The Palestinian foreign minister has said that the Palestinians expect their bid for United Nations recognition will receive a boost from Lebanon's taking over the presidency of the U.N. Security Council.

Riad Malki said Saturday the Palestinians will press ahead as planned with their independence bid in late September.

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi has denied that he discussed with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the national dialogue which he described as a “rubber band.”

Discussions focused on “bilateral relations, the complicated situation in Lebanon and the developments in Syria,” Aridi told An Nahar daily about his talks with Nasrallah on Saturday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said that he didn’t hold talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad during his last visit to Damascus for the simple reason that he didn’t have any appointment with him.

When asked by An Nahar daily published Sunday about the reasons for not meeting with Assad, Jumblat was surprised by the tumult on the issue, saying: “There was no appointment with President Assad during this visit.”

State Minister Ahmed Karami slammed reports saying that there is a team that wants electricity and another that doesn’t, noting that it’s not acceptable from MP Michel Aoun to warn the cabinet of withdrawing from it if it didn’t approve what he wants.

“Everyone agreed on giving Aoun the amount of money he requested, but the discussions are around how to provide the money and its distribution and the mechanism of organizing it,” Karami told Akhbar al-Yawm News Agency on Saturday.

Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Saturday that his statements on Antelias blast were according to “preliminary security information”, stressing that the relevant judicial authority has the final decision in determining the truth.

Charbel’s press office issued a statement saying “what he (Charbel) mentioned relied on preliminary information built on preliminary security data, facts and testimonies obtained at the moment of the incident.”

Five inmates have escaped from Ward “D” in the Roumeih prison on Saturday, however, two have been detained.

Internal Security Forces said a sixth inmate attempting to flee had been caught inside prison grounds and was under interrogation.

Four hand grenades that were not set to detonate were found in the Beirut River – Jisr al-Wati on Saturday.

Soon after the discovery, security forces hurried to the scene where they cordoned off the area as explosives experts from the Internal Security Forces sought to inspect the devices discovering that they were not set to explode.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati conducted Friday Muslim prayers at the Munthir Mosque in downtown Beirut where mosque Sheikh Abdul Qader Akkari conducted the sermon, calling for supporting the Syrian people in their plight against a regime crackdown against their protests, reported the daily Al-Liwaa reported on Saturday.

Akkari pointed out that “certain sides’ fear over losing their wealth and position in power is forcing them to take cautious measures over the developments in Syria.”

Indictments in the assassination of former Lebanese Communist Party leader George Hawi and attempted assassinations of former ministers Elias Murr and Marwan Hamadeh will likely be released on Wednesday, revealed widely informed sources to Al-Liwaa daily in remarks published on Saturday.

The indictment in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri meanwhile may be released at the end of August, they added.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon revealed on Friday that Lebanon and Israel agreed to discuss issues of maritime security through a tripartite mechanism and the possible assistance of local experts, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday.

He made the announcement in a report he presented to the U.N. Security Council.