Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh held talks in Lebanon on Tuesday about last month's 11-day war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.

Haniyeh had arrived in Lebanon on Sunday and met several top officials, including President Michel Aoun and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Two Americans charged in Japan with helping Nissan's former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, jump bail and escape Japan for Lebanon apologized Tuesday in a Tokyo court.

"I deeply regret my actions and sincerely apologize for causing difficulties for the judicial process and for the Japanese people. I'm sorry," Michael Taylor, a former Green Beret said, bowing and holding back sobs.

Lebanon hiked fuel prices by more than 30 percent Tuesday as it reduced subsidies that have eaten away at the central bank's foreign currency reserves amid a painful economic crisis.

Protesters blocked roads across Lebanon on Monday over a deepening economic downturn that has led to a fuel crisis and severe power shortages.

The demonstrations came on the eve of hikes in the price of fuel that the Energy Ministry issued on Tuesday morning.

President Michel Aoun on Monday scheduled a Higher Defense Council meeting for Tuesday to “discuss the security situations in the country and the latest developments,” the Presidency said.

The development comes amid a severe fuel shortage crisis in the country that has led to scuffles at gas stations and road-blocking protests across the country.

Hizbullah on Monday strongly deplored an overnight U.S. airstrike against Iran-backed armed groups which a monitor said killed at least seven fighters.

In a statement, Hizbullah said it "strongly condemns the treacherous American aggression that targeted the Iraqi-Syrian border."

A blast rocked the office of the lawyer Sakhr al-Hashem in Furn el-Chebbak on Monday afternoon, causing material damage.

The lawyer, who was at the office at the time of the incident, escaped unharmed along with his two sons who work with him.

A Russian business delegation met Lebanese officials on Monday to discuss plans to rebuild the grain silos destroyed last year in a massive explosion at Beirut's port, a Lebanese Cabinet minister said.

The visit by the Russian team -- including officials from Russia's Hydro Engineering and Construction company -- comes as Lebanon is going through the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.

All proposals about a so-called “four sixes government” and the redistribution of portfolios are “not serious” and the only serious endeavor is the one led by Hizbullah based on Speaker Nabih Berri’ initiative, al-Jadeed TV reported on Monday

“One of the serious proposals is for President (Michel) Aoun and PM-designate (Saad) Hariri to lodge names of Christian candidates with Speaker Nabih Berri in order to find two consensual nominees,” al-Jadeed said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Monday chaired a meeting dedicated to tackling the electronic platforms that track the dollar exchange rate on the black market.

The meeting was attended by the caretaker ministers of finance, interior, justice and telecommunications, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh, State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat, Cabinet Secretary-General Mahmoud Makkiyeh and Diab’s advisor Khodor Taleb.