Former lawmaker Nouhad Soaid passed away on Monday.

The mother of former MP and March 14 General Secretariat coordinator, Fares Soaid, was elected to parliament in 1996.

The municipal chief of the northeastern town of Arsal Ali al-Hujeiri, voiced calls on Monday for the postponement of the municipal elections in the town, citing the unstable security situation and polling stations that have been situated in remote areas, the Kuwaiti al-Anba daily reported.

“The security situation in Arsal does not allow the election process, particularly since the Interior Ministry has set, in collaboration with the Lebanese army, six polling stations two of which are four kilometers away from the residence of voters, which will affect their enthusiasm,” he told the newspaper in an interview.

Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri met with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geaega where talks highlighted the necessity to elect a president and the need to unite efforts between the two parties in the upcoming municipal elections, Hariri's media office said on Monday.

The meeting took place late on Sunday in the Center House in the presence of Lebanese Forces media officer Melhem Riach and Hariri's adviser Ghattas Khoury.

Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb assured on Monday that the trash management plan is going smoothly and slammed reports claiming that it is going in circles and is doomed to fail.

“The waste management plan is going the right way contrary to what some people think. The plan was initially put in order to prevent the crisis from reverting,” he told the pan-Arab al-Hayat daily in an interview.

An armed dispute broke out on Sunday between members of the Jaafar clan in the eastern Bekaa city of Baalbek.

The army has since intervened to contain the violence.

Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Audeh condemned on Sunday officials for their ongoing failure to elect a new president and for the “mounting scandals in Lebanon.”

He said during his Easter Sunday sermon: “Officials should return to their conscience and the election of a president is the first step towards restoring stability in Lebanon.”

Iran, not Hizbullah, is behind the ongoing vacuum in the presidency in Lebanon, reported the Saudi daily Okaz on Sunday.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut explained that Tehran is seeking a “complete package deal that covers the entire region, which includes the presidency.”

Army Intelligence detained on Sunday an Australian national in the northern city of Tripoli on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist group, reported Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3).

It said that Mark Eddie Maximus was arrested in Tripoli's Dam wal Farz area.

Head of the Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Saniora blamed Hizbullah's “meddling” in Lebanese affairs at Iran's bidding has turned the country into a “body without a head,” reported the pan-Arab daily Ashara al-Awsat on Sunday.

He told the daily that the ongoing vacuum in the presidency “has created a huge void and allowed Iran's ties with Hizbullah to tarnish Lebanon's relations with Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia.”

Beirut Maronite Bishop Boulos Matar refuted claims that Bkirki had proposed that a president be elected for a two-year term, noting that attempts to drag the name of the Maronite patriarchate in this debate “are not innocent,” reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Anba on Sunday.

He told the daily: “The shortening of the term of the president violates the dignity of the Lebanese presidency.”