Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Wednesday said he is against amending the constitution in order elect Army chief Joseph Aoun as president, as he warned that there will be “more than social and constitutional chaos if a new government is not formed” before the end of President Michel Aoun’s term.

The members of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday commended the announcements that Lebanon and Israel have agreed to end their dispute over their maritime boundary and delineate it permanently.

"This is a major step, which will contribute to the stability, the security, and the prosperity of the region," the Council said in a press statement.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea accused Wednesday the so-called Axis of Defiance of obstructing the election of a new president.

"The Axis of Defiance is directly responsible for any vacuum that could occur after October 31," Geagea said.

General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and Hezbollah coordination and liaison officer Wafiq Safa met Wednesday in Sin el-Fil with Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, MTV reported.

“The meeting, which lasted around an hour and was followed by a several-minute meeting between Ibrahim and Safa, tackled the governmental file and the efforts aimed at forming a government prior to the end of President Michel Aoun’s term,” the TV network added.

Caretaker Health Minister Firass Abiad announced Wednesday that cholera is rapidly spreading among Syrian refugees in Lebanon while warning that cases are on the rise among Lebanese citizens.

“We all know that the issue of water and the means to provide clean water are important as to the issue of the spread of cholera and we are doing efforts in this regard,” Abiad said at a press conference.

MP Ibrahim Mneimneh has snapped back at his colleague in the Change bloc MP Mark Daou over the elections of the parliamentary committees that took place on Tuesday.

“These remarks are inaccurate. Out of respect for fellowship, I won’t say more than this,” Mneimneh said, in response to a tweet by Daou.

Things are “going well” in the government formation efforts and are about to reach conclusion, informed sources have said.

“Each party has made a step backwards and things are awaiting Free Patriotic Movement chief MP Jebran Bassil’s response to the PM-designate regarding the final format of the Cabinet line-up,” the sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.

U.S. energy mediator Amos Hochstein will visit Beirut next week to submit a U.S.-signed demarcation proposal, Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab said.

Last week, Lebanon and Israel said they agreed on the terms of the U.S.-mediated deal over a maritime border dispute involving offshore gas fields.

After losing four relatives to respiratory illness, Zeina Matar fled her hometown north of Lebanon's capital where she says a decaying power plant generates little electricity but very deadly pollution.

Lebanon's parliament has approved some amendments to a banking secrecy law that has been a key demand of the International Monetary Fund before it agrees to a bailout program amid the country's economic meltdown.

Despite the changes, legal advocacy groups say the alterations to the law will likely not be enough to please the IMF because it restricts moves to lift banking secrecy provisions to judicial authorities. The decades-old law is seen by many as a way to hide the widespread corruption that brought the small nation to bankruptcy over the past three years.