The Maronite Bishops Council lamented on Wednesday the ongoing political deadlock in Lebanon given the failure to form a new government and convene parliament and given the unrest in the northern city of Tripoli.

It said: “Parliament and Tripoli have become arenas for rival political parties to settle their scores.”

The Natour brothers, who were charged with processing and selling spoiled meat and other food products, were sentenced to prison on Wednesday and to the payment of LL1 million each.

According to the state-run National News Agency, Judge Ghassan Tanious al-Khoury sentenced Samih al-Natour to three years in prison and to pay a LL1 million fine, while his brother Suleiman was sentenced to two years in prison and LL1 million fine.

A military conscript died on Wednesday of smoke inhalation in a fire at a sponge factory in the southern city of Sidon, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA said Wissam Ismail was helping firefighters douse the fire at the factory near Sidon's port, when he passed away.

Endeavors are ongoing to end the cabinet deadlock amid reports that President Michel Suleiman insists on forming it ahead of the Independence Day on November 22 based on any distribution of portfolios as long as the rival parties agree.

Sources close to Suleiman said in comments published in al-Liwaa newspaper that he is “seriously thinking” to issue new cabinet decrees ahead of the Independence day in accordance with Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam.

Speaker Nabih Berri said the parliamentary administrative and justice committee should learn from the experience of the electoral subcommittee to avoid the same problems that led to the failure to agree on a draft vote law.

In remarks to several local dailies published on Wednesday, Berri said the committee should avoid the mistakes that were made in the past by the subcommittee that was tasked with agreeing on an electoral law.

The kidnappers of the two bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yazigi in Syria in April are demanding an immediate end to violence in the country to guarantee their safe release.

According to al-Liwaa newspaper published on Wednesday, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad should commit to a long-term truce in order for the abductors to release the two bishops.

President Michel Suleiman, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji discussed on Tuesday the implementation of the security plan in Tripoli aimed at containing the tensions in the northern city.

They stressed the need to “completely implement the security plan.”

The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc on Tuesday said “it is necessary to separate legislative work from political alignments,” stressing that “the issue of the forcibly disappeared and missing Lebanese persons needs efforts and a follow-up.”

“We discussed the legislative priorities, such as the coastal power line and the approval of the oil decrees and the need for the cabinet to convene,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan said after the bloc's weekly meeting in Rabieh, stressing that “these are national and not political issues.”

Al-Mustaqbal bloc stated on Tuesday that Hizbullah chief's latest televised speech is a part of a “psychological war,” stressing also on their rejection of all armed presence in the northern city of Tripoli.

"Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech is arrogant and is a part of a psychological war he is wahing,” the bloc said in a released statement after the MPs' weekly meeting at the Center House.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly on Tuesday hailed the efforts exerted to contain the violence in the northern city of Tripoli and denied knowledge of reported plans to destroy Syria's chemical weapons in Lebanon.

Following talks with Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail, Plumbly expressed his “deep concern over the recurrence of violence in Tripoli and welcomed the efforts of the army and security forces, in parallel with political efforts and the efforts of the caretaker Prime Minister, to restore calm across the city.”