Ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun began on Monday pressuring Premier Najib Miqati to meet their demands after Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas referred a series of decrees on the wage boost to the cabinet.

Nahhas’ move came a few days after the Change and Reform bloc ministers conditioned their participation in the government on a series of requests that Miqati should meet. Among them is the increase in salaries and the approval of development projects.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has advised the Lebanese to preserve their unity and prevent the Syrian crisis from affecting their country.

In an interview published in el-Shark newspaper on Tuesday, Juppe said all Lebanese “should focus on dialogue and work on preserving their national unity and civil peace to avoid disputes and importing them” to Lebanon.

Speaker Nabih Berri held talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati in Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday to resolve the crisis threatening to collapse the cabinet.

As Safir reported that Berri, in his attempt to find consensus among the cabinet members, was tasked by the Hizbullah leadership in coordination with President Michel Suleiman to contact Miqati to find an acceptable solution by all members.

One rocket was fired from southern Lebanon into northern Israel overnight, prompting the Jewish state’s army to warn Beirut early Tuesday to work to prevent similar attacks in the future.

The Lebanese army released a statement saying that one rocket was fired from southern Lebanon from the area between the town of Haneen and Rmaish into Israel.

The Phalange Party on Monday warned that the current political bickering in the country might lead to a “dangerous power impasse” and called for forming a “salvation government.”

“The domestic arena needs to be immunized in the face of the storms lashing the region,” the Phalange Party’s political bureau urged after its weekly meeting, calling for the formation of a “salvation government enjoying the necessary sense of responsibility and disregard of personal interests.”

Pilots at Lebanon's national carrier, Middle East Airlines (MEA), on Monday overwhelmingly voted in favor of a 48-hour strike in protest at the dismissal of a colleague undergoing cancer treatment.

The pilots' union said in a statement that the employee was fired while he was on sick leave and therefore his sacking “violates the labor law.”

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly expressed on Monday the United States’ concern over the possibility of Lebanon failing to meet its obligations to Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

She said after holding talks with Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas: “Its failure to meet these obligations could lead to serious consequences.”

Prime Minister Najib Miqati during a visit to the Vatican on Monday invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit Lebanon next year, an aide from the prime minister's office said.

Miqati’s office in Beirut said in a statement that the visit would take place in the autumn but Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said only that the pope had received the invitation and has "shown an interest" in visiting.

The Grinch, the anti-holiday spirited hermit, will have a new address this year. Either the Grand Serail in downtown Beirut or Rabieh.

Premier Najib Miqati, who has threatened to resign if the cabinet failed to approve the funding of the special Tribunal for Lebanon, would put the country in disarray if he goes ahead with his move.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hoped on Monday that the concerned Lebanese forces would approve the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for the sake of the country’s higher interest and in order to avoid economic sanctions and internal tensions.

He said in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine: “All sides are better off revising the current sensitive phase in Lebanon and the region in order for them to avoid becoming captive of their escalatory positions on complex issues of contention.”