Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi reiterated on Tuesday his call on Lebanese expatriates to “swiftly register their spouses and children in the Lebanese embassies and consulates in order to obtain their home country’s nationality.”

“The Lebanese embassies and consulates in Canada are cooperating to register the wife and children (of Lebanese nationals) in Lebanon,” al-Rahi said during a mass at the Maronite Catholic parish at Saint Charbel Church in Ottawa.

The residents of the town of Jal el-Dib blocked the highway and the coastal road on Tuesday after the government failed to meet their one-month ultimatum to find a solution to the traffic following the dismantlement of the old metal bridge.

Their protest caused bumper-to-bumper traffic during the early morning rush hour, preventing commuters from reaching their workplaces on time.

Lebanese officials are exerting efforts to resolve the remaining disputes over the offshore natural reserves in the Exclusive Economic Zone, As Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday.

President Michel Suleiman chaired a meeting on Monday at the Baabda Palace with Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn, Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi, Energy Minister Jebran Bassil and several other involved officials.

EU Ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst revealed on Tuesday that Premier Najib Miqati discussed with European officials the need to launch joint technical efforts as part of the Union for the Mediterranean.

In an interview published in An Nahar daily on Tuesday, Eichhorst said part of Miqati’s discussions with EU officials during his latest visit to Brussels focused on Lebanon’s role in the union.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef said on Tuesday that the defense office can contradict the claims of the prosecution in 2012, stressing that the Lebanese authorities are obliged to cooperate with the lawyers.

Youssef revealed in an interview with the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper, that the prosecutor’s office provided the defense office with 28,000 pages on the investigations in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and related crimes.

Premier Najib Miqati is scrambling to avoid a showdown between President Michel Suleiman and March 8 ministers during Wednesday’s cabinet session that is set to discuss the controversial $5.9 billion extra-budgetary spending.

Miqati held separate talks with President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi on Monday in an effort to find a way out of the spending crisis that erupted after the March 8 ministers pressured the head of state to sign the $5.9 billion bill.

The Lebanese army confiscated a large quantity of machinegun ammunitions aboard an Italian ship in the port of the northern city of Tripoli, local newspapers reported on Tuesday.

The cargo of the vessel, which is owned by the Italian company Gremaldi, contained vehicles including two Renault Rapid cars, one of them included a large cache of ammunition.

Unknown individuals on Monday kidnapped the pastor of Baalbek’s Our Lady of Good Help Church, Father Walid Gharious, aka Father Elias Maroun Gharious, on the Baalbek road near the intersection leading to the town of al-Ansar, state-run National News Agency reported.

The priest was driving his Toyota Avanza when the abductors who were in two silver- and black-colored Grand Cherokee SUVs intercepted him, NNA said.

Gunmen in northern Nigeria's Kaduna state on Monday shot dead a Lebanese man and his Nigerian driver and abducted another Lebanese national, the state police spokesman said.

"The gunmen attacked the construction bus in which they were traveling, shot dead a Lebanese and the Nigerian driver and kidnapped another Lebanese," Aminu Lawan told Agence France Presse on telephone from Kaduna city.

The Phalange Party urged on Monday the government to take advantage of the international attention that is being granted Lebanon as demonstrated by the recent visits of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and Iranian Vice President Mohammed Reza Rahimi.

It said in a statement after its weekly meeting: “The attention highlights the importance of Lebanon in the region.”