Prime Minister Tammam Salam used an undetailed financial process to pay Lebanon’s full share of funds to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Saturday.

The daily reported that the March 8 alliance ministers informed Salam that they reject to fund the STL, urging him to allocate the money to fund the tribunal from sources other than the state's treasury.

The head of the international tribunal's defense office, Francois Roux, has said the renewal of the court's mandate was necessary to continue the trial in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's Feb. 2005 assassination case.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is currently hearing witness testimonies. This stage won't end by March 2015 and would be followed by the defense teams' presentation of evidence, Roux told As Safir newspaper in an interview published on Monday.

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon resumed on Wednesday the trial in the Ayyash et al. case tackling the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The trial at the Hague kicked off with Registrar Daryl Mundis confirming that none of the five accused came forward to appear before the trial.

Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and the Internal Security Forces chief, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous, praised on Monday the police force for making several achievements in the fight against terrorism.

“Lebanon and the Lebanese will always remember the ISF's fight against terror and the arrest of terrorist networks,” al-Mashnouq said at the 153th anniversary of the ISF.

An initial hearing for Lebanese journalists and their media organizations on charges of contempt was held Tuesday at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon headquarters in The Hague, amid the absence of al-Akhbar's editor-in-chief Ibrahim al-Amin who said he won't go to the court “unless measures are taken” to prove that it is seeking justice.

The STL said via twitter that the purpose of the initial appearance is for the judge to ensure that the rights of the accused and the right to be represented by counsel are respected.

Information Minister Ramzi Jreij considered on Monday that the media can criticize the Special Tribunal for Lebanon if there is a need, slamming the summons by the international court of al-Jadeed TV and al-Akhbar newspaper's journalists on charges of “contempt and obstruction of justice.”

“The reports published by the two media outlets are responsible and just criticism,” Jreij said in comments published in As Safir newspaper.

The Trial Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will hold a Status Conference in the Ayyash et al. case on April 10, announced the STL in a statement on Thursday.

The hearing, which is the second Status Conference since the Trial Chamber temporarily adjourned trial, will cover preparations of the counsel for Hassan Habib Merhi for the resumption of the trial, including filing of their Defense pre-trial brief and the date of resumption of the trial.

The government of the Marshall Islands on Tuesday defeated a motion of no confidence brought after it nominated Lebanon's former General Security chief Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Sayyed as its ambassador to UNESCO.

The motion from opposition leaders in the Pacific nation's parliament was defeated by 17 votes to 13 after more than four hours of acrimonious debate.

Head of the international tribunal's defense office Francois Roux expressed hope on Thursday that the Lebanese authorities and the new cabinet would fully cooperate with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, in particular his team.

“We will see if cooperation with the new government will be fruitful... So far I'm hearing positive remarks,” Roux said in an interview with An Nahar newspaper.

The Lebanon First parliamentary bloc is planning to send a petition to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to ask him to refer all assassinations committed in Lebanon after Dec.12, 2005 to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

The petition has been drafted and is awaiting the signature of the bloc's members, An Nahar newspaper reported on Friday.