U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly voiced on Wednesday her country's hope that all parties will exercise restraint and respect for the country's security and stability.

Connelly briefed President Michel Suleiman after a meeting at the Baabda Palace that the U.S. and international community fear that Lebanon might slip into instability and any political vacuum.

Speaker Nabih Berri criticized on Wednesday calls for the government to resign, warning of a political vacuum in Lebanon should such a step be taken.

He added however: “We reject the resignation of the government and political vacuum, but we will accept what the Lebanese agree upon.”

The March 14 General Secretariat said on Wednesday that the “peaceful protests” that the youth groups affiliated with the alliance had called for after the Beirut bombing in Ashrafiyeh district will continue until the cabinet steps down.

“We are committed to the peaceful struggle through all the democratic and popular means,” March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid told reporters after the general secretariat's weekly meeting.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi as a new cardinal at the Church.

The ceremony marking his promotion and others will take place on November 24, 2012.

From her hospital bed at the Lebanese Canadian Hospital in Horch Tabet, 10-year old Jennifer Chedid called for forgiveness for her killer, reported Future television Tuesday.

Jennifer survived the bombing of Ashrafiyeh in Beirut on Friday that killed three people and wounded and maimed more than a 100 people.

President Michel Suleiman carried on his consultations on Wednesday with Lebanese foes over the deteriorating situation in the country and the possibility of resuming the national dialogue sessions as soon as possible.

Suleiman held talks on Wednesday with Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc head MP Mohammed Raad at the Baabda Palace.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton reiterated support to President Michel Suleiman's efforts to commence an urgent national dialogue session and avoid plunging Lebanon in a political vacuum following the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan, As Safir daily reported Wednesday.

Praising efforts to maintain stability and warning against political vacuum, she stressed to officials the importance of state institutions that continue to ensure security and provide services.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat renewed his rejection of political vacuum in Lebanon in the wake of the March 14-led opposition's demands for the resignation of the government and the formation of a national one, reported the daily An Nahar on Wednesday.

He told the daily: “I support the establishment of a new government if the conditions for it are available.”

Speaker Nabih Berri lashed out on Wednesday at the March 14 alliance, pointing out that it acquired all the “flaws” of the March 8 camp and added to it its own “dreadful behavior.”

“Instead of cooperating and acquiring each others positive traits, the March 14 forces decided to take the March 8 camp's flaws and added worse behavior to them,” Berri's visitors quoted him as saying in comments published in An Nahar newspaper on Wednesday.

The United States said Tuesday it backs efforts to form a new governing coalition in Lebanon, after last week's deadly bomb blast in Beirut plunged the country into political crisis.

"We support the efforts of President (Michel) Suleiman and other responsible leaders in Lebanon to build an effective government and to take the necessary next steps in the wake of the October 19th terrorist attack," said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.