Residents of the southern city of Sidon and its suburbs spotted several locusts on Saturday, which some experts said is due to the hot weather that Lebanon is witnessing currently, media reports said.

Citizens and farmers of the coastal area fear that an increase in the number of locusts could threaten their fields and crops.

The March 14 alliance is carrying out consultations among its factions to guarantee the success of its candidate for the presidential elections and to avert any possible vacuum at the helm of the country's most important Christian post, local newspapers reported on Saturday.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri's envoy former MP Ghattas Khoury held separate talks on Friday with the head of the Lebanese Forces, Samir Geagea, and Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel to evaluate the first parliamentary vote and the possible scenarios for the upcoming round.

The summons by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon of al-Jadeed TV and al-Akhbar newspaper's journalists on charges of “contempt and obstruction of justice” are “void” and could be refuted.

Lawyer Antoine Korkmaz, who is suspect Mustafa Badreddine's lead defense counsel, told As Safir newspaper on Saturday that the case “is legally invalid.”

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat urged al-Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri to return to Lebanon soon as “there are no excuses that could justify his absence.”

“I call on Hariri to return and head an all-embracing cabinet (after the election of a new president) to avert further tension and crises,” Jumblat said in an interview with As Safir newspaper.

The council of ministers decided on Friday to refer all bombings and all cases of booby-trapped cars to the Judicial Council.

The ministers also discussed the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's summons of al-Jadeed television ad al-Akhabar daily's journalists, expressing their keenness on preserving freedom of the press, but noting at the same time that the STL's internal system allows it to summon media personalities.

Two rockets launched from the Syrian side of the border landed in the Bekaa region of Hermel, the military institution announced on Friday.

"Army units are inspecting the location where the rockets landed, to identify their types and where they were launched from," the army added in a communique.

Several journalists rallied near the Ministry of Information in Beirut on Friday afternoon, to protest the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's summons of al-Jadeed TV and al-Akhbar newspaper's journalists on charges of “contempt and obstruction of justice.”

The STL announced on Thursday that it has summoned Karma Mohammed Tahsin al-Khayat from al-Jadeed, as well as the station’s parent company New TV S.A.L., to appear before it on two counts of Contempt and Obstruction of Justice.

The Internal Security Forces announced on Friday the arrest of a wanted Jordanian, who has entered Lebanon from Syria, in the eastern region of the Bekaa.

It said that the suspect, M.A., was arrested in the town of Arsal after entering the country from the Syrian city of Yabrud.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi discussed the upcoming presidential elections with President Michel Suleiman and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the state-run National News Agency reported on Friday.

Al-Rahi telephoned on Thursday night Hariri to discuss the presidential elections, and the two leaders stressed the need to hold the elections “within the constitutional deadline,” according to the NNA.

Renowned Lebanese actress Leila Hakim passed away on Friday after suffering from illness, the state-run National News agency said.

Hakim, who died at the age of 83, will be buried on Saturday in the Sacre-Coeur Church in Badaro at 4:00 pm.