The electricity crisis will aggravate over the next two weeks, after production plants ran out of fuel oil, which means that “there will be no ability to generate a single minute of power supply,” a media report said.

The dispute over funds needed to benefit from three fuel ships docked off the coast meanwhile continues, with ministerial sources telling al-Akhbar newspaper that caretaker PM Najib Mikati has not agreed to authorize a treasury loan with an extraordinary approval under the excuse that there are “legal” complications.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Wednesday accused MP and ex-energy minister Nada Bustani of “curtailing facts in an attempt to disavow her direct interference in the work of the executive authority,” after she accused him of backpedaling on the approval of funds needed to purchase fuel for the national electricity company.

In a statement issued by his press office, Mikati accused Bustani of failing to mention that his previous approval had stipulated the issuance of a cabinet decree and the presence of an official clarification from Electricite du Liban explaining how it intends to return the treasury loan.

Caretaker ministers Hector Hajjar and Issam Sharafeddine on Wednesday filed an appeal before the State Shoura Council against two decrees related to the Costa Brava landfill, al-Jadeed TV said.

Speaking to al-Jadeed on Tuesday, the media adviser of caretaker PM Najib Mikati, Fares Gemayel, stressed that “the decrees are constitutional and cannot be appealed.”

The White House has nominated U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea for the posts of U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. and U.S. Representative to the Sessions of the U.N. General Assembly, sending the nominations to the U.S. Senate for approval.

According to Lebanon’s MTV, a successor to Shea as U.S. ambassador to Lebanon is yet to be appointed.

The latest visit by a Hezbollah delegation to Bkirki was “very cordial and excellent” and the only political file that was tackled was the presidential crisis, informed sources said.

Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi was “direct in expressing concern over the failure to finalize this juncture, wondering why parliament wouldn’t convene in a single session, similarly to the pope’s election, in which dialogue would be held until an agreement over a president is reached,” the sources added, in remarks to al-Akhbar newspaper published Wednesday.

The so-called change parliamentary bloc is trying to break the status quo created by MP Michel Mouawad’s nomination through promoting the candidacy of ex-MP Salah Honein, whom they see as “a sovereign, reformist and unprovocative candidate who did not get involved in corruption,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Change MPs believe that Honein “can unify the opposition’s votes around him, contrary to Mouawad,” the daily added.

A French-U.S.-Qatari-Saudi meeting will be held in Paris in mid-January to discuss the Lebanese file, without any official or political Lebanese presence, amid an effort led by the French president to convince his allies with a plan aimed at securing the election of a president and the formation of a government in Lebanon, a media report said.

“A lot of questions are surrounding many aspects related to the meeting, including the level of representation, which is still ambiguous, in addition to the agenda and how to implement the resolutions, especially should there be an agreement on articles related to the economic and financial situation,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday stressed that “domestic” dialogue must be held to agree on a new president for the country and that Hezbollah is keen on resolving the "dispute" with the Free Patriotic Movement through “communication.”

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Tuesday that “dialogue is underway to find a reformist and sovereign exit for the presidential election among the various parliamentary blocs that believe in real and serious dialogue.”

Geagea’s remarks come after MP Melhem Riachi of the LF revealed that the opposition forces are preparing to launch a “Plan B” to deal with the presidential crisis in late January.

Unrest erupted Tuesday in Khalde in connection with the arrest of a fugitive from the area’s Arab tribesmen.

“Moussa Zaher Ghosn was arrested by army intelligence agents on Khalde’s seaside road and a clash broke out between the army intelligence agents and the tribesmen,” al-Jadeed TV reported, adding that Ghosn was wounded in the clash.