Speaker Nabih Berri confirmed on Wednesday a report that he is exerting efforts to make Beirut a permanent base for dialogue among religions and different confessions.

In remarks to the new administrative authority of Arab newspaper reporters, Berri said he began working on his idea through contacts with several officials in the past few months.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat stressed that the cabinet is asked to meet the interests of the Lebanese citizens and priorities instead of engaging in useless debates.

“The citizens must have their priorities met, especially (in) the electricity” sector, Jumblat told An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon will on Wednesday appoint Norman Ferrell as the new Prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and will name a Judge of the Appeals Chamber, highly informed diplomatic sources told An Nahar daily.

Media reports said over the weekend that Ban has informed Premier Najib Miqati about his decision to appoint Ferrell, a Canadian, to succeed Daniel Bellemare as STL Prosecutor after he refused a renewal of his mandate for health reasons.

UNIFIL Commander Maj.-Gen. Paolo Serra said Wednesday a report on the U.N. "strategy" review of the peacekeeping force in Lebanon will likely be issued in mid-March.

In an interview with As Safir daily, Serra said: “I think this mission that started five years ago needs a new strategy and continued renewal because there is an opportunity to make advancements and have better efficiency.”

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly ruled out any intention by the U.N. to set refugee camps for Syrians who have fled to Lebanese border towns or to set up humanitarian corridors through Lebanon.

Plumbly told reporters on Tuesday that he fears the escalating situation in Syria might have repercussions on Lebanon, but the officials he met with since his appointment stressed their keenness to safeguard Lebanon and disassociate it from the developments in the neighboring country.

Three Syrians, who were kidnapped 18 days ago in the central Bekaa valley in eastern Lebanon, were released at dawn Wednesday after the payment of ransom to the abductors, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said the three men kidnapped along with a fourth - released immediately after the abduction that took place on the Taanayel-Chtaura road on Feb. 11 - were transferred to the army intelligence headquarters to hear their testimonies.

An Audit Bureau report on the red diesel scandal has laid blame on the government, the consumer protection authority and the companies that made millions of dollars of profits, As Safir daily reported on Wednesday.

The newspaper said that the report of the Bureau’s prosecutor, Judge Bassam Wehbe, first blamed the government for not including an implementation mechanism in its decision to slash the Value Added Tax during a period of one month.

Speaker Nabih Berri arrived in Cyprus on Wednesday to follow up discussions on demarcating the maritime border, As Safir newspaper reported.

Berri kicked off the visit by meeting with President Demetris Christofias.

The March 14-led opposition will not hold a popular rally to mark the anniversary of the Cedar Revolution; instead it will hold a general assembly meeting.

Unlike all its popular rallies at downtown Beirut’s Martyrs Square held in previous years, the number of people attending the March 14, 2012 gathering will be limited because of the turmoil that took place in the Arab world over the past year.

Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc is gearing up to propose an urgent draft law that would call for a comprehensive settlement to the billions of dollars of extra-budgetary spending made since 2006, al-Liwaa daily reported Wednesday.

It said the opposition bloc that is part of the March 14 coalition will propose the draft law in an effort to ward off attempts by the March 8 parliamentary majority of clinching a vote on a $5.9 billion bill on spending made by Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet in 2011.