Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Thursday that "all countries who attempted to put its hands on Lebanon are being punished today."

During the October 13,1990 Memorial, Aoun said that the Free Patriotic Movement is "determined to continue on the martyrs' path which had been entrusted to them", adding that "we will never bow down to any intimidation."

Several embassies have tightened travel warnings for Lebanon, advising their nationals to avoid parts of the country due to unrest in neighboring Syria and the kidnapping of a group of Estonians.

The British embassy now advises its nationals to avoid travel to Lebanon's eastern and southern borders with Syria following incursions by Syrian troops into the country.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi stated on Wednesday that one cannot boast of his power if he lives in closed security zones.

He said: “Administrative, judicial, and military institutions alone can protect citizens.”

The seven-month-old revolt in neighboring Syria has given hope to Lebanese families trying to find what happened to thousands of loved ones who disappeared during their country's civil war and are believed dead or held in Syrian jails.

"For the first time in many, many years, it's a win-win situation for us -- for all the families of the victims," said Ghazi Aad, head of SOLIDE, a group that for years has been lobbying for Lebanese political prisoners in Syrian jails.

Prominent journalist Ali Hamadeh, who is the brother of MP Marwan Hamadeh, has informed Lebanese authorities that he received an assassination threat on his website.

Hamadeh told security forces and the General Secretariat of the March 14 coalition that he received the death threat last Wednesday, media reports said.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held a dinner banquet for his former allies, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

“Everyone attended the dinner banquet,” ex-PSP member Fouad al-Saad confirmed to the daily.

A cabinet decision to increase wages has led to a new crisis in Lebanon after it angered some labor unions for not meeting its expectations and drew strong criticism from business leaders over their fears that the government’s move would shatter the Lebanese economy.

The cabinet will now have to confront the chaos that resulted from its decision on Tuesday to increase the minimum wage to LL700,000 from LL500,000. It also raised by LL200,000 the wages of workers earning less than LL1 million and by LL300,000 those earning between LL1 million and LL1.8 million.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Registrar Herman Von Hebel expected from Lebanon to pay its share of the tribunal funding by the end of October, An Nahar newspaper reported on Thursday.

“Lebanon has 30 days to pay its share,” Von Hebel said during a press conference in New York.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel expressed his concern over the repeated Syrian violations of the Lebanese territories which have become disturbing on the national, security and sovereign levels.

In an interview with Radio "Voice of Lebanon" (100.3-100.5), Gemayel stressed that the government and the security forces should tell the people who " have a right to know what is going on", about these violations.

Lebanese police have information implicating Damascus' embassy in Beirut in the disappearance of a Syrian opposition figure last seen in May, an MP Sami Gemayel said on Wednesday.

Police chief Ashraf Rifi told a parliamentary committee on human rights that he had collected "dangerous information" pointing to the embassy in the disappearance of Shebli al-Aysami, Gemayel told Agence France Presse.