Caretaker Energy Minister Jebran Bassil held talks on Tuesday with Speaker Nabih Berri on the petroleum file and the need for cabinet to convene in order to follow up on this issue.

He said: “We hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of progress that can be achieved over this issue.”

First Military Investigation Judge Riyad Abu Ghida on Tuesday followed-up on the cases of detainees involved in the clashes of the southern town of Abra, and issued arrest warrants against them.

"Abu Ghida interrogated six detainees in the presence of their defense lawyers,” the state-run National News Agency reported, adding that he issued arrest warrants against them.

The United States and United Nations condemned on Tuesday the bombing in the Bir al-Abed neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, voicing their rejection of such violent acts in Lebanon.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly “strongly” condemned the attack, calling on all parties to “exercise calm, constraint and respect for the country's security and stability.”

A Military Examining Magistrate demanded on Tuesday the death penalty for 37 suspects, including the municipal chief of the northeastern town of Arsal, over the killing of two soldiers in February.

The request was made in the indictment issued by Judge Fadi Sawan.

A man was injured on Tuesday after Hizbullah members opened fire in the air to disperse protesters who assaulted Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel after he inspected the site of a powerful blast in Beirut's southern suburbs.

Charbel was leaving the Bir al-Abed neighborhood along with acting Internal Security Forces chief Brig. Gen. Ibrahim Basbous and accompanying officers when angry residents began pelting him with stones.

Several officials denounced on Tuesday the blast that targeted Bir al-Abed neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, calling on the state to control the security situation in Lebanon.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri condemned the explosion, saying that the incident compels the Lebanese to consolidate national consensus and distance the country from any foreign conflict.

President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Premier-designate Tammam Salam condemned on Tuesday the blast that rocked the Bir al-Abed neighborhood in Beirut's southern suburbs, urging the Lebanese people to end their disputes.

Suleiman said in a statement: “The explosion should prompt officials to end their differences, return to dialogue, and commit to the Baabda Declaration.”

A booby-trapped car exploded at a parking lot near the Islamic Cooperation Center commercial cooperative in the Beirut southern suburb of Bir al-Abed on Tuesday, leaving 53 people wounded and causing extensive material damage.

The caretaker Health Minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, said 53 people were wounded. But 41 of them were discharged and the rest were being treated for non serious injuries.

Amnesty International has urged Lebanese authorities to conduct a full investigation into the death in custody of a suspect detained following the gunbattles between the army and Salafists in the southern city of Sidon more than two weeks ago.

The organization said it saw images of 35-year-old Nader al-Bayoumi’s body, which showed signs of "horrific abuse."

Several parliamentary blocs are drafting a petition to submit it to Speaker Nabih Berri, calling on him to hold a parliamentary session to approve the extension of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji's term, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the blocs expressed fear that any vacuum at the head of the military institution would lead to instability and chaos.