbani, showed the rising tension between the Free Patriotic Movement and the opposition al-Mustaqbal movement.

Nicolas, an MP representing FPM leader Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc, accused Qabbani on Tuesday of evading the payment of over LL16 million in electricity bills.