Speaker Nabih Berri has launched an initiative for the adoption of a draft-law on the parliamentary elections that would consider Lebanon a single electoral district to appease both ex-PM Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat who have rejected proportionality.

Berri’s initiative lies in carrying out the polls in 2013 on the basis of a single electoral district through a proportional representation to form a parliament that would preserve the rights of sects and shares while limiting the high-level of sectarianism, As Safir daily reported Tuesday.

A group calling itself ‘Raise Your Voice’ hacked on Tuesday around 15 Lebanese government websites to ask for an improvement in living standards, the day the parliament launches a three-day session to assess the cabinet’s performance.

“We are RYV, short for Raise Your Voice, and we are simply a group of people who could not bear sitting in silence, watching all the crimes and injustice going on in Lebanon,” the group said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has embarked on an initiative aimed at finding a settlement in the row over governmental spending, MTV reported on Monday.

“PSP's sources did not deny the presence of an initiative by Jumblat to resolve the financial dispute, but things have just started and they need further efforts,” the TV network reported.

A delegation from Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement on Monday visited a suspected Hizbullah member being held in a Baghdad jail, the movement said.

"A delegation made up of three of Moqtada al-Sadr's advisers met today in a Baghdad prison with Ali Moussa Daqdouq," an official of the Sadr movement told Agence France Presse in the Shiite holy city of Najaf.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen has set a timeline for the submission of preliminary motions challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal, announced the STL in a statement on Monday.

“In order to ensure the preparation of a fair and expeditious trial, Fransen convened a status conference on April 12, 2012,” it said.

A rally was held on Monday to commemorate the one week anniversary of the death of al-Jadeed television cameraman Ali Shaaban’s death.

The gatherers demanded that a “serious investigation” be launched in his death given that a number of crimes have been committed against journalists and none of the perpetrators have been found.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat hoped on Monday that the government would tackle the people’s concerns without preconditions.

He urged in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anabaa magazine political powers to exercise “some humility” in tackling pending issues at cabinet.

President Michel Suleiman on Monday stressed that “Lebanon is not an arena for settling scores or conflict, but rather an arena for the rapprochement of all Arab brothers,” noting that “Lebanon will not be a launch pad for sabotage or attack against any Arab nation, particularly Syria.”

In a speech before members of the Lebanese community in Canberra, Suleiman said: “What concerns us in Syria is democracy, and the latest referendum has shown that everyone in Syria wants democracy.”

March 14 opposition MP Butros Harb said Monday that a three-day parliamentary session would not necessarily lead to a vote of confidence against the government of Premier Najib Miqati.

“These sessions could be an opportunity to inform the public opinion about the mistakes that the government is making and the policy that it is adopting, which is harming the country,” Harb told Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio station.

The Israeli army will receive new tank shells developed to penetrate reinforced targets, a crucial means for the military of the Jewish state which faces future conflicts with Hizbullah and Hamas, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.

The new 120 mm. shell called M339 can be fired by Merkava Mk 3 and Mk 4 tanks at extended ranges, the newspaper said. The shell explodes only after it penetrates a target and then releases thousands of lethal fragments.