Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel hoped on Thursday that the European Union would adopt a dialogue on the ongoing Arab revolutions.

He said after holding talks in Rome with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano: “Europe should adopt such a dialogue in order to maintain the peaceful nature of the Arab Spring and prevent it from spiraling towards permanent violence in the region.”

The newly-appointed President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon Judge Sir David Baragwanath stated that the STL does not have jurisdiction in tackling the “so-called false witnesses file.”

He said in his first public statements since assuming his position: “We don’t have jurisdiction to tackle the false witnesses file until the Lebanese government, U.N., and Security Council agree to it.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati said Thursday that political and security stability is the basis for the success of his government’s economic plan and vowed to announce more projects.

At the opening of the Saudi-Lebanese Economic Forum at the Phoenicia hotel in Beirut, Miqati said: “Our government has announced and will announce more economic steps to improve the investment environment and attract Arab investments.”

The cabinet is expected to tackle during its session next week a decree set to organize the country’s natural resources sector, and swiftly appoint the members of the committee tasked with administrating the oil sector.

“For the first time in history we have studies that estimate the quantities (of oil wealth in our offshores), and they are huge… They are enough to secure the future of the coming generations,” Energy Minister Jebran Bassil told As Safir newspaper on Thursday.

Four men have assaulted Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani’s son at a restaurant in Beirut’s seafront of Raouche, the Dar al-Fatwa’s press office said.

The statement said that Sheikh Ragheb Qabbani was “beaten by “provocateurs while having lunch at a Beirut restaurant” on Wednesday. The men also cursed him and his father, it said.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati will receive on Thursday a copy of a new indictment in the attacks on the three officials that have been linked to ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported.

Media reports had said that Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen made a progress in preparing the indictments in the assassination attempts of MP Marwan Hamadeh and ex-Defense Minister Elias Murr, and the murder of former Communist party leader George Hawi.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon expressed concern over the repercussions of the Syrian crisis on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 but hailed the Lebanese government’s efforts to ward off the impact of the upheaval in the neighboring country.

In his latest report on the implementation of resolution 1701, Ban said the Syrian regime’s crackdown on protestors has continued to affect Lebanon, and raised concerns that the unrest could have negative ramifications for the country’s stability.

The cabinet is keen to maintain its unity despite the disputes among its members on vital issues, March 8 sources told al-Liwaa newspaper published Thursday.

“The government will not collapse despite the bickering and disputes among its members as it’s achieving the minimum amount of security and stability” in Lebanon, the sources said.

The head of the parliamentary energy committee, MP Mohammed Qabbani, vowed on Thursday to question Energy Minister Jebran Bassil after he lamented that an Audit Bureau report on the red diesel scandal didn’t hold him accountable.

Qabbani told An Nahar daily that the Bureau’s representatives had informed members of the committee that they can’t hold Bassil accountable.

Al-Mustaqbal MPs Jamal al-Jarrah and Ghazi Youssef will propose an urgent draft-law to parliament on Thursday in an attempt to find a comprehensive solution to the extra-budgetary spending made by different governments since 2006 and end any excuse to reject their proposal.

An Nahar daily said that the lawmakers will push for a parliamentary approval of the $22 billion spending made by the governments of ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Saad Hariri and the current cabinet of Premier Najib Miqati.