Caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan and Director-General of the Health Ministry Walid Ammar denied on Saturday that there are E. coli cases in Lebanon.

Ammar told Voice of Lebanon radio station that Lebanon has an “active system that detects epidemics, and doctors always report any case they receive.”

Premier-designate Najib Miqati did not propose a cabinet line-up to President Michel Suleiman during their meeting on Friday but the head of state hoped that the government would be formed by mid next week, presidential sources told As Safir daily on Saturday.

The sources expressed optimism at the latest consultations aimed at forming the government. They expected results soon if the “positive atmosphere” remained.

Caretaker Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas said that he is still expecting an action to be taken by the military judiciary concerning the official complaint he filed to the government commissioner at the military court against Internal Security Forces Chief Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi.

“We don’t understand the upheaval created over the issue, and why they are insisting on hiding what the second floor (of a building affiliated with the telecom ministry in Adliyeh) contains,” Nahhas told As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

The parties involved in the formation of the cabinet have agreed on the government’s makeup and distribution of shares and portfolios, which allows Premier-designate Najib Miqati to “match names with portfolios,” high-ranking sources from the Change and Reform bloc said.

The sources told An Nahar daily on Saturday that the bloc, which is led by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, gave a 95 percent rate for the success of the latest deal apart from Miqati’s role.

UNIFIL Director of Political and Civil Affairs Milos Strugar said that the number of troops will increase within a month.

Strugar told As Safir newspaper published Saturday that “an Irish contingent will join the UNIFIL mission thus increasing the number of troops.”

The U.N. Secretariat denied reports that it has information about the Special Tribunal for Lebanon or the date of the indictment’s release, An Nahar reported on Saturday.

The U.N. Secretariat spokesman said: “We have received reports published in Lebanese media regarding the release of the indictment. We confirm that the STL is an independent body and that the secretariat has no information about the indictment or its date of release.”

The coordination and follow-up committee of the Right to Return Campaign on Friday announced “the suspension of the popular march on the Lebanese-Palestinian border” previously scheduled for Sunday, calling instead for “a general strike in all (Palestinian refugee) camps across Lebanon” on that day.

An Nahar daily reported Friday that the Lebanese army has taken a firm decision to prevent Palestinian refugees from marching towards Lebanon’s border with Israel on Sunday to prevent the Jewish state from launching an assault on Lebanon.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Friday noted that “the domestic obstacles hindering the cabinet formation process are gone,” adding that “if foreign obstacles are obstructing the cabinet formation process, we can help them resolve it.”

“When the cabinet is formed, you will know whether I have renounced my demands,” Aoun told reporters after an urgent meeting for his Change and Reform parliamentary bloc.

Lebanon imposed a ban on Friday on all vegetable imports from the European Union in response to an outbreak of E. coli poisoning that has killed at least 18 people, caretaker Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan said.

"We have decided to ban the import of all types of vegetables from Europe," Hajj Hassan told Agence France Presse.

Premier-designate Najib Miqati, Caretaker Minister Mohammed Safadi and MP Ahmed Karami announced on Friday that they would boycott a parliamentary session on June 8.

The three officials said in a joint statement that they have decided not to attend the session “to preserve the role of institutions and out of their conviction not to widen the gap between the Lebanese.”