Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun denies that his ties with Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah deteriorated over the controversy on Electricite du Liban’s contract workers, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

The newspaper quoted Aoun’s visitors as saying that the FPM chief shares with Nasrallah a lot of moral and patriotic values and both have gone through common circumstances.

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.

The cabinet is expected to discuss on Monday the draft state budget that seeks to appease citizens and a series of security incidents that have been shaking the country in the past weeks.

An Nahar daily said that agreement has been reached to lower the spending without imposing any taxes. An earlier proposal called for increasing the Value Added Tax from 10 to 12 percent, which faced opposition from several ministers.

The European Union's top diplomat lashed out at Syria on Sunday over its deadly rocket fire along the border that left two girls dead and 10 other people wounded in the northern Lebanese area of Wadi Khaled.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's office released a statement saying she "strongly condemns the recent shelling of the Lebanese border area by Syrian artillery, causing several deaths and injuries."

Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil on Sunday denied that the Free Patriotic Movement was boycotting government, describing the FPM’s shunning of two cabinet sessions last week as an “act of protest.”

“We’re not seeking the collapse of the government but we don’t want meaningless sessions,” Bassil told LBC television.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Sunday slammed the government as the “worst in Lebanon’s history,” calling for its resignation and urging the opposition March 14 camp to practice “political resistance.”

“The solution begins by the government’s resignation, reconciling with the international community and finding a radical and quick solution to illegitimate arms,” Gemayel said in a speech during the inauguration of an office for his party in the Jezzine District town of Libaa.

Akkar MP Khaled al-Daher on Sunday called on the government to “perform its duties” concerning the case of Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed and his companion or else face “civil disobedience.”

“The Lebanese must be ready to defend their country. The government must perform its duties or else it will witness something it did not experience before and we might declare civil disobedience,” Daher said during a meeting in the Akkar town of al-Bireh, Abdul Wahed’s hometown.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati has received a phone call from U.N.-Arab League Joint Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan, the premier’s office announced on Sunday.

The two men discussed the current developments in the Middle East region, the PM’s office said.

The Foreign Ministry filed a complaint on Sunday to the United Nations against Israel after its forces abducted a citizen on June 29.

Youssef Zahra was kidnapped by an Israeli infantry patrol in Marj al-Teiss.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged on Sunday the government to exert “all efforts” to protect the Lebanese along the border with Syria, especially in the regions of Wadi Khaled and Akkar.

He noted during his Sunday sermon: “Mistrust has grown among the political factions because of their allegiances to regional and international axes that have never served Lebanon’s interests.”