The Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced via Twitter on Wednesday that United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon will decide on how long its mandate will be extended after consulting with the Lebanese government and Security Council.

It said: “The agreement between the U.N. and Lebanon states that our mandate will be renewed if our work is not finished. Our work is not finished yet.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Wednesday accused Hizbullah and its main regional ally Iran of supporting the Syrian regime's violent crackdown on the country's uprising.

Cameron told lawmakers in the House of Commons that both were offering backing to Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Hizbullah denied on Wednesday accusations that it had shelled the Syrian area of al-Zabadani with Katyusha rockets, deeming such claims as “silly and laughable.”

It said in a statement: “These accusations are part of a campaign to incite the public against the party.”

Syrian security forces on Wednesday killed thirteen people across the country, “including two army deserters, two women and a man who died under torture,” activists said.

Nine people were killed in the central opposition bastion Homs, two in the restive countryside around Damascus, one in the northwestern province of Idlib and another in the northern province of Aleppo, the Local Coordination Committees, the main activist group spurring protests on ground, said.

With a rise in entrepreneurialism across the Middle East in full swing, 2012 is expected to see unprecedented growth in start-ups in the region, according to Arabnet Founder Omar Christidis.

Following hard on the heels of the ‘Arab Spring’, many young people across the region have decided to take the leap and start their own ventures. The Arabnet Digital Summit 2012, to take place between 27-21 March, is the premier regional conference for the emerging Arab web/mobile industry.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly held talks on Tuesday with Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on the political and security situation in Lebanon and the current situation in Syria.

She stressed after the meeting “U.S. concerns that developments in Syria not contribute to instability in Lebanon.”

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) have made a possible advancement in the way ovarian cancer is treated.

Using the latest techniques and taking a new approach involving studying a smaller sample and deeper analysis of the genetic abnormalities of the metastasized lesions, researchers found clear differences between the genetic expression of the primary ovarian cancer and the metastasized lesions.

Syria's government on Tuesday rejected the possibility of the Arab League deploying troops in the unrest-swept country as suggested by the emir of Qatar and said its people would confront such action.

"Syria rejects the statements of officials of Qatar on sending Arab troops to worsen the crisis... and pave the way for foreign intervention," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A Bangkok court ordered on Tuesday a Lebanese-Swedish Hizbullah suspect detained for 12 days for illegally possessing explosive materials.

Thai police charged Atris Hussein on Monday after he led them to a warehouse containing four tons of urea fertilizer and several gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate.

President Michel Suleiman vowed on Tuesday to resume the National Dialogue and said the success of the Arab initiative to resolve the Syrian crisis falls in Lebanon’s interest.

“I will continue to exert efforts to guarantee all the necessary conditions to resume dialogue between all parties to preserve the safety of the Lebanese” and achieve a national defense strategy, Suleiman told the diplomatic corps that was in Baabda palace for a protocol visit on the occasion of the New Year.