Two firefighters were injured on Thursday as several firefighting engines struggled to control a huge blaze that gutted the Forum de Beyrouth, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The fire, which erupted in the early morning rush hour, caused heavy traffic on the Dora-Karantina highway where the center lies.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel has said Qatari officials informed him that they were exerting strong efforts to win the release of two bishops kidnapped in Syria.

In remarks to An Nahar daily published on Thursday, Charbel said the officials stressed to him that Doha was working with persistence to resolve the case of Bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi, who were kidnapped by armed men in Syria in April.

Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Thursday that any consensus between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia would reflect Lebanon positively, denying that he was asked to mediate between the two countries.

“The Iranian leadership is wise and knows what it wants and what benefits its people and the region,” Berri said in comments published in local newspapers.

Pope Francis has named Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi as a member of the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education, state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday.

The Maronite Patriarchate's secretariat said al-Rahi was appointed on November 9, noting that he will occupy the post for a period of five years.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Wednesday said reports of a plot to carry out a bombing at the Roumieh prison to facilitate the escape of Islamist inmates were “inaccurate.”

“Reports about a blast at the Roumieh prison are inaccurate and those who have such information must pass them on to the judiciary,” Charbel said in an interview with Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

Women who have fled Syria's civil war for Lebanon face sexual harassment by employers, landlords and even faith-based aid workers, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.

"Human Rights Watch interviewed a dozen women who described being groped, harassed, and pressured to have sex," the New York-based group said in a statement.

The U.S. Embassy in Lebanon on Wednesday said it was “disheartened” by the mistreatment of an al-Jadeed TV crew at the hands of Lebanese Customs agents on Tuesday.

The embassy said on its Twitter page that it was “disheartened to see how (Riyad) Qobeissi and other journalists were treated yesterday.”

President Michel Suleiman condemned on Wednesday the assault against a television crew by security officers at the Beirut Customs office, saying that the truth behind the incident should be revealed.

He demanded that the judiciary and concerned authorities follow up on the case to uncover the truth “in a manner that preserves freedom of expression and the people's civil rights.”

The Lebanese army arrested on Wednesday a Syrian who threatened to blow himself up at the Lebanese University in Zahle, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Youssef Ali Mubarak was threatening to blow himself up with an explosive belt he was wearing.

The March 14 general-secretariat hoped on Wednesday that Iran's agreement with major powers would lead to the withdrawal of what it called Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards from Lebanon and Syria.

Following its weekly meeting, the general-secretariat welcomed the deal struck between Tehran and world powers, saying it comes in conformity with the conditions set by the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency.