The parliament ended on Wednesday a prolonged debate on the transportation allowance by approving a draft-law based on the two proposals made by MPs Ibrahim Kanaan and Nabil de Freij.

The two lawmakers proposed separate draft-laws set to legalize the transportation allowance.

Lebanon First MP Khaled al-Daher rejected on Monday the “great lie” of the existence of a salafist Islamic cell within the Lebanese army.

He said in a statement from parliament: “We refuse to jump to conclusions in this matter before the official investigations in these claims are revealed.”

Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to discuss with the Parliament’s Bureau on Monday complaints that Special Passports are being granted to people not entitled to get them in contravention with the Vienna Convention that regulates diplomatic relations.

Berri brought up the issue with President Michel Suleiman and Premier Najib Miqati after he learned that high-ranking military personnel, judges, advisors of ministers and even some journalists and clergymen were being granted the passports, An Nahar daily said.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed that the government will not collapse despite the internal disputes, especially those regarding the appointments of civil servants, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

He told the daily: “It’s in no one’s interest to topple the government at the time being.”

President Michel Suleiman denied that he asked for the amendment of the age of retirement for the army commander to prevent him from announcing his candidacy for the presidency.

In an interview published in An Nahar newspaper on Saturday, Suleiman said: “If army chief Gen. Jean Qahwaji retires about nine months before the end of the president’s term, is it permissible to appoint a new army leader?”

President Michel Suleiman called on the military and security forces to exert efforts to detain those who are breaching the nation’s security, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

“The military and security forces should exert efforts and investigations to arrest those who are manipulating (Lebanon’s) security wherever they are,” Suleiman stressed.

President Michel Suleiman received on Thursday United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon’s “strategic revision” of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, reported the daily An Nahar on Friday.

It said that the six-page report is aimed at guaranteeing that the international force will be able to complete its peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed on Thursday the need for the Lebanese authorities to remove all arms within and outside Palestinian refugee camps.

He told Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3): “If we are forced to wage a battle similar to the one at Nahr al-Bared, then so be it.”

A dispute between President Michel Suleiman and ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, forced the president to wrap up the session held at the Baabda Palace on Wednesday, As Safir newspaper reported.

Change and Reform bloc ministers called on renewing three months the mandate for head of the Center for Educational Research and Development Leila Fayyad, while Suleiman insisted on renewing another year for her, on Thursday.

Minister of Transportation and Public Works Ghazi al-Aridi stressed on Thursday the importance of “flexibility” in resolving the telecom data dispute as the security agencies had made achievements in the past by obtaining this data.

“President Michel Suleiman tackled the issue during his speech (at the cabinet session on Wednesday at the Baabda Palace), and the obstacles blocking the army from obtaining the (telecom) data,” Aridi told An Nahar newspaper.