Syrian regime forces killed 63 people and pounded rebel districts of the flashpoint central city of Homs for a 20th straight day on Thursday.

Seventeen unidentified bodies, 10 children, a media activist and a dissident soldier were among the 63 victims, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati formally received from the “Change and Reform” bloc the resignation of Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas.

Miqati’s media office stated that “After consultations between the Prime Minister and the President, the resignation of Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas has been accepted.”

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that dialogue on Syria was "futile", the official SPA news agency reported on Wednesday.

Russia should have "coordinated with the Arabs... before using the veto" to block a resolution on Syria in the U.N. Security Council, King Abdullah was quoted as saying.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun revealed on Tuesday that he has not yet decided whether he will accept Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ resignation.

He said after the Change and Reform bloc’s weekly meeting: “The dispute over the transportation allowance is now between us and Nahhas.”

The General Labor Confederation filed a complaint on Tuesday to the International Labor Organization against the Lebanese government and Labor Ministry.

It filed the complaint against violations committed by the government and ministry in determining wages.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun said on Saturday that officials are working on resolving the cabinet crisis, stressing that his party is not linked to the red diesel scandal.

“We are working on legalizing the cabinet’s decree concerning the transportation allowance instead of raising the issue to the Shura Council,” Aoun said during a dinner banquet for his party’s Engineers Association.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati reiterated on Saturday that the cabinet crisis requires the efficiency of its members in order to be solved.

“Keep the faith… and let’s all work together for the national interest of our country,” Miqati said on twitter.

A severe snowstorm lashing Lebanon since Friday has caused considerable damage to crops, blocked major roads and downed power lines in several areas.

Strong winds in the northern district of Akkar blocked the international highway of al-Abdeh-Abboudiyeh after it toppled trees. The residents later reopened it.

The Permanent Military Tribunal headed by Brig. Gen. Nizar Khalil on Friday sentenced to death Haitham al-Sahmarani, a retired Internal Security Forces first sergeant, on charges of collaboration with Israel.

Upon his arrest in 2009 Sahmarani confessed to collaborating, along with his wife, with the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency.

New York Times correspondent Anthony Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner who strove to capture untold stories in Middle East conflicts from Libya to Iraq, died Thursday in eastern Syria after slipping into the country to report on the uprising against its president.

Shadid, shot in the West Bank in 2002 and kidnapped for six days in Libya last year, apparently died of an asthma attack, the Times said. Times photographer Tyler Hicks was with him and carried his body to Turkey, the newspaper said.