A U.S. Defense Department contract linguist has been charged with giving classified information, including the names of American intelligence assets, to a Lebanese national with ties to Hizbullah, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors accused Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, of turning over information that placed in danger those intelligence assets and American military personnel.

Anti-government protesters blocked roads across Lebanon on Wednesday to denounce the financial and economic deterioration.

The demonstrators blocked the Saifi and Sport City roads in Beirut, the Taalabaya and Jdita roads in the Bekaa and the el-Mina, Minieh, al-Mhammara and al-Beddawi roads in the North.

Lebanon on Wednesday confirmed two new coronavirus cases, taking the overall tally to 15.

One of the two infected individuals, a 14-year-old girl, is being quarantined at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital, while the other, a Lebanese man who had visited Egypt recently, has been isolated at the Notre Dame des Secours hospital in Jbeil where he had been initially admitted, the two hospitals said.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday announced that “the majority of the Lebanese people and parliament are totally against paying” a $1.2 billion Eurobond debt on March 9.

“The banks, which have led us into a loss amounting to 75% of the debt, must bear the responsibility along with the foreign buyers,” Berri told lawmakers during the weekly Ain el-Tineh meeting.

Prime Minister Hassan Diab met with a UN delegation where talks touched on UNIFIL’s role and mission in South Lebanon and necessary means to maintain stability along the Blue Line, the National News Agency said on Wednesday.

Health Minister Hamad Hassan on Wednesday assured the Lebanese that all necessary measures were taken to contain the spread of coronavirus, saying the situation is “under control.”

As the world continues to grapple with coronavirus disease, Speaker Nabih Berri was notified that a meeting scheduled in March for the the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union was postponed, MTV station reported on Wednesday.

The meeting was set to be held in Cairo on March 7-8. It was postponed “until further notice,” said the station.

The final version of a “capital control” law prepared by a committee of legal and financial experts will reportedly be discussed during the cabinet meeting on Thursday, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday.

Lebanon’s banks on Tuesday expressed readiness to cooperate with the government in order to reschedule the state’s debt, a media report said.

“But they called on the government to negotiate with the foreign firms,” LBCI TV reported.

Lebanon's health minister said Tuesday hospitals were ready to deal with any further spread of the novel coronavirus in the country, where 13 cases have been recorded with no deaths.

Hamad Hasan said the cases had all either returned from an affected country or were transmitted through "close contact" with a family member or neighbor -- not "local transmission."