Security forces have arrested a Lebanese taxi driver in the South on charges of rape and attempted rape, the state-run National News Agency reported on Tuesday.

NNA said Aa.Sh., who hails from the southern town of Tayr Felsay, was apprehended by security forces, after an unidentified girl filed a complaint at the Nabatiyeh police station claiming he tried to rape her.

A Lebanese man went on trial in the United States on Monday on charges that he kept secret his prior affiliation with Hizbullah and Amal movement to remain in the country and to possibly gain access to sensitive information.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Roomberg told jurors in San Antonio, Texas, that Wissam Allouche admitted to an undercover agent to previously being an Amal commander and that he supported Hizbullah.

A U.S. Marine who vanished from his post in Iraq a decade ago and later wound up in Lebanon chose Monday to have his case decided by a military judge instead of a jury.

Court was recessed until Tuesday, when opening statements are expected in Cpl. Wassef Hassoun's trial on charges of desertion, larceny and destruction of property before the judge, Marine Maj. Nicholas Martz.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq has said that a much-anticipated security plan for the eastern Bekaa Valley will be implemented in the coming days.

The plan for Bekaa's North will most likely be implemented over the weekend, al-Mashnouq told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat published on Tuesday.

Lebanese Forces official Melhem Riachi stressed on Tuesday that dialogue with the Free Patriotic Movement is on the right track, pointing out that negotiations are based on fixed principles.

“The meetings will not be folkloric,” Riachi said in comments published in the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat.

Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq revealed on Tuesday that Prime Minister Tammam Salam is seeking to reach a new mechanism that organizes the work of his cabinet.

“Salam aims at giving ministers the right to veto decrees that are exceptional and non-controversial,” Mashnouq said in comments published in the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper.

Head of al-Mustaqbal Movement and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri might reportedly attend the anniversary of his father's assassination at the BIEL exhibition center in downtown Beirut on February 14.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Tuesday, Hariri is mulling to give his speech in person instead of appearing via video link.

Jean-François Girault, Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, held talks Monday in Rome with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi about the outcome of his latest Mideast tour, especially in relation with the presidential void in Lebanon.

Girault and al-Rahi also discussed means to end the presidential crisis, “the needed efforts that must be exerted in Lebanon and the role that must be played by the friendly countries, topped by the Holy See and France,” according to a statement issued by the Maronite Patriarchate's press office.

Remarks voiced Sunday by firebrand al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Khaled al-Daher about Christian statues and symbols have sparked a storm of religiously-charged controversy in the country.

The uproar started overnight Saturday, when the Internal Security Forces removed from the entrance of the northern city of Tripoli black-colored Islamic flags carrying the Muslim declaration of faith “There is No God but Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet”.

Maronite Bishop Boulos Mattar stressed on Monday that linking the presidential election with the conflict in the region is a great mistake, hailing the dialogue between the political arch-foes.

“If Lebanon was a leading country in making culture... then how could it link its fate to that of other countries in the Middle East?” Mattar wondered in his sermon on the occasion of St. Maroun Day.