The Syrian embassy has denied a report that Lieutenant Salah al-Hajj, son of former Internal Security Forces chief Ali al-Hajj, had kidnapped Syrian citizen Jassem Merhi al-Jassem in Lebanon.

The denial was published in An Nahar daily on Saturday which a day earlier said that the Syrian opposition in Paris accused Lt. Hajj of kidnapping al-Jassem and detaining him in an unidentified location.

The March 14 coalition snapped back at Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad saying his statement “restricts the freedom of movement of Premier-designate” Najib Miqati.

“Do the March 8 forces want the Miqati government to be really formed or they prefer to keep the status quo?” a March 14 official asked.

Officials who have met with U.N. diplomats told An Nahar daily in remarks published Saturday that the Security Council is not mulling any action against Lebanon under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter.

Two senior March 14 coalition officials also said there was no need to resort to Chapter 7 because the provisions of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would eventually be implemented without the use of force.

The President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Antonio Cassese, has published the second STL Annual Report, "which outlines the successes of the past year as well as the challenges that the Tribunal has faced," STL's press office announced Friday.

"This has been a momentous year for the STL", said Cassese. "The submission of the first indictment by the Prosecutor (Daniel Bellemare) to the Pre-Trial Judge (Daniel Fransen) was highly significant and it marked the start of the judicial phase of the STL's life."

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams expressed hope on Friday that the government formation process “would not overshadow the issues that affect the daily lives of Lebanese people, especially in the field of security.”

“I expressed my belief as the U.N. Special Coordinator that any new government should try to meet the aspirations of all the Lebanese people,” Williams said following talks with caretaker Interior Minister Ziad Baroud.

Loyalty to the Resistance bloc leader MP Mohammed Raad urged Lebanese leaders on Friday not to cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, saying Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s requests contradict with the cooperation protocol signed between Lebanon and the tribunal.

During a press conference he held at the parliament building, the Hizbullah lawmaker said Bellemare’s requests from four caretaker ministers for information and documents came seven years after ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination and amid turmoil in the Arab world.

British Ambassador Frances Guy has said that although the government change was constitutional, it partly came out of fear from the use of Hizbullah’s weapons against its foes.

In an interview with As Safir daily published Friday, Guy confirmed that Britain would deal with the new government and expects it to respect Security Council resolutions on Lebanon mainly 1701 and 1757.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s requests from the ministries of interior, public works, telecommunications, and energy have become the center of attention of the concerned sides, as it was revealed that he had also requested official copies of telecommunications data from the Alfa and MTC mobile phone providers, as well as the fingerprints of Lebanese individuals and information on electric meter owners.

Ministerial sources in the caretaker government told the daily An Nahar in remarks published on Friday that these requests are being studied under legal experts, adding that the Ministry of Justice contacted the prosecutor to determine the consequences of the ministries’ refusal to cooperate with him.

The U.N. chief’s spokesman and other diplomats denied that Lebanese officials had discussed with Ban Ki-moon the issue of the non-cooperation of four caretaker ministers with Daniel Bellemare, the prosecutor of the international tribunal.

“I am not aware of any such contacts between Bellemare and the secretary-general either,” Ban’s spokesman, Martin Nesirky, told As Safir daily in remarks published Friday.

The Lebanese Canadian Bank (LCB) accused by the U.S. of money laundering and links to Hizbullah will be merged with Societe Generale, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh announced.

Four banks had sought to acquire LCB but Societe General (SGBL) made the best offer, Salameh said late Thursday in an interview with LBCI television network.