The Fourth Chamber of the Court of Cassation on Wednesday decided to dismiss one of the recusal requests filed against Beirut port blast investigator Judge Tarek Bitar, media reports said.

The request had been filed by the family of blast victim Ali Sawwan.

April 13 is a gloomy date for the Lebanese seeing as it marks the start of the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war.

Today, families of the disappeared in Lebanon’s Civil War gathered in Bayt Beirut -- a historic museum that commemorates the civil war -- to ask for justice, as an independent national commission has failed to investigate what happened to the disappeared and to question former officials.

Kuwaiti Ambassador to Lebanon Abdul-Al al-Qinai announced Wednesday that the recent restoration of diplomatic ties between Lebanon and some Gulf countries and the return of their ambassadors to the country are “an indication that the Kuwaiti initiative has succeeded.”

This also means that “the two parties in brotherly Lebanon and the Gulf have agreed that the history and the fate that bring them together are more important than anything else,” Qinai added, after talks at the Grand Serail with Prime Minister Najib Miqati.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea announced Wednesday the LF's program for the upcoming parliamentary elections, urging the Lebanese voters to hold accountable those who have been ruling the country by voting against them in the upcoming polls.

Geagea accused Hizbullah of "dominating the political, strategic and security decisions in Lebanon," and of "speaking on behalf of the Shiites."

The joint parliamentary committees convened Wednesday in Parliament to study a capital control draft law before referring it to Parliament’s general assembly.

The National News Agency said the session ended without the approval of the draft law as amendments protecting the rights of depositors were introduced to Article 1.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari met Wednesday with President Michel Aoun in Baabda to discuss the latest developments.

Aoun and Bukhari reportedly discussed reviving the Lebanese-Saudi relations as the Saudi Ambassador informed Aoun about the mechanism of a Saudi-French fund aimed at providing humanitarian support to Lebanon.

The U.S. department of state has stressed, in a report on Human Rights Practices, significant human rights issues in Lebanon.

The report cited "serious political interference with the judiciary" and "serious high-level and widespread official corruption."

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.