Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged Lebanese politicians on Sunday to put their differences aside and deal with the country’s economic and social problems.

In his sermon, al-Rahi said: “The political leadership in Lebanon should preserve the backbone that guarantees the Lebanese entity’s strong presence … its economic growth.”

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour has said he discussed with Premier Najib Miqati about diplomatic appointments which have been finalized ahead of a government approval.

In remarks published Sunday, Mansour said: “The issue of diplomatic appointments is now in the stage of final touches.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has made major progress in bridging sharp differences between the March 8 and 14 members of parliament’s finance and budget committee after the opposition MPs boycotted it.

An Nahar daily said Sunday that Berri will head a meeting of the committee on Wednesday after he exerted strong efforts to revive the work of the group.

Premier Najib Miqati has held a consultative meeting with his work team on his own proposal of the 2012 draft state budget which will be discussed by the cabinet during two sessions next week.

An Nahar daily said Sunday that Miqati’s proposal lies in a four-page report which sets the foundations of the budget to guarantee a good management of public funds and fiscal stability.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati’s sources have denied reports about strained relations between the premiership and the seat of the Maronite church in Bkirki.

Ties with Bkirki are very good, the sources told An Nahar daily on Sunday. “Any statement against that is aimed at causing disarray.”

Two Lebanese fishermen and the body of a third were handed over to the Lebanese army through the Abboudiyeh crossing at dawn Sunday after they were seized by Syria off the coast of the town of Arida the day before.

Sixteen-year-old Maher Hamad was killed and his uncles Fadi and Khaled, were seized and taken to the coastal city of Tartus in Syria after the Syrian navy opened fire on their boat.

Energy Minister Jebran Bassil has warned that severe power cuts would become much worse in the future after hundreds of angry citizens protested in Jiyyeh and cut the Beirut airport’s main road.

While refusing to comment on severe electricity cuts, Bassil only told Hizbullah’s al-Manar TV on Saturday that things would become much worse in the future.

A Lebanese-British fighter with the Islamist Shebab militia in Somalia was killed Saturday during a drone attack in the capital Mogadishu, said the movement's spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamoud Rage.

"This afternoon unmanned aircraft bombed and killed our brother Hilal al-Barzawi from Lebanon with British citizenship who fought in Somalia for a long time," he told reporters.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour assured on Saturday that the Lebanese community in Nigeria is safe, noting that they were not harmed by the security incidents in that country.

According to the National News Agency, Mansour telephoned Lebanese ambassador to Nigeria Iman Younis inquiring about the situation.

Syrian authorities confirmed on Saturday that forces detained a Lebanese boat smuggling boxes from northern Lebanon into the territorial waters off the Syrian village of Kherabh.

According to SANA, Lebanese gunmen opened fire at the boat while Syrian authorities were allegedly trying to inquire the members about the cargo on the boat.