Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed Wednesday that “an understanding or a settlement with the Axis of Defiance over the presidential file is rejected, because it will certainly lead to prolonging the crises that the country is suffering from.”

“The concerns and interests of Hezbollah contradict with the interests of Lebanon the state and the country,” Geagea added, in a meeting in Maarab with Swedish Ambassador to Lebanon Ann Dismorr.

The Free Patriotic Movement on Wednesday denied that FPM chief Jebran Bassil has asked to meet with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea over the presidential file.

“Whenever the FPM chief is asked about his readiness to meet with those with whom he has political differences, he answers that he is ready to meet with anyone for the sake of the public interest,” the FPM’s central media committee said in a statement.

MP Paula Yacoubian called Wednesdays the MPs to vote on draft laws that would resume the Beirut port blast probe and prevent future obstructions.

In a press conference at the Parliament, Yacoubian said she had contacted the parliamentary blocs, except for Amal and Hezbollah, as she said that the Shiite Duo's position is clear concerning the probe.

Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel said Wednesday that the opposition forces are forming a coordination framework in order to reach a common agreement on a candidate for Presidency.

"We are communicating with the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party and other new MPs in order to agree on a President who is able to rescue Lebanon," Gemayel said.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Wednesday that Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement are exerting pressure on the Constitutional Council in order to transfer four seats from the opposition to the March 8 Alliance.

"They are trying to manipulate the parliamentary appeals in different regions especially in Tripoli and Marjayoun," Geagea said in a tweet.

U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein has told the Lebanese parties that all the reports about a "negative atmosphere" regarding the demarcation negotiations are coming from Lebanon's side.

Al-Akhbar newspaper said Wednesday that Hochstein has denied the reports, saying that he and Israel have nothing to do with them.

After more than a month of stalemating the Cabinet formation negotiations, Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati and President Michel Aoun met Wednesday in Baabda.

Mikati and Aoun discussed a Cabinet line-up that the PM had submitted in late June.

As part of the recently announced $2.76 billion in U.S. government funding to help address the global food security crisis, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide $29.5 million, consisting of $15 million in humanitarian assistance and $14.5 million in economic support funding, to help protect vulnerable populations from rising food insecurity in Lebanon, the U.S. embassy said.

President Michel Aoun on Tuesday called on the judiciary to confront “anyone restraining its justice, at the central bank as well as in the Beirut port blast case.”

In a statement addressed to the judicial authority, the president reminded that on June 9, the relevant judicial authorities “charged Central Bank Governor Riad Toufic Salameh and his partners with dangerous financial crimes, specifically the crimes of embezzlement, falsification, the use of forged documents, money laundering, illicit enrichment and tax evasion.”

Attorney General Judge Ghassan Khoury on Tuesday ordered the release of Federal Bank hostage-taker Bassam al-Sheikh Hussein.

The National News Agency said the decision was taken after the bank dropped the lawsuit against the defendant.