Prime Minister Tammam Salam lauded on Wednesday the efforts exerted by Health Minister Wael Abou to reveal spoiled food after Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat gave him his complete coverup.

Salam encouraged Abou Faour to continue his precautionary measures and demanded him to firmly deal with the matter and violators.

President of the Constitutional Council Issam Suleiman stressed on Wednesday that members of the council will deal with any challenge against the extension of the parliament's mandate according to norms.

“Any challenge will be discussed in the presence of all the council's members,” Suleiman told reporters in a press conference in response to a question if the council will fail to meet.

Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat reiterated that not all those who rebelled against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad are terrorists.

“The Syrian people chose to revolt against Syrian President Bashar Assad. They wanted to get rid of his tyranny and crimes,” Jumblat, who is also a lawmaker, told al-Mustaqbal newspaper on Tuesday.

The Free Patriotic Movement is preparing to challenge the extension of the parliament's mandate, which will come into force on Tuesday.

Sources close to FPM told al-Joumhouria newspaper published on Saturday that the final challenge draft will be ready by Tuesday, when the draft-law will be published in the Official Gazette.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held talks in the Russian capital Moscow with former Syrian National Coalition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Saturday, the meeting between Jumblat and Khatib was held at the headquarters of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat announced Friday that Russia is “concerned” over the failure to elect a new president in Lebanon, following talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow.

“I explained to Lavrov that we failed to elect a president due to some political disputes and he expressed his concern over the issue,” Jumblat said in remarks to Al-Arabiya television.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held talks Thursday in Moscow with Aleksey Pushkov, head of the foreign affairs committee in the Russian Duma.

The meeting was attended by Jumblat's son Taimur, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour and PSP official Halim Abu Fakhreddine.

Lebanese officials have welcomed Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech amid hopes that it would lead to dialogue among the country's rival parties.

“The country needs positive rhetoric more than any other time and this is what I saw in Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's” speech, Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat told As Safir daily published on Tuesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is scheduled to travel to the Russian capital Moscow next week on an official visit, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday.

It said that the lawmaker will head to Moscow on Thursday on a three-day visit.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat voiced on Monday his complete support to the army in its role in “asserting the authority and legitimacy of the state” in the northern city of Tripoli, the North, and throughout Lebanon.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “The army once against demonstrated that it is only biased towards protecting the Lebanese people.”