The army said Thursday that a Palestinian suspect who was killed during a clash in the eastern Bekaa Valley was a member of an al-Qaida-linked group.

Ibrahim Abdul Mohti Abou Maaileq, known as Abi Jaafar, succumbed to his wounds in hospital on Wednesday, the army said.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon continued on Thursday hearing the testimonies of various witnesses linked to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Witness Robyn Fraser, who had worked for the STL Office of Prosecution between August 2009 and August 2011, continued the testimony she had started on Wednesday.

Activists and protesters near the Naameh garbage landfill complain that the government is not dealing with their demands “seriously” as the road leading to the dump remained shut.

The Council for Development and Reconstruction deems that there are no swift solution to the problem.

The Traders Association of Northern Lebanon and civil society groups have called for a strike on Friday to denounce the deadly gunbattles that have rocked the northern city of Tripoli.

The association, public and private schools and civil society groups said Friday's strike will begin in the morning and end by noon prayers.

Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abou Faour stressed on Thursday the cabinet stalemate doesn't necessarily indicate that negotiations between the rival parties have slowed down.

“As long as there is political will to form a national unity cabinet that safeguards the country” the cabinet would see the light, Abou Faour said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam has warned that the current political and security situation in Lebanon cannot wait for more procrastination in the government formation process.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Thursday, Salam said: “The efforts are underway to form the cabinet as soon as possible.”

Australian police revealed Thursday they had cracked a major global money-laundering ring with operatives in more than 20 countries and funds syphoned off to groups reported to include Hizbullah.

The Australian Crime Commission said more than Aus$580 million (US$512 million) of drugs and assets had been seized, including Aus$26 million in cash, in a year-long sting codenamed Eligo targeting the offshore laundering of funds generated by outlaw motorcycle gangs, people-smugglers and others.

The booby-trapped Kia car that exploded Tuesday in Haret Hreik came from the Sabra area in Beirut, which lies on the outskirts of the southern suburbs and hosts a Palestinian refugee camp, a report said on Wednesday.

The Kia took off from outside the al-Rabih residential complex in Sabra and headed towards the Chatila roundabout, LBCI television said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Wednesday stressed that there is no “fundamental dispute” with the Mustaqbal Movement, noting that the LF would only join the new cabinet if the Baabda Declaration was adopted as the ministerial policy statement.

“I'm more and more convinced that the LF won't take part in the cabinet,” Geagea said in an interview on Future TV, before underlining that his party would join the new government “if the Baabda Declaration was adopted as the only political component of the ministerial Policy Statement.”

A man was killed and two others were injured on Wednesday in an ambush set up by army intelligence agents for the fugitive Ahmed Omar al-Solh, the driver of Sheikh Orfan Maarabouni who is being held by the Syrian regime, state-run National News Agency reported.

“An exchange of gunfire erupted as the army chased the fugitive A. O. Al-Solh, 31, who hails from Majdal Anjar and was driving a Mercedes, and another called I. Abu Maayleq, who was driving a black Chrysler SUV," NNA said.