Kateb chief MP Sami Gemayel met Monday with Maronite Archbishop of Antelias Antoine Abu Najem over the presidential crisis.

“The meeting was fruitful,” Gemayel said, adding that his party will do its best to prevent the election of a president who adopts a “defiance approach” that would destroy "what is left of Lebanon."

First Investigative Judge of Beirut Charbel Abou Samra on Monday scheduled a March 15 session for the interrogation of Central Bank chief Riad Salameh, his brother Raja and his assistant Marianne Hoayek, the National News Agency said.

Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh has asked Hezbollah for a period of one more month in which he hopes to secure a sufficient number of votes for his election as president, informed sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper.

Contract teachers rallied Monday in front of the Education Ministry and blocked roads, demanding a further salary increase and higher transport allowances.

Other public teachers returned to class, partially ending a two-month strike.

Maronite Archbishop of Antelias Antoine Abu Najem has started a second round of meetings with Christian leaders in an attempt to secure Christian consensus over the presidential file, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Monday.

Assigned by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi, Abu Najem had started last month an exploratory tour, during which he explored the stances of Christian leaders and their approach toward the presidential crisis, media reports said.

When Moheidein Bazazo opened his Beirut mini-market in 1986, during some of the fiercest fighting in Lebanon's civil war, he didn't expect it to thrive. But several years later, he had shelves full of food and needed 12 employees to help him manage a bustling business.

Those days are over. Bazazo now mostly works alone, often in the dark to reduce his electric bill. Regular customers are struggling to make ends meet, and as they buy less so does he, leaving some shelves and refrigerators bare.

Hezbollah central council member Sheikh Nabil Qaouq on Sunday said that the “latest developments” have increased the chances for “consensus” over the presidential file.

“Our priority lies in electing a president to halt the collapse and rescue the country, but the priority of the challenge and confrontation camp is taking the country to a new adventure in order to overturn the domestic political balances," Qaouq said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has confirmed that he has rejected “domestic and foreign” proposals for the election of Suleiman Franjieh as president in return for the appointment of a pro-opposition premier.

Independent MP and presidential candidate Michel Mouawad said Friday that he will not accept to be insulted, after Speaker Nabih Berri described him as an “in vitro experiment” candidate.

"What Berri said is not acceptable," Mouawad said. "We are not students in a classroom."

Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun has suspended her investigations into suspsected violations committed by Lebanon’s banks, at the request of State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat, ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Friday.