The controversial increase on the minimum wage hasn’t reached a safe haven yet, as the package proposed by Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas was rejected by the General Labor Confederation with a reluctant flexibility by the private sector.

“Prime Minister (Najib Miqati) is seeking to take this matter forward to reach common grounds,” the premier’s sources told As Safir newspaper on Friday.

Premier Najib Miqati’s sources have stressed that disagreements between Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi should be solved away from the media glare.

In remarks to al-Liwaa daily published Friday, the sources said: “This problem should not be solved through the media.”

Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi and Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi traded salvos of accusations on Thursday over the funding of ministry projects.

Aridi, who has been boycotting cabinet sessions over the past two weeks, said in a press conference that he cannot be a “partner in mismanagement.”

Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday called on his supporters to endorse the approach of “peaceful resistance” in the domestic arena.

Addressing an AMAL student delegation from the American University of Beirut (AUB), Berri said: “If the effective tactic to confront the Israeli enemy is armed resistance, the tactic in the domestic arena should be peaceful resistance.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun on Thursday noted that the proportional representation law “will not be adopted” in the current form proposed by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, warning against creating “annexes” to the law.

In an interview with Hizbullah’s Al-Manar television, Aoun said the law “will not be adopted as proposed by minister Charbel; I’m with this law and there can be many variations to the electoral process, but before endorsing them there should be a discussion so that we can choose the most representative one.”

President Michel Suleiman on Thursday called for “creating a safety net, spearheaded by the army, that would protect Lebanon’s south, coast, sea and mountains.”

In a speech at the opening of the CNAM educational institute in Nahr Ibrahim, Suleiman said “only a permanent interaction with other cultures would lead to tolerance.”

Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji on Thursday called on army troops to “maintain full readiness in order to confront what tomorrow may bring of difficulties and threats,” urging them to “distance themselves from the wrong bets which are being promoted by some people.”

At a ceremony to honor Maj. Gen. Michel Menassa, defense ministry inspector general and member of the Military Council, and secretary-general of the council Brig. Gen. Shadi al-Muallem, who have both reached the compulsory age of retirement, Qahwaji stressed that “the army’s constant bet is preserving the country’s unity, independence and achievements, and protecting all the Lebanese, regardless of their affiliations.”

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called on the Christians on Thursday to keep their grip on their homeland amid the developments storming the Arab world.

“Christians should hold onto their homeland and historical sacred places,” al-Rahi said at the end of the 20th convention of the Catholic Patriarchs of the East held in Bkirki.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Thursday that the cabinet is working on reviving the dialogue among the Lebanese political foes in order to consolidate the national unity.

“The cabinet is prioritizing the national dialogue,” Miqati said at the opening of the Lebanese Economic Forum held at the Coral Beach Hotel in Beirut.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat shifted his position, as he is seeking to return to the March 14-led opposition, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

“We’ve budged, we moved to another position and we’re waiting for the right time to announce this,” March 14 sources quoted Jumblat as saying.