Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani delivered Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday a letter that stresses both Muslims and Christians have equal rights.

“Any assault on any Christian citizen means an attack on Islam,” Qabbani said in the letter that he delivered to Benedict as they met at Baabda palace on the pontiff's second day of visit to Lebanon.

Thousands of Lebanese greeted on Saturday Pope Benedict XVI as he headed on his Popemobile to Baabda palace where he met with the country's top political and Muslim religious leaders.

Lebanese and Vatican flags fluttered, and there was a festive atmosphere on the streets as the faithful greeted him from Sayyad roundabout all the way to the presidential palace.

The Syndicate Coordination Committee, a coalition of private and public school teachers and public sector employees, held a nationwide strike on Thursday to protest the cabinet’s delay in approving the new wages scale.

“The SCC is stronger than you deem,” Head of Association of Public Secondary School Education Teachers Hanna Gharib said during a sit-in held at the premises of the Ministry of Education in Beirut’s UNESCO area, warning that if the cabinet failed to approve the new salaries hike the start of the academic year will be delayed.

Several families of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Syria held a sit-in on Tuesday near the junction that leads to the Baabda palace.

The families warned that they would escalate their measures if the men weren’t released soon and chanted slogans condemning the government’s failure to achieve their release.

The cabinet failed for the second day in a row on Tuesday to agree on an electoral law based on proportionality proposed by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel over disagreements on the division of districts and the voting of Lebanese expatriates.

“Proportionality and the number of districts need more discussions,” Information Minister Walid al-Daouq said following a cabinet session held at Baabda palace.

The cabinet discussed on Monday an electoral draft-law proposed by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel that is likely to hit a stumbling block over the rejection of ministers loyal to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat to adopt it.

The cabinet that convened at Baabda Palace agreed however to continue discussions on the draft-law that is based on proportional representation, Information Minister Walid al-Daouq said.

President Michel Suleiman is throwing on Wednesday an Iftar banquet for Lebanese officials, spiritual leaders and foreign diplomats during which he is expected to reiterate the need for dialogue.

Media reports said Suleiman’s speech will focus on the latest developments in the region and the national dialogue session that was postponed to August 16 after the March 14 opposition coalition boycotted this week’s all-party talks.

President Michel Suleiman is exerting efforts to guarantee that the March 14 alliance would attend the upcoming national dialogue session at the Baabda Palace on July 24, as authorities adopted a new mechanism to provide the security agencies with the required telecom data.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Sunday, Suleiman agreed with top security and judicial leaders and the concerned ministers in the presence of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, during a meeting at the Baabda Palace on Saturday, to provide the security agencies with the required telecom data without any obstruction.

The Change and Reform bloc attended Monday’s cabinet session after mulling the participation of its minister to address the recent security incidents across Lebanon.

The bloc, led by Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun, held a meeting before the session that convened at the Baabda Palace on Monday afternoon.

Cabinet is expected to meet on Tuesday in order to address the amended state budget draft law, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

It added that Prime Minister Najib Miqati held a series of contacts with a number of concerned officials to place the finishing touches of the draft law.