U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday said he was "deeply concerned" about the military prowess of Hizbullah and noted that the frequent Israeli violations of Lebanon’s territory and airspace continue to undermine UNIFIL’s credibility and Lebanon’s sovereignty.

"I am deeply concerned about the military capacity of Hizbullah and also concerned about the lack of progress in disarmament," the U.N. chief told a news conference after holding talks with Lebanese leaders.

The price index committee meeting failed on Thursday to reach an agreement over the wage hike.

Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas announced that he will propose his plan in cabinet “because the government is responsible for implementing the law. Anything other than that does not concern us.”

Libya is ready to work with Lebanon to probe the mysterious disappearance of Shiite Imam Moussa al-Sadr who went missing upon arrival in Tripoli in 1978, an official said Wednesday.

The ruling National Transitional Council was "ready to form a joint commission with the Lebanese to investigate" what happened to Sadr, said Fathi Baja, head of political affairs at the NTC.

A meeting for the price index committee called by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas failed to reach an agreement on a wage hike plan on Wednesday.

Along with Nahhas, the four-hour meeting at the labor ministry building was attended by the representatives of the Economic Committees, the General Labor Confederation, the Syndical Coordination Committee and the Central Administration of Statistics.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel telephoned on Wednesday Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb of the Azhar mosque in Egypt, praising him on the Azhar’s bill of rights on basic liberties that was published on Tuesday.

Gemayel said in a statement: “The historic document included the general values that need to be followed in the Arab revolts and in the regimes that would be established as a result of these revolts.”

A French journalist was killed on Wednesday in the flashpoint central Syrian city of Homs, the first Western journalist to be killed since protests erupted in March.

The public France 2 channel identified the slain journalist as Gilles Jacquier, one of its reporters. The 43-year-old joined public television in 1991 and was an award-winning veteran who had covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Israel.

Speaker Nabih Berri hoped on Wednesday that efforts will be speeded up in petroleum excavation in order for Lebanon to move on to the drilling phase.

He said during his weekly meeting with MPs at Ain al-Tineh: “The sooner we begin the excavation, the sooner we begin to seriously tackling the country’s economic and financial problems.”

The March 14 General Secretariat condemned on Wednesday Syrian President Bashar Assad’s speech on Tuesday, urging the international and Arab communities to take action to halt the regime’s ongoing crimes.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The Lebanese government should distance the country from the Syrian crisis after Assad’s speech hinted at more violence on the internal scene.”

The Lebanese army intelligence has arrested a group of Syrian and Lebanese men at a checkpoint that lies between Akkar and Hermel, MP Moeen al-Merehbi told Naharnet on Wednesday.

The Akkar lawmaker said the arrest was made at al-Rouwayma checkpoint on Tuesday as the men were heading to Syria through the eastern border town of Arsal following their hospitalization in northern Lebanon.

Change and Reform bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan said on Tuesday that the bloc’s primary goal is to rectify the functioning of the country’s state institutions according to legal means and not by forcing the people to succumb to its political interests.

He stated after the bloc’s weekly meeting: “Completing the state budget is the government’s most important task.”