The Mount Lebanon accusatory body led by Judge Pierre Francis on Tuesday approved a ruling to release Raja Salameh from jail, dismissing an appeal filed by Mt. Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun.

The accusatory body also agreed to slash the bail value from LBP 500 billion to LBP 200 billion.

President Michel Aoun stressed Tuesday that “despair” has no place in his thoughts and that he will continue “working for the sake of achieving recovery” in the remaining period of his tenure.

“We must all work hard to exit the abyss that we are in due to the killing of production in our economy,” Aoun said in a meeting with Industry Minister George Boujikian and a delegation from the new board of directors of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists, led by Salim Zeeni.

A heated dispute over appointments has delayed the scheduling of a new Cabinet session, a ministerial source said.

The National News Agency later reported that an ordinary session has been scheduled for Thursday with 29 items on its agenda. A leaked copy of the agency contains no mention of the appointments.

Some bakeries had already closed their doors when others threatened of closing on Monday night, as bakeries announced they do not have sufficient quantities of wheat to produce bread, urging officials for a fast solution.

General Confederation of Lebanese Workers head Bechara al-Asmar warned Tuesday that there is a scarce quantity of wheat in the bakeries that can barely last for 10 days, urging officials to act swiftly and not to lift subsidies on wheat.

An explosion ripped through a building in southern Lebanon early on Tuesday, killing one person and wounding several others, a Lebanese security official said.

The blast in the town of Banaafoul, near the port city of Sidon, demolished the two-floor building that had served as the local municipality headquarters and a scout center for the Amal Movement headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Monday hosted a Ramadan iftar banquet that was attended by a host of Lebanese leaders and incumbent and former officials, days after he returned to the country following a diplomatic crisis sparked by former information minister George Kordahi’s remarks on Yemen’s war.

The banquet was attended by Prime Minister Najib Miqati, Agriculture Minister Abbas al-Hajj Hassan representing Speaker Nabih Berri, ex-presidents Michel Suleiman and Amin Gemayel, ex-PMs Fouad Saniora and Tammam Salam, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat, Kataeb Party leader Sami Gemayel, MP Bahia Hariri, U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka and the ambassadors of the U.S., France and Britain.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah lashed out Monday at ex-PM Fouad Saniora and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea without naming them, in connection with the heated electoral campaigns, as he noted that Hizbullah and its allies are not seeking to win a two-thirds majority in the new parliament.

“Winning two thirds of seats in the next parliament is not the objective of our political camp… Winning two thirds of seats is not a realistic objective,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech on the latest developments.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari met Monday with Higher Islamic Shiite Council deputy chief Sheikh Ali al-Khatib, who became the de facto leader of the council following the death of its former head Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan.

Bukhari also met on Monday with Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan and Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Sami Abi al-Muna.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea addressed Monday the Shiite voters, urging them not to vote for Hizbullah.

"You have the right to not vote for the LF, but do not vote for those who have dragged you to the deepest level of hell only because you think that the LF is a beast that hates you," Geagea said.

The Progressive Socialist Party will not vote for Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil nor for Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea in the upcoming presidential elections, MP Wael Abu Faour of the PSP has said.

“Bassil will be the candidate of the March 8 forces for the presidency, not Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh,” Abu Faour told LBCI television.