Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi celebrated mass at the Roman Catholic pilgrimage site of Lourdes in France on Sunday on the occasion of the international pilgrimage of the Order of Malta.

The Order of Malta’s members and volunteers from all over the world travel each year during the first weekend of May to Lourdes.

A committee that was tasked to amend the wage scale draft-law has lowered the raise but said in a report that the state was able to pay without installments starting July 1, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Sunday.

The ministerial-parliamentary committee, which studied the public sector pay hike after lawmakers failed to approve the draft-law, completed its report on Saturday night and is expected to refer it to Speaker Nabih Berri in the coming hours.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam has expressed fears that a possible vacuum in the presidency caused by the differences between the rival political parties would have negative repercussions on his cabinet.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted officials as saying on Sunday that the failure of MPs to elect a new head of state by May 25 “would lead to a difficulty to manage the state's affairs.”

Kataeb party leader Amin Gemayel said his candidacy for the presidency would only become real if lawmakers failed to elect Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, revealing his ambition to become a consensual candidate.

“If the March 14 alliance … was able to break the barricade that surrounds Geagea, then it would reach its objective,” Gemayel told the Saudi Okaz daily published on Sunday.

President Michel Suleiman is expected on Sunday to reiterate his warning from the dangers of a vacuum in the country's top Christian post and call on lawmakers to elect a new head of state before the end of his term this month.

An Nahar newspaper said that Suleiman's warning will come in a speech he will make on Sunday afternoon during the inauguration of the cite sportive in his hometown in Amsheet.

A symbol of Lebanon's golden age, but also its brutal civil war, the empty shell of the Holiday Inn hotel in Beirut could now take on a new life.

No one yet knows what it will become, but after decades as a chilling reminder of the 1975-1990 conflict, the building is set to be auctioned off in the coming months.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi's visit to Jerusalem continues to be controversial, with some considering it a “historical mistake that opens the door for normalization with Israel,” and Church authorities reiterating that it has a strictly religious character.

Bishop Samir Mazloum assured OTV on Saturday evening that the patriarch “is not going to hold a peace treaty with Israel.”

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale left Beirut on Saturday evening and headed to Riyadh where he is expected to hold talks on the upcoming presidential elections.

"Ambassador Hale is leaving to Riyadh to meet with former Premier Saad Hariri and Saudi officials to discuss international support for Lebanon,” the Unites States' embassy said in a released statement.

Hizbullah members on Saturday clashed with Syrian gunmen who tried to infiltrate the Bekaa town of Brital, LBCI television reported.

"A clash erupted between Hizbullah members and armed Syrians in Brital when the gunmen tried to infiltrate Brital,” LBCI said.

One person has been abducted in Bekaa town of Hortaala after he had been involved in a dispute over dealing with drugs, the state-run National News Agency reported on Saturday.

"Armed men riding two four-wheel drives have kidnapped Lebanese national Khaled al-Nashar in Hortaala,” the NNA said.