Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel on Friday voiced strongly-worded stances against Hezbollah and vowed to block the presidential vote if “the other camp decides to elect a president who would cover up for Hezbollah’s arms for six more years.”

“We will not be dragged into weapons because we know the value of blood, martyrs and war,” Gemayel said in a speech at Kataeb’s 32nd Congress.

State Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat is inclined to withdraw the judicial assistants who are at the disposal of Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar and who assist him in writing investigation records, a media report said on Friday.

Oueidat is also “threatening to press for enforcing an arrest warrant against him should he insist on continuing his measures,” ad-Diyar newspaper said.

The Brazilian Ambassador to Lebanon Tarcísio Costa has participated in a ceremony alongside General Mohammad Kheir, head of the High Relief Committee (HRC) and representatives of Lebanese NGOs, marking the delivery of a Brazilian humanitarian donation of 38 water purifiers to Lebanon.

"The Embassy of Brazil in Lebanon is proud to announce that the Brazilian government has donated, on a humanitarian basis, solar-powered water purifiers to Lebanon," the embassy said in a statement.

Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar is readying to issue new arrest warrants in the case despite the latest judicial storm, media reports said.

“Bitar called in his clerk to his office at the Justice Palace on Wednesday to prepare arrest warrants that he intends to issue in two batches, on February 6 and 8,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Friday.

France is interested in some sectors that are nominated for partial or complete privatization in Lebanon, especially the country’s national carrier Middle East Airlines, a media report said on Friday.

Citing preliminary reports, al-Akhbar newspaper said MEA’s value will be estimated at more than $1 billion and a law to sell around 49% of its shares will be devised.

U.N. rights experts have voiced deep concern at the slow pace of an investigation into the killing of Lebanese intellectual Lokman Slim two years ago, demanding that Beirut ensure accountability.

"It is incumbent on the Lebanese authorities to fully investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous crime," the four independent experts said.

France will host an international meeting on Monday on how to end months of political deadlock in cash-strapped Lebanon, the foreign ministry said.

The Paris gathering is to be attended by representatives from France, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said Thursday.

Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Thursday hailed a statement issued by the Christian spiritual leaders in Lebanon, saying “it delineates a promising course and opens the door to resolving the presidential crisis on the basis of partnership and national balance.”

“Since last summer, we have been the first to respond to this existential appeal and we will still be the first. This is what I stressed to Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in my latest visit to him and I hope everyone will respond to this call,” Bassil added.

A Hezbollah parliamentary delegation led by MP Mohammed Raad on Thursday held talks in Rabieh with ex-president and Free Patriotic Movement founder Michel Aoun.

During the meeting, Aoun stressed “the importance of national partnership, the continuation of the state building project, the fight against corruption and the protection of citizens’ rights,” the National News Agency said.

French presidential envoy Pierre Duquesne met Thursday at the Grand Serail with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Duquesne is in a two-day visit to Lebanon in a French mission aimed at supporting the energy sector in Lebanon.