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Report: Shiite Duo not taking Jumblat's presidential initiative seriously

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat will meet with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh on Tuesday, after Jumblat postponed a previously scheduled meeting for health reasons, al-Jadeed said.

The media outlet added that Amal and Hezbollah will not take Jumblat's presidential initiative seriously, according to sources close to the Shiite Duo.

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Paris meeting to discuss 'settlement' as Qatar talks to Iran, Hezbollah

The agenda of the upcoming Paris meeting on Lebanon has “changed” and it might last for more than one day if the need arises, an informed political source said.

“Collective and bilateral meetings will be held among the delegations of the participating countries with the aim of reconciling stances to be able to devise a politically clear work plan for resolving the Lebanese crisis,” the sources told Annahar newspaper in remarks published Monday.

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Kanaan urges state, BDL to cooperate with Budget Committee

The Finance and Budget Committee convened Monday to study the draft law on "restoring the balance of financial regularity."

MP Ibrahim Kanaan stated after the meeting that all the required data is still missing, asking the government, the Banking Control Commission and the Central Bank to provide the needed information and figures.

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Oueidat seeks arrest of money changers involved in currency speculation

State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat on Monday sent a memo to Financial Prosecutor Judge Ali Ibrahim asking him to “immediately” order the arrest of the money changers and speculators who are contributing to “the collapse of the national currency.”

The development comes ahead of a scheduled meeting for the central bank in which measures to improve the Lebanese pound’s value are expected to be taken.

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Jumblat to meet Berri, his son to meet al-Rahi

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat will continue his presidential file efforts and will visit Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh in the coming hours, MTV reported on Monday.

Jumblat will also dispatch his son, Democratic Gathering chief MP Taymour Jumblat, to meet with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkirki, the TV network said.

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Zoaiter, Khalil file new recusal lawsuit against Bitar

MPs Ghazi Zoaiter and Ali Hassan Khalil on Monday filed a new recusal lawsuit against Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar.

The lawsuit was filed before the Criminal Court of Cassation, with the two lawmakers citing “legitimate suspicion.”

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Report: Pro-Bitar judges mull that he work from Jdeideh

Higher Judicial Council chief Judge Suheil Abboud and a group of judges who support Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar “have started implementing decentralization in the judiciary,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Monday.

Abboud and this group of judges “have started mulling the idea that Bitar practice his work from an office in Jdeideh’s Justice Palace, in an implication that this place is located in a Christian area and no one will dare to attack it,” al-Akhbar quoted prominent judicial sources as saying.

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Report: Hopes on Paris meeting over Lebanon 'exaggerated'

The hopeful expectations regarding a five-party meeting over Lebanon in Paris are "exaggerated", prominent political sources told al-Akhbar newspaper, in remarks published Monday.

According to the sources, the hopes that the meeting next week between the U.S., France, Qatar, Egypt and KSA will reach a settlement that would help Lebanon get out of its political and financial crisis, are "overrated."

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Bassil threatens to run for president, says FPM to propose 'list of names'

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Sunday announced that he might nominate himself for the presidency should the other parties reject two FPM proposals for consensus.

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Lebanon, Qatar sign deal for gas exploration in blocks 4 and 9

Lebanon, two international oil giants and state-owned oil and gas company Qatar Energy signed an agreement Sunday for the Qatari firm to join a consortium that will search for gas in the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon's coast.

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