Nineteen MPs representing 32 Kataeb Party, independent and change lawmakers on Tuesday met in parliament and stressed that the “ultimate priority” is for the “immediate” election of a new president.

A statement said the legislators discussed “the mechanism of exiting the intractable political crisis which has plunged the country into the inferno of presidential vacuum, amid a dire economic and social situation accompanied by a total paralysis of the various state institutions and administrations in this critical period of Lebanon’s history.”

"What happened today is a farce," Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil said Tuesday about a joint parliamentary session that discussed a capital control law.

"The session showed that there is no will to pass the law," Bassil went on to say.

The first phase of Lebanon’s emergency electricity plan, which will provide 8-10 hours of daily power supply in return for a tariff hike, is expected to move forward without obstacles after a recent solution was found, a media report said on Tuesday.

Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said the solution was found by caretaker PM Najib Mikati “in coordination and cooperation with Speaker Nabih Berri, Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil.”

Speaker Nabih Berri will activate in the coming days his contacts with local parties concerning the election of a new president, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said.

In remarks published Tuesday, the daily said that Berri who had warned of vacuum, is also betting on positive foreign efforts to expedite the election of a new president.

The American University of Beirut was ranked 1st in the MENA region in sustainability and tied with Princeton University at the 140th place globally in the QS World University Rankings (WUR): Sustainability 2023, the university said in a statement Tuesday.

In its first edition, the QS Sustainability Rankings were announced by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) university ranking agency. The rankings looked at 700 of the world’s top universities that were deemed eligible and compared them against environmental and social sustainability metrics, to see which universities are doing the most to tackle major environmental, social, and governance (ESG) challenges. "The American University of Beirut was the only university in Lebanon to be ranked and number one in the MENA Region," the statement said.

Parliament will fail again to elect a president on Thursday, al-Akhbar newspaper said Tuesday.

The daily reported that unless Hezbollah succeeds in convincing the Free Patriotic Movement to back the group's candidate Suleiman Franjieh, the election sessions will lead to the same results and Hezbollah will not vote for Franjieh.

French oil giant Total said Tuesday it would soon launch exploration activities in search for gas in the Mediterranean Sea off Lebanon's coast, following last month's Lebanon-Israel deal on their maritime border.

According to a statement, TotalEnergies and its partner, Italy's ENI, signed with Israel a so-called "Framework Agreement" to implement the U.S.-mediated border agreement reached last month. Lebanon and Israel have been formally at war since Israel's creation in 1948.

Chairing a regular Tripartite meeting at a U.N. position in Ras al-Naqoura, UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Aroldo Lázaro congratulated Lebanese and Israeli army representatives on "the recent and historic maritime agreement." "It demonstrates that seemingly intractable differences can be resolved," Lázaro said.

Welcoming recent messages of de-escalation along the Blue Line, Lázaro urged the senior officials from the Lebanese Armed Forces and the Israeli Army in the room to ensure these words are backed up by concrete action.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday voiced support for the presidential bid of Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh, who enjoys the backing of Hezbollah and some of its allies.

Opposition, independent and Change MPs are meeting Tuesday, ahead of a parliamentary session that will be held Thursday for the election of a new president.

The aim of the meeting is to unify the blocs' position in case Speaker Nabih Berri calls for a legislative session before the election of a president, local media reports said on Monday.