British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher presented his credentials to President Michel Suleiman at Beiteddine Palace on Thursday, the British embassy said in a statement.

In his first official statement via a video message in Arabic and English, Fletcher said: ‘‘I am delighted to be taking up this post, and determined to do all I can to enhance the partnership between the UK and this extraordinary country.”

Two brothers were wounded at dawn Thursday when unknown assailants tossed four hand grenades at a petrol station in Rwaissat Jdeideh area, the National News Agency said.

NNA said the grenades were tossed at the Mar Elias gas station.

Premier Najib Miqati travelled to Mecca for Omra on Wednesday after a 10-minute cabinet session held at Baabda palace to discuss the controversial electricity bill.

Following the session, Miqati held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri at the parliament building. Both men agreed on postponing a parliamentary session that was set to endorse the electricity bill had the cabinet approved it.

March 14 leaders discussed the indictment issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and Hizbullah’s stance from it during talks they held on Tuesday night, al-Liwaa daily reported.

The newspaper said Thursday that the meeting was held between Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel, former Premier Fouad Saniora and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.

A solution to the electricity crisis could come through calm dialogue among the bickering parties, sources close to Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said insisting that the differences with the Free Patriotic Movement were not political.

The sources told several Beirut newspapers published Thursday that the timeframe ahead of the Sept. 7 cabinet session could pave way for a deal on the electricity bill to allocate $1.2 billion dollars to Energy Minister Jebran Bassil to generate 700 megawatts of electricity.

Ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun have accused Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat’s representatives in the cabinet of turning the electricity crisis into a political struggle.

“Ninety percent of the plan has been discussed and only the political problem stirred by MP Walid Jumblat remains under discussion,” FPM sources said in remarks published in several Beirut dailies.

President Michel Suleiman has warned cabinet ministers against division on a controversial electricity bill, saying the government shouldn’t collapse over “technical” differences between ministers loyal to Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat.

Suleiman’s sources told As Safir daily published Thursday that the president’s warning came during a 10-minute cabinet session held at the Baabda palace.

Premier Najib Miqati’s cabinet was in tatters on Thursday after differences between Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on a controversial electricity bill spiraled out of control.

There was little hope that the cabinet would endorse the electricity plan on Sept. 7. On Wednesday, the government again failed to reach an agreement on the bill.

March 14-led opposition lawyers are expected to hold a press conference next week to snap back at Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad, An Nahar daily reported Thursday.

On Tuesday, Raad accused Israel and the U.S. of drafting the indictment published by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. It accuses four Hizbullah members in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s Feb. 2005 assassination case.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held talks Wednesday at his Clemenceau residence with a delegation from Libya’s rebel National Transitional Council, in the presence of ministers Ghazi Aridi and Wael Abu Faour and the PSP’s deputy chief for foreign affairs Dureid Yaghi.

Delegation member Abdullah al-Zaidani handed Jumblat an invitation to visit Libya and a letter of gratitude from National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil.