President Michel Suleiman condemned on Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements on Lebanon, saying that its existence will not be affected by his remarks.

He added in a statement: “Lebanon is the only country to have defeated Israel militarily and the Jewish state is still recovering from it.”

Some 1.3 tons of spoiled meat have been confiscated by Consumer Protection Directorate patrols, reported the National News Agency on Thursday.

It said that the meat was discovered in a warehouse of a commercial establishment in the industrial zone in al-Fanar region in Metn district.

A Srilankan maid killed her employer on Thursday at her house in Bourj al-Barajneh in Beirut, reported the National News Agency.

It said that the maid at first beat Nehmat Munthir, 70, several times with a flower pot before stabbing her several times with a knife.

Parliament approved to permanently lift the Value Added Tax on red and green diesel on Thursday, paving way for around a 10 percent drop in their prices.

The approval by the majority of votes came despite reservations expressed by Energy Minister Jebran Bassil.

Acting Labor Minister Nicolas Fattoush and President Michel Suleiman signed on Thursday the transportation allowance decree, which was a point of contention between ex-minister Charbel Nahhas and Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Fattoush said following talks with Miqati at the Grand Serail that the PM informed him about his approval of the resignation of Nahhas and stressed the importance of “boosting the cabinet’s work.”

British and French authorities are coordinating with the Lebanese Red Cross to transfer four wounded foreigners from Syria to Lebanon, An Nahar daily reported Thursday.

The newspaper said the injured include three British nationals and a French.

March 14 opposition lawmaker Marwan Hamadeh told parliament on Wednesday that the Lebanese army intelligence in the North was putting restraints on the work of journalists in the area.

According to An Nahar daily on Thursday, Hamadeh was referring to an incident that took place earlier in the week when BBC was seeking to shoot a documentary on the Syrian refugees in the border region of Wadi Khaled.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat described the Russian veto on a U.N. Security Council resolution on the crisis in Syria as “doomed.”

“It formed an alibi for the West to stand idly by… We all know that they can interfere at least to impose a ceasefire and save Homs and the Syrian people,” Jumblat told An Nahar newspaper on Thursday.

Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned on Thursday the parliamentary session to March 5 after lack of quorum following a decision by the majority of March 14 alliance opposition lawmakers to leave the legislature in an attempt to block the adoption of a bill that would legalize $5.9 billion spending by the government above 2005 levels.

Lebanon hasn’t had any official budget since that year.

Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan, who has proposed a draft law on the transportation allowance, rejected an alleged deal to garner a parliamentary support for his suggestion in return for the legalization of spending made above 2005 levels.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published Thursday, Kanaan said: “I don’t think that any official or lawmaker can tolerate the offense of such a settlement that hits sound governmental effort allowing cabinet spending and targets accountability and transparency.”