U.S. Embassy Beirut on Tuesday marked the 40th anniversary of the April 18, 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, in which a suicide bomber attacked the embassy, killing 63, including 52 Lebanese and American Embassy employees.

Families of the victims joined Ambassador Dorothy Shea, Deputy Chief of Mission Richard Michaels, and the Embassy community to honor and pay tribute to the men and women who lost their lives in this attack, and to pay respects to their families and loved ones.

After the nominations of Suleiman Franjieh and Michel Mouawad “nearly reached a dead end,” efforts got underway to find a “third candidate” on which the opposition’s 45 MPs can agree, political sources said.

“There are more than 20 MPs who are yet to take a stance, pending consensus on an acceptable candidate whom they can support,” the sources told the al-Anbaa news portal of the Progressive Socialist Party.

Security forces Tuesday fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters, including retired soldiers, who tried to break through the fence leading to the government headquarters in downtown Beirut, ahead of a cabinet session.

The protesters hurled stones at the armed forces protecting the government headquarters and repeatedly tried to break through the fence, while some of them suffered breathing problems from the tear gas.

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh “will not continue with his presidential nomination if he does not sense a positive stance from the Gulf states and the Arab nations regarding this nomination,” caretaker Information Minister Ziad Makari of the Marada Movement said.

“He does not intend to repeat the experience of ex-president Michel Aoun” with the Gulf countries, Makari told al-Hurra television.

A diamond and art dealer was sanctioned Tuesday by the UK and U.S. governments for allegedly funding Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

The UK Treasury said it froze Nazem Ahmad's assets in the UK because he financed Hezbollah. Under the sanctions, no one in the UK or U.S. will be able to do business with Ahmad or his businesses.

Cabinet on Tuesday agreed to increase the private sector’s minimum monthly wage from 2.6 million to 9 million pounds, worth $92.50 at the country’s black market rate, which dominates the market. The ministers also raised the exchange rate used for calculating customs fees from 30,000 pounds to the dollar to the central bank’s Sayrafa platform, where the dollar is valued at 86,700 pounds.

Parliament earlier on Tuesday postponed municipal elections for up to a year amid concerns the government would not be able to secure the needed funding in time for the polling.

Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel has met at the Elysee Palace with French presidential advisor Patrick Durel.

“We did not discuss (presidential) candidates and there is a French idea that was being circulated in this regard,” Gemayel said after the talks.

U.S. Embassy Beirut and the United Nations commence Tuesday cash distributions under the “Livelihood Support Program.”

The first tranche of this program, valued at $16.5 million, will disburse temporary financial support for Internal Security Forces (ISF) personnel.

Parliament passed Tuesday a law that extends municipalities' term for a second time for up to a year, in a session boycotted by the Lebanese Forces, Kataeb, Tajaddod and Change MPs.

Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi had urged the government to secure the necessary funds to start the elections on May 7, but government failed to secure the funds.

Paris believes that Suleiman Franjieh’s election as president is “still possible,” a media report said on Monday.