Speaker Nabih Berri stated on Wednesday that the Baabda Palace meeting on Tuesday tackled the need to reactivate the government’s functioning.

His visitors quoted him as saying: “The gatherers agreed to tackling the government spending dispute and the need to complete the 2012 state budget.”

Clashes broke out Wednesday between Syrian troops and residents of the border town of Arsal in eastern Lebanon after a Lebanese man was killed and two wounded at dawn along the Lebanese-Syrian border.

Security sources said that rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons were fired during the clashes at Kherbet Daoud, an area on the outskirts of Arsal.

The wives and daughters of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in northern Syria identified two of the kidnappers on Tuesday after seeing them in a report about the Free Syrian Army on television.

LBCI reported that several women, part of a group of pilgrims kidnapped in Syria and released without their male relatives, contacted it after seeing their kidnappers’ faces on a Monday broadcast.

The lead legal representative and the two co-legal representatives designated by the Registrar of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to represent the victims of the February 14, 2005 attack have been sworn in, the STL announced in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The three legal representatives will represent the 58 people who were granted the right to participate as victims in the proceedings by the Pre-Trial judge.

Relatives of 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims abducted in Syria blocked Tuesday the airport road for around an hour, with some protesters describing the move as a “first warning” to Lebanese authorities.

Some of the protesters sat down in the middle of the street while no burning of tires was reported. Al-Jadeed television quoted protesters as saying that “the airport road will be totally blocked on Wednesday and Thursday as a first warning.”

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun announced Tuesday that he has proposed an initiative to address the security, economic and political disputes, pointing out that there is no need for the government to stay “if it is impotent.”

After the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabiyeh, Aoun said: “Of course there are certain ways to address the security, economic and political issues, and we have launched an initiative that is being studied by the parties concerned, and I believe it will yield results.”

Breaking 100,000 video views per month, Cinemoz launched a new layout and look this week that is designed to make navigating their diverse content list even easier than before. From the home page to specific content pages, users will find a more visually appealing and user-friendly display of information and films.

Since the launch of the online Arabic entertainment provider last December, the company has continually strived to improve the usability and appeal of the site. Their latest effort is a site-wide redesign that not only improves the site’s look and feel, but also the ease with which users can navigate their massive content portal.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati on Monday noted that his government is “preserving stability,” stressing that through “unity and awareness” the Lebanese can prevent a spillover of the Syrian crisis into their country.

Briefing reporters after talks with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki, Miqati said: “We are not with or against the call for (the government’s) resignation, but we must rather stress that the government is preserving stability … We respect (Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel) Aoun’s viewpoint and we take his opinion into consideration.”

President Michel Suleiman applauded Monday the security measures taken in the northern city of Tripoli to control the situation following clashes that erupted between northern neighborhoods.

Syrian authorities on Sunday released two Lebanese citizens abducted by Syrian forces on Wednesday from the northern border town of al-Abboudiyeh.

The abduction led to an uproar in the region and prompted residents to block the international highway.