The cabinet referred on Thursday the crime of Btedei to the judicial council, two weeks after a judge indicted eight members of the Jaafar clan over links to the case.

“The crime has been referred to the judicial council,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij told reporters after the cabinet session at the Grand Serail.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon's Defense team continued on Thursday its cross-examination of head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora, with questions focusing on United Nations Security Council resolution 1559 and former Premier Rafik Hariri's ties with ex-President Emile Lahoud.

Saniora said: “Hariri fought hard to ensure that the term of later President Elias Hrawi was extended in 1995 in order to avoid the election of Emile Lahoud as president.”

Mustaqbal Movment chief and Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri praised on Thursday the “wise and courageous decision” taken by Saudi King Salman to intervene militarily in Yemen as Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat feared that it would affect the interest of Lebanese in the Gulf.

“The Iranian interference in Sanaa compelled an Arab reaction,” Hariri said in comments to the al-Arabiya Arabic language television station.

Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Michel Aoun urged on Thursday the minimum amount of unity among the Lebanese to face the upcoming challenges, expressing belief that he is the only one capable of talking to all the rivals and restoring stability in the country.

“If the region reached a balanced state, then all the countries will benefit from it,” Aoun said in a lengthy interview with the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

The dialogue between the Mustaqbal Movement and Hizbullah is expected to continue despite the testimony of Mustaqbal bloc chief MP Fouad Saniora before the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that revealed that slain former Premier Rafik Hariri was aware of Hizbullah assassination attempts against him, reported the daily An Nahar on Thursday.

Observers told the daily: “The dialogue will continue because the factors that preceded Saniora's testimony and those that followed it have not altered the course of the talks even if some March 8 coalition members sought to tarnish it through media campaigns.”

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab on Wednesday decided to penalize the principals of 24 private schools that did not abide by a decree to close educational institutions on the occasion of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary feast.

The minister decided to “stop accepting the signatures of the principals of around 24 private schools across Lebanon due to their blatant violation of a decree by the council of ministers that specifies the official holidays,” Bou Saab's office said in a statement.

The judiciary on Wednesday ordered the arrest of the owner of a nursery school in the Ajaltoun area in connection with last week's mysterious death of a child at the facility.

Several TV networks said Mount Lebanon's prosecutor ordered the arrest of the Clarina et Zoe daycare's owner over the death of the toddler Elio Salloum.

Head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora resumed on Wednesday his testimony at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon by being cross-examined by the Defense that focused on the Syrian and Lebanese security systems in Lebanon during the 1990s and up until the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri in 2005, as well as Hizbullah's role in Lebanon.

He said: “I am not in a position to say that Hizbullah assassinated Hariri”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi criticized on Wednesday the prolonged presidential vacuum, expressing disappointment over the ongoing crisis.

“Our mission as bishops is to confront the current challenges and help citizens to surpass them,” al-Rahi said in his sermon during a mass he held in Bkirki on the occasion of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri held talks Wednesday in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the “dangers” that are threatening the Middle East region and means to strengthen moderation, his press office said.

“The meeting, which lasted nearly an hour and a half, tackled the situation in the Middle East. It also focused on the need to unify efforts to deal with the risks threatening the region and strengthen the moderate majority in the Arab and Muslim worlds,” the office said in a statement.